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is it possible to make a cheetahmen 2 reproduction with a standard NES board? I've read that it could be made to run on an MMC1 board but I have not seen anyone actually make it work. I would like to be that someone, and with your help I think we can make it work.

It's not on NesCartDB, but Disch's mapper doc says it's mapper 228, same as Action 52. How big are the PRG ROM and CHR ROM?

This proofs again what I've already said in the past : People make repros to sell them.

I mean NOBODY would ever make a repro of this "game" to play it. This is obvious. The game is WAAAAAY too bad.

However copies of this rare cartridge are at least $200.

I can think of at least three other reasons to make a repro:

1. Technical curiosity, i.e. can it be done?
2. You want a cartridge version of the game in your collection but you don't want to pay a premium for the real deal.
3. You want to play it on real hardware. Yes, even if it's bad.

Case 1 I agree with. I'd handle case 3 while frustrating repro sellers by hacking it to some mapper that's supported on a PowerPak but not so easy to find a donor for. And to do that, I'd first need to know how big the ROM is.

256k/128k

Thanks. So it would in theory fit in a PowerPak's 512k/512k RAM. In fact, the mapper matrix on the product page says 228 is supported, which is possible for CM2 but not for A52 due to A52's oversized PRG ROM. Who here has tried CM2 on a PowerPak?

And even if it doesn't work, we can still narrow down the possibilities among other mappers implemented on PowerPak that support this combination of ROM sizes: Does this game

1. bankswitch CHR ROM rapidly (meaning mid-frame, or otherwise such that blanking for a split second isn't feasible)?
2. use the 16 KiB PRG mirroring mode?
3. depend on the four RAM locations at $4020?

Cheethahmen 2, in true Active Enterprises style, is a multicart where each level is a separate 32k program and 8k graphics bank. You can turn each level into a separate Mapper 0 ROM image, and they will play in almost any emulator (even Nesticle).

Caveman Games also used the Multicart approach to game implementation.

noattack wrote: 1. Technical curiosity, i.e. can it be done?

Of course it could. Anything can be done, the question is just how much it costs and how hard it is to get parts to do it.

2. You want a cartridge version of the game in your collection but you don't want to pay a premium for the real deal.

It's understandable you dont' want to pay this expensive.
However the only reason to want the cart in your collection is if you're a collector (the game is so crappy that no non-collector would have any interest in it).
So if you're a collector you likely don't want a fake one in your collection...

3. You want to play it on real hardware. Yes, even if it's bad.

Even if the powerpak couldn't do it, there is no way someone would want to play this game expet to laugh at how bad it is. How doing it on real hardware makes it a different experience ?

Sorry but the $200 it could get you to sell it as the real deal is the only reason I see to make a repro of this game.

In order to sell it as the "real deal", you'd need to replicate the appearance of an Action 52 cartridge, with a sticker on it that says "Cheetamen II".

But there's enough gullible idiots out there who would buy one even in a gray shell.

If you're going to make a repro of this atrocity of a game, be sure to patch it first with the recently released ips that fix all the different bugs that actually prevent you of finishing the game (disappearing bosses bug and other game breaking bugs) provided that you are able to go through all the level without losing your sanity Ips patch is available at romhacking.net.

Link: http://www.romhacking.net/hacks/778/

SkinnyV wrote:If you're going to make a repro of this atrocity of a game, be sure to patch it first with the recently released ips that fix all the different bugs that actually prevent you of finishing the game (disappearing bosses bug and other game breaking bugs) provided that you are able to go through all the level without losing your sanity Ips patch is available at romhacking.net.

Link: http://www.romhacking.net/hacks/778/

Wow, whoever fixed that game has a lot of time and must be insane to go through one of those game's code! Cool!

Bregalad wrote:there is no way someone would want to play this game expet to laugh at how bad it is.

Bile fascination: Seeing a work because it's bad. There's a whole list of video games considered so bad they're good, and A52 and CM2 are mentioned.

How doing it on real hardware makes it a different experience ?

To eliminate all sorts of [female dogging] about the quality of emulation, leaving the game itself as the only possible source of frustration.

On NES = not having to squint at a tiny monitor, buy an HDTV, or figure out that VGA to composite converters exist.
On NES = not having to use a keyboard or an overly loose USB gamepad.
On NES = no control lag.

So if you're a collector you likely don't want a fake one in your collection...

The actions of many collectors don't really support your argument. Very few people can afford Stadium Events or the Nintendo World Championship cart, so they purchase (a) near-perfect reproductions (like the 'April Fools' SE) (b) versions from different regions (PAL SE) or (c) obviously different reproductions (e.g., the NWC red carts from retrousb). Not to mention collectors buying NES reproductions of Famicom carts.

Many collectors are happy with symmetry and completion vs. accuracy.

And it's odd for you, an NES developer, to ask why someone might want to play on real hardware...

I one day plan owning a NWC. I can tell you I can't afford it, and most people can't. But if you save, I will be able too one day after years of saving. I'm sure more people do that in the collecting community than you'd think. How many bids do NWC's get? And even the SE stuff?

But I guess the A52 is a bunch of NROM games with 8KB of CHR. Is there any catches to that at all? Because that should be simple enough just to slice in 32KB chunks until you hit the end.