darkchylde28

I feel strongly that that was inevitable the moment that NFTs entered the discussion as the sole path forward for the Star Keeper IP, regardless of how well intentioned they were. Double those feelings each time OP seems like they have skipped, dodged, or outright ignored public requests/calls for verification of their claimed identity (especially since there are at least one or two VGS members who have stated they are legitimately willing to invest in the NFT scheme).

According to the video they posted about it, they are aware of the NEC version but had nothing at all to do with it, thus not considering it a true/direct/etc. sequel to the work they did. They apparently had a design document created in the 90s to do a direct sequel on the NES and Mac but got sidelined into other things since the company they worked for turned away from those types of games, then games altogether. Reading through the FAQs on the Kickstarter, they mention that there is currently zero possibility of them putting out an NES version as part of the Kickstarter and no current plans to do so, but do not preclude the possibility of it happening if the Kickstarter is popular enough, due to them having to re-code the whole game from the ground up. It sounds like those of us wanting/hoping for a true NES sequel had our hopes dashed by them programming the sequel in easier, more modern languages versus the old days where the languages used between platforms were generally much closer, or sometimes the same, allowing for much less work needing to happen for a port to exist. However, the fact that the new game is built from a design document they created when the intention was to release a sequel on the NES does make it sound like it's certainly possible for them to port the game should they choose to do so. The question remains how many sales and/or how much uproar/fervor would need to be generated in order for them to choose to do so.

I think the better question would be, "When was the last time a non-artsy movie actually won?" I just went back through the list, and while there were several winners that I watched before they got nominated and ejoyed, the last real, mostly mass-appeal movie that won Best Picture was Return of the King, 19 years ago. I seem to recall a lot of people muttering about exactly this the year that Black Panther lost, and regular people finally started realizing exactly how out of touch the Oscars were with what "everyone" thought of movies.

We all get that. What we all don't seem to get is that we aren't the target audience of OP's NFT. So, for the time being, no matter how many of us wail, or how loudly, OP isn't going to budge, because we aren't the target audience of his attempts to generating capital. Personally, I agree with you that the NFT is a bad idea, is ill targeted, and unlikely to generate any real revenue, nor any tangible results. However, OP isn't convinced of this, so you're just wasting your own and everyone else's time with diatribe after diatribe stating the exact same points over and over. He gets it. We get it. Let's let it be and see what happens at this point. The dead horse is basically a light stain on the floor situated inside of a shallow hole that's been beaten into it. At this point, you're not reasoning, you're basically alternating between almost threatening and begging, neither of which is going to sway OP from his desired goal for a quick cash infusion to better whatever situation he's in. If OP really is 87Arts, then perhaps we'll see some sort of actual Star Keeper sequel should this scheme succeed, or maybe even a port or re-release of the original game so that many more people can be exposed to it. However, this isn't guaranteed per OP's own statements specifically and categorically denying any sort of re-release of the original game. This move isn't for the fans, it's for OP, whoever he is. Based on some points that @Scrobins made (and that I had thought but left unsaid), perhaps it would be a good idea for someone in the thread who originally purchased the first one from 87Arts to dig back into their emails, find the original email confirmation/receipt/whatever, and send an email to that address and see if they get a response. Given the amount of interest in the original game and direct continuations of it, it certainly wouldn't hurt anyone on either side of this discussion to know for a fact whether 87Arts is actually who we've been speaking to or not, and presumably only he would have access to that original email address. I know that won't make anyone feel better about NFTs, but at least it might inspire some more hope for additional, direct sequel projects should OP be proven to be exactly who they're claiming they are.

Thanks for sharing this. I'm torn about backing this, as I'd be all in if they had developed an actual sequel on the NES, but they instead did it on PC, but in the NES style. The various NES-esque rewards are cool (box, fake/placeholder cartridge, etc.), but they don't really take the place of having a real, playable NES version of the game. They don't state anywhere that it was impossible to do so due to the scope of the game, etc., so it sounds like they didn't even think about creating a true direct sequel (not that this one isn't a sequel, but a true direct sequel would be on the same platform, IMO), not even as some sort of stretch goal. At the moment they're showing as having generated nearly $86K, well over their $25K goal, but I feel far short of what true fans of the NES version would have contributed for an on-the-NES sequel. I guess if worse comes to worse and I don't back it, I'll always have the option to buy a copy on Steam or GOG later on, since they're releasing it on both platforms.

Based on the tecnical specs of the chips, yes, if they're plugged in, the chips will have some measure of power and should be fine. With that being said, people having "partial" issues ("bad" spots in the internal storage) should be able to cure it, if the nand's power slowly depleting is the problem, simply by re-flashing their firmware on the system. That should rewrite all of it and start anew. As for "bricked" systems, I imagine Nintendo probably has some sort of "programmer" disc fo them that will load the code necessary to get the thing booting and imagine that they likely come blank straight from manufacturing. I saw a couple of YouTube videos a while back about a Wii console that was like this, where the guy bought it "new" at a flea market and it turned out that it was a system that had missed having the firmware flashed onto the system at the factory via disc, so he had to hunt up one of those to get the job done.

Maybe, maybe not. I think he was probably who they wanted, and was a name that Hollywood execs knew would get young and old butts into seats, regardless of how they feel about video games, which is really the whole idea here. I think you're creating a bit of an apples vs oranges debate with this, as Lucas is specifically going back and trying to change material from a set-in-stone universe 20 or more years after the fact. What's going on with this Mario movie? At worst, it's telling yet another disjointed tale from the Mario universe that doesn't at all fit in neatly with the loose stories of all the plethora of Mario starring, featuring, or themed games which have been released over the decades. It seems to basically be an amalgam of the best parts of all of it, telling an all new story that borrows the major themes from most of the games while telling the story in a way that appeals to everyone, not just the nerds who played all those games. Nerds got pissed at Lucas for trying to change canon and existing history, Mario movie "haters" seem to be upset because the new movie isn't telling a specific story from a specific game, forgetting that you can't really reconcile all of the stuff from all of the games and have it actually all make sense.

Well, yes and no. "The culture" seems to be getting less and less defined as time goes on and more and more people want to jump into whatever little part of it they like but then ignore/crap all over/etc. the parts that they don't. Back when you had these much smaller communities discussing things directly, you really did have more of a homologous "nerd culture," where there were the handful of disagreements (Star Wars vs Star Trek being the most prevalent, usually), but most of those were handled good naturedly, with no real hard feelings in the end. And, once in a while, usually regionally, you'd have large events, conventions, etc., where larger groups of like-minded folks would get together and participate in the same sorts of things. Nowadays, where anyone and everyone is able to hop in, drop whatever hot take they want, then hop out, it's diluted and destroyed so much of what was "nerd culture" (just one among many, really), it's getting harder and harder to really state whether something is truly part of it or just popular culture in general. In my opinion, this movie is being made far more in the vein of serving popular culture than the "nerd culture" that its source material originated from. I've personally never been a huge Mario fan, so I wouldn't have been particularly interested anyway, but I'm even less so given all the big pop culture buttons this movie's trailer and all of its promotional material has been pressing, and understand why plenty of folks who consider themselves staunchly within "nerd culture" don't care about or even actively dislike this movie without even having seen it. Whether they'll be proven right or wrong in the larger popular cultural arena remains to be seen.

If you had access to a computer and modem during that time, you had or saw exactly these types of conversations--on BBSes. This sort of back and forth isn't anything new, it's just far less localized and more widespread and more easily accessible. Instead of 3-4 people going back and forth about something on one board, or a dozen going back and forth about it on a regional/national FIDOnet topic, you've now got most of the world involved, which dials the shitshow factor up to 11.

Ok, I get what you're saying, but there's one very important, very significant piece of information that so far, everyone has either ignored or totally left out of the conversation. To date, no one has actually confirmed that the "NVRAM is blanking itself" is the issue here. Please note the title of this thread--anecdotal reports. Unless someone with the hardware and expertise to pop off the chips, read them, then compare what's on them to working, "known good" examples comes along and presents their evidence (preferably multiple examples of such), we really don't know for certain what's going on. I don't think that NIntendo was "scheming" at all, but if what people think is happening is actually happening (cheap/substandard NVRAM is failing at a faster rate than what would normally be expected), then it benefits Nintendo in at least two ways. One, because their old consoles will die and holdouts on that platform will be forced/more heavily encouraged to move along to the next one. And two, they'll get to sell Super Mario Bros, Zelda, Metroid, etc., all over again to the same people who buy whatever the new Nintendo console is but end up wanting to just replay the old classics, netting Nintendo free money--again. Nintendo is unlikely to speak up on this until some sort of formal evidence is offered, most likely in the form of a lawsuit against them, because it would not only give them all sorts of bad PR, but also expose them to the responsibility of doing the equivalent of an automotive recall. Nintendo already "suffered" from having to give out tons of $5 coupons in the late 80s/early 90s due to monopolistic practices, so I imagine that they're not looking to issuing any such big payout once again, especially now that they're such a far more amazing monetary position than they were then, all the while playing up the role of the "underdog" in the console world. There was a poll about more or less this exact topic (non-Switch-specific) and, at least on VGS, the vast majority of sealed collectors don't give two shits about whether the game inside the box works, so long as whatever is inside never breaks loose, rattles, or bleeds through the packaging to indicate that any such issue is there. Anything else can be ignored, like the proverbial ostrich sticking its head in the sand. If you're never going to open it and play it, it apparently doesn't matter, creating the situation of Shrodinger's Game.

Just a heads up to anybody interested in Dead By Daylight--it's on sale through Wednesday or Thursday (says ends 3/16, so hard to tell if 3/15 or 3/16 is the final day) for $7.99, which is 60% off its normal price. Definitely worth picking up at this price if it's something folks want to play!

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Well, I mean, in all seriousness, this fits Nintendo's M.O. of "let's sell them the same software as many times as we can" to an absolute T. If they accidentally stepped into using industry standard technology that automatically kills off consumers' ability to re-play their old games, a big chunk of their job is already done without needing to lift a finger. Realistically, I don't think they would have to have known, as virtually every reputable electronics company will do stress/age testing on all of their hardware, and how do you test for what happens with non-powered RAM chips over times beyond letting them sit unpowered? They might have discovered this issue before consumers started running across it and stayed mum about it (which would make sense from the perspective of them trying to avoid a recall/lawsuit/etc.), but I don't think this is something they really could have anticipated beforehand, otherwise there would have been all sorts of articles from various technology experts, industry experts, Nintendo's competitors, etc. at launch, not more than a deacde later.

Who said the top loader was unreliable? I don't recall anyone saying that, nor can I find anyone even inferring it when trying to dig back through the thread. Some of us were commenting about all the belabored moaning about the very-preventable and very-curable reliability issues that the toaster/front loader suffered, but nobody said a top loader was unreliable. Perhaps you misread my thoughts about the potential dangers of doing a "tower of power" when running NES games in an AV Famicom, or how wobbly such a stack can get in similar loading systems? You're right, the real failing of the top loader was not having composite as well as having awful RF that caused jail bars to appear in the video. Having issues with the original Game Genie could be considered another one, seeing as it was possible to damage or even break the cartridge connector with one if you were careless (or determined) enough.

They'd be flat out wrong, then, as those were absolutely GBC games, and came in GBC branded boxes. The fact that they were backwards compatible with the original system (or GBP / Game Boy Pocket, since that's what Nintendo was shilling at the time) should be considered an additional asset, not a penalty that knocks them back a generation.

The GBC released about a year before the NGPC did, so it's hard to call it a follow up to kill that system when it didn't exist when the GBC came out. It really came down to Nintendo having brand recognition, backwards compatibility, and a year-long head start that killed the NGPC. Maybe you're thinking about the original NGP that launched at nearly the same time that the GBC did?

That's exactly what it was. People even argue to this day about what game was the first one released for the system--was it Pokemon Yellow or something else? During its lifetime, the GBC frequently offered games that would play on both itself as well as the original GBC (although Nintendo was marketing it as the Game Boy Pocket by that point), leaving confusion for many where GB ended and GBC began. Then, it was relatively quickly replaced entirely by GBA, less than 2.5 years after it launched. The only games that most would really consider to be "true" GBC games were those released on the clear/smoke cartridges, and how many of those were truly memorable? Due to how it shared a ton of its library with its immediate predecessor, as well as its form factor, accessories, etc., most consider GBC to really be more of a "GB-enhanced" than a separate system, and thus it tends to get left out in the cold.

Well, this thread just wanted to fit in with the other three that started up in the last couple of days, lol.

There really isn't, at least not without some sort of compromise or modification, as those cartridges weren't designed with easy battery replacement in mind. Nintendo fully anticipated selling someone another game if/when their old one expired, and it shows in the game design. However, something on the pages full of connectors I provided should be fairly easily modified so as to fit where it needs to, be under clearance, and not be a nightmare to solder. With a couple of them, it really looks like one would just need to bend the tabs or pins slightly in order to get things to line up, then tack them in place carefully with a thin iron tip. Even if you've got to take some tin snips or wire cutters meant for thicker wire to trim the tabs in order to fit through the holes (versus surface mounting to the bit of pad encircling each hole), that's a small price to pay to have something to fits just right. Unless you're planning on doing this as a business and trying to do dozens a day, it really shouldn't be a big deal once you've figured out the right part and process. And even if you were going to do dozens, hundreds, etc., constantly, you just take a day or evening or whatever out and pre-modify your holders so you don't have to fool with it when it's time to sit down and just get things done. Hope you find what you're looking for!

I'd be willing to bet that they didn't actually do it, or not for long enough for it to have any actual effect. One thing I'd ask, though, is whether you tried it without pushing the game down, as with the brand new ones as well as original ones that have been tightened too much, games will work while they're pushed in and left alone, but will lose connection when you push it down because the pins are too stiff. If not, should you find yourself in that situation ever again, try it without pushing the cart down, no matter how wrong it feels. I don't think that he hasn't heard the complaints, but not so many people all at once, or clamoring as loudly as everyone has been. It's a pretty simple issue to fix these days, now that we know what causes the issue, how to get the original connector back into shape, etc. Back in the day, a lot of issues came from people using the Game Genie, which stretched the hell out of the pins, not cleaning their games or consoles regularly (usually waiting until stuff just wouldn't work then having stuff come out that looked like dark pencil shading on paper), or just continually shoving the games down further and harder when they didn't immediately function, causing the issue to get even worse. I didn't do any of that, and it wasn't until maybe a decade ago that I needed to do any sort of tweaking to my original console, and really only did so then because I didn't want to try 2-3 times every 4-5 games to get them to work (which isn't at all bad if you're playing, but I was going through and testing my whole collection, which caused a headache). If the mods are done right, and you're careful and responsible with the console, absolutely, they can be rock solid. But you nailed it in one, most people don't do it because of how expensive it is. By the time you've paid for the RGB mod to be done properly and ponied up for even the cheapest of PVMs, you might as well have paid scalper prices for an NT Mini. RGB + PVM will give you the best quality output possible while still being true to all the original technology (even though you had to mod the console to get it out), so it's basically the upper limit for total purists. Unfortunately, most folks don't have the money to get to that point, or just don't feel that what they get out of it is worth the cost. Personally, I'm a little bit of both columns, although I am able to appreciate it. I've heard that the AV Famicom is absolutely solid, but my issue with it stems solely from trying to play NES games in it. I've owned two Game Axe Color units (tube-LCD based Famicom handhelds from the last 90s, early 00s), and playing NES games on either one is a nightmare unless you're inserting only the cartridge board itself due to how loose everything is. And the longer you're plugging and unplugging games into the adapter, the worse off the adapter and the system is over time. If someone was to go that route, but only wanted to enjoy the NES library, I'd strongly encourage them to get the Famicom version of the Everdrive N8 so they didn't run into that issue, as it just gets to be an unstable mess with the NES equivalent of the "Tower of Power." You're absolutely right. The thing is, just like in my example given previously, all it takes is a little basic maintenance to either prevent these issues from occurring or fix them once they've happened. If it literally never gets done, then yeah, the system is going to be totally unreliable, and it's going to be harder to get it back to where it needs to be. But it's absolutely not difficult. And it's a lot easier, and cheaper, than shelling out money for either of the top loader options (let alone modifying an NES top loader), and insanely cheaper than going the RGB + PVM route. If money is not object, then yeah, do whatever you want, have someone else do it, and have it set up to work forever. But if you're on a budge, or you don't feel it's worth hundreds of dollars of investment and yet still don't want to go to a cheap clone, doing 10-15 minutes of fiddling with the connector once in a while is absolutely the best way to go.

The toaster NES is like a classic car. They're prettier and better performing than the later versions, but they require you to keep up with maintenance, and if you don't, they'll break down and leave you stranded unexpectedly. Personally, I'd much rather drive a 60s muscle car than a modern electric, even though I understand and appreciate both. Convenience be damned! So what does that make folks playing on the AVS? Leisure Suit Larry?

The most graphic graphical game I ever played back in the day was probably Leisure Suit Larry 6, and only due to the ending (trains going into tunnels, rockets blasting off from silos, oil derricks pumping madly, etc.), and even then it was really tame and meant to evoke a raunchy, humorous response versus being anything explicit. The first (and perhaps only, thinking about it) explicit video game I encountered was "Virtual Valerie 2," which came out a couple of years earlier, but which I didn't run into until I was in college. Anything else that I've seen equated to actual porno movies that were set up along the lines of "choose your own adventure" or something akin to Space Ace/Dragon's Lair where you had to hit a button on a controller or remote in order to select an outcome. I believe the adult 3DO games where like this, although I never actually played any of them beyond 1-2 "softcore" scenes that were included as part of a 3DO sampler disc I got in a used game shop. Here's a link to Larry 6's ending for those wanting a good laugh. I've posted it at the relevant time stamp, although you can just drag the video back to its beginning if you really want to see the whole ending versus just the funny part.

I don't have any specific suggestions, but I believe the only ones that you're going to be able to find to do the job and fit within the height restrictions of all cartridges is going to be one of the "sleeve" mounts for watch batteries. Those are basically a thin metal "sleeve" that you slide the coin cell directly into, with two posts that mount onto or through a board, and basically the pressure of the holder itself or the holder against the board hold the battery in. If you've ever taken an N64 memory card apart to change the battery, that is the kind of holder I'm talking about. This link to Mouser is the closest I could come to finding what I was talking about, although here is a link to Mouser that goes directly to a full list of all CR2023 battery holders that they offer, plastic and metal. You might be able to get by with one of the plastic ones if it's one of the ones that's a half circle and meant to be mounted vertically, but you'll have to do a little modification to those to get them to work. One of the super flat metallic ones should eliminate all height issues, although you might be hard pressed to find one that mounts directly to or through the pads on NES/SNES/N64 without a little wiggling or modification. Should you ever find something that works, it would be great if you shared on here what the part number was, where you sourced it, etc., as this sort of information will most likely just gain value the more time goes on. Good luck!

I dug through every result that would currently come up on eBay for "NES wireless receiver" and sadly couldn't find a match to what was in the first post, although I did discover 2-3 additional third party wireless controller setups that I wasn't previously aware of. With that being said, what @fcgamer said started ringing bells in my head until I realized that the unit shown doesn't necessarily have to be for an NES, since the AV Famicom ended up using the same controller ports (and IIRC, is directly compatible with its US counterpart and all controllers that will plug into them). I still believe this item to be a wireless receiver, but not necessarily one intended for the NES market. Not that that helps us really narrow down exactly what it is, lol. Sorry if I've inadvertently widened the scope of the search and/or made finding an answer that much more complicated.

Given that I've come across and picked up vintage, third-party Wiimote-esque motion controllers for the NES (not once, but twice), I have no difficulty in believing this. What software were they used for? I know there were similar looking single-handed controllers primarily meant to be used for RPGs (and own a couple, but don't have the time to dig them up nor the memory of who the manufacturers were to be able pull up photos from the web of the two that look similar to what OP posted about), but wasn't aware of any mice, nor anything that operated in such a manner. Definitely a neat footnote in the history of the platform, though.