SNK Recall: The Good, the Bad, & the Ugly

Gentlemen,

Reading now what Shawn has posted in the update/news area of the Neo-Store, it seems that the cartridges will be recalled and modified, but modified only to a certain degree. This opens pandoras box and raises questions not as to what data will be added in to the cart, but more importantly as to what data will be removed during the same process. We won't know for sure how many or which roms will be changed out until the cartridges return. But as has been reported by myself and several other "defensive" gamers/collectors in this forum, the possibility that this modification will subvertly remove the "fatality" data out completely from the program roms (as oppossed to simply blocking or locking it out) is much to real to ignore.



I propose that at least ONE of the individuals who IS sending in their cartridge for "modification" (as well as tagging it to ensure they get the same item back) carefully open the cartridge and make some subtle marks on each of the roms so that when the cartridge is returned, we will know EXACTLY how many & which of the original roms remain untouched. Granted, simply looking closely at the solder points on the board may reveal this (if it is being done by man and not machine) and furthermore, marked cartridge "shells" may be returned to their actual owners, while inner boards may not, but regardless, it is worth a shot.



Also, to further support this theory that the program code which we currently have for SS5S does indeed contain the fatalities (albeit that they are "locked out") we simply need to compare the home cartridge to the MVS cartridge. The KEY piece of information which we need to confirm is the actual TIMING of when the alleged "nagasaki incident" actually occurred. Reason being...unless SNK-PLAYMORE did something that was never done ONCE in 14 years, the MVS "run" of this game was done at the same time (simultaneously) as the HOME "run" and the romsets are IDENTICAL and the "lock-out" would have HAD to be done BEFORE the MVS run was initiated.



This is shown as for example when you plug a samurai shodown one cartridge into your home neo-geo system...(see table)

system___________cartridge_________blood

english home----------english home----------NO
english home----------japanese home-------NO
english home----------english mvs------------NO
english home----------japanese mvs---------NO
japanese home-------english home----------YES
japanese home-------japanese home-------YES
japanese home-------english mvs------------YES
japanese home-------japanese mvs---------YES

*(please note that an mvs adaptor/converter must be used to run an mvs cart on the home system)

So since the hardware has always been what determined the settings, and not the software one can assume that perhaps the "lock-out" can be interpretted as being a NEW determining differential which actually looks at the hardwares DESIGNATION rather then it's country code. (mvs vs. home rather then eng vs. jap)



So...to conclude...it ALL hinges on EXACTLY which romset was used on the MVS run of samurai shodown 5 special AND how that romset will PLAY on a HOME japanese system via an MVS adaptor/convertor.



Last but not least, so long as we can get just ONE mvs samurai shodown 5 special cartridge (don't see how they can stop us from doing this?) there is NO REASON why FULL un-censored fatalities cannot EVENTUALLY be experienced & enjoyed on our home units (modded of course) and either through our adaptors or on our home carts (after OUR own personal rom modifications). Afterall, the romset either WAS or WAS NOT altered BEFORE or AFTER the MVS run. So the answer to that question, will then tell us how to resolve the problem. That problem being solved EITHER by acquiring an MVS ss5s cart, OR...if that was already compromised BEFORE the "run" (as would have normally have been done), by designing a NEW bios as has been referred to already several times on these forums. Either way, we simply will get what we want one way or the other.



Oh...and one last little tid-bit...
Please keep in mind that by the time we figure this all out...the MVS run of SS5S WILL HAVE ALREADY BEEN MODIFIED as well by SNK! So DO NOT wait for the "neo-store" to stock "under $500" mvs carts of this title because those carts will end up being modified as well and subsequently useless to us.



Now play friendly...
Billy

SuperGun said:

:. Reason being...unless SNK-PLAYMORE did something that was never done ONCE in 14 years, the MVS "run" of this game was done at the same time (simultaneously) as the HOME "run" and the romsets are IDENTICAL and the "lock-out" would have HAD to be done BEFORE the MVS run was initiated.

Click to expand...

Sorry, but Razoola, who knows much more about this stuff than you, has confirmed that the rom data between the AES and MVS version of some recent games (I think MS5 and KoF 03) is indeed different.

And about all this "marking" stuff, I think it will be much easier to just have both versions dumped, if that's possible of course.

LOL, Billy's post says EXACTLY what I was saying in the beginning of the case (original thread), including the wrong assumption of MVS and AES still always sharing an identical chipset content, which Razoola originally corrected quoting my post! :-)

Billy, you're great at writing, what about reading?

We're working something out here, you can contribute as well, you know?