Zig's SNES Repros

[SnowKitty]

You can use an actual SFC version, but there are other less blasphemous donors that you could use. you wouldn't be able to reflash the original chip because those are ROM (read only memory) and are different from the EPROM (erasable programmable read only memory).
I'm not exactly sure what chip you would need for that, i got most of my boards from the guy at gamereproductions.com and they came in the form of TSOP with an adaptor to just solder them into donor. I think certain games require certain EPROMs which you may want to look into, but I also know that there are crappier games that you can use as donors. there is a list floating around somewhere that has every game's specs which will help to find a cheap donor (most games will work with something like Madden 95 or NBA hangtime, which are games that won't be missed by most people ><).

NHL 97 works for seiken densetsu 3. also, you can use some weirdo japanese sports or pachinko game for a shell donor if you want the super famicom style casing. i see nothing wrong with destroying old sports games, they can be had for free or at worst a couple of dollars and are common as dirt. they also tend to be in good shape and have minimal to no wear on the pins because nobody ever plays the damn things.

[fireaza]

Do you know if the Game Reproductions guy would be able to just give me the ROM for the game? Then I could solder it on myself? I asked him if it would be cheaper if I provided the cartridge for him, but he seemed to imply it would be the same cost.

[Tildius Maximus]

I'm not sure if he still does it or not, but you used to be able to have him send you the board/chip with the rom on it, and you could choose to have it come assembled, or do the surface mount soldering and putting the TSOP together part yourself. I ordered a bunch of em from him assembled and it was really nice because all i had to do was solder em into the donor. also, the best part was that with the TSOP there was no wiring that needed to be done on my part.

[fireaza]

I'm not sure if he still does it or not, but you used to be able to have him send you the board/chip with the rom on it, and you could choose to have it come assembled, or do the surface mount soldering and putting the TSOP together part yourself. I ordered a bunch of em from him assembled and it was really nice because all i had to do was solder em into the donor. also, the best part was that with the TSOP there was no wiring that needed to be done on my part.

Any clue where that option is on the website? Or how I would communicate to him that's what I want done, and not the more expensive completed cartridge option?

[Ziggy]

You can email him, just click on "contact us" at the bottom of every page.

[Tildius Maximus]

like Zig said, just send him an email telling him exactly what you want and he'll let you know how to do it through his store, usually it is buying a certain amount of the eproms or something. He is generally very quick in replying to email, so you shouldn't be left hanging terribly long.

[fireaza]

Okay, I've sent him an email basically telling him what Tildius Maximus said, hopefully he'll understand what I'm after

In the meantime, what would be involved from my end? I'm guessing I'll need to de-solder a particular chip and solder in a replacement with the new ROM on it?

[Tildius Maximus]

well, it takes about month to get your stuff from him, but in the meantime I would check out the donor list and acquire a donor for each of your games. you have some options when it comes to removing the current rom chip. you can go pin by pin and meticulously remove it. personally, I just dremel the pins until the actual chip is free and then heat each pin and push it through (this is the fast way). but be very careful no matter how you are removing the chip, because if you damage a lead you are essentially out a cart ><. I do NOT recommend using a heat gun to heat the pins, because i tried that once and fried some other components on the board in the process of removing the chip.

[Ziggy]

Just some tips...

you have some options when it comes to removing the current rom chip. you can go pin by pin and meticulously remove it. personally, I just dremel the pins until the actual chip is free and then heat each pin and push it through (this is the fast way).

You really have that backwards. With the amount of time it will take you to cut the pins then use an iron to remove each individual one, I would have had the mask ROM removed already and not butchered. It always comes down to having the right tool for the right job. In this case, the right tool is a desoldering iron, not a rotary cutter.

Example: http://www.radioshack.com/product/index ... Id=2062731

Using one of those, you can have a mask ROM removed in under a minute. And you wont be running the risk of accidental damage to the PCB from using the rotary tool. And your mask ROM will still have the legs attached. PS, I hate Radio Shack and all of their products.

but be very careful no matter how you are removing the chip, because if you damage a lead you are essentially out a cart ><.

Not true, a damaged solder pad does NOT mean you're out a cart. You just have to fix it. It happens. More often when you don't know what you're doing, but it does happen from time to time anyway.

I do NOT recommend using a heat gun to heat the pins, because i tried that once and fried some other components on the board in the process of removing the chip.

Now here's something we can agree on! A heat gun is the wrong thing to use. Speaking about guns, a soldering gun is also the wrong thing to use.

Like I said, a desoldering iron is the right tool to be using. You can get one for $12 at Radio Shack. It'll do the job perfectly fine. A more high-end tool would be a vacuum desolderer, but I don't think they're cheap enough for the average person.

A desoldering braid is another option that's perfectly acceptable. It depends what you're comfortable with. A friend of mine claims he can desolder a ~32-pin DIP component with a braid as fast as I can with a desoldering iron.

[fireaza]

Would a soldering iron and a de-soldering pump be nearly as good as that item you linked to? I've had some pretty good runs with it in the past. I tried de-soldering braid before, could never get it to work properly.

Still waiting for the Game Repos guy to get back to me, hopefully he will soon. Is the general rule that you can always use the original Super Famicom version of the game as the donor cart? There's a few more games I'd like to get repos made of, ones that aren't on the Game Repos site, but I know where I can get the original SFC cartridge and the English-patched ROM from.