Crossed Swords 2 AES/MVS and Rom Thread.

[werejag]

removed----

 

[Rot]

how this is for the community? are you donating the money? there are some fine charities that could use this payday.

At this stage Were_willy... I am not going to even bother replying to the post with a reasoned answer...

I find the last statement a bit insulting to everyone involved with this... hence, I won't even give you or anyone a worded warning about future such posts...

 

[werejag]

rot thank you wont post anymore about this

 

[JacKc]

@jackc and other insert designers.

Attached is one new screenshot that you may want to use on your cover.

Now that I have seen a translation of the manual it seems there is no reference to 'guada fortress' at all which is used in the text on the back of the insert and I have had no confirmation as to where that text came from. There is a reference to 'magic castle of Raduuin' but this refers to the devil castle used on the second line.

Presently for the AES insert I am planning to use.

NAUSIZZ HAS RETURNED
TO THE DEVIL CASTLE OF BELKANA...

@ Raz
Thanks for the new screenshot ! Already updated my inserts and updated also the text "NAUSIZZ...".
Now made 3 versions (only screenshots set is different on the back) :

Concerning Southtown, by the past i uploaded some of my inserts but all were rejected so no risk i upload anything there... If needed i could give my inserts to Raz.

Best, JacKc.

 

[Razoola]

I finally found the reference to Guada Fortress, its in the Crossed Swords 1 manual but its not in relation to Nausizz, its related to where some of his troops are stationed only. The reference states

'Galdfis, leads the troops of Nausizz, who are stationed in the Gauda fortress of the Elve Coast which is the commercial base in Belcana'

Clearly that back insert text was wrong as it was before.

 

[genetik]

Concerning Southtown, by the past i uploaded some of my inserts but all were rejected so no risk i upload anything there... If needed i could give my inserts to Raz.

About Southtown. I made 3 insert last year for the NG Dev games (cause none were available on the web). I sent all 3 with the southtown website tool. After waiting for some time, none ever made it on the site. I then contacted Dan directly, and turns out that the website tool can fail silently when uploading. I just sent him (by email) the inserts, and they're up now. Once you have a final version, try sending it trough his email instead.

 

[oliverclaude]

This supply and demand philosophy applies to them simply 'cause it their game, CSII is not your game, you simply altered the software...

One could argue though, that GunLord is just an altered Turrican software and if Trenz and other videogame Godfathers stated homebrew owes me money, they wouldn't be far from the thruth... still, from a moral point of view I agree 100% with you. Raz is a Neo-Geo legend, for me and thousands across the SNK planet, that distinction though, so it certainly seems this time, is greater, than one man can bear.

But ultimately time changes everything, so in five years we'll probably laugh at this discussions while occassionally smashing some monsters of Belkana... .

 

[White Devil]

Why are people getting pissed?
Is it that the ROMS aren't being released for the public? Seems like a valid concern that people would make repros and eBay them for $999,999.99, an eBay price tag that wouldn't surprise me in the least.
It seems like even though the software was originally designed by other people years ago there has still been significant work done in this process. Not to mention, I imagine the physical demand of A. Acquiring suitable carts to recycle B. Recycling them C. And rom soldering (I'm assuming there was physical attaching of Roms involved or at least connecting each board set to a computer and installing the software) D. Testing each game E. Printing inserts, labels, manuals F. Assembling each game. G. Trial and error of the whole start to completion process. H. Time investment.

Dunno what I'm missing but, yes $300 is a lot of money and unless I'm missing something it seems like it's probably justified.

Then again I'm still technically a noob, I base that on a self aware ignorance level. So I'm sure if I'm at all wrong someone here will tell me either why I'm wrong or that my mother sucks cocks in hell.

Note that I'm not saying why certain people may or may not be pissed nor am I saying people can't have their opinions. Really just thinking out loud here and look forward to whatever this adds to the conversation.

 

[SuperGun]

Why are people getting pissed?
Is it that the ROMS aren't being released for the public? Seems like a valid concern that people would make repros and eBay them for $999,999.99, an eBay price tag that wouldn't surprise me in the least.
It seems like even though the software was originally designed by other people years ago there has still been significant work done in this process. Not to mention, I imagine the physical demand of A. Acquiring suitable carts to recycle B. Recycling them C. And rom soldering (I'm assuming there was physical attaching of Roms involved or at least connecting each board set to a computer and installing the software) D. Testing each game E. Printing inserts, labels, manuals F. Assembling each game. G. Trial and error of the whole start to completion process. H. Time investment.

Dunno what I'm missing but, yes $300 is a lot of money and unless I'm missing something it seems like it's probably justified.

Then again I'm still technically a noob, I base that on a self aware ignorance level. So I'm sure if I'm at all wrong someone here will tell me either why I'm wrong or that my mother sucks cocks in hell.

Note that I'm not saying why certain people may or may not be pissed nor am I saying people can't have their opinions. Really just thinking out loud here and look forward to whatever this adds to the conversation.

Your actually pretty much right on target.
$300 is more then fair.
Anyone that sells GhostLop, Ironclad, Bang Busters, Zintrick, Final Romance 2, or Crossed Swords 2 carts for $100 does not value their time, parts, and labor, and is doing charity work for the buyer.

Also want to add that in the particular case of CS2, your not just paying for your physical cartridge. Rather, a part of what your paying for is the time, talent, & trouble taken by those involved in the project such as Razoola's technical expertise & repgrogramming of the games rom data which without, makes this game unplayable on the cartridge systems.

 

[TikTekTak]

As someone mentioned low res artwork.

How will the insert, cart label and manual be produced?

I actually hoped in NGDEV comparable quality wouldn't it?

 

[Razoola]

White Devil, your PM box is full.

 

[jsiucho]

I dont mind the $300 but do think the art should be NGDEV quality a least.

 

[Razoola]

As someone mentioned low res artwork.

How will the insert, cart label and manual be produced?

I actually hoped in NGDEV comparable quality wouldn't it?

Planned to use the same process as used with Knights Chance.

 

[LegoSlug]

Pretty cool accomplishment from a technical standpoint. Was never a huge fan of the original, so I might skip this release. Thanks for the hard work, I am certain many people will enjoy this game in cart format.

 

[DNSDies]

I'm a little bothered by the whole sacing carts thing, but I guess they were already conversions in the first place, so the damage is already done?

I'd far prefer just designing a Neo Geo cart PCB that uses modern easy to find parts, but I understand that's just more work too.

Mostly, I'm worried that it will be hard to produce enough of these to meet long-term demand and it'll end up costing $600+ on the second-hand market a few months down the road.

Conflicted feelings, but I'm glad this is a thing. I just hope I can find a copy when I have the money for it next!
Thanks for the hard work Raz!

Maybe I'll sell my wonderswan crystal and games to buy it!

 

[TonK]

@Electricgrave

If you look at the examples you gave of iron clad and ghost lop I am sure you will see that the prices did not instantly drop once the ROM was available. These things take time to happen and its more likely the prices stayed high before they dropped (sales vs demand). Once the demand drops the prices come down.

So if the CS2 ROM was released now while in the long term I can agree the price would probably be lower the initial price for a good few months would not be. This is why the little extra effort is being put in now because I am personally hoping that when we look back at this in say 5 years this batch of Crossed Swords 2 carts will be more sort after than the ones people make themselves by saccing carts simply because there will be a little history attached to them. The protection of currently original non sacked games is another factor in doing it this way.

I feel you are getting a little ahead of yourself, never has it been said the ROM would not be released. You are just seeing a part of the picture with CS2 and I'm sure once you look backwards on this in the future you will have probably a different overall view.

Great project Raz & Jeff

Just to clarify - once ghostlop and ironclad ROM's were released, the prices instantly dropped on carts.

 

[RabbitTroop]

Your actually pretty much right on target.
$300 is more then fair.
Anyone that sells GhostLop, Ironclad, Bang Busters, Zintrick, Final Romance 2, or Crossed Swords 2 carts for $100 does not value their time, parts, and labor, and is doing charity work for the buyer.

Also want to add that in the particular case of CS2, your not just paying for your physical cartridge. Rather, a part of what your paying for is the time, talent, & trouble taken by those involved in the project such as Razoola's technical expertise & repgrogramming of the games rom data which without, makes this game unplayable on the cartridge systems.

I can't believe I agree with Billy, but... I agree with Billy.

 

[Orrimarrko]

Without going through all 21 pages, is there a page in particular that talks about how to get one of these, etc?

Thanks!

EDIT: Never Mind - found it...

 

[mccloud5286]

Raz, Jeff, and others involved, thanks for your hard work! Can't wait to see the final product as I just pre-ordered mine.

 

[Fakk2]

Planned to use the same process as used with Knights Chance.

The Knights Chance release was great, only there was one flaw that I saw with the game, and I failed to mention that I hope you don't do on this game. The cart sticker for Knights Chance does not have a shiny high gloss tape over it, as it was accidentally forgotten about before shipping out, otherwise the game was top notch as was production value. I just want to make sure you don't forget about the sticker before release.

Anything to make it feel like a true SNK style release is a good thing, especially since it is an SNK/ADK game.

Also, where do I go to preorder my AES copy of the game? I did not receive any emails? Is there also an MVS release?

 

[systmdfect]

Just pre-ordered the AES version. I'm really looking forward to this. Big thanks to everybody that made this possible.

 

[MCF 76]

Also, where the hell do I go to preorder my AES copy of the game? I did not receive any emails? Is there also an MVS release?

Hey bud, just shot you a email.

Order page:

http://www.neobitz.com/crossedswords2

 

[Fakk2]

Thanks bro! I appreciate it!

 

[FinalbossNYC]

Just ordered my MVS copy and I can't wait to finally play CS2 after all these years. Thanks to Razoola and everyone involved !!! Well worth $280 USD

I am actually thinking of having a special paper included with all of these that I may sign, I'm not sure yet. It would be something on the lines of the DIP sheet (in MVS) but instead includes some information about the conversion. This would come with both MVS and AES kits.

Please Sign !! That would be dope !!

 

[kuk]

Have you an plan for the CD version ?