fcgamer

@FrankenGraphics ok I will watch that video in a bit, thanks for the recommendation. @Orab Games : I quite enjoyed reading the long post of yours; however, I'd have to politely disagree on a bunch of it, for numerous reasons. If we go back to the Nintendo Age days, there was a post that I remember very clearly. In that post, it had been mentioned that at that time, little (profit) was being made from those doing homebrews. In fact, that was one of the main driving forces surrounding the idea of the "limited edition" carts, something which I've always personally hated (since I'm a full set - style collector). Although I don't remember specific titles, some of the limited stuff that was auctioned was quite elaborate. Why do I bring this up? Because this is just one instance of the phrase I've heard numerous times over the years, that making homebrew games is not particularly profitable (barring a few exceptions, I'd guess). Keeping this in mind, it feels rather strange how it went from not particularly profitable to something that is so profitable, people can use a tool like NES maker to crank out a turd and get rich in no time flat. Does anyone here honestly believe that? Especially in light of what was said in the previous paragraph? Yes, it has certainly gotten easier over the years, with more documentation, the availability of new PCBs and shells, tools that are more user friendly for beginners, etc. At the end of the day though, it still requires a lot of work to put a game release together, period. The person needs to draw graphics, compose music, program (or use nes maker), design a box, design labels, design manuals, solder chips and components to PCBs, buy a rom programmer, market the product so that others will invest in it or purchase it. Yes, a few people will be ambitious enough to do this just for a few dollars, though I'd reckon that if the profits were as great as what people seem to be making it out to be, and if it was as easy to do as what seems to be suggested, then everyone would be doing it. Oddly enough, this hasn't been the case at all, I'll leave you to draw your own conclusions. Regarding earlier homebrew guys and the earlier items they produced, the quality, etc: Here is my thing, it's a bit hypocritical to say that they get a pass since they had less to work to with, and that folks joining now must all crank out Mona Lisa's. A beginner is a beginner no matter what, and it's to be expected that a person's earlier works might not be as good as their later ones. But the public expectations shouldn't be set so high as to keep beginners from stepping on the stage, so to speak. Also, when discussing this whole thing, I'd like to point out about folks like Sivak or the guy behind the Halloween games, or we could even throw something like Color Dreams from back in the day into the mix, or anyone else. What I mean is, I'd venture a guess that a lot of the "from scratch" guys made their own engines as well, which they reuse to aid in their later products. Yes, I'm sure the engines may be tweaked and updated, but it's still reuse. Isn't this akin to what Mugi did, started with an engine and then updated it, even so much as now moving away from it? I guess what I'm saying is that if a guy reuses an engine they previously built and used in another project, can the later release really be considered from scratch? What if the guy let's his brother or friend use the engine to make a new game, what about then? Therein lies the problem as a whole. From what has been posted throughout this entire thread, we are quickly reaching a point of creating different rules and expectations for different people. The easiest way around this is to let everyone who wants to have a go, let people be artists and express themselves via homebrew games on old machines, and let people judge each item and purchase it based on its merits.

Are you looking for that Caesars Ambition game, the Taiwan Chinese version? What about Evander Holyfield boxing, Asian NTSC version? I got extras of both. Sadly no pal stuff from this region.

Here's what you do: Make a paid subscription database, proceeds from it go to paying the bills for hosting the database itself and also for VGS. People who contribute towards the database get a discount member price or maybe a kickback of sorts, to make it worth their while. Or maybe keep the database free, with a contribution pot, and the pot gets divided up every year amongst those who put forth efforts, based on how much effort they put forth.

I'd love to see how many crappy games came out, developed from scratch during the pre nes maker days. I'd reckon that a lot if the veterans who are concerned about the whole new maker thing, also created and published a few less-than-stellar items early on. It just makes the whole gatekeeping thing even more rediculous imo.

I'd like to revisit labels a bit, as I had a thought as I was falling asleep about the whole thing. I'm currently writing a book on Famiclone games, and for 99% of the content, I am playing the software and taking screenshots directly off of real (original print) cartridges, on real (period) machines. For the few items that I don't personally have access to, I will be figuring out an alternative method. How does this relate at all to the nes maker discussion? In the past I've seen samples of a lot of comparable books on the market, such as Pat Contris guide, Jeffery Wittenhagens guide, and a few others (maybe three or four total). Some of those books (I don't remember which) had used (some, anyways, not sure about all) stock photos, grabbed from a Google images first page search. I know this because I saw two products with the same exact image, which also happened to be on the first page of Google Images. Heck, I'd go so far as to suggest that the image in question was grabbed more than likely from an emulator. So should we bestow on such hobbyist projects, which folks put countless hours of effort into, terms such as "uses stock photos" and "screenshots from emulators" ? To me, the answer is an immediate "Hell no!". Sure, I feel that running real carts on real hardware, by yourself, would possibly yield a better result, that's just my opinion and thus the way I chose to do my project. No need to get uppity about it though, or to demand that those doing it in a "more easy way" have their products labelled in such unendearing terms, especially when we're all in this hobby together, we should be supporting items based on merit, and encouraging people to create more new products. The situation I outlined above I think can be applied nicely to the nes maker /"from scratch but not really, as those guys used tools too" situation, just showing how bad the labels thing really does look.

I think the title of this thread itself though can be seen as a bit elitist, or negative though, especially with everyone knowing the backstory to how we got here. If no back story, the initial post would have been much more descriptive.

This for me suggests even more why we *shouldn't* be labelling items. If it's being done for aesthetic reasons, passion, hobby, etc, why the need to get snobby and judge things prematurely? If we want to go this route, I'd gladly go back and write reviews for the from scratch homebrews, listing which are good and which imo "suck", yet over in NA it was frowned upon since I'd be crapping on passion projects from community members. Fun fact: solegoose stated at one point over on NA that he'd appreciate and support all homebrew projects, and even said some of the earlier stuff he did was not the best, iirc. If anyone wants to search on the go collect mess and fine an exact quote, go for it. While I don't think he's a bad guy, his whole hatred against nes maker and then the above just suggest to me that he feels threatened by others entering into the homebrew domain. Edit: I'm paraphrasing what the aforementioned member had said, and my understanding and recollection of it. If someone looks up the post and I'm remembering way off base or out of context, I'll gladly edit my post and apologize to said member publically, as I'm not out trying to start a fight or argument here, rather just trying to add to the discussion.

It works fine for me, but I use a crt old tv.

Yes Wild Ball is always popular. Generally NES multicarts are rarer than Famicom ones, and command a higher price. With that said, it's all about marketing, and if the games are good, one can get a bit more.

I'm not sure on value, and I'd guess like you said, these days it would be much easier to buy a cheap clone with Famicom compatibility than just using an adaptor. I'd guess half of the folks going after the adaptors would want them just for historical or collectors sake. Fun fact, I have a catalogue from Honey Bee from back in the day.

If you look at the games that make use of that color entry though, it's primarily the Codemasters games and the Immortal. I noticed when playing my Codemasters Famicom games on my tv, sometimes I'll get the wobbilyness. I've heard rumours it might have been due to poor reverse engineering of the machine or poor / misunderstanding, why they opted to make so much use of that color in the Codies games.

There is also going to be a point where it would be like splitting hairs to classify certain games, depending on how they were made. What would we do for labelling them, where it becomes like splitting hairs? I see the above situation all the time with my primary collecting focus, what is a "bootleg" , an "unlicensed " game, a "pirate", a "counterfeit", a "hack", a "repro", etc. I see quite a large distinction between all of those above, and hate when the terms are used "improperly". For most folks though, there won't be nearly the distinction I see, and it's just something I learnt to deal with. In fact, it's just added another level of research, to determine sometimes what something is, but I honestly don't see anything wrong with that, as it just adds another level to it all. As a few others have said, the situation feels more to me like some of the old guard feeling threatened or worried since more folks can now enter into their domain. And regarding quality, I've seen dozens of homebrew games over the years that didn't look particularly good, and then some that might be good, but just looked on par with modern games being made by Nice Code of China. To sum it up: No labels please, but if we use labels, make it a requirement for all tools, for all games.

I generally judge items by the end product, and I've made the argument before comparing it to music: Snobbery over whether the artist write his or her own song, or whether the singer plays an instrument. I play instruments and I've written sings before, so of course I feel it's special or have a "preference" if the person writes his or her own material, if the person can play the instrument. At the end of the day though, it isn't the end all of be all of good music. Replace this scenario with using nes maker versus another tool versus completely "from scratch". If we do decide to go the labelling route (I honestly hope that we don't, imo people will conjure up some preconceived notions about the work, out if the gate, unfairly if it is labelled) then I feel we also should make it a requirement to label *every* game with the tools used.

Over the years there have been, though those are slowly getting dumped bit by bit. That Bomberman game was on a multicart, so is the SMW full port.

Not a top favourite band, but definitely great music. 8 for me!

Yes please! I will PM list over the weekend! Thanks

It all depends on the multicarts. Some are worth 60$+ , others 1-2$. For the two carts, you need to post if the games on the label actually match the contents inside. Kick Master was never officially on Famicom, it's a decent game, an old multicart with it could easily be $15 or $20 if I were pricing it. One of the carts looks like it has Magic Jewelry, an original game. Again, maybe can get $15 for it due to that reason. As an aside, multicarts with Silver Surfer can be stupid expensive. For future reference, most (Famicom)multicarts Ive gotten generally sell for about $3-$4, even $10 would be high; however, it's like sports games. There are certain kinds of multis that are worth decent money (i.e. $15-$20), and then a few that are worth a nice chunk of cash.

Yup you're to blame, it was an obvious hint. Even I understood that one. You failed. Actually, I'm just messing with you bro. I think @RH makes a lot of good points, which mesh well with a lot that I've heard / experienced over the years.

Not sure about this specific one, but I was talking to a local shop keeper once, whose good friends of @OptOut, and he told me that some of these you need one of the "gold finger" devices to run properly.

I just played rescue Rangers 2 with my brother a few weeks back, whilst he was visiting. If you ask either of us, we will both swear up and down that the game is lack luster and sucks, yet we always enjoy it more than we think we should, when we actually sit down and play it. We've come to the recognition that at least for us (and I'd suspect the same for many others), we all had and loved the original rescue Rangers game. Hardly anyone had or knew about the sequel back in the day, and it has large shoes to fill. So although it's a fun title, when viewed in a bubble, it ultimately gets compared to other games such as the original rescue rangers and earlier Capcom games, thus making it not feel as good, despite being fun in and of itself.

reserved for future use.

Hi everyone, thanks for visiting fcgamer's Shop of Strange and Wonderful Things! First a few notes. rules, and thoughts: 1. If you are overly condition sensitive, please ask for more pictures or request more information before purchasing. Most of the people that I know that collect these types of obscurities are not condition sensitive, myself included, as the items are truly rare and if you want to find a 100% mint one, you might be waiting a lifetime or more. Therefore if I see something truly terrible I'll mention it, but I won't detail every little scuff. That's what the pictures are for. I've never had issues with people getting upset or disappointed with my items, but if you truly only want gem mint, for example, then please ask for more pictures so that we are all on the same page 2. Everything ships from Taiwan, as that's where I live. 3. Shipping from Taiwan to abroad is cheap. For smaller items, we are talking around $5 - $10. For reference, generally shipping costs would be on par with what you'd pay domestically. 4. Due to Taiwan not being recognized around the world as its own country, sometimes the tracking codes won't update properly. This is generally when being shipped to the States. 5. Due to the coronavirus, I cannot ship items to about 112 countries, due to there being a lack of air links. Shipping to the United States, England, Japan, and Canada is fine, but sadly most of Europe is out at the moment. 6. Because of number 5, if you are from a country that I cannot ship to currently, we can discuss and work together to find a suitable alternative. 7. Taiwan currently only has 99 coronavirus active cases, with 324 people having recovered, and six dying, for a total of 429 cases total over the course of the pandemic. Therefore, you can feel confident and safe when purchasing from me, any risk will be the same as ordering anything at the moment in your own country, despite it being international. 8. Prices are not set in stone. For obscure items like this, it's hard to set a price, so please feel free to make offers on items if you don't like my price. 9. The more you buy, the more you save! I always offer discounts to people that buy numerous items. Tea-Related Items: Peeing Tea Mates - $20 per piece The figures displayed above are peeing tea mates. You prepare these guys by soaking them in water and then drying them off. When you prepare your tea, by pouring hot water over top of the figurines, it will cause them to "pee" if the water temperature is hot enough, letting you know that the temperature is correct for brewing tea. The two friends shown above are my own personal buddies, and not for sale; however, if you are interested in something like this, I'll help you to obtain it, and of course give you a choice of styles. Fish: Big Mouth Billy Bass (Taiwan version) - $For Best Offer Here is a Taiwan version Big Mouth Billy Bass. It comes with the box, as well as a manual (in Chinese). Big Mouth Billy Bass has been tested, and works fine. Videos: The Kingdom and the Beauty - $35 VHS tape of the Chinese film The Kingdom and the Beauty. Untested, sold as is. VHS RoboCop Cartoon Set -$100 These are VHS tapes for a RoboCop Cartoon show. Included are tapes 1, 3, and 4. 3 and 4 are still sealed, 1 is opened but looks to be in great condition. From the boxes it looks like the audio is in English, with Chinese subtitles. These are sold untested, as is, I don't have the means of testing them, though two are sealed anyways and condition looks great.

I always was under the impression that Aldi was for limited income folks, this was as a child growing up. We never went there. Then I went to Germany in university to study, of course saw and explored Aldi north and south. When I came back home, I decided to check out the local Aldi. Great stuff, my brother and I'd only stop by about once a year, to load up on German foods for our annual Oktoberfest celebration. Everything tasted great, I think it changed the opinion big Aldi in my folks' minds too.

A lot of the stories I'm seeing here are us as children getting duped by buying a lousy game due to an awesome cover. I'll mix it up a bit. In this day and age, Ive definitely bought some games just due to the artwork alone. If the price is right and it looks quite appealing, I might just grab it, even if Ive no intentions on playing it.

Was just coming in here to mention that as well. It makes it a breeze to identify games searching via the code, though on some games (especially back in the famicom days), there wasn't a whole code necessarily printed on the cart. Bandai was notorious for that