"new" SNES clone

Jagasian · Post by **Jagasian** » Fri Dec 08, 2006 3:28 pm

Does the following SNES clone fix the poor audio typical of unlicensed SNES clones?
http://assemblergames.com/forums/showthread.php?t=11851

gannon · Post by **gannon** » Fri Dec 08, 2006 3:30 pm

I know 2 users over at http://benheck.com/phpBB/index.php have them. They say that they play everything fine, but it could be they just aren't paying close enough attention to the sound. The board is smaller than a mini-snes though, so that's nice

kyuusaku · Post by **kyuusaku** » Fri Dec 08, 2006 4:21 pm

No because it uses the same ASICs (as I said in the thread :)

Jagasian · Post by **Jagasian** » Fri Dec 08, 2006 4:42 pm

kyuusaku wrote:No because it uses the same ASICs (as I said in the thread

I compared the pictures to the previous mini-SNES clone's circuit board, and it looks like the same chipset, but a slightly different layout. Here are pics of the other clone that I am talking about:
http://gamesx.com/wiki/doku.php?id=counterfeit_snes

That XGA chipset does an OK job with the video, but certain sounds do not play correctly at all. I think that the people who claim that this clone plays most games perfectly are deaf, or maybe they are completely unfamiliar with the actual system that they claim they are a fan of.

cheese007 · Post by **cheese007** » Sun Dec 10, 2006 10:55 am

Because technology hasn't improved in the past 7 years, as we all know.

Jagasian · Post by **Jagasian** » Mon Dec 11, 2006 3:01 pm

cheese007 wrote:Because technology hasn't improved in the past 7 years, as we all know.

When it comes to unlicensed console clones, that is often the case.

cheese007 · Post by **cheese007** » Mon Dec 11, 2006 5:17 pm

Can I start laughing now?So far every game has worked perfect or damn close to it. Worst I've seen is the colors being slightly dull on SMW, and I had to strain to see it.

Post by **tepples** » Mon Dec 11, 2006 8:26 pm

Including Super Mario RPG and other SA-1 games, where the key CIC actually disabled the ROMs like the patent suggested?

cheese007 · Post by **cheese007** » Mon Dec 11, 2006 9:24 pm

Tell me what other games those are and I may be able to help you. I haven't heard any word on Super Mario RPG. Oh and if you guys haven't already figured out, that's my FC Twin on ASSEMBler. If you want, here's a list of games that I know work.
Castlvania Dracula X
Drakken
Illusion of Gaia
Secret of Mana
Chrono Trigger
Final Fantasy II
Final Fantasy III
FF Mystic Quest
Castlvania IV
Legend of Zelda: A Link to the Past
Paladin's Quest
Equinox
Out of this World
Doom
Dungeon Master
Eye of the Beholder
Super Game Boy
Toto-Tek SNES Flash cart
Super Mario Kart
Super Batter Up
Mario Paint
Source: http://www.atariage.com/forums/index.ph ... opic=98313

Post by **tepples** » Mon Dec 11, 2006 9:39 pm

cheese007 wrote:Tell me what other games those are

I, and probably other interested parties, would like someone to go through the list at PHWiki:SNES games with special chips and try a couple from each common category (DSP1, FX v2, C4, SA-1).

Doom

Super FX v2 appears to work.

Super Game Boy

With which GB games? Does SGB audio (Donkey Kong "help! help!") work? Does Space Invaders arcade mode work?

Super Mario Kart

DSP-1 works.

cheese007 · Post by **cheese007** » Mon Dec 11, 2006 10:12 pm

My GB collection is very small, only recently have I gained a major interest in the sytem.
Games that work:
Donkey Kong Land III
Pokemon Pinball
Gameboy Camera
EDIT: Someone on Atari-Age said that the original Legend of Zelda works on the NES side.

Bregalad · Post by **Bregalad** » Tue Dec 12, 2006 10:27 am

Secret of Mana
Chrono Trigger
Final Fantasy II
Final Fantasy III

[extremist]If you got those, I really cannot see any way one would loose its time playing the others.[/extremist]

More seriously, if Super FX-2 works there is 99% chances that all other special stuff will work too, because the Super FX-2 is the most complicated of them all, and make uses of most ofl special side-pins (maybe I'm wrong, because I'm not a pro in SNES hardware).
What should be checked is games trying obscure hardware tests and that imediately detect pirated stuff using a totally unknown method, such as Donkey Kong Country.

But one other point is the audio. Until one year and a half ago, *ALL* plaforms emulating the SPC700 did handle sample decoding wrongly. This did make no difference for 99% of SNES audio samples, but sound effects in a few games by Squaresof and Capcom were seriously affected. Trying to compare sound effects in Crono Trigger in the real console and any emulating thing give a good idea of the accuracy of SPC700 emulation. Currently, only Alpha-II SPC player decodes noise-samples accurately, and SNES9x is gonna to fix it in its next version I think.
EDIT : Also a good place to check is Dragon Quest VI title screen. If the pizz string sounds bad, it is that the sample decoding algorithm is innacurate (while some innacurate could still decode it right).

Also, SNES translucy effects looks at some places a bit different from the real SNES hardware and both SNES9x and ZSNES, I don't know about hardware clones.

Jagasian · Post by **Jagasian** » Tue Dec 12, 2006 11:58 am

How good is the pack-in controller compared to an official SNES controller? AFAIK, there is no longer any place to get new official SNES controllers... and that is the part of the system that does wear out over the years.

Post by **tepples** » Tue Dec 12, 2006 12:15 pm

Bregalad wrote:More seriously, if Super FX-2 works there is 99% chances that all other special stuff will work too, because the Super FX-2 is the most complicated of them all, and make uses of most ofl special side-pins (maybe I'm wrong, because I'm not a pro in SNES hardware).

AFAIK, the Super FX does not use the CIC. The SA-1 does.

But one other point is the audio. Until one year and a half ago, *ALL* plaforms emulating the SPC700 did handle sample decoding wrongly.

I'm curious. Link please as to when and where this was discovered?

kyuusaku · Post by **kyuusaku** » Tue Dec 12, 2006 12:22 pm

I would venture to say SA-1 is far more advanced than Super FX-2 which is more or less just a higher clocked Super FX.