In the past you built me a couple of custom carts for the VB. Your professionalism and the quality of your products made me a very happy customer. It’s nice to see someone carry on the FB+.

Cheers.

[Lester Knight]

Those VB projects look fantastic. I love the innovation and how your Mario port was inspired from an official denial letter sent by Nintendo!

That Atari article was interesting. I still have my 2600 that we got for Christmas in 1983. I never got into Atari homebrew because I didn’t have a Flash Kit of any kind and repros were often difficult to track down when sold in limited quantities. This article got me interested and I feel that I am about to jump down that rabbit hole a bit.

• This reply was modified 6 months, 2 weeks ago by Lester Knight.

I appreciate that this feature has returned to the site.

This is pretty cool. I feel like it deserves an honorable mention (and link) in the Unreleased Dragon Hopper section. If more of these type of games pop-up, then I vote for a new section — “Compiled for MK’s GBA on VB EMU”.

I like the idea of a way to easily list, sell, buy, rate, and provide feedback being incorporated into this site.

I do not like the idea of making something “limited edition” just to curb “piracy”. One ROM for this type of release, another for the public, yet another for a demo, one locked to a specific EMU, one that has Easter-eggs, one cart that has a special sticker, one that has blinking lights….

I’ve been writing reviews for close to 18 years and have been sent so many of these types of devices! I have to say, the idea of collecting carts is also something that intrigues me. The last thing I had with carts was the MD Max (Genesis clone), that had multi-carts available for it. I guess those of us from the cart generation will always have nostalgia for these devices.

Thanks for sharing. I didn’t know about this one until I saw this post!

[Lester Knight]

The 1st and only official run PCB was 100% made by Richard (Minestorm). Packaging was put together by UncleTusk. Initial pre-orders were sold by BigMak. I can not recall who shipped my carts, though. I’m not speculating, I was part of the conversation then and after. This includes a few of the more sensitive conversations and facts that, for some reason, we just never talk about. This game still has a strange vale of secrecy around it. There are other carts out there which I was told from owners were purchased from Kevin. Richard gave all of his remaining boards to JohnnyPhantom, who was going to do a 2nd “official” run, but never did.

Any other boards I have not seen nor do I know where they come from.

I own two CIB carts, and will open them up this week to see if they are different than images already posted here. I have a vague recollection that the first boards were purple in color, but the CIB production boards were yellow? I know there was a post, but I went looking and conveniently could not find it (hmm). Web archive for the win? Some more info here: http://web.archive.org/web/20170724092608/http://www.mellottsvrpage.com/index.php/virtual-boy-hyper-fighting/

Both of my carts fit well into the VB. I have opened them before and will add that they do take a little extra pressure when putting the shell back together.

I hope my typing this does not appear as if I am tossing anyone under the bus or posting something I should not. This is because Richard, Eric, and Kevin have all been very kind to me. In fact, my unique VB cart collection would not exist if it was not for all 3 of them. Especially Richard and Eric!

• This reply was modified 4 years, 8 months ago by Lester Knight.
• This reply was modified 4 years, 8 months ago by Lester Knight.
• This reply was modified 4 years, 8 months ago by Lester Knight.
• This reply was modified 4 years, 8 months ago by Lester Knight.
• This reply was modified 4 years, 8 months ago by Lester Knight.
• This reply was modified 4 years, 8 months ago by Lester Knight.
• This reply was modified 4 years, 8 months ago by Lester Knight.
• This reply was modified 4 years, 8 months ago by Lester Knight.

Hi. I wanted to chime in with that otherwise useless bit of additional content. I have only 1 USB cable that works with my FB+. It was the one that came with it, originally. I’ve never found anything else that works. I once sent it back for repairs, assuming it was the USB connector. After having it re-soldered and returned, the problem continues. hehe. Quirky.

Would it be possible to disassociate the USB driver with that device, so the next time you plug it in, it’s like the 1st time again? Maybe something even as drastic as an uninstall/reinstall?

I am curious if this story will continue. Paypal siding with you looks good in your behalf. I hope you use that momentum and call a lawyer to go after this person who tried to defraud you.

This looks excellent. Great job!

Quaze wrote:

Lester Knight wrote:
I think the custom labels have more charm and collect-ability than the torn/ripped/written on one that previously adorned the cart!

No sir, just no. Repro anything will never have more collectibility than OEM anything.

I do not share YOUR personal opinion. “OEM” as you put it, is boring. My custom labels are 100x better than the originals and represent the 1-off “collectibility” of my VB carts much more accurately than an official label ever could.

xs4all wrote:
no use if that rom hasn’t been dumped and leaked yet, or has it?

it has. it flew by under the radar.

I love the custom labels on my 1-off carts and the one I replaced a torn Vertical Force label with! I own a VB and games, to play games. Even if I resold everything, I think the custom labels have more charm and collect-ability than the torn/ripped/written on one that previously adorned the cart! If you’re curious, I have some photos in my profile’s collection tab.

I was not expecting to read this news when I clicked on this thread. This sounds like it will be a fun project! I can not wait to see your results! Thank you.

This project always sounded really interesting!

I would swap out a few of my 1-off carts for new cases if the quality and price were right.

[Lester Knight]

Are you saying you received a cart for $100 or less from the pre-order process everyone went through?

• This reply was modified 5 years, 1 month ago by Lester Knight.
• This reply was modified 5 years, 1 month ago by Lester Knight.

Thank you Thunderstruck!

[Lester Knight]

No offense and I am not trying to argue point-of-views, but I am in the exact opposite boat. I’ve never appreciated the secrecy and hoarding that comes along with prototypes and ROM dumps. Also, we lost some of the VB scene who openly stated it was directly related to this game and the drama that came along with it.

• This reply was modified 5 years, 1 month ago by Lester Knight.

This game has caused nothing but drama for the VB scene. I am so happy the ROM is finally out there and Kevin is stepping up to release a re-programmable cart that will support it!