Well, some topics seem to get off ‘topic’ lately, and get into a discussion of repros and the process…what we are doing next ect.

I thought it might be a good idea to post stuff on this thread..organize it a bit.

Maybe make other threads that deal with cart shells or if we have a viable connector ect.

Now…where are we atm with reproductions

Well let’s see

I’m planning on sending out the free carts still. Need to get the labels..I’m going to send out 70 carts it looks like.

People that get a free cart can order the packaging at tusks website. The packaging has a small hold up on the hint-book. We’re not sure how much it will cost yet..depends on how many pages the instructions and hintbook has…Poster looks really sweet..morintari did the artwork for the poster and hintbook ect..

For people that want to buy one CIB…we will offer a few CIB (25?) (should the labels be the same?) Funny thing happened. After I released the rom..I stopped getting emails about copy-write stuff.

Blox will be released soonish..we’re going to do a small release at first (25) to make sure there is interest. Blox 2 isn’t going to be done yet..small issue with the save function.

Fastball: remastered still looks like it’s a go. Most of thunderstrucks changes that he has planned has been coded..But the job of coding 50 + levels might take a bit.

We’re going to do a small resupply of the boundhigh/space pinball carts in tusks store (25 of each). This will be the last resupply planned for a bit..so we can get other games done. So, if you haven’t gotten one..order them now (will be a few weeks til we get the new carts in)

After that..nothings been decided.

If we do an english version of gundam..prices will be higher. Richard has to make it have sram..so production costs on his side will be higher. I can prob get the batteries pretty cheap on my side..and install them in the USA.

Other ideas…english version of space squash (if it gets fully translated). I think this is a much better game (fun) to play then gundam. But, you really NEED the translation of gundam to play it..while space squash you can just pick up and play. So, not sure on which one I’d like done first…but I’d like both done.

Homebrews ? Should we split the more ‘commercial’ releases with homebrew releases ? I guess we’ll have to see how well blox does.

Fishbones…

gamehero…

Soviet Union collection…maybe horvat can combine his roms into one ‘collection’..if he wants to..we can do a release with that…

Virtual Chris came out with a bunch of games..maybe a collection ? have to see the interest

Anyway..just wanted to update people on where we are at.

Also, 3 kinda small points I want to make..might seem small..but I want to get it out there before any potential problems happen…

1st. My thoughts might not be Tusk’s or Mindstorm’s…so if I posts my thoughts here..please don’t take it as their thoughts 🙂 Just cuz I say something here..doesn’t make it ‘official’ stuff.

2nd. You can post want you want to see done..but even if we get 20 posts saying ‘we want gundam’..don’t be upset if squash or something else is done first. Maybe we can get to the point that we have a vote on which game comes out next…but we aren’t there yet. We might not have the chips for a certain game..or the manual might not be done ect.

3rd. If I talk about games about to come out..or plans for future games..doesn’t mean we’re doing pre-order’s 🙂 It would be helpful to know how many people are wanting to buy a game..but I don’t think we’ll be taking money ahead of time yet. That first bound high thing was a bit of a mess. Tusk had the packaging..then all of a sudden we could do CIB’s..but people didn’t seem to understand the time it took to get the connectors send them off to mindstorm..get them back..put the carts together ect. If we do any type of pre-ordering thingy..I think Tusk will post on another thread or something.

-Bigmak

Benjamin Stevens wrote:
I don’t know what it is that I got wrong. I wrote “his Space Pinball and buggy Bound High were being sold and traded around, with the purpose of getting more funds for Faceball and Dragon Hopper.” … I mentioned nothing at all about the other things to which you refer…

That’s right, you didn’t. In almost 1400 words there’s no mention of the 15 Feb 2010 email, and nothing about jojobean’s attempt to scam the owner of Faceball with faked Zero Racers source code. Everything DogP, Krisse, myself, and others, have brought to light regarding jojobean’s fraudulent activities you’ve apparently dismissed as untrue, whereas jojobean’s extremely dubious assertion that he was simply trying to raise money to acquire Faceball and Dragon Hopper is taken at face value. Whether you think we’re all deluded or lying or simply mistaken I don’t know, but your suggestion that by doing what we did we somehow “screwed up much greater things for the rest of us” is totally unfounded.

I’m afraid the cold hard truth is that jojobean lied about the Bound High ROM he was selling being a fully working cart dump, and he lied about knowing someone who owned the cart. And if he lied about that, and he did, and more besides, there’s absolutely no reason to believe he wasn’t also lying about Dragon Hopper as well. So this:

Benjamin Stevens wrote:
So am I going to think that jojobean was lying about knowing a guy who owns Dragon Hopper? Absolutely not.

is based on nothing but credulity and wishful thinking.

dasi wrote:
In almost 1400 words there’s no mention of the 15 Feb 2010 email, and nothing about jojobean’s attempt to scam the owner of Faceball with faked Zero Racers source code… Whether you think we’re all deluded or lying or simply mistaken I don’t know, but your suggestion that by doing what we did we somehow “screwed up much greater things for the rest of us” is totally unfounded.

It seems that you are getting angry about certain things, because you yourself are in the dark about many things. You write of DogP, as if he was the one and only “owner” of Faceball. Read the thread again and observe some of the specific discussion that occurred between jojobean and DogP. It would not make sense that such discussion would have occurred between jojobean and DogP, if jojobean was not very well aware of another source, who had BOTH Faceball and Dragon Hopper.

You must trust me when I say with firmness: people’s actions on this forum at that time very likely caused that genuine source of Dragon Hopper never to release his version of the game ever. I cannot explain any more details concerning that source.

Benjamin Stevens wrote:

dasi wrote:
In almost 1400 words there’s no mention of the 15 Feb 2010 email, and nothing about jojobean’s attempt to scam the owner of Faceball with faked Zero Racers source code… Whether you think we’re all deluded or lying or simply mistaken I don’t know, but your suggestion that by doing what we did we somehow “screwed up much greater things for the rest of us” is totally unfounded.

It seems that you are getting angry about certain things, because you yourself are in the dark about many things. You write of DogP, as if he was the one and only “owner” of Faceball. Read the thread again and observe some of the specific discussion that occurred between jojobean and DogP. It would not make sense that such discussion would have occurred between jojobean and DogP, if jojobean was not very well aware of another source, who had BOTH Faceball and Dragon Hopper.

You must trust me when I say with firmness: people’s actions on this forum at that time very likely caused that genuine source of Dragon Hopper never to release his version of the game ever. I cannot explain any more details concerning that source.

With a little bit of polish ‘Capitan Sevilla II’ could make a great repro. It already has great graphics. I don’t know how long the game is though as I usually die on the third or fourth screen or so. The controls are making the game rather hard to play right now. I know it is difficult to program good jump&Run controls but the game is already on such a good level that it’s the only real pain-point left.

ectoglow wrote:

Getting funds for Dragon Hopper? So… Dragon hopper again. where?!

What do we have here? We have a small group of people clearly enthusiastic about the Virtual Boy system. This is the site that would clearly attract people inclined to have made extra effort (and expense) to acquire rare games, demos, or prototypes. I myself am enough of an enthusiast to have spent ridiculous amounts getting “Space Invaders” and “Gundam”. I have all the Japanese games (except Lab and Bowling).

Of all the people who are members here — do you really think it’s unlikely that someone here HAS “Dragon” or at least knows where a copy is? Or even “Zero Racers”, nor hope-against-hope, Goldeneye? If a collector has spent 4-5 digits on such a prototype, then maybe it should not be readily available for “free dumps”, especially with the theatrics that have occurred. Best we can do is be patient, and hope that whatever obstacles that have occurred in the past to prevent acquisition can be overcome; perhaps we can pool resources, and see if there is one available to buy. I think those who have actual finances involved tend to be more trustworthy.

Maybe we could pay for a dump, which would NOT be “shared at large”, but payment could compensate for a collector’s decreased value. But first we would have to establish if one could be found, if payment was offered.

I hope someone can come up with a reliable, inexpensive (including the cost to get started) method for producing carts totally from scratch without using any part of an original one. It’s not that I believe they should be preserved for their own sake (does anyone even play V. Baseball, anymore? :-P). Besides the cost factor, custom carts open the door for extending the VB platform by leveraging the expansion capabilities that were built in but never tapped (commercially). While this can be (and has been) done using existing connectors with a custom case, the cost/availability factor puts volume production pretty much out of reach for anything more complex than a flash cart or reproduction.

I know where I can get a couple of “bad-display” consoles, that I would be willing to open (and perhaps fix!), but would allow investigation of appropriate replacement cart-connectors.

Richard said it is feasible (and cost-effective) to make 3D printed carts. I have one as a “Flashboy”, and I’m very happy with it.

I could probably sell the “solder-fixed” consoles here at PVB, after we come up with a suitable stock- cartconnector.

dasi wrote:

RunnerPack wrote:
I had nothing to do with the “buggy” version.

To be clear, in his 15 Feb 2010 scam email, jojobean was selling both the “buggy” David Tucker version (which you had nothing to do with) *and* the broken VUCC version you compiled for him. It was the VUCC version of Bound High which jojobean was fraudulently selling as a fully working cart dump. I didn’t in any way mean to suggest you were involved in what jojobean subsequently did with that ROM.

I know you weren’t implying that it was my idea to offer it for sale. I just meant I was not the producer of the ROM, but, now that you mention it, I do recall sending him an almost working ROM that I made before all the bugs in my converter were ironed out.

dasi wrote:

RunnerPack wrote:
The rest of the above seems accurate…

I assume you’re refering to Krisse’s version of events. I think you need to make that clear to avoid any further confusion.

This.

thunderstruck wrote:
With a little bit of polish ‘Capitan Sevilla II’ could make a great repro. It already has great graphics. I don’t know how long the game is though as I usually die on the third or fourth screen or so. The controls are making the game rather hard to play right now. I know it is difficult to program good jump&Run controls but the game is already on such a good level that it’s the only real pain-point left.

I haven’t tried that one yet! I have it downloaded (“Capitan.vb”), and the “Star Wars” demo. I guess I’ll try them this weekend.

I seriously commend you on your work (I’ve played “Fishbone” and some others); I wish we could have homebrew-games that exploit the 3D effect. What about “Gosub 3D”? Haven’t tried that either; is it really 3D? I imagine how fun it would be to dodge TORPEDOES like it is to dodge missiles in “Red Alarm”…

vb-fan wrote:

I hope someone can come up with a reliable, inexpensive (including the cost to get started) method for producing carts totally from scratch without using any part of an original one. It’s not that I believe they should be preserved for their own sake (does anyone even play V. Baseball, anymore? :-P). Besides the cost factor, custom carts open the door for extending the VB platform by leveraging the expansion capabilities that were built in but never tapped (commercially). While this can be (and has been) done using existing connectors with a custom case, the cost/availability factor puts volume production pretty much out of reach for anything more complex than a flash cart or reproduction.

I know where I can get a couple of “bad-display” consoles, that I would be willing to open (and perhaps fix!), but would allow investigation of appropriate replacement cart-connectors.

I’m not sure what you’re proposing, here… Why would a VB have to be experimented on to find a mating cart connector? It’s a matter of removing four screws to expose the “business end” of the cart connector (and the interior of the cart slot) with no risk at all to the rest of the VB’s components. Just stick the candidate connector in place, measure its location relative to the edges of the cart slot, CAD up a case and PCB to fit and you’re done! If I had one of the connectors here, I would have done it myself long ago.

Richard said it is feasible (and cost-effective) to make 3D printed carts. I have one as a “Flashboy”, and I’m very happy with it.

I know of (and alluded to) the 3D printed cases, but I’d like to know exactly how much one costs in materials and labor. Since extending the VB through custom carts will likely require adding more hardware than just a flash chip and small MCU, it might require an even cheaper method to produce the larger cases (such as casting them out of resin in a silicone mold made from a printed or CNC-machined master).

However, my point was less about the case and more about the use of Nintendo connectors, which is obviously a dwindling resource which will only get more expensive as time goes on.

RunnerPack wrote:
I’m not sure what you’re proposing, here… Why would a VB have to be experimented on to find a mating cart connector? It’s a matter of removing four screws to expose the “business end” of the cart connector (and the interior of the cart slot) with no risk at all to the rest of the VB’s components. Just stick the candidate connector in place, measure its location relative to the edges of the cart slot, CAD up a case and PCB to fit and you’re done! If I had one of the connectors here, I would have done it myself long ago.

Well — my consoles are working; I’m not willing to take them apart. I guess you’re right, I don’t actually need to remove the motherboard-plug to see if it will fit — but it would certainly be useful in production to test geometry.

I know of (and alluded to) the 3D printed cases, but I’d like to know exactly how much one costs in materials and labor. Since extending the VB through custom carts will likely require adding more hardware than just a flash chip and small MCU, it might require an even cheaper method to produce the larger cases (such as casting them out of resin in a silicone mold made from a printed or CNC-machined master).

Depends on the game. The PCB to make a game work isn’t complicated, only a couple parts (unless it’s a “data-saving game” with a RAM and battery; and that’s not much more complexity). Richard posted here that a kilogram of raw material only cost something like 40 bucks (somewhere around 30 pounds), and it “will make a lot of cases”. I got the impression a case was only a dollar or two cost.

However, my point was less about the case and more about the use of Nintendo connectors, which is obviously a dwindling resource which will only get more expensive as time goes on.

I’m really thinking the 2mm connectors will work; the only considerations I can think of, is if the socket-blades are parallel to the strip (therefore allowing some “play” in the long dimension), and if the physical manufactured plastic will fit inside of the console cart-plug. The connector keys are irrelevant; the cart itself has keyed edges, faithfully reproduced in the “printed case” for my Flashboy.

I don’t see the demand becoming thousands-of-units-per-month; that might justify having a mold made (generally for short-runs they’re made of aluminum; haven’t given much thought to silicon & polyester resin — high pressure molten plastic injection is much quicker). For rather small runs with a 3D printer, if personal printer(s) aren’t desired to be tied up, there is always the option of having a “shop” produce the cases.

Are you reading this, Richard?

Gimme a couple weeks to acquire the parts and potential connectors.

I got the impression a case was only a dollar or two cost.

Yes, cheap to make, but takes time 1 hour per case.

(BTW the latest revision now ‘snaps’ together).

If you can find a compatible connector that’d be really great. I can re-do the PCB and Hedgetrimmer will work his magic CAD skills on the case.

vb-fan wrote:

thunderstruck wrote:
With a little bit of polish ‘Capitan Sevilla II’ could make a great repro. It already has great graphics. I don’t know how long the game is though as I usually die on the third or fourth screen or so. The controls are making the game rather hard to play right now. I know it is difficult to program good jump&Run controls but the game is already on such a good level that it’s the only real pain-point left.

I haven’t tried that one yet! I have it downloaded (“Capitan.vb”), and the “Star Wars” demo. I guess I’ll try them this weekend.

I seriously commend you on your work (I’ve played “Fishbone” and some others); I wish we could have homebrew-games that exploit the 3D effect. What about “Gosub 3D”? Haven’t tried that either; is it really 3D? I imagine how fun it would be to dodge TORPEDOES like it is to dodge missiles in “Red Alarm”…

‘Capitan Sevilla II’ is graphic wise really great. Like Fishbone, it doesn’t utilize the 3D effect though. It is rather easy to display something in 2D on the VB as you can simply draw sprites with a specific depth. That’s how the depth effect in Fishbone works.

I agree that a homebrew that actually utilizes the 3D as part of the game mechanics would be great. Obviously, realizing a game like that needs more planning and some experiments before the actual development can start. I had several games in mind that would work like that. I actually already started on a fighting-game that would be like that once but then git sidetracked with Fishbone and then even more sidetracked with Faceball.

I wish VB Racing would be more of a complete game. A look into the sources would be interesting as well. It shouldn’t be to complected to make a full game out of it if the sources would be available either. I understand that this is a boring task though.

MineStorm wrote:

Yes, cheap to make, but takes time 1 hour per case.

Wow, I didn’t know that — it makes production quantities unfeasible. How much trouble would it be to have a second party make them?

If you can find a compatible connector that’d be really great. I can re-do the PCB and Hedgetrimmer will work his magic CAD skills on the case.

The closest I think we’ll find is the 2mmx2mm. Several companies make them; “through-hole” has sufficient leg length to accommodate being soldered onto the edge of a PCB. The difference in pin spacing is small, especially in the row-spacing; the only two considerations are in the 30-columns spacing, and if the part’s physical plastic fits the VB connector.

Is the cart connector (socket) a close fit in the console connector (plug)?

‘Capitan Sevilla II’ is graphic wise really great. Like Fishbone, it doesn’t utilize the 3D effect though. It is rather easy to display something in 2D on the VB as you can simply draw sprites with a specific depth. That’s how the depth effect in Fishbone works.

Neither do most of the N games — Wario-Land and others are really 2-D games with two or three depths. Clash is 2D, even though the “boards” are 3D, and the “bonus-game” has about the best 3D and texture seen. All the “spectators” are 2D.

Question — is it possible to have two sprites (stored images of characters) instead of one fed to both screens, so that the sprite itself looks 3D? I heard rumors once of 3D cameras able to capture images for the VB.

I agree that a homebrew that actually utilizes the 3D as part of the game mechanics would be great. Obviously, realizing a game like that needs more planning and some experiments before the actual development can start. I had several games in mind that would work like that. I actually already started on a fighting-game that would be like that once but then git sidetracked with Fishbone and then even more sidetracked with Faceball.

Faceball’s pretty good; though the sprites are still 2-D. I like how the “enemies” have personalities; peeking around corners to see if you’re looking. It’s too limited though; really looking forward to the “remastered” version.

I wish VB Racing would be more of a complete game. A look into the sources would be interesting as well. It shouldn’t be to complected to make a full game out of it if the sources would be available either. I understand that this is a boring task though.

Who is “M.K.”? Would he be willing to do more on it, or release the source?

Maybe Greg Steven’s “Starwars” will outdo “Zero Racers”.

🙂

vb-fan wrote:

Question — is it possible to have two sprites (stored images of characters) instead of one fed to both screens, so that the sprite itself looks 3D? I heard rumors once of 3D cameras able to capture images for the VB.

Yes.

Who is “M.K.”? Would he be willing to do more on it, or release the source?

Maybe Greg Steven’s “Starwars” will outdo “Zero Racers”.

🙂

He is the guy who programmed VB Racing. You should check it out. It is pretty cool. I don’t know if he still reads posts at planet vb. I totally understand if someone doesn’t want to share his sources. I don’t like doing it either as I always feel I have to polish everything to a perfect level to not embarrass myself.

I have high hopes for the Star Wars game too. It is one of those games that are really impressive in 3D. I hope he is eventually releasing his engine. Would be cool to have some tool support for it…

thunderstruck wrote:
I don’t know if he still reads posts at planet vb.

The last time he logged in is February 2nd.

thunderstruck wrote:

vb-fan wrote:

Question — is it possible to have two sprites (stored images of characters) instead of one fed to both screens, so that the sprite itself looks 3D? I heard rumors once of 3D cameras able to capture images for the VB.

Yes.

Very cool. As someone who likes movies, the used-video places (who also sell used GAMES) have whole displays of plastic video-game characters. Imagine taking a two images of a figure and using THAT as a VB character!

Who is “M.K.”?
🙂

He is the guy who programmed VB Racing. You should check it out. It is pretty cool.

I did — it is! Reminds me of “Atari Racing”. That had a fun twist; at “night”, when all you could see were tail-lights, the “collision-detection” algorithms only SEE the tail-lights (just a highway of TAIL-LIGHTS, no cars!).

I don’t know if he still reads posts at planet vb. I totally understand if someone doesn’t want to share his sources. I don’t like doing it either as I always feel I have to polish everything to a perfect level to not embarrass myself.

Well, everything can “get better”; I think it’s preferable to have stuff to work with, and allow ourselves to not be “perfectionists”. (I totally understand what you’re saying, I’m there often myself.) 🙂

I have high hopes for the Star Wars game too. It is one of those games that are really impressive in 3D. I hope he is eventually releasing his engine. Would be cool to have some tool support for it…

Me too; from what I’ve heard, it wouldn’t be hard to come up with a good substitute (heck, better!) for “Zero Racers”.

Horvat wrote:

The last time he logged in is February 2nd.

Hmmm; maybe I’ll send him a PM, referring to this thread.

🙂

Oki..time for a small update.

The 25 bound high, space pinball’s on the way to me…so, I should get them this week. I’ll ship them off to vince as soon as I can (by Saturday ??? maybe). Again..I keep stating this but, last time we’re making these for awhile..unless there is a huge demand. So get them while you can..you’ve had warnings 🙂 so don’t be mad if they sell out.

Also 25 of the faceball proto’s are coming….Vince will sell these in his store cib. If you don’t get one of the 70 carts i’m giving away for free..this will be a way for you to get a cib set.

and Surprise..some english gundams are coming my way. Don’t expect them in the store anytime soon thou….

I’ve got more connectors here I have to send out..we didn’t have enough to make a full (or even half) run of these. This is my fault..after the last batch..work has crushed me and I haven’t gotten the time to do much work on these. Also, I’m waiting on another case of baseballs so I can send them all at once. If i can wait til I get that other case of baseballs, I can send enough connectors to finish off the small run of gundams and maybe a full run of faceball: remastered.

Also, even thou the manual and box of gundam has been done (in english)..I don’t think any ‘clean up’ work has been done on either. So, no time table to get those out yet. Also..don’t forget..the price to make these are higher (save ram ect)..so we’ll have to sell them at a higher price.

That reminds me..I have to play each game and save it..and make sure the save works before I ship them to vince 😛 will slow down the process a bit.

So..atm:

Soonish (would GUESS a month or two..sooner ?):

(25) bound high – to restock the store
(25) space pinball – to restock the store
(25) faceball proto cib
(25) blox

Not soonish..but not in the super future (3-4 months ??? total freakin guess)

(50) english gundams
(75?) faceball: remastered (not done yet..levels are still being worked on)
more blox if it does well ?

this year ??

space squash (not totally translated yet)
fishbone
blox 2 (save function not done yet (still buggy))
restock faceball: remastered ??

will that finish up the year ? not sure. Again…none of this is set in stone..all of this is only my opinion 🙂

-Eric

bigmak wrote:

Also 25 of the faceball proto’s are coming….Vince will sell these in his store cib. If you don’t get one of the 70 carts i’m giving away for free..this will be a way for you to get a cib set.

I might have missed this but was there an announcement of who gets one of the free Faceball cards? Because… people might freak out and buy it from Vince without knowing there is already a free card on the way to them…