Video Game "Look what I found"

[kelsoanim]

A coworker gave me a copy of Lunar Knights for DS for free today! Was going to give it to my office mate, but he said I would probably want it, which I did.

[mjmjr25]

I made a couple large-ish PCB purchases the past couple weeks, mostly from Europe, so the games are just now starting to arrive.

Brave Blade and Sorcer Striker PCB's should be here tomorrow per tracking, and the following arrived today:

DoDonPachi DaiOuJou Black Label: This game is on the PGM hardware and orinally released in a large Blue Metal monstrosity (most CAVE games were released as PCB's on PGM hardware) whereas just about everything else was released in cart format and worked on universal mobo. I found a guy who is able to still run the game via conversion cart on the PGM hardware. As some of you know, I am a HUGE fan of the PGM hardware and own all of the PGM1 games. So I was extremely excited of getting this cart, that would look great in my library, comes with a new repro label, and runs on the original hardware.
(cab is currently horizontal as my boys are playing Super Dodge Ball lately)

Cyvern the Dragon Weapons: An unported vertical shmup that runs on the Kaneko Super Nova hardware. Game looks gorgeous and has a very poetic feel as the Dragons have a very real feel to them, in the way they glide and change direction. Feels a bit like Psikyo with cooler powerups after two horizontal plays, i'm sure that feeling will change, but that's how it looks so far:

Quick youtube vid if interested:

I also got a Taito G-NET w/2011 Modbios. This typically isn't my thing, since it feels a bit like emulation and I really prefer original hardware / software where possible. However, if you are familiar with the G-NET system, this really is pretty close to the same thing. The motherboard has had a bios mod that allows for play of flashed software, using the same encoding as the original Taito software, so instead of a $600 Raycrisis G-Net card playing on a $150 mobo, this is an upgraded mobo for about $200 playing $5 compact flash cards. I have an original Psyvariar G-NET card and motherboard, so once I flash a copy of Psyvariar, I can run them side by side to see if it anything seems amiss, highly unlikely as the Psyvariar G-NET card really is the same thing...with a cool label.

Technically, you can use the same flash card and change your game in 30 seconds by downloading the rom coding from your PC to the card, however, for $5, i'll likely just buy 20 or so flash cards at $5 a pop and have them all pre-flashed with their own game and then find someone to make cool 1" labels for them.

Here is a game list supported by the mod-bios:

Aero Fighters Special
Brave Blade
Chaos Heat
Flame Gunner
Flip Maze
Fighters Impact (ver.1 / A)
G-Darius (ver.1 / 2)
GoByRC
Kollon CF
Mahjong Oh
Night Raid
Otenami Haiken
Otenami Haiken Final
Otenki Kororin
Psyvariar Medium Unit
Psyvariar Revision
Raystorm
Raycrisis
RCdeGo
Shanghai Matekibuyu
Shanghai Sangokuhai Togi
Shanghai Shoryu Sairin
Shikigami No Shiro
Soutenryu
Sonic Wings Limited
Space Invaders Anniversary
Super Puzzle Bobble
The Block Kuzushi
Usagi
XII Stag
Zoku Otenami Haiken
Zooo

[CRTGAMER]

I also got a Taito G-NET w/2011 Modbios. This typically isn't my thing, since it feels a bit like emulation and I really prefer original hardware / software where possible. However, if you are familiar with the G-NET system, this really is pretty close to the same thing. The motherboard has had a bios mod that allows for play of flashed software, using the same encoding as the original Taito software, so instead of a $600 Raycrisis G-Net card playing on a $150 mobo, this is an upgraded mobo for about $200 playing $5 compact flash cards. I have an original Psyvariar G-NET card and motherboard, so once I flash a copy of Psyvariar, I can run them side by side to see if it anything seems amiss, highly unlikely as the Psyvariar G-NET card really is the same thing...with a cool label.

Technically, you can use the same flash card and change your game in 30 seconds by downloading the rom coding from your PC to the card, however, for $5, i'll likely just buy 20 or so flash cards at $5 a pop and have them all pre-flashed with their own game and then find someone to make cool 1" labels for them.

Here is a game list supported by the mod-bios:

Aero Fighters Special
Brave Blade
Chaos Heat
Flame Gunner
Flip Maze
Fighters Impact (ver.1 / A)
G-Darius (ver.1 / 2)
GoByRC
Kollon CF
Mahjong Oh
Night Raid
Otenami Haiken
Otenami Haiken Final
Otenki Kororin
Psyvariar Medium Unit
Psyvariar Revision
Raystorm
Raycrisis
RCdeGo
Shanghai Matekibuyu
Shanghai Sangokuhai Togi
Shanghai Shoryu Sairin
Shikigami No Shiro
Soutenryu
Sonic Wings Limited
Space Invaders Anniversary
Super Puzzle Bobble
The Block Kuzushi
Usagi
XII Stag
Zoku Otenami Haiken
Zooo

Very nice and a great idea on the Flashcard "Arcade game cart" concept! The labels can easily be done, doublesided tape underneath and transparent (not magic) tape on top to provide a thin shiny protective surface.

[Hobie-wan]

Some cool stuff there Mike. I quite enjoyed Cyvern in the shmups thing last year (or was it the one before).

[mjmjr25]

Yeah, it was 2 or 3 years ago and where I first heard about it on shmups. I'm always a bit surprised at the number of genuinely very well-made and indepth games that never get ported. Then, I go into gamestop and peek around for shmups and I realize what a truly niche market it actually is. I forget that sometimes as it's pretty much all i've been playing the past couple years now.

@CRT - yeah, I know the labels have to be possible, but getting nice looking artwork onto a sticker just slightly larger than a post stamp is something I def. don't have the know-how or hardware to do, so something i'll def. have to commission...and at that, hopefully on the cheap as i'll need about 20 of them.

[CRTGAMER]

@CRT - yeah, I know the labels have to be possible, but getting nice looking artwork onto a sticker just slightly larger than a post stamp is something I def. don't have the know-how or hardware to do, so something i'll def. have to commission...and at that, hopefully on the cheap as i'll need about 20 of them.

Not really that hard, any photo program can resize the JPG to whatever size you need. I replaced a damaged label on a GBA cart using the method described. The trick is to stick the tape on top and bottom oversized before cutting out the printout. I can see what you mean wanting very professional labels due to the investment of the Arcade PCBs, but maybe give a couple a trial run?

For instance the Space Invaders Anniversary game, a PS2 cover pulled from a Google Image search. When reduced to a SD card size, just crop out the PS2 logo on top. No worries on the NTSC or game ratings logo below since they will be so tiny and appear as if part of the "official" stamp. The smaller logos can also be cropped and or painted out.

Even Arcade Flyers, Marquee or a game screen shot can be used as a SD Card label.

[mjmjr25]

^Gotcha and makes sense. I've never (until this past Christmas) even had a "possibly capable" printer, but i'll mess about and see if I can't work it out.

[o.pwuaioc]

Finally.

[Hazerd]

Finally.

How much ya pay?

[o.pwuaioc]

Finally.

How much ya pay?

$25 shipped. I was the only bidder, too. But fuck me, for months the going rate was twice that. I pop on and apparently it has dropped tremendously. So, whatever, I'm happy I got it, although my initial excitement has abated.

Edit: I will say this, except for the front cover, it's in very good condition. Nothing at all wrong with the inside, including intact subscription cards.