Who can help me dump The Lone Ranger NES Prototype, and Jungle Strike SNES prototype chips?

[Armageddon Potato | 124]

Heya guys! I've had this NES prototype of the Lone Ranger sitting for a long time undumped, and my CopyNES does not want to dump it due to the odd wiring on the back. Any ideas on how to get this dang thing dumped?

I also have a Jungle Strike prototype that is chips only, but one of the legs of the 2nd chip is broken. Is there any way to repair it so it can be dumped?

Can pay for help if need be! Just looking to get these dumped and freed!

[darkchylde28 | 1,546]

For The Lone Ranger, I would think that putting the chips into the same type of board as the actual game then running jumper wires for whatever legs on the EPROMs need to be run in order to get it to run properly ought to do the trick.  It's possible that's already what's going on here with the prototype, but to my eye it seems like there are a lot more wires running around in the back than there typically are on a repro that's done with similar chips.  Your best bet is to ask someone like Frank Cifaldi for assistance/pointers, as they would have far more expertise with something like this than most anyone else on the site.

Regarding the damaged Jungle Strike chip, yes, absolutely, something can be done, especially with as much leg is left.  Typically when a leg breaks on a chip, all that's done is part of a leg from another chip is soldered onto what's left in order to allow it to make connection.  Since all that's missing from the pictured chip is the "tip" of the leg, it should be a very easy repair for someone with the skill and familiarity.  Usually when this type of thing happens, the corrosion has eaten through the chip much further up (sometimes even up to the chip package itself), making things much trickier to deal with, but in this case it should most likely take part of a minute to do the repair, and probably another minute or two to properly clean and prep everything (clean all the legs, straighten all the legs, etc.).

Good luck with your preservation efforts!

Edited February 4, 2023 by darkchylde28

[Code Monkey | 2,010]

Have you tried putting The Lone Ranger into a NT?

[the_wizard_666 | 1,325]

On 2/4/2023 at 5:06 AM, darkchylde28 said:

For The Lone Ranger, I would think that putting the chips into the same type of board as the actual game then running jumper wires for whatever legs on the EPROMs need to be run in order to get it to run properly ought to do the trick.  It's possible that's already what's going on here with the prototype, but to my eye it seems like there are a lot more wires running around in the back than there typically are on a repro that's done with similar chips.  Your best bet is to ask someone like Frank Cifaldi for assistance/pointers, as they would have far more expertise with something like this than most anyone else on the site. 

It looks like instead of bending pins and rewiring them like a repro maker would, they instead modified the traces.  The wires are connecting the pins to junctions along the board, and I would guess that the traces are cut as well.  It's a bit messier that way, but it doesn't damage the chips.

[the_wizard_666 | 1,325]

A closer look makes me wonder if that board even works.  The MMC3 looks hand soldered, which means it could be an issue. It also appears to be missing a resistor and some caps.  That could be the issue with CopyNES...the cart may simply not work.