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Fixing That Old Game System
larsoncc writes "Emulation is a great way to preserve past game systems, but what if you could keep these digital dinosaurs running for decades? Well, you can, and some of us do. It's not easy for me to 'let go' of that vintage (circa 1978) Magnavox Odyssey2, or toss my Atari 7800 in the closet because I don't have a power supply. Here's my article to help you solve common problems with 15 different systems, and general tips for the others. Viva la TI-99/4a!!"
I wish I had the games I wrote for my timex sinclier. That wher on cassete tape. and an emulator that would run them. I was so proud when I ran out of room in the 2K built in memory and had to attache the 16K ram expansion.
http://Lenny.com
What if nobody's made an emulator for your favorite obscure system? What if the emulator doesn't play it right? What if you want to use the original controller? What if you believe in respecting copyright law, no matter how ridiculous it may be?
Here is what I use: Windex, Radio Shack component cleaner and Q-tips. Windex for the exterior and the RS component cleaner for RF leads and cartridge contacts. Occasional Amour-All to give it a nice shine if you're gonna advertise it on eBay.
How do I fix my old PSX? My Original Playstation. I know the "turn upside down" trick...but for the life of me, I can't seem to find any place that sells laser assemblies anymore. If I ebay or froogle for it, all I get is tons and tons of stuff for the ps2.
Damn technology.
You're all bastards!
As for nobody making an emulator for your favorite obscure system... well, nobody's stopping _you_ from doing that. The emulator not playing it right can be annoying, however.
Also, you can probably use the original controller as well, if you are game for a little hardware hacking.
File under 'M' for 'Manic ranting'
Wow, I really could have used this information 20 years ago! I was devestated when the power supply to my TI-99/4a blew out from overheating, and lord knows those Odyssey2 joysticks weren't built to last. Actually, any information about repairing and replacing hard-wired peripherals would have been helpful back then.
One console that's missing from the list was an early console (does anyone remember the name?) that competed with the original Odyssey. It was the ultimate in hard-wired madness. All of its games were built-in, and were selectable with a sliding knob. It had two hardwired sliding-stick controllers, and possibly the first console lightgun, which was made of pig iron and weighed approximately 185 pounds. The monochromatic games were all variations on table tennis and "shoot the square". And yes, that used to be fun. :)
The disk drives (1541 and 1581) were notorious for getting out of alignment. There was actually a small BASIC program written to help "knock" it back into alignment. You can see it on this page, near the bottom.
The reason boiling a disc works is because DVDs are manufactured by sandwiching the reflective gold layers between a thin layer of plastic. During maufacturing, the layers may not be glued correctly and causes minor warpage which makes the disc difficult for the DVD drive to read. Heating the disc with water softens the glue slightly and allows the layers to even out.
That's nice for the consoles, but what about the older computers?
I bought for my TI99 a red/black joystick that had microswitches in it. Time, as well as not having that joystick anymore (well, maybe it's just time!) is probably why I can't do as well on some of the games.. the feel of that joystick was unique, to say the least...
A friend of mine was talking one night about the old intellivision controllers... there's a company out there that sells some of the old intellivision ROMS legally, but of course, have to use keyboard+mouse... would be neat to have reproductions of those joysticks/pads...
Probably be expensive nowadays though, just for that little bit of nostalgia... no matter how well placed said nostalgia may be.
Karnal
The Flash Cart that I linked to was just released this year. It doesn't have these co-processors built in, but you can buy an add on "T-connector" that lets you plug the flash cart and a real SNES cart containing the DSP co-processor used in many SNES games. There are other special co-processor types that some games use and can't be used with the aformentioned flash cart or copiers. However, these games are in such small numbers... less than 1% of all SNES games, that you can just buy the ones that you want to play, but can't get to work with your Flash cart or copier.
...ahh, gotta love my SNES. Right now I have both a SNES flash cart and the Game Doctor SF7 copier plugged into my SNES. Tons of great gaming.
The most commonly used co-processor for SNES games is called the "DSP chip", and it is used in games such as Super Mario Kart, Pilot Wings, F-Zero, etc. The DSP chip is built in to many copiers, and many that don't have a built in DSP chip provide some kind of "piggy-back" solution.
The SNES is a great system for RPGs, fighting games, etc. I personally love fan improvements/translations to some of the SNES RPGs, such as the english translation of the and also the improved translation of the original Secret of Mana... as well as the english translation of Final Fantasy 5, the improved translation of Final Fantasy 2, which includes removed scenes from the original....
Looks they can be purchased online here..
Anyone who would do this instead of emulating or contributing to the (largely open source) emulator community is missing alot of things about how fun classic gaming has become.
Alot of people have trouble setting up emulators. This is due to the fact that most games play much better with 3rd party plugins than the original included plugins. Do a little research, or just try this:
Get yourself a boat load of roms. (shareaza, irc, google, there are ways). Then install zsnes, set the video to 1024x768 and turn on hq3x.
This improves the playability of old snes roms so much that it is amazing. Especially with a high quality usb controller (i like the saitek p2500), and a projector. Mario is over a foot tall and not jaggy at all! People come to my house ALL THE TIME, just to play dr. mario with foot long pills.
Another big favorite is mortal kombat 4 (n64 edition) on 1964 with the jabo video plugin, at 1024x768, with 8x AA and 8x ansio enabled. The people are nearly as tall as real people and their blood sprays all over the room.
Another key element is a good little surround sound system. I like the logitech z640 set of speakers and a cheap audigy, but there are other options.
It's cool to restore old consoles as a hobby, but for raw playability and user experience, a kick ass PC set up right with a projector and wireless gamepads, seriously takes it. None of my friends even play their xbox/ps2/gamecube anymore! (They do play vice city ALOT on this particular pc setup, can't wait for the pc version of san andreas!!!)
rhY
I hold very few opinions. I hold information based on observation and fact. If you wish to disagree, please use facts.
One of the things I've found a bit interesting is how awful some older games look on a VGA/SVGA or higher resolution display that were designed with TV monitors in mind.
I fondly remember games on my 2600 and C64 that looked cool, but when seeing them on a high res monitor they looked like crap (emulator also).
It seems many designers back then took into account the low resolution nature of monitors and low scan rates to kind of use a natural form of anti-aliasing.
So when using that emulator of old games be sure to lower your monitor refresh rate (if possible) to what the game was originally ment to play under and it will look as you remember it!
Trust me, get to really playing and the 7800's controllers wear out fast. The problem is poor design: There's a small piece of very cheap plastic at the base of the Joystick shaft that circles the shaft and is needed for the Stick's contacts to connect. The plastic would wear down long before the contacts, keeping them from getting pressed. This is in addition to the fact that the 7800 joystick was _really_ uncomfortable after an hour or so. The best joystick ever, to this day, is the Epyx 500xj. Solid metal shaft, durable clicking switches. Great for 2600 games but I don't think it was 7800 compatible. If it was, I had long since got rid of my 7800 by then.
The trouble with the 5200 controllers wasn't durability, it was that they where analog, and all the 5200 games where designed for digital control. An analog joystick isn't the best choice for pac-man...
Hi! I make Firefox Plug-ins. Check 'em out @ https://addons.mozilla.org/en-US/firefox/addon/youtube-mp3-podcaster/
It had tracks written deliberately out of alignment - track 0 and 1 (iirc) were written very "broad" so any drive would read it, then the subsequent tracks were written "too far in" gradually moving into correct alignment, then going "too far out". So - you put the disk in, it would boot, upload special firmware to the drive, then it would step through the disk counting which tracks gave it the "best" read (least CRC errors).
Then - and this is the truly horrifying bit - it would gently wind the head all the way to one end, and then very, very quickly slam it into the other end stop. It would do this a few times, then read the alignment tracks again, then slam the head a few times, then reread the alignment tracks... and so on, until the head was absolutely bang on centred.
The guy I worked with told me to never, ever, *ever* run that disk with a customer in the shop...
To add a bit to this:
The Commodore 64 has a sound chip called the SID (Sound Interface Device) chip. It had a few different versions, but it has a really distinctive sound. I won't go into the nitty gritty tech-specs, I'll just say it had 3 voices. Interested parties can employ google.
Emulation gets close, but audiophiles would know that the sound isn't quite the same when you compare an emulated SID to a real one.
Musicians pay BIG money these days for a MIDI device that has one or more SID chips in it so they can use it as a synthesizer. Personally, I just paid $50 for a C=64 MIDI interface so I could utilize one of my 64's in my studio. I believe that that's the retail price when it was new in 1983.
A little known fact: the engineers at MOS (later Commodore Semiconductor Group) that designed the SID chip later left Commodore and founded Ensoniq, which in its early days made bona-fide synths. Most people either love their synths or hate them (I love them, for the record.)
Back to the point: emulation can get close, very close in some cases, but it's not exactly the same thing. Especially when you're dealing with these old chips that had exploitable flaws.
--J(K) DOS is like Unix in exactly the same way that a pinto is like an aircraft carrier.
For more details about how to clean your NES without a cleaning kit, I wrote up a set of instructions back in college: How to Clean your NES and Games.
Alex.