Flashcarts

Read this article https://hackinformer.com/2022/05/25/hardware-review-krzysiocarts-flashcarts-for-nes-famicom/

I’m glad to see not only these are still being made but improvements were also being made (the ability to save progress in Kirby, Zelda, etc) and there is an NES version.

I bought one of the first ones made years ago, it no longer works unfortunately, but while it did it, it was pretty fun to use with my Retro USB AVS. And while no ED, tons of games work including hacks and homebrews.

I’ll see if I can pick another one.

I say even if you have an ED get one of these, you will be supporting a developer.

Link to the creator’s website http://krzysiobal.com/

 

This Mega Everdrive Pro is an awesome piece of hardware. In addition to playing Megadrive roms, it also plays Virtua Racing (the only SVP game ever made), Sega Master games with FM support (for those compatible games) and Mega CD games. Also, so called MSU (aka Mode 1) patched games work flawlessly. More info about MSU here.

Highly recommended piece of hardware, no more having to mess with aging hardware, just fire up your Genesis / Megadrive console and you’re good to go.

It’s been a while since I last purchased an Everdrive product. So far I have the Everdrive N8, the original Mega Everdrive and the Turbo Everdrive v1. All three of them are awesome and still running like champs.

Like many others I’m sure, the main motivation on getting the Mega ED Pro is the Sega CD support. Being able to play CD games on real hardware without having to mess with my aging CD unit sounds great. 

This, like the others before it, is a great quality product. 

Professionally made. Comes nicely packaged and with a nice detailed manual printed in full color.  

Another plus is, the creator, Krikzz, now uses the Amazon fulfillment center to help distribute his products in the US. That will help make the Everdrives more easily attainable than before.

Besides being able to emulate a Sega CD unit via an advanced FPGA, this unit allows us to play Virtua Racing (SVP chip) and Master System games (those that support it off course) with FM sound (YM2413) . 32x roms will run fine provided that ugly mushroom is hooked up.

Can’t wait to try it, possibly Monday, when I’m back home.

Update 03/30/21 I was able to try it for a brief moment today and I think it is great already. It is unbelievable how all that magic fits into a regular size Genesis cartridge. 

Recently I got a SNES console to use for parts. I wanted S-Video and modifying my Snes Jr was not an option. Once I got it to work using parts from another console (which I got from my good buddy Eleazar) I began fiddling with my Super UFO Pro 8. Besides being able to play the majority (excluding special chips) of roms from SD Card, there are other cool things can be done with it (I’m sure after these years I just began scratching the surface). One of those cool things is downloading and uploading sram saves to and from real carts.

In general, the process is:

  • Prepare the emulator sram files using ucon64. The resulting files should be 128kb (1 MBit) in size.
  • Copy the srm files to the SD Card (use extension srm)
  • Fire up the Super UFO.
  • Go to Backup (third icon)
  • SDC to UFO (that will copy the sram file to the Super UFO sram)
  • UFO to Cart (that will copy the Super UFO sram into the real Cart)

Problem is sometimes the sram doesn’t detected (Yoshi’s Island for exmaple). In that is the case, just go to utilities (fifth icon), Check Cart and manually turn on the SRAM. If you don’t know which parameters to use for your cart, you can check them at Superfamicon.org Yoshi’s Island sram size is 256kbit for example.

In some cases, no matter if your cart is in great shape, the SuperUFO will just plain refuse to detect there is a cart at all. I still haven’t figured if there is a solution.

If you want to hook it up to a PC, you’ll have to disable driver signature enforce before installing the driver. Using the included software you can load a rom from your PC directly into DRAM. Kinda cumbersome a vestige of the good ol days I guess. Just load your roms from the SD card.

The Krzysiocart is a flashcart made primarily for the famiclone consoles. It also works on most famicom compatible hardware.

It was developed by Krzysiobal a Polish developer who was inspired by the Pegasus a famiclone popular in Poland.

It all began as a project for his tesis, then worked on ministurizing it until he got to the product he is now selling.

It is a small one man operation, you contact this guy via eail, ask for payment details, send the money then he ships it very quickly. Price is $55 USD shipped to the US. Besides the flashcart, a 4GB microsd and usb adapter are also included.

I tried it on the AVS and on a NOAC Famiclone console (SY-700) and it worked fine on both consoles.

The interface is simple, look for your file, press A then your game boots.

When you place the cursor on a rom file, at the bottom a message tells you if the rom is compatible or not.

The creator’s goal is to make a device capable of running most famiclone games at an affordable price. That said, here are some notes:

  • dbelec cannot “complain” about incompatible voltages. The creator took special care to protect both the device and the console.
  • Battery backup (sram) doesn’t work at all. Games like Kirby and Zelda run fine but won’t save progress on a file like they do on an Everdrive or a Powerpak.
  • A number of gamesare just not compatible. Like mentioned before you’ll see if a game is not compatible on the menu. Examples of incompatible games are Goal 2, Japanese and American Castlevania 3, Mike Tyson’s Punch Out, unlicensed games, etc.
  • Contra 100 in 1 works. Haven’t tried 168 in 1.
  • It doesn’t sort files, you have to use a utility like Fat32 sorter.
  • It works on the AVS, however, after pressing reset it doesn’t go back to the main menu, it only resets the game loaded in memory. You have to turn off the console to return to the rom selection screen.
  • It is a tad slow to load even small size roms. While you wait you’re treated to a color changing screen.
For what t is and for the price I can’t complain, it works great and still you can run a great selection of games. You can still have a lot of fun.