I've been waiting since I got my Powerpak last December and it's still at mapper set 1.12 yet RetroZone keeps releasing NES repros and homebrew games. Does anyone know of any 3rd party mapper updates or why RetroZone isn't supporting Powerpak updates right now?
bunny seems to be a pretty busy dude and already does a ton to contribute to the NES community. it's probably just a matter of time and priorities.
Designing new mappers is also a very difficult and time-consuming process, since (AFAIK) you're basically recreating the original hardware at the circuit level. Not many people are capable of, or willing to invest the time in doing this.
Castlevania periodically locks up on stage 14 on the PowerPak. Does anybody else have this problem?
If you're playing PRG0, that's a bug in the game itself. I got stung by it when I was a kid on more than one occasion.
BMF54123 wrote:
If you're playing PRG0, that's a bug in the game itself. I got stung by it when I was a kid on more than one occasion.
Scratch that. It is actually stage 15, not stage 14.
Yes, it is the PRG0 version. The bug only happens in a specific area of stage 15, i.e., where you have to run to the left with knights and those flying medusa heads coming at you. It seems as though the lockup occurs when too many things are going on at the same time.
Are you sure that the PRG1 version doesn't have this bug? I've never played through the NES Castlevania games, and I wanted to start from the beginning. Are there Game Genie codes for starting at specific stages? I'd prefer to just start at stage 14 so that I can knock Castlevania 1 off my list of games that I have yet to complete.
Jagasian wrote:
Are you sure that the PRG1 version doesn't have this bug?
Positive. I've never encountered it on my PRG1 cart.
For some reason, I usually encountered the bug in the area
before the hallway with knights and Medusa heads, after climbing the left staircase. Did the status bar disappear or shift left/right when it locked up on you?
BMF54123 wrote:
Jagasian wrote:
Are you sure that the PRG1 version doesn't have this bug?
Positive. I've never encountered it on my PRG1 cart.
For some reason, I usually encountered the bug in the area
before the hallway with knights and Medusa heads, after climbing the left staircase. Did the status bar disappear or shift left/right when it locked up on you?
Yeah. It doesn't happen with high probability. I leave my NES on for days at a time, because I've yet to beat stage 15 without cheating and I only play 15 minutes or so at a time. It seems as though after about 10 times going through that stage, a lockup will occur.
Please don’t buy something from RetroZone (like the SNES or NES Powerpack) !!! They rob you !!! I can prove you that they are not honest, they keep your cash and they never send the products ! Follow my advice...
mumbly wrote:
Please don’t buy something from RetroZone (like the SNES or NES Powerpack) !!! They rob you !!! I can prove you that they are not honest, they keep your cash and they never send the products ! Follow my advice...
That's a very serious accusation to make. In the US, mail fraud is a federal offense. Don't jump to conclusions. So the questions are, did you wait long enough (how long)? Did you get a tracking number? And was the package insured?
Clearly, most people don't seem to have problems getting their stuff.
I have a powerpak here that seems to say differently....I think you were just unlucky dude.
Well it shipped all the way to my country fine. Tough what sucks is that it don't accept too small CF cards like mine
However it's true you can get unlucky with mail I guess.
I sent a package to Brazil from Japan to a friend and he never received it. So those things happens. It doesn't mean that the cause was that it was never sent.
I have bought a PowerPak and four different games from Retrozone in the past, and each time, I find the quality and expediency of the shipment to be exemplary. The descriptions are honest, and every product I have bought from them so far has either met or exceeded my expectations. I intend to do business with them again in the future and recommend them to my friends, as RetroZone is more trustworthy than most other retro-tech-related online stores I've dealt with.
I've bought several items from RetroZone over a period of the past few years, and I've never had a problem.
Maybe mumbly is just an engineered character to say bad things about RetroZone so we would all chime in about how excellent and reliable it has been for us.
I love my NES PowerPAK and the only issue I had was the Compact Flash card that came with it was defective or I messed it up somehow. Didn't really matter as the PowerPAK works excellent and getting another CF card was easy.
I've ordered from Retrozone. Never a problem. I'll do it again when budget permits.
Jagasian wrote:
Castlevania periodically locks up on stage 14 on the PowerPak. Does anybody else have this problem?
I have the opposite problem. I have a cart that locks up in the late grim reaper level, but the ROM I have on my powerPAK has never had a problem. When I beat Castlevania, I was using my PowerPAK.
I too can vouch for Retrozone's excellence. I have a PowerPAK, and a USB to NES adapter. Both came quickly and I've had no problems with either.
Iirc the castlevania thing is cause of a bug on the revision 0 roms of castlevania. They fixed it later on.
Jeroen wrote:
Iirc the castlevania thing is cause of a bug on the revision 0 roms of castlevania. They fixed it later on.
I confirmed that myself. It was a bug in the original game, not the NES PowerPak.
I just made a purchase from Retrozone this is my 3rd or 4th time now.
I can also verify that Retrozone is a respectable business. I had some slow communication issues with them while getting my PowerPak resistor-fixed, but eventually it all worked out. Bunny is a great addition to our hobby, his products are of high quality and we should thank him for making them available to us all.
Mumbly, I'm sorry you've had a negative experience. Contact Bunnyboy I'm sure you can work it out.