Recommend a SFC adapter/converter for SNES

[Tanooki | 4,940]

I'm leaning more towards grabbing some SFC games I used to have like 20 years ago, and I will not chop up a system.

I've been poking around a bit and noticed you have ghetto adapter and some are good adapters.  The ghetto stuff doesn't have the expanded pin sets to the side which excludes some chipped games (SA1, SDD1, FX1, FX2, SA1/2, etc) outside of basically DSP titles.  I'd prefer not to get the ghetto thing, but I'm not aware of name/models of those which can support all titles as I'd like to get back the Parodius trilogy which #3 is a SA1 game.

I was surprised to see someone in Canada on ebay made this: https://www.ebay.com/itm/115131825955
The thing here seems to be hand made, 3D printed shell, and looks like a full pass through but who knows about the build of it.

Any ideas which way to go with this, again cart slot mutilation is off the table, did that on my launch SNES back in the day and in time it weaked up my cart pins slot so much I had to wedge cardboard in there to keep a stable connection.

[RH | 4,924]

I just found the AD-29 universal adapter.  What do you know about that?  I'm more fond of stuff with a "pocket" that the games fit in to prevent less wiggling.  Of course, this has two ports on top, but the shape is still better than nothing, like the example you've shown.  To make the situation better, if you find the right seller (though they may be in Europe) the are about the same price as your sample, even shipped.  It might take you 2 months to get it, but it seems viable.

[Sumez | 2,969]

I just use one of these generic ones, with the slot for a donor cart (not the exact model, but very similar, and undoubtedly do the exact same thing):

There are a lot that don't have the extra little connector pins on the sides for some reason, and therefore don't work with most of the games that rely on expansion chips/cart co-processors.

There's only been a couple of games that didn't work with it for me for some reason. Namely Godzilla: Kaijū Daikessen and Super Mario RPG. They work with a Pro Action Replay mk3 however. Not sure what the difference is, maybe it's something I should look into some time. Probably some kind of clever region protection employed by those games.

Edited December 9, 2021 by Sumez

[darkchylde28 | 1,546]

A pair of pliers was my friends' favorite solution. 

[Tanooki | 4,940]

14 hours ago, RH said:

I just found the AD-29 universal adapter.  What do you know about that?  I'm more fond of stuff with a "pocket" that the games fit in to prevent less wiggling.  Of course, this has two ports on top, but the shape is still better than nothing, like the example you've shown.  To make the situation better, if you find the right seller (though they may be in Europe) the are about the same price as your sample, even shipped.  It might take you 2 months to get it, but it seems viable.

Seems interesting and has the outer extra pin sets too, just wondering why it needs the two slots up top.

[darkchylde28 | 1,546]

4 hours ago, Tanooki said:

Seems interesting and has the outer extra pin sets too, just wondering why it needs the two slots up top.

My guess would be one slot for the game you're importing, and the other for a game that's of the correct region for your console so that the lockout chip matches up.  I know that on a lot of the earlier, legitimate/non-piracy adapters, that's how they did it to ensure compatibility with any console that the adapter would fit in, versus all the potential issues/complications that could arise (mostly legal, but potentially some technical ones as well) from defeating the lockout chip(s) wholesale.  Nintendo might not have liked such adapters, but it left them with very little viable grounds tor a lawsuit if everything was passive and pass-through versus something that actively changed how Nintendo's hardware got to talk to whatever was plugged into it.

[Sumez | 2,969]

It's possible to program custom CIC chips for cartridges that work with any SNES region, but I don't think I've ever seen an import adapter that has it built in. Maybe if someone somewhere is producing newly built adapters, but all adapters I've ever seen require using donor carts to defeat the lockout chip.

Alternatively you can mod the "SuperCIC" into your SNES itself for a true region free mod.

[DefaultGen | 5,414]

I don't know about the pins, but would chopping up a Game Genie be an alternative to chopping up a console?

[Tanooki | 4,940]

I don't recall the SNES actually having a lockout chip, the NES did (10NES) as did the N64 with its microcodes it used for various carts.

Maybe that pro action replay mk3 would be best, if it could be even found as they're not on ebay at the moment which is a bad sign.  Kind of surprised the myarcade one was so lazily designed to leave out those bits.

[Vectrex28 | 366]

I have an Action Replay MK3, and it's amazing. It can truly play everything. I'd recommend getting a German version as they tend to be cheaper

[darkchylde28 | 1,546]

On 12/10/2021 at 10:09 PM, Tanooki said:

I don't recall the SNES actually having a lockout chip, the NES did (10NES) as did the N64 with its microcodes it used for various carts.

I don't know if it's got a lockout chip onboard per se, but it's definitely got something, as otherwise the developers of Super Noah's Ark 3D wouldn't have needed to make their game a plug through cartridge in order to get it to play.

[Tulpa | 3,520]

Yes, the SNES has a lockout chip. It can be disabled, but certain games like Super Mario RPG won't play. 

That's why Sumez suggested the SuperCIC mod, as it will allow all regions, though you still have to get around the tabs for SFC carts.

Edited December 12, 2021 by Tulpa

[Sumez | 2,969]

On 12/11/2021 at 4:09 AM, Tanooki said:

I don't recall the SNES actually having a lockout chip, the NES did (10NES) as did the N64 with its microcodes it used for various carts.

SNES definitely has a lockout chip, that's why all import adapters come with those donor carts, it's always been a massive hassle IMO.

I usually play both my US and JP games on my American console to avoid using one because those are the same region (like on N64), but the downside is the ugly design.