Console Copiers/Backup Units

[Flack]

Is there anyone around who still sells any of these units? I have a couple of N64 backup units (Z64, CD64) and one SNES one (Super Wildcard DX). I am looking for NES, Sega Genesis, and Atari 2600 units. Besides having a somewhat unique collection, it would be fun to play some of those homebrew Atari 2600 roms on an actual 2600.

Flack

[Delgrace]

You mean things that can download ROMs to carts and vice versa?

Those things actually EXIST?!?! *thought it was merely an urban legend*

[Keir]

Don't forget the Intellicart for Intellivision!

[ddockery]

The VecRam is a total badass.

[Flack]

Of course they exist! Where do you think all those ROMs came from anyway?

I bought my Super WildCard DX back in '95. I found the link through Anthrox, which directed me to Fairlight. When I contacted Fairlight, they said it was the last one they were selling. I had originally tried to get one of the multi-console copiers, but they were out of my price range at the time (the Super Wildcard DX was $200 at the time, and the multi ones which did both SNES and Genesis were around $350).

I have done tons of research on these things and have seen lots of pictures, but owning the units would be nice too. They're a part of video game history that I think will disappear soon. Many of those units were built somewhat cheaply and not made to last the test of time.

Flack

[chadtower]

Plus they're probably the best way to play around with code for each console, which is what I would do with them.

[zektor]

I had Super Nintendo and Genesis backup units back in the day (ran about $300 each) and they were pretty cool. Onscreen load menus and such. It basically had memory inside that the rom would load into, then the whole unit would act as the cart. The game system just thought the original cartridge was plugged in, so it played from there on without any loading of course. I remember I really wanted the Neo-Geo backup unit, but I never did grab that one. The last unit I purchased was the Z64 (N64 backup unit) and I would have to say it was the best unit quality wise I ever owned.

[Flack]

The Z64 is much better quality than my CD64 -- however, the Z64 uses Zip disks, while the CD64 uses CDs. If you're planning on storing any massive amount of games, Zip disks become both a pain and expensive.

I actually found a place online that had some old Sega Genesis copiers listed, but I couldn't tell how old the page was. I just e-mailed the guy, I'll let you know what comes out of that.

An Atari 2600 one though ... I'll bet they don't give those away.

Flack

[hydr0x]

right now a guy is selling 4 SWC DX2 64Mbit on German Ebay, 200 EURO each, quite cheap

i don't have the money though . i personally do own a SWC 24Mbit, not quite powerful but good enough to dump most of the snes games i have

[Delgrace]

Wait. I knew the ROM rippers existed, but I never knew you could go from ROM to cart. Is it possible, then, to get blank carts? And then throw fan-translated ROMs onto them?

*pondering*

[Flack]

The Console Copier itself kind of acts like a big cart.

My SNES one, for example, plugs into the top of my SNES. On the side is a floppy drive, on the top, a cart slot.

To backup a game, you would put the game in the top, go through the GUI menu, select "dump to disk", put a blank floppy in the drive, and the game would copied from the cart to a floppy. Not all games will fit on one floppy -- for those, you will be prompted to insert more diskettes. (a 32 megabyte cart = 4 meg, which means 3 1.44 floppy diskettes).

You can do the opposite, however. After downloading "Rom X", you would copy it to a floppy. Turn on the SNES and Copier, and put the diskette in the drive. The machine then loads the "rom" into its memory, and the SNES then sees it as a "cart", although in reality it is just the contents of the ROM stored in the copier's RAM.

That's the main reason these devices are able to command such high prices. While $300 seemed like a lot of money for a N64 copier, it was really only the price of about 6 games. They were also of great use for developers, since you could write your code and then test it on an actual unit very quickly.

Owning one of these machines is a lot like the next level of emulation. Some people download a game and play it on their PC. With one of these units, you can download a rom and play it on the actual SNES, for example, with SNES controllers and SNES sound. There is no emulation, the game is 100%.

Most console copiers offer some pretty neat functions. The SNES Super Wildcard DX, for example, let's you search through memory and alter variables. For example, you can search a ROM for a number -- then when you die, search again for one number less. Bingo, you've found the variable that contains your lives -- now, just go edit that variable!

Messing around with console copiers is no replacement for actually owning the carts themselves. When people want to see your SNES collection, no one wants to see a bunch of hand-labeled floppy disks. Still, they're fun to mess around with, and since they were always (1) difficult to find and (2) expensive once you did, it's a unique part of my collection.

Flack

[Delgrace]

I see. Very interesting. Thanks for the info.

[zektor]

I just have to put this in because I am all about "emulation" :

In a sense the copiers are "emulators" at a basic level. All they are doing really are emulating a cartridge in general. The copied rom information is being loaded into the memory inside of the unit which is plugged into the system's cart slot, and the system "thinks" it is the original cart and plays the way it should. So, on an system emulation level there is none...because you are playing whatever game you are on the system intended.

[Flack]

Well, here's the response I got back after inquiring about Genesis Console Copiers.

"Hello
Yes,Super Magicon Drive is only SF chang MD converter.not ues Backup.
If you need Backup Sega Genesis or MD 16-Bit ,you need Double Profighter 32M use your Sega Genesis Backup or Playgames.
If you need Backup or Playgames on your NES ,you need NES game converter . good day to you "

Clear as mud now ...

Flack

[Flack]

Hey, actually on that guy's site I *did* find he's selling Sega Genesis flash carts, complete with cables and software. So Delgrace, that's kind of like what you were thinking about. It looks like a cart but is just full of RAM and has a battery and has parallel port/usb hookups, so you can dump a game from your PC to this cart and then just plug the cart into a machine. The one they have has enough RAM to hold up to 31 games at a time!

Flack

[Delgrace]

Sounds really cool, actually. Too bad they're so expensive; can we say Alien Soldier on a REAL Mega Drive?

[Jorpho]

Actually, it is my understanding that some copiers do perform emulation. Some SNES carts did contain special chips like the DSP and the Super FX, and these games would be unplayable if the copier did not provide emulation of these chips.
________
Babe Asian

[zektor]

Actually, it is my understanding that some copiers do perform emulation. Some SNES carts did contain special chips like the DSP and the Super FX, and these games would be unplayable if the copier did not provide emulation of these chips.

Hmm, I can't recall if my old SNES copier did this. I wish I still had it

[calthaer]

Wait. I knew the ROM rippers existed, but I never knew you could go from ROM to cart. Is it possible, then, to get blank carts? And then throw fan-translated ROMs onto them?

*pondering*

Well, that same idea with the GBA (Flashlinker) is exactly what got Lik-Sang into trouble in Hong Kong...Nintendo sued them because they were selling these devices.

[Raedon]

The GBA development card was the best thing I bought last year.. NES on the road.. among.. other games *shady*