Crossed Swords 2 AES/MVS and Rom Thread.

[Shuri]

I think that if this is going to happen, perhaps it would be wiser to invest a little more extra if its possible to have a quality board made. It would be terrible to have all this stuff made and in a couple of months or year, we find out that there is some sort of flaw in the components used by the company.

 

[shadowkn55]

Are original KoF 97 and 98 boards any good for this..?

No.

 

[RabbitTroop]

The idea to go with a project/dev board is exciting. Something that would-be and up-and-coming home brew and conversion folks can use, but I know the design of the SNK boards are so varied. Maybe something that would support this game or a little bit better, and just start it as a Rev. A. Honestly, it would be a big initial cost for us, but I think if we could figure out what that number would be and try and push a Go Fund Me or Kickstarter, we can see if we can hit the goal.

That way we have a go-to solution for projects like this, and future endeavors without the need for sac-ing carts. Of course, the cart shell is also a challenge, and I know the goal is to keep this affordable, but I would love to see a new solution created by the community that everyone could use in the future.

 

[TikTekTak]

Very nice work on finishing the project.

Me want a homecart though!

 

[aha2940]

Are original KoF 97 and 98 boards any good for this..?

The KoF97 ones could work, because they have a PROGBK1 and a CHA512. Those two boards can hold even the biggest official games ever produced for the Neo. KoF98 was one of the first games to have encrypted roms, and because of that its PROG board is usually an SF1, which has an Altera chip that does the decryption (no other game uses that SF1 boards AFAIK). Those boards will only work with KoF98 roms. However, there are some rare KoF98 carts that have inside the same boards as KoF97, those could work fine.

Regards.

Edit: I just saw the reply from shadowkn55. If he says no, then all I said before is bullshit :P however I'd like to understand why PROGBK1 and CHA512 boards do not work for this project.

 

[shadowkn55]

Edit: I just saw the reply from shadowkn55. If he says no, then all I said before is bullshit :P however I'd like to understand why PROGBK1 and CHA512 boards do not work for this project.

I wasn't saying no on technical grounds except for the part about the PROG board on KoF98 being unusable. That part is technically correct, the best kind of correct. I was saying no because those two titles are more worthwhile than some of the other titles that were proposed to be used as donors.

 

[silverstar]

This is very exciting news. Kudos to Raz for doing this and all those helping him make this a reality.

 

[massimiliano]

Hummm...I still think a programmable/universal cart would boost projects like this....

Pre-order to fund the projects so developers get the money, artworks could be made as part of a CD media to install the game on the cart....jeez, a dedicated label sticker would be cool.

...designing such cart *once* then everytime is just about software..no more SAC or production nightmares....

 

[rcantor77]

I wasn't saying no on technical grounds except for the part about the PROG board on KoF98 being unusable. That part is technically correct, the best kind of correct. I was saying no because those two titles are more worthwhile than some of the other titles that were proposed to be used as donors.

Oh, well if it was not due to technical reasons then you probably don't want to hear that I have been chatting with the guys in China who make the bootleg carts and they have tons of KoF97 and KoF98 PCBs with no case.

I am waiting on a price...

 

[shadowkn55]

Oh, well if it was not due to technical reasons then you probably don't want to hear that I have been chatting with the guys in China who make the bootleg carts and they have tons of KoF97 and KoF98 PCBs with no case.

I am waiting on a price...

Are they bootleg boards or legit? If they are boots all around, I could care less about them being repurposed.

 

[fenikso]

I, too, couldn't care less what happens to boots. If we're going to sac anything I'd personally prefer it be those.

 

[RabbitTroop]

I'm seriously caffeine deprived, so forgive me if I'm retreading ground here, but... You can convert Puzzle Bobble and Metal Slug to Ironclad, right? There are probably enough Puzzle Bobble and Metal Slug boots floating around (within easy reach) to completely satisfy a run of these for everyone interested. I don't see the harm in that either, and it does solve the cart/pcb issue at about $20-40 in donor parts. I'd love to see a project board in the future, but this doesn't have to be the time or the place to do it. Let's get Raz's hard work out there. I can't wait to play this, and I am so thankful we have such an awesome group of people here willing to figure out how we can do that on the cheap and easy.

 

[SuperGun]

I'm seriously caffeine deprived, so forgive me if I'm retreading ground here, but... You can convert Puzzle Bobble and Metal Slug to Ironclad, right? There are probably enough Puzzle Bobble and Metal Slug boots floating around (within easy reach) to completely satisfy a run of these for everyone interested. I don't see the harm in that either, and it does solve the cart/pcb issue at about $20-40 in donor parts. I'd love to see a project board in the future, but this doesn't have to be the time or the place to do it. Let's get Raz's hard work out there. I can't wait to play this, and I am so thankful we have such an awesome group of people here willing to figure out how we can do that on the cheap and easy.

Look, I agree with the essence of what your saying here. It's pretty obvious that if you want to "get Raz's hard work out there" for the community to enjoy on actual hardware, and you want to put together these carts "on the cheap and easy", then allowing & giving us (the gamers of this community) the "permission" to use existing carts (be them boots we already have or buy off eBay and/or be them boots or non boots we already have in the privacy of our own homes as out property to do what we wish with them) then what you said above not only makes sense, but is in reality the only viable solution.

Only the problem is....not everybody here on this site or in this thread agrees with that.

 

[ForeverSublime]

Only the problem is....not everybody here on this site or in this thread agrees with that.

It's not a problem because not everyone agrees with any of the alternatives, either. And that's not a problem because the only opinion that matters is Raz's.

 

[NeoTurfMasta]

...the only opinion that matters is Raz's.

Exactly. Unfortunately this does not mean anything to chadokada@aol.com. He wants it his way and thats it.

Anyway, personally I think the best solution is a new board. Something we can use over and over for projects like this and not have to sac carts. Even if there are 100k of them out there to use. We have the talent here to put a new board together. Time frame is the main hurdle here, I think it is totally possible to get this done this year. But I wouldnt count on a new board churned out/tested in a just a few months.

Like said above, this is Raz's call. And I'll fully support whatever he decides to do.

 

[fenikso]

Like said above, this is Raz's call. And I'll fully support whatever he decides to do.

Fair enough. Just throwing in my two cents: I'd be disinclined to participate in any venture that sacc'd legit Neo Geo games, reguardless of their vast quantities. Also: I'm more than happy to wait a year or two for a cart to be manufactured. Especially if it is then able to be used for future projects.

 

[SuperGun]

Like said above, this is Raz's call. And I'll fully support whatever he decides to do.

Excellent.
Don't mind me, I just want to make sure this statement is documented for the record.

 

[fenikso]

Excellent.
Don't mind me, I just want to make sure this statement is documented for the record.

 

[werejag]

a nice opensourced design would be nice so anyone can send it to a board fab place to be make shells are going to be an issue

 

[NeoTurfMasta]

Excellent.
Don't mind me, I just want to make sure this statement is documented for the record.

Why wouldn't I support his decision? I have always supported him on all his decisions. Just because I would love to see a new board that supports these kind of projects, I am totally fine with using already booted games.

You are seriously retarded. And you can quote me on that.

 

[GhostSeed]

Fair enough. Just throwing in my two cents: I'd be disinclined to participate in any venture that sacc'd legit Neo Geo games, reguardless of their vast quantities. Also: I'm more than happy to wait a year or two for a cart to be manufactured. Especially if it is then able to be used for future projects.

This pretty much echos my thoughts on the subject.

 

[Viewpoint]

Excellent.
Don't mind me, I just want to make sure this statement is documented for the record.

God dammit Billy. Stop trolling.

 

[rcantor77]

Ok, had a further reply back from the guys in China and the KoF boards they have are definitely original.

Here is their last reply...

Yes, if you buy the original boards from us, we can sell the cart shells to you together.
The cart shells we have manufacturer help us to make it, so it's new not a used one.
Enclosed is the quotation sheet, pls check.
And pls find the details below:
1. PCB without rom, it's a used original PCB, we need to clean out the ROM on the original PCB, then you can weld your new rom on the empty space.
In this way, there's so many complicated process, and the cartridge with new game rom would be have problem easily.

2. You provide the game ROM to us, then we make the entire game cartridge on our developed PCB.
The game effect would be same as the original one, and you can have 6 months warranty on this product.

And the most importance thing, the time we use to disassemble the ROM on the original PCB we can produce the same qty of the entire game cartridge.
So we suggest to send the Game Rom to us, we make the entire game cartridge for you.

Look forward to hearing from you soon.

And the quotation for all of this...

No.	Item	Description	Qty (100)	Qty (300)	Qty (500)
1	PCB with ROM	Customized SNK cartridge PCB board with your new game rom, finished product	$60.00	$50.00	$47.00
2	PCB without ROM	Original used snk kof97/98 cartridge pcb board without rom, with plastick shell	$25.00	$25.00	$25.00

 

[xsq]

So we suggest to send the Game Rom to us, we make the entire game cartridge for you.

Reads to me like they forgot to add:

Very soon we will also sell bootleg of your game ourselves for cheaper.

 

[rcantor77]

Reads to me like they forgot to add:

Very soon we will also sell bootleg of your game ourselves for cheaper.

Sadly mate, I think you are right... which is a shame as the price for that service isn't too bad at all.