WELL THIS IS INTERESTING.. Retron 5

[Tanooki]

All I can add is silence, the tech has dropped off the last few days so I have no idea what's going on.

My final big wish on this is that they figure out the random unlikely but will eventually happen SRAM save corruption issue on the GBA game saves. I'd like to start playing my FF games on the TV again but the risk sucks. It is cool working on the others on there like GTA Advance, Metal Slug and various others.

[ExedExes]

I can't get to the R5 for the time being, what does that Konami code end up doing?

So we got 2 games that prank you for trying to load. If you leave the system on too long idling it pops a box up where yes or no really doesn't matter due to the context as it's more of a wake up prank.

The Konami Code is a message thanking you for purchasing the Retron 5 and thanking everyone behind the scenes who made it possible. You'll see a few pictures like the horse head avatar the Retron Tech uses. There is a little music as this is going on too.

I saw that inactivity message the other day. I didn't know which option to pick when I realized either one would so the same thing

My final big wish on this is that they figure out the random unlikely but will eventually happen SRAM save corruption issue on the GBA game saves. I'd like to start playing my FF games on the TV again but the risk sucks. It is cool working on the others on there like GTA Advance, Metal Slug and various others.

You mean the Final Fantasy games? When I opened up my carts to clean them, FF 1&2 as well as FFV Advance use Flash memory, not a battery. The only issue I have with SRAM save now is Konami Krazy Racers; the battery just might be dead in general but I haven't tried it with the new firmware yet and I would need further testing on my actual GBA to see what exactly the problem is.

[Tanooki]

I don't think all games using SRAM had a battery, I know that sounds odd, but if that is wrong then there's the problem entirely right there. If you google pocketheaven releases you'll get a site that logs all the piratey dumps of all the old handheld games mainly from Nintendo. All 4 of the FF titles on the system say they use SRAMv113 I believe is the right number. I noticed what you're saying too when I clean stuff that they don't have batteries inside and I too though SRAM needed a battery. If this is a crap report going back years and Hyperkin used that on the games for their CRC database, that maybe what's jacking up the saves all along.


Where do you enter that konami code? I tried the old U U D D L R L R B A start thing on the main menu and the pop menu when you're in game and it did nothing.

[wclem]

One thing I noticed on my SNES slot is that it is loosening up nicely. Now, it is the only one that has gotten a lot of use but I hope the others do also.

[ExedExes]

I don't think all games using SRAM had a battery, I know that sounds odd, but if that is wrong then there's the problem entirely right there. If you google pocketheaven releases you'll get a site that logs all the piratey dumps of all the old handheld games mainly from Nintendo. All 4 of the FF titles on the system say they use SRAMv113 I believe is the right number. I noticed what you're saying too when I clean stuff that they don't have batteries inside and I too though SRAM needed a battery. If this is a crap report going back years and Hyperkin used that on the games for their CRC database, that maybe what's jacking up the saves all along.


Where do you enter that konami code? I tried the old U U D D L R L R B A start thing on the main menu and the pop menu when you're in game and it did nothing.

I just read your post on DP about FeRAM. I went to a Photobucket that had pictures of the various GBA save types here and noticed that the flash chips are in a horizontal orientation whereas the FeRAM games are vertical. I need to pay a little more attention to what word is underneath the chips on the PCBs for each game. It also shows FF 1 & 2 as having FeRAM, which Pocket Heaven states is a SRAM. When I went through all my games, only 3 had actual batteries -- F-Zero Maximum Velocity, Game & Watch Gallery 4, and Konami Krazy Racers. I'll go through the ones that I thought had flash memory and check them again, the ones made by Nintendo at least. I kept a list of what each one had so it shouldn't take long, and I'll come back with an update tonight.

The konami code must be done on the main menu, then the options disappear and the messages should appear. Remember it's left and right, not the L & R buttons. You may need to hit Start, but if it doesn't come up, try that.

[Tanooki]

Maybe it's not active in the 1.5 preview build as I enver put the official 1.5 as I understood there was no change. I did do the code with dpad l and r on the main and nothing so that's weird.

I think that FeRAM thing maybe a key here to the failures, dropped a message to the tech about it along with a hellish bug GTA Advance has too that really jacked up the visuals of the game (messes up the scrolling on the lower half of the screen slowly worsening as you play more.)

[ExedExes]

Maybe it's not active in the 1.5 preview build as I enver put the official 1.5 as I understood there was no change. I did do the code with dpad l and r on the main and nothing so that's weird.

I think that FeRAM thing maybe a key here to the failures, dropped a message to the tech about it along with a hellish bug GTA Advance has too that really jacked up the visuals of the game (messes up the scrolling on the lower half of the screen slowly worsening as you play more.)

Ok, so I went through the games that I thought *had* flash, and it turns out not all of them really do.

Out of 9 games I originally classified as flash, 5 of them have FeRAM. It's easy to spot, just as in the pictures, there are 2 vertically oriented chips and the left one is the FeRAM with "FRAM" written near it on the PCB. The real SRAM games are marked with "SRAM" on their PCBs, which means Pocket Heaven's list will need to be updated.

The 5 games I have that have the FeRAM are all by Nintendo -

F-Zero GP Legend
Final Fantasy I & II
Final Fantasy V Advance
Mario Golf Advance Tour
Wario Ware Inc.

However, Advance Wars, Mario Kart Super Circuit, and Super Mario Advance 4 use Flash. Also, the 2-in-1 Sonic Advance & Sonic Pinball Party, but that was by Sega.

I can confirm my FFV cartridge does have the data from the Retron 5 successfully written back to it. I haven't tried it with the others yet.

I also just tried the code again in my Retron 5 menu. After hitting A, the menu disappears and the message comes up along with some music, and it returns to the menu after it is finished. It might have been a part of the new build.

[foxhound1022]

Well, I picked one of these up earlier today to see what all the hype was about.

I can honestly say that I wasn't expecting much going into this, but ended up being floored by the quality of picture and sound this thing puts out.

1st thing I tried was some NES stuff; I had to see what SMB 3 looked like though HDMI. It was almost like seeing it again for the first time, just gorgeous.

Then I put it though some paces, JP GB, and GBA games, Genesis, some SNES, and SFC. It played every game I threw at it the 1st time out.

I've mostly been a proponent of playing games on their original hardware, this would be one of the few times where I can really say that from a purely aesthetic standpoint, this is superior.

From a gameplay aspect, once I get to actually sit down and play some games on it, will that become clearer.

[ExedExes]

Awesome, glad you like it. Did you upgrade the firmware to 1.5?

[fastbilly1]

Hearing Foxhound and DSH takes on it, now I want one again. The whole "seeing games for the first time again" is what really strikes me. I mean its not like I stopped playing my originals on CRTs, but a crisp HD image of an NES game is a sight I must behold. Still no PCB shots of the controller, but I am sure I can solder it into a spare arcade stick.