Well….where to start

Merry Christmas everyone

It’s close enough to Christmas..for me to announce something special.

I have acquired faceball, I have the ROM of the game. And I’m planning to release it for free.

That is the short story…now for the longer story and why I’m not releasing it with this posting.

I’ve been trying to acquire faceball for awhile now. Everyone talks about Dragon Hopper, but faceball is a ray-casting 3-d first person ‘shooter’ game. And, I’ve been wanting to play this game for years. I’ve wanted EVERYONE to play the game for years.

I talked to a guy that had the game..and he named a price. The price was ..let’s just say..I was forced to taste what I ate that morning.

I didn’t want to get a 2nd mortgage..I love my wife..and I want her to continue to love me. So, I explored my options. I talked to a very good friend of mine..Ben Stevens. And we came up with a deal. Ben would get the capital for the game, and in return..would receive the bulk of my virtual boy collection.

We sold all doubles (special thanx to foil lone wolf) to help with the financial hit. We received the game and with the help of mindstorm extracted the working rom from the game.

So, what now ? A copy of the rom is in safe hands..multiple hands. It will not be lost again and it will be released for free.

BUT…..

I know I will not get back the money from losing my collection. I did it for the community and I knew I would take a big loss. However, I would like to make some of the money back.

To do this, we plan to release the game in cart form first. The details are vague atm. With mindstorm and Tusk’s help, we are planning to release the game in Feb. Morintari (a great 3-d artist) has joined the team on this game to make the artwork. Ben is making the instruction manual. We are planning to make this a very special release. One that’s way overdue.

As for pricing..it will be more expensive then boundhigh. We are looking at 100 dollars per cart..but that’s subject to change. We are also planning on releasing a 2nd cart.. A donators edition that will be very limited and numbered with different artwork and other specials included. All of this is subject to change..

This isn’t a post to pre-order..or anything. After the carts are sold (or it looks like no more will sell hehe). I will be releasing the rom for free. If you can’t afford the carts..just wait..you will be able to play the game :).

I’m sure there is more I was going to post..but it escapes me atm :). Have a good holiday guys…smile..and enjoy life.

-Eric (Bigmak)

I was under the impression that Faceball was never completed. That the version being played and photographed did not have the last bit coded, and that there was no ending. Is this incorrect?

Ben and Eric, it was really nice of you guys to do this. Thanks for being so selfless. There are a lot of games still in private hands that we may never get to play. Thankfully, this is no longer one of them.

In regards to the price… It seems that the VB reproduction carts have been priced higher than reproduction carts for other systems. I assume the price is to offset the cost of printing boxes and labels. I hope that future “homebrew” releases (ie: blox) are priced more affordably. Contrary to some comments, $100 is a lot for some people.

Well, I know that the Arena mode of Faceball was never completed, as it was supposed to support the 2-player link capability, which was never realized. I do also know that there is, in fact, an ending when one beats the Normal mode, but since Eric is the one who owns the game, I’ll let him decide what more details about it get revealed prior to release. The information already on the NikoChan Battle – Faceball thread does pretty much reveal the large majority of the game, though.

As for the prices for reproduction carts, $70.00 is the price for many CIB NES games, and $100.00 is the price of many CIB SNES games (http://www.timewalkgames.com), so the Virtual Boy reproduction carts that are being made are pretty much on par with those ones. I do know some details about the breakdown of costs for these VB games that are being made, and I am amazed that we are getting these games for these prices. The cost of parts for making the VB cartridges is rather high, as is the cost of materials for printing. I’m guessing that for systems where the reproduction carts are sold for much lower, the parts for those games must be easily able to be acquired or made at low costs. This is definitely not the case with the Virtual Boy. The team that is working on these games is truly doing this at an amazing price, and they are virtually getting no money for all their time and effort that they are putting into the making of these.

With Faceball, though, as Eric has said, he spent a lot of money just to acquire the game, so part of the price of the game is to help recover his money spent. Amazingly, he simply hopes to get a large part of it back, and with this release occurring in such a way, I definitely see him still incurring a rather large loss over Faceball.

I’ve built carts for other systems and these are by far the hardest / most time consuming to build. No other repro involves having to buy other carts and meticulously remove the connectors prior to building.

Minestorm, you are truly an amazing technician. I applaud you for being able to do this work.

I will be happy to give you one hundred dollars, or more, for the game!
Thank you bigmak!

Kirbendo wrote:
I will be happy to give you one hundred dollars, or more, for the game!
Thank you bigmak!

Same from me!

I’m still buying the game. 🙂

I would really like it if it somehow had 2 player, then it would be the first 2 player VB game ever!

So, what will the box and manual be like? Other version’s manuals?

http://www.hardcoregamer.com/2013/01/01/newly-discovered-faceball-to-get-virtual-boy-release-in-2013/

Eric, you’re now an official hero! 🙂

Wait a minute though. What part of Arena mode doesn’t work? Can somebody explain?

Put me down for a copy!

segagamer99 wrote:
Wait a minute though. What part of Arena mode doesn’t work? Can somebody explain?

Well, Arena mode essentially does not exist in the Virtual Boy version. Are you familiar with the Arena mode in the SNES version of Faceball? If not, read the description of it here:

http://gamesdbase.com/Media/SYSTEM/Nintendo_SNES/manual/Formated/Faceball_2000_-_1992_-_Bullet-Proof_Software.pdf

The Arena mode in the Virtual Boy version would have been very similar to the Arena mode in the SNES version, but if you attempt to play the Arena mode in the Virtual Boy version, all that happens is that you play the Normal mode with the slowest opponent speeds.

segagamer99 wrote:

So, what will the box and manual be like? Other version’s manuals?

Well, I’m the one who made the instruction booklet that’s going to be used in this release, so I guess I’ll tell you a little bit about it. Basically, the first 6 pages of it follow the general format to which just about every Virtual Boy game (on the North American side) conformed, and then the remaining pages largely follow the format and pattern set forth in the Faceball 2000 Instruction Booklet for the SNES (which is about the same as that of the Game Boy version’s instruction booklet). Thus, the instruction booklet is very simple in its layout and design, much like how the instruction booklets for both the SNES and Game Boy versions of Faceball are simple in their layouts and designs. Basically, when I made the instruction booklet, I approached it from the standpoint of “if Bullet-Proof Software of the USA would have released this game for the Virtual Boy, what would they have made the instruction booklet look like?” It is logical to conclude that they would have followed the general format of their other instruction booklets for the other versions, so I tried to do just that. Basically, when one looks at this instruction booklet, one can pretend that it was truly released by Bullet-Proof Software during the Virtual Boy’s original market life.

As for the box, I myself have no idea what it is going to look like. 🙂

This is fantastic news! Thanks to the both of you for doing this!

I’m 100% in for one of the regular carts. I’ll probably be be down for a donation cart instead once details emerge. I’d love to help support what you’ve done, but it’ll depend on when I get paid and what’s available, heh.

Super exciting! Not one but two “new” VB releases in recent memory! I love it!

I have at least two copies of Mario Tennis that I’m happy to donate for parts. 🙂

HI everybody

Just to say (as a rememberance) that I’m at your disposal to donate VB carts to get a Faceball’s limited edition.
If possible take this post into account to contact me when you decide to promote the proyect.

Ben, please remember me for this proyect

Thanks and regards

I’ll post more details about faceball and our plans Sunday 🙂

-Eric

bigmak wrote:
I’ll post more details about faceball and our plans Sunday 🙂

-Eric

It can’t be Sunday soon enough right now!! Thanks for everything, man!

Yes. I’m very curious about this 2nd edition Donator’s Copy. 🙂

Article on Nintendo Life. 🙂

http://www.nintendolife.com/news/2013/01/virtual_boy_port_of_faceball_is_getting_a_physical_release

bigmak wrote:
I’ll post more details about faceball and our plans Sunday 🙂

-Eric

It’s Sunday, and the wait begins.