Protoman85 wrote:
I would just try and clear it.. but my DVD discs only hold 2 hours so I would try to clear it under 2 hours.. but most likely I would need another disc since I’ve never managed under 2 hours before.
I think I’ve done it in ~30 minutes, if I run through each level like a bat outta (somewhere) getting only the key and “prize” on each level. On the advanced level, in 40 minutes or so. I’ve gotten rusty and can’t seem to do the “nose-smack-only” on the final boss lately…
Hey does anyone have a BROKEN original “stand medallion” they’d be willing to part with cheap? I don’t seem to have enough pieces to try my experiment.
Dreammary wrote:
The stand medallion replacement has been bid pretty high, it’s not a good value any longer.
Yeah, twenty-six bucks, and two and a half days left. It’s my experience that prices essentially double from the last day or two, to the ending two seconds.
bigmak wrote:
hehe i think the speeds are mixed up..if i remember..medium was high ??
Really? Hadn’t discovered that yet. 😐
btw..i luv that game 🙂 classic
“Lab” and “Virtual Bowling” are two I’ve never acquired. Now I find I can’t play Bowling very well either; lots of gutter balls. Haven’t figured out the controls.
I never thought I’d get to play those two — way too expensive (when they DO show up at all!)
HorvatM wrote:
Yes, that’s an annoying flaw in the game. I’ve thought about hacking the ROM to fix this, but the code is such a mess that I can’t promise anything.
That would be kewl!!!
Hey — if you do hack the Rom, maybe it’s possible to replace the Japanese with English??? That’d be kewl-er!!!
If it bothers you that much, play on the lowest speed. The scoring rules are the same anyway.
Oh, I think I’ll live. But I was playing on the lowest speed; that is, it SAID “lowest”. It doesn’t happen all the time — after 3-4 (or so) double-moves, then it would move ONE space.
What’s your focus? Fastest time, or highest points?
There is a “trick” with the final boss, but it takes considerable skill and perfect timing. Everyone knows that continuously hitting the “jump” button as the final boss starts will get a free “nose-punch”. But if your timing is perfect, you can catch him on the way DOWN after the previous nose-punch, and punch him again. I’ve actually won the game without ever engaging him at all! Nothing but a series of nose-punches!
There’ve been posts here about fixing vb’s where one or two are “beyond repair”; alternately, why wouldn’t the one I made be close enough? The pins seemed to be the right size — I had to sand every pin, each had a wide section towards one end — the “wide sections” were too wide to all fit together. Then I plugged 30 pins into one row of a cart, put a little piece of paper between each pin, and then poured epoxy over the whole row of pins. Next day repeated the process for the second row, then glued both rows together. Finally, coated the whole cart with paraffin and molded epoxy-putty around the cart and the “connector array” I had made, forming the putty into two “cart guides” going up the sides.
The cart-guides preserved the keying of the cart, and of course the three connector keys were also faithfully reproduced.
The pins were exactly positioned by the volunteering cart, so that a new cart slides easily into the “cart guide” and all pins make perfect connection. What my connector doesn’t have is the little 60-hole spring loaded “door” (gate?) that I’ve seen inside my VB cart slot.
Let’s see if someone has a couple extra to sell us; else I can make two more. Would you want the “card guides” feature?
I think if I was missing the piece, I’d just use the plastic-epoxy; coat the VB case with a thin vaseline, then install the clip and shape the plastic-epoxy over it and where the old clip went — overlapping the epoxy onto the clip-end-piece by at least a quarter inch. Make it just a straight-sided fillet (cross section TRIANGLE, rather than curve). Sadly, the plastic-epoxy is ALSO five-minute stuff so you’ll hafta work fast. And it’s kind of a yellow color, but can be sanded after a couple hours and colored with a “black magic marker”. Don’t even think of opening the clip for an hour after applying.
I think you’ll be happy with the results; the “cosmetic police” would have to look very closely to see the repair…
Racer_Z51 wrote:
(I hope it’s okay to bump a topic this old…)
Did anyone find a way to make these with 3D printers?
I’m still looking for this replacement part.
Assuming you’re still reading this, Racer (which is likely), and/or Boneriver — the epoxy idea is actually a good one. I’m aware of two brands of “plastic epoxy”, laced with an aggressive solvent — one by SuperGlue Company, I think the other is by Loctite. It bonds very strongly to hard plastic, your job (assuming you have the original broken piece) would be to place the epoxy such that it forms additional material which provides mechanical strength. You can sand and paint it, or color it with a black magic marker. I fixed an electric flyswatter (think “mini tennis raquet) that the raquet-part had snapped off; shaped the epoxy with two “ribs”, and the assembly is very strong (and the flies & mosquitoes are back in danger).
RE Boneriver’s problem, WITHOUT the missing piece — there is a black epoxy putty sold in auto-parts departments, sets up in 5 minutes or so. Your challenge would be to remove some of the material from the existing broken part, (carve off the whole end where it broke before, so that the stress will now be on solid EPOXY-PUTTY and not on a putty-plastic joint. apply a mold release (perhaps vaseline or paraffin) on the VB case, and then hand-shape the putty into a new part over the INSTALLED stand. Easier if you remove the legs. The VB case will shape the putty into exactly what you need, vaseline preventing bonding to the VB-case (the putty bond to plastic isn’t as strong as the “plastic epoxy” bond). I suggest molding it with fillets for increased strength. Use a wet table-knife to quickly shape the clip itself (your whole sculpting will have to happen within about two minutes immediately after mixing/kneading the putty).
Boneriver might drill 4-6 holes in the eighth-inch range on the plastic-stand-end where you want the putty to join (the new end after carving off the broken one), then extend the holes to the new edge; so that the old piece presents “fingers” into the putty; this should increase the bond and strength. The putty gets quite warm while catylizing, and is only workable for five minutes max (plan on only TWO minutes). A small dish of water is essential, keeping the fingertips wet — allows for easy sculpting of the putty without sticking to the fingers. If the putty-plastic bond ever fails, use plastic epoxy — it should bond BOTH to the ABS of the original piece, and to the new epoxy-end. The putty ends up very hard and very strong;
I have a stand that has the same broken part; haven’t been too motivated to fix it (have an extra stand), but could be talked into trying the plastic-expoxy repair, and posting pics. Both my stands have undergone the “hub repair with bolts” (didn’t know about Hedgetrimmer’s new part). I intend to copy the “medallion” with paraffin and black epoxy-putty.
I think the closest we’ll get is the 2mm spacing. The PDF* file lists the external dimensions as 59.87mm (2.357″) by 3.84mm (0.151″). There are three KEYS on the official VB connector, two tabs on one side, and the end-block with its centered square hold.
Measuring an actual cart, its connector (neglecting the “keys” is about 2-13/32 (2.406″) by right about 1/8″ (0.125). It wouldn’t be a lot of trouble to sand a connector to fit, but I’d really like to have an actual “console connector”.
I don’t have a console connector (anyone have one I could buy?), but I have one that I MADE by putting 60 pins in a cart and pouring epoxy over the pins. I used epoxy-putty to make an “inline cart connector”, two rails that extend up the sides of a cart and preserve the keying of the cart. But to test connectors, I’d like to have an official console connector, if anyone has one to sell please send me a PM. Surely there’s a dead console or two out there…
I’ve also talked to another couple companies about similar 2mm connectors; I could get some samples and (if I come up with a console connector) see if any fit, without modifications. The “keys” are irrelevant; once assembled into a cart, the cart itself provides all the necessary keying…
vb-fan wrote:
I would commit to a cart. Well, not if it was $1000, but in the $75 range I could swing that…
😀
Well I finally played “Fishbone”, on my Flashboy. (Still can’t get over the 3D-printed-cart thing! Kewl!!!)
I think it’s a fantastic achievement, very fun watching the background (at least, watching it until my fish gets eaten!). I don’t think it rises to the level of “cart”, I would suggest a couple minor changes if that is ever a consideration.
A very enjoyable and rare luxury for owning a VB is plugging in a new game that’s never been seen before; this certainly fits the bill. And I’m looking forward to playing the other “home-brews”, though lately I’ve been running around the “Halls of Faceball”. Didn’t realize the tiger was 3D! Excited about the soon-coming “Ball-face”!
I like that one. Wonder what the front embroider looked like?
Perhaps you’ve already noticed it since, but the third image that I posted above contains the image that appears on the front of the jacket in the lower left corner. Of course, one doesn’t know from this how large it appeared on the front of the jacket or where.
Well, I was referring to the “Worthpoint” one, with full embroidered red-n-purple banner on the back.
“The old-school Nintendo logo is embroidered on the front left breast and a large Virtual Boy logo is embroidered across the back.”
morintari wrote:
Just a hunch but contact the seller and see how they got them and if they know of someone who worked for Nintendo in “95” contact them and ask if they have any info about the lost 2 games.
That’s a great idea.
RE “pen” — it’s 36 bucks with 5-1/2 days left; it’s gonna clear a hundred bucks. And you couldn’t carry it, either lose it or wear off the logo.
I think we should make our own and pass them around…
I would still write the thank-you note; whether he’s Japanese or American (or both!), he’ll appreciate the sentiment; sadly social skills are rare nowadays…
segagamer99 wrote:
I wrote a very polite letter to Nintendo around a month ago, saying how I am a long time fan of their games, and asking about any info for Dragon Hopper and Zero Racers, and if so, contact these people on Planet VB(KR155E, DogP and Bigmak).
The first response I got basically said “Roms are illegal, so we cannot help you”. Very short and disappointing.
Today, I surprisingly got another letter back. It was from a different person, and it was very polite. They appreciated me enjoying their games, but unfortunately, they have no info on either of the two games. They hope that I continue to enjoy my Virtual Boy, and they gave me some free stuff (Pokemon bookmarks).
I guess Nintendo doesn’t have any info? Well, at least I am more than content with all the VB games I have. Good luck everyone! 🙂
Well, maybe they do, and maybe they don’t. It’s more likely the “official position” is not to have any info.
However, the Japanese people are very “honor based” — so I would strongly encourage you to write back and thank the second person for his kindness. That will ONLY promote good interaction. The “bookmarks” was a very good gesture.
I had a broken watch once (lcd was snapped), and wrote to Japan — they sent me a new one; unfortunately, it was just in a tiny zip-lock bag in the return letter, and arrived snapped too. They replaced it — so just for fun I sent them a “thank-you” letter, with a laser hologram to express appreciation. It impressed them, they then sent me a whole new watch module. Mind you, I wasn’t AFTER anything, just wanted to express appreciation and honor them for their response; I met them on their level, and they honored me back!
There is a saying, “People are alike all over”.
🙂
PS — if you send him something BACK, a little gift, hologram or something inexpensive that an adult Japanese person could find useful, it will blow him away; don’t expect anything from it, just have fun “returning the appreciation” and the honor. He took the trouble to write to you, and to get the bookmarks and put them in an envelope for you.
Just a simple short note — “You honored me by your reply, I just wanted to express my appreciation for your trouble and the gifts.” He will very much relate to the word “honor”. Best to leave the first response alone, it’s pretty clear the first person will HEAR about your “thank-you”.
While you’re at it Thunder could you hack the big “N” and get us the two lost games?
I have always believed that some of the two dozen games listed on “unreleased” existed on N’s computers. If they are so committed to having nothing further to do with the Virtual Boy, then why in God’s Universe would they not release whatever they have? In the late nineties or very early two thousands, I contacted them; at first ignored, the only response I got is “NO WE ARE NOT GOING TO RELEASE ANYTHING”. Seeing as how many people own MULTIPLE platforms, it would be nothing but good PR to release whatever games they had (easily including Dragonhopper & Zero racers), promoting good will and future sales of other products. But noooOOOooo, illogical attitudes aren’t just for politics.
colesonwilson wrote:
What’s your address? I’ll have the original unfinished ROM in your mailbox on April 1.
Probably not so much outta alignment, as outta focus. Play with both settings while viewing a game until it feels right. If one of the settings is perturbing you, making the setting worse will be noticeable…
What is your body position? Most of us don’t like sitting hunched over a table, it’s most popular laying down with heads propped up on a pillow, the vb resting on our faces. That’s the way I play it…
Benjamin Stevens wrote:
The shipping to my USA address is $36.61.
This would definitely be a great purchase for a USA resident who is confident in his soldering skills. You could easily resell each of these units for at least $40.00 each after you solder-fix them, especially if you advertise that they are solder-fixed units that should have no display problems ever afterwards. This would definitely be a great service to all of us VB fans who aren’t so confident in our soldering skills.
He musta modified the shipping; it now says “$39”, but it’s sold.
My solder skills are excellent, been building stuff for years. Maybe some more will surface.
