What would YOU want to see in the charity auction?

[Ziggy]

I like to make custom items for the charity auction. Some in the past have raised good money, but other times not so much. So this thread is to basically try and gauge what people would like to see and actually bid on. Last year I think I actually spent more money on custom items than the amount they raised, which is kind of a bummer.

Feel free to use this thread to spitball your own ideas for the 2023 auction (assuming we're having one).

In previous years I have made repro carts for the charity auctions. The ones that were Japan exclusive RPGs with fan translations had done well. Stuff like Secret of Mana 2, Terranigma, Star Fox 2, et cetera. But those seem kind of boring to me now. I came up with a few original ideas, and I even made a few of them for the 2021 auction. While I thought they were really neat, they didn't get a lot of bids. I think they barely raised what they cost in parts to make. They were designed and assembled by myself, and it was a total labor of love. So I'm not upset about that. It's just that I'd rather do something more popular that would raise more money.

Here are those carts from 2021, if anyone is interested in what they were...

Last year I came really close to having another totally unique homebrew cart for the charity auction. It kind of sucked because I spent a lot of time on it and ended up not having the correct specs. Long story short, I didn't have enough to make it work in time for the auction so I had to ditch the idea. I thought about making it for this year, but on second thought, I don't know. It's totally novel, but maybe no so practical. So on second thought, I'm not sure many people would bid on it. Since these are unique ideas, I like to keep them a secret until they're entered into the auction. But since I wont be doing it, I figured what the hell. Here it is if anyone is curious...

In short, there's a NES emulator that runs on the SNES called Project-Nested. So this would be the original NES Castlevania and Contra on a SNES cart. The only thing is that they don't run very well, so that's why I say it isn't too practical. And I'm not sure how many bids something would get that would basically be used once and then sit on a shelf as a conversation piece.

The label took inspiration from the PC package...

So here's a couple of unique homebrew cart ideas I had that I was thinking about making for this year, but I'd like feedback first.

Final Fantasy NES - This is something I was thinking of making for myself, but then thought it would be really cool as a charity auction item. The original FF on the NES is a little dated, but there's some excellent patches that modernize it a little, and some quality of life things. So I would make a cart with some hacks to make a nicer version of the game. But then the cart would have two physical switches on them. The original FF on the NES only has one save file. So one switch would select between two different saves. The other switch would be a normal mode in one position, and then in the other position would be an anti-grind mode (earn more exp and gil for each battle). The idea there is that you can sort of cheat when you don't feel like grinding.

Sonic 3 Complete - This idea isn't so unique, but still awesome. There's a hack called Sonic 3 Complete, and it basically stitches Sonic 3 and Sonic & Knuckles together into one large game. One cart, no lock-on needed. And it also adds some cool tweaks. There's a a menu you can access to set a lot of options to your desire, like stage order or which music plays. It's a really well made hack.

What repro or homebrew cart would you bid on? If not something I have mentioned above or made in previous years, then let me know what you would like to see! No guarantees, of course.




Last year I made some framed pictures for the auction, and they didn't do as well as expected. Items 13-17 if you're curious. IIRC I think I spent more on them than what they raised, which is kind of a bummer. So if anyone has any feedback for this sort of item, let me know! I don't know if it was just the game choices that weren't popular enough, or if not that many people want framed 8x10 video game art, or what.

[marurun]

Part of it will s that we just don’t have the same regular user base we used to, so there just aren’t enough spenders to be interested in all the things.

[sevin0seven]

What repro or homebrew cart would you bid on? If not something I have mentioned above or made in previous years, then let me know what you would like to see! No guarantees, of course.

Any of infidelity's conversion/work would probably peak some interest: https://archive.org/details/@infidelity












..the MSU1 version is probably a longshot, but I don't mind bidding on regular (music) version. Just an idea.

[Ziggy]

Part of it will s that we just don’t have the same regular user base we used to, so there just aren’t enough spenders to be interested in all the things.

Yes, which is all the more reason to try and gauge what people want to see in the auction. 50 or so bidders, there's bound to be a few people that want an 8x10 print of Another World. But just a dozen, I guess there aren't enough that want it to make a bidding war. Even with the lower participation, the auction is still fun. At least, in my opinion. It's just that for custom items, I have to make them more focused to the tastes of the people that are actually bidding since there's less of them. With less people, it's just more of a gamble otherwise.

Any of infidelity's conversion/work would probably peak some interest: https://archive.org/details/@infidelity

Thanks sev, I'll look into those. MSU-1 is out simply because of a lack of hardware the supports it. Currently the only physical cart that supports MSU-1 is the FXPAK Pro, so that would be one expension repro! I suppose it's possible for someone to take the MSU-1 code and put it on a (smaller) FPGA, then make a custom cart to support it, but no one has done that yet.

[SamuraiMegas]

The only game stuff I really collect now is Virtual Boy and Metal Gear items, but if you do something with either of those I'd definitely throw a bid in. Probably won't for artwork; I have a shit ton of posters and things I need to hang already.

[Ziggy]

So let's say I made a T-shirt with Solid Snake playing a VB... You'd be all over that?

This very likely will not happen.

[Anapan]

If you are thinking of doing repros, here's a couple I've been contemplating commissioning:
Super Mario Bros. Special 35th anniversary https://www.romhacking.net/hacks/6067/
Mega Man: the Sequel Wars -Episode Red https://woodfrog.itch.io/mega-man-the-s ... pisode-red

I have so many WIP projects at near completion, but can't name any since I can't guarantee they'd be done for the October auction. Also, my work schedule for this fall is looking like one after another job strung together starting in a couple of weeks, and might not end until December.

Still love the Clear Blue LED-lit test cart and SOTN print. Your contributions are always so well made.

I messed with Project Nested a bit; The tweaks improve it, and there's improvements to the engine all the time. I didn't have much luck with the best games either tho.

[Ziggy]

Thanks, Anapan. I'm glad you're enjoying those items. Those carts were a lot of fun to make.

For those that dig repro carts... Do you like the clear or translucent shells with LED lights? Or do you prefer a traditional look?

[SamuraiMegas]

So let's say I made a T-shirt with Solid Snake playing a VB... You'd be all over that?

This very likely will not happen.

Haha, if you made that'd id definitely rock it.