I've recently purchased Ganbare Goemon Gaiden - Kieta Ougon Kiseru cartridge (still on the way) and I am wondering if it could be changed to Contra (J).
I've found that GGGaiden is mapper 22 (VRC2 Type A) and Contra(J) is Mapper 23 (VRC2 type B). I wasn't able to find any info about pinouts of these Konami Roms (when I get the cartridge, I will try to trace them myself), but I am concerned about the different mapper.
Is it really so different? Will GGGaiden cartridge work with the Contra (J) rom? Thanks.
I will just use an educated guess. Since emulator required 2 different mappers to make them work, the chance are high that it will not. The only way to know is to check what are the mapper difference inside the code of a current emulator. If, for examples, registers are different (like Castlevania 3 and Madara) then unless you hack the rom then it would not be possible to use "as-is".
Thank you, I expected this conclusion. I'm wondering if there's some detailed information about these mappers somewhere? Could't find any here on nesdev wiki...
Ahh thanks, didn't hit me to search for the VRC2.
Contra (J) has been hacked to mapper 4 (MMC3) by Bregalad which is far more common.
http://jonathan.microclub.ch/contra/
Yes, thank you, I have been able to reproduce this hacked version by using the SMB3 cartridge. But I would rather have the original rom up and running on a cartridge with the VRC2 chip.
VRC2A and 2B differences:
You will need to swap A0 and A1.
Code:
variant lines registers Mapper Number
=================================================================
VRC2a: A1, A0 $x000, $x002, $x001, $x003 022
VRC2b: A0, A1 $x000, $x001, $x002, $x003 023
Also this may or may not be an issue with your particular game.
Code:
Important note! On VRC2a (mapper 022) only the high 7 bits of the CHR regs are used -- the low bit is
ignored. Therefore, you effectively have to right-shift the CHR page by 1 to get the actual page number.
Thanks for pointing out the important parts, when I get the cartridge, hopefully I would be able to make something out of it...well swapping the two adress lines shouldn't be a problem, but I don't know anything about romhacking so shifting the CHR page is out of my league, hopefully this won't be needed...
I finally received the Ganbare Goemon Gaiden - Kieta Ougon Kiseru cartridge. Can somebody please help me with the pinout? This is what I've found out so far (PRG=pin on PRG ROM, VRC = pin on VRCII chip and CNN is the cartridge connector):
Code:
scratched project
[/code]
If you want the game and want the original mapper (what difference does it make?? You can remove the crappy translation...), why don't you just buy the original cart?! It's not even that expensive. Goemon Gaiden is a good game you're sacrificing :(
I haven't found Contra cartridge for less than cca 30USD (shipping incl.). GGG cost me 3€ and I have eproms for free. It's a big difference for me. I can send the original roms to anybody for the postage cost if that means something. But I like to keep those if I ever want to revert the conversion process.
I still don't understand why you aren't happy with the MMC3 version. There is no real difference. It's the same game. I agree with kyuusaku. It's a waste what you are planning to do or are doing. I don't understand what there is to gain.
Hmm well from what I've read, the MMC3 version isn't 100% flawless, and you cannot aply contra ips patches to it. And to prove myself that I can do it is also important. The whole process is fascinating.
Fascinating? You swap out the ROM chips for something else. Not really that amazing. What do you mean apply contra IPS patches to it? Not that it's the end of the world that you destroy this game to make a bootleg, but the problem is there are lots of people that are all thinking the same thing. Pretty soon, the game will be extremely rare to come by.
If you want some cut scenes, so not worth it. Don't sacrafic a hard-to-find game for something thats already patched very well and just fine. Just a waste of a good game. Gold Metal Challenge needs a better game in it, Use the MMC3 Patch in that cart if it's the right donor. That game is DIRT cheap.
It often annoys me how people on the internet like to lecture others about the importance of their stuff. Not everything in this world is about rarity, and I find it admirable that some people are still capable of judging the values of their possessions based on their own opinion rather than what others say is valuable.
If the guy wants to destroy the cart to turn it into something that for him is obviously more important, just let him, it's not like his decision will change anyone else's lives.
But what if he ruins the very last one in existence
(I'm kidding)
Because destroying carts that are very few and far in between would be destroying something more then that cart, since it's more valuable to people because it is harder to find.
Okay I am going to take a NWC gold and turn it into a fancy NES-EVENT cart devcart. Because it makes sense.
UncleSporky wrote:
But what if he ruins the very last one in existence
(I'm kidding)
Even if you weren't kidding, what would be the difference between the cart being locked in a guy's basement and the cart not existing? For the rest of the world, none, because nobody would have the cart anyway. The only person that sees any difference is the one that owns the cart, so it should be up to him what to do with it.
Yeah but it's wrong to do so IMO. Destroying a piece of history many others would enjoy AND pay you for it and take care of it because you just don't want to use something else?
Here, even better then a donor cart of any sort:
http://www.retrousb.com/product_info.ph ... ucts_id=34
It says it's buggy, but I'd bet it would run. Works on FC using 72-60 converter so thats a plus if you have a FC.
65024U wrote:
Because destroying carts that are very few and far in between would be destroying something more then that cart, since it's more valuable to people because it is harder to find.
Yeah, I get that, but what difference does it make to
you? You won't have the cart either way, so why bother? It's exactly the same as if it didn't exist.
If someone really considers a cart to be so important, they should be trying to buy it from the current owner so that they can "guard" the carts themselves. If that's not an option, I don't see why bother the current owner.
What's not fascinating for you doesn't mean it isn't fascinating for everybody!
Even basic soldering for unexperienced user can be fun. Were you born with such knowledge? Geez.
You think I am just an ignorant to old stuff? Have you seen my collection? Bigger part of it comes literally out of garbage can, I've repaired and cleaned it. I treat those like gold! I started to buy old stuff just recently, I don't have so much money to say that 30usd is not "that expensive"! It' f***ing expensive for me! And don't ever think I don't work hard to earn money.
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Fascinating? You swap out the ROM chips for something else. Not really that amazing.
True. Maybe he's facinated by the cash he will make in selling his bootlegs ? Even if that was the case, he could sell one of the MMC3 versions instead and it wouldn't make a difference.
Personally I was glad when I got a Powerpak that I didn't have to deal with this crappy soldering and shity tiny wires again.
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What do you mean apply contra IPS patches to it?
I guess hacks and translations ? But there is no hacks of Contra on Romhacking.net, and the latest translation convert it to MMC3.
65024U wrote:
Here, even better then a donor cart of any sort:
http://www.retrousb.com/product_info.ph ... ucts_id=34It says it's buggy, but I'd bet it would run. Works on FC using 72-60 converter so thats a plus if you have a FC.
100% agreed.
Personally I'm really pissed about all the people that come and ask helps for their bootlegs. For me it's almost as if people came and asked for ROMs. However, the second case is stricly forbidden, while the first one is very common here. Why ?
I guess all posts about making bootlegs of commercial games should be systematically deleted or at least locked by the moderators. Posts to make dev-carts for nesdev purposes should be tolerated, of course. If people REALLY wants to make bootlegs the least they could do is lie and say they are making devcards so it looks legal.
Quote:
I started to buy old stuff just recently, I don't have so much money to say that 30usd is not "that expensive"! It' f***ing expensive for me!
You can probably get a random TLROM game for about $3 in most countries.
Newer thought of selling any botlegs. Until now ... just kidding. I collect games just for myself.
I have read many topics about why not destroy games to make other games. Simillar to that are people that buy Sonic and Knuckles cart just to rip out the connector for their Radica mod.
But ok, I will change my plans if you are saying that this particular game isn't a common one. Haven't got a clue about that. I newer wanted to destroy a not common game. Really. Japanese only RPG's are something that I never have considered rare. I think it's obvious for somebody not able to read japanese texts.
EDIT:
ok I've scratched the project, can at least somebody tell me whitch ips patch should I apply to the original J rom to have the MMC3 version, untranslated and closest to the real thing? thanks (I already mutilated one SMB3 cartridge for SMB2j so this one is lost anyway)
jpx72 wrote:
What's not fascinating for you doesn't mean it isn't fascinating for everybody!
Even basic soldering for unexperienced user can be fun. Were you born with such knowledge? Geez.
I agree. I was proud when I made my first devcart (4 or so years ago), even though it doesn't seem like that big of a deal nowadays. So don't put him down for that.
Also agree with tokumaru.
I mean, yeah I have DevCarts too, but not out of anything less then 8 Million copys sold!
Sorry about us flipping out, I just didn't want you to kill it for nothing.
As for the ISP patch, I have no idea where to get it. :/
MottZilla wrote:
Not that it's the end of the world that you destroy this game to make a bootleg
And I don't think anyone else here was all up in arms about this either. We are just pointing out the trend of people destroying cartridges that have a finite number for the purpose of building worthless bootlegs.
Sounds to me like you just want a MMC3 version of Contra that is not translated? I think Bregalad can do that for you.
Yes, personally I don't like the english translation, MMC3 hack was a great achievement but the translation was unnecessary.