nesdev.org

Is this possible to reproduce a cart from the NWC? I know that there are external settings that influence gameplay, etc. Is there any way to change the mapper type and hardwire specific settings so that it could be recreated on a donor cart?

I know that SMB2J was remapped and works on MMC3 carts. I just don't know how much work that was or this would be..

I enjoy competing with my friends in older NES games. It would be cool to have one of these around to play with and for bragging rights over scores.

NC

Its quite possible to reproduce the cart, especially as we know what the board looks like, which ICs it uses, and how it works. But I wonder if it is possible to hack the program so the timer is done in software rather than hardware. That way, it could use a more normal board.

Exactly, that is what I was hoping for. I'm nowhere near experienced enough to know what this entails.. but I was curious if it was possible. Maybe someday I'll be able to give it a try - or perhaps someone else could work it out

NC

It may be possible to make a working replica, but not possible to make one that looks exactly like the original. So for those reading this wanting to make one and pass it off as real, there are many subtle details about an NWC cart that if faked, would fail serious srutinous tests.

-Rob

Would it be possible to structure a new NWC-like ROM as a set of patches against the PRG and CHR files from SMB1 (PRG 1), Rad Racer, and Tetris?

rbudrick wrote:It may be possible to make a working replica, but not possible to make one that looks exactly like the original. So for those reading this wanting to make one and pass it off as real, there are many subtle details about an NWC cart that if faked, would fail serious srutinous tests.

-Rob

It might be possible to make one that looks EXACTLY like the original. The only catch is that one would need access to an actual cart. Every IC would then carefully be de-soldered, and a very high-res scan of the blank PCB made. Then the scan would be used to fabricate an exact duplicate of the PCB.

From then on, it would be smooth sailing. No part on that board is custom; the discrete logic ICs it uses are easy to acquire, and the mapper and CIC can be pulled out of any number of existing carts. The cart case is a standard NES cart case with a neat little hole cut into it, and the label was printed on a color dot-matrix printer.

It's doable, but it isn't easy. One would have to pay VERY careful attention to detail. Given that these things change hands for thousands of dollars, faking an NWC cart might not only be feasible but highly profitable.

It might be possible to make one that looks EXACTLY like the original

For most people it would be even easier than that. They will never open it up and check out the inside, and would be even less likely to compare side by side with an actual pcb. Would be pretty easy to use the existing board photos to make a new board, then find chips with the correct date codes. Most people wont know to look for hand soldered pins, types of capacitors, etc. The color and type of dip switches is probably most critical because they are shown in every picture.

There is nothing unique about the cases, even the gold ones. The two divots in the label area are on all gold carts and is a mark from fabrication. The divots line up with two posts on the other side, so it is either material shrinkage or ejected too soon. It is a good example why texture is put on surfaces of most plastics, it hides things like that. The high res picts actually help you locate the dip switch hole correctly.

Just be sure if you make a gray cart not to use a number thats already been located!

Really? Are you guys talking about how to fake the cart? Wow...

I agree that discussion about how to counterfeit a Nintendo Game Pak isn't productive. What we need is a competition for jumping/driving/stacking/etc modules for a homebrew spiritual sequel to NWC.

Agreed. If I ever hear of someone from here faking an NWC cart, I'm gonna gag them with a dead gerbil, garrote them with their own spinal cord, hang them by their own intestines, draw, quarter, eighth and sixteenth them, and flush the remains down various different toilets in several states.

*AHEM*, Anyhow, making a new NWC-homage cart is a cool idea... If you want to follow the original plan, as the prior poster suggested, we'd need a platform game, a racing game, and a stacking or other puzzle game.

Of course, other possibilities exist as well. I was thinking something which hits three DIFFERENT genres, or possibly replaces one of the prior genres.

I had originally come up with the idea of a game inspired by the original design ideas for Q-bert (which was originally called 'snots and boogers'), where a character would hop around on an isometric/orthographic playfield and shoot enemies and collect treasures to complete the level.

I also came up with a really freaky puzzle game thats a cross between a bunch of others but the rules are rather complex, and I don't think it would work well here, but who knows.

I assume we're not trying to hack existing roms to work together to make a cart. if we were, then i would suggest smb3, <some modern racing game>, and maybe bombliss, since thats very similar to tetris but with a few rule changes.

Lord Nightmare

Personally, I would love to see someone fake an NWC card and eBay it for lots of cash. I just couldn't pity someone who would waste that amount of money on a cart only to keep it in a safe locker. ;)

The only two decent reasons for owning a cart that I can see is either to enjoy playing it or to make a devcart out of it. Everything else just seems to be a tragic "mine's bigger than yours"-game among the collector species.

The worst thing I've seen in this category was on a forum where collectors could list their rare carts, with one person being proud to have no less than 5(!) Mr.Gimmick carts in his collection.

The only two decent reasons for owning a cart that I can see is either to enjoy playing it or to make a devcart out of it. Everything else just seems to be a tragic "mine's bigger than yours"-game among the collector species.

On the other hand, due to collectors some of these carts will survive for probably hundreds of years, and they're paying in order to provide this service.

Bananmos is not all the way wrong, but still, it'd be very unfair to do something like that.
It's still cool to have pretty rare cards, as long as you play them and not just put them in a drawer and show off that you possess them.

Just be sure if you make a gray cart not to use a number thats already been located!

Even faking a gold one you'd have to look out for the same. Few people know exactly how the label on those were made. They are easy to fake, but more so if you know the equipment that was actually used to print them. If you can hold the cart and lok at it or just get a really good scan, you could tell if the label was faked. It was not a standard dot matrix, btw. Also, the golds may not be numbered, but they are all individual in their appearance and I have been documenting subtle details for each one that gives them each a sort of "fingerprint." To date, 10 have been discovered, one of which I don't have a pic of and a couple others I need better pics of.

-Rob

has anyone had any luck or tried this? I have a rom of it and it seems its only set at 5:00 get 50 coins in mario etc. 1 lap in rad racer and then tetris. Is there anyway to just reproduce this rom like it is? I woudnt care if it had a dip switch in it to switch the times or not. 5:00 is fine. i would love to just put it on a cart. anyone know what kind of board it could be used on etc./? and if it will keep time some how? any hacks been made yet?