nesdev.org

I've ordered quite a bit of stuff from RetroZone and while service is not prompt, it's been fine so far.

I find the state of software a bit weird (e.g. Loopy has newer mappers for PowerPak but the mappers on-site has not updated to include them, USBCopyNES program is very buggy and not functional on Windows 7), but I have been able to solve those problems on my own.

My PowerPak Lite had a problem that I was not able to solve, and I'm still waiting on the return process for that. It wasn't the kind of problem you'd spot in a quick test, so I don't really fault them for having shipped a faulty unit. They agreed to let me return it though, so I'm sure it will be resolved eventually.

That's good to hear. I just wish I could figure out why his customer service seems to be all over the place.

I don't know if this will help, but when I got my SNES PowerPak a few years back, I also couldn't get it working, and I figured it was either the CF card or the reader. I went to Radio Shack and bought one of each. Fortunately I opened and tried the new reader first, because that was the problem, so I was able to take the CF card back unopened.

So yeah, the card reader he sent me was crap. Have you tried another one of those?

Shoot... I didn't even think about the reader, and you're absolutely right, I was using the one he sent me. I feel rather stupid. Thank you for the idea, though

I don't understand why you didn't buy CF cards and readers separately. I know I did. There is no reason to get those common items from retrousb.

At the time I remember thinking he'd be selling carts and readers he knew to work well with his products... which turned out to be not true.

Happy day! My refund has been processed.
Again, the NEW PowerPak worked like a charm for me. The SNES one... no... and it sounds like there could have been any number of reasons for that.

I still would like an SNES flash solution, though, and keep looking at the SD2SNES... about 50 dollars more than the SNES PowerPak but looks to be a lot more powerful.

I highly recommend it.

Loads games MUCH faster (the 96 megabit neviksti Star Ocean hack takes around 45 seconds on PowerPak IIRC, but around 2 seconds on SD2SNES, and everything else loads almost instantly), supports Satellaview games, DSP-2-4 (and differentiates between DSP-1 and DSP-1b), Cx4, and the interface is more polished. Also, SD cards are easier to deal with in a lot of ways.

Sweet! It's good to hear from a board member. I'm keeping my eye on a few stores. It's out of stock for now.

oh yeah, the sd2snes is sweet, it gets a thumbs up from me too!

Awesome, thanks guys! I have several of the vendors bookmarked. As soon as it comes back in stock I'll pick one up!

I just have to point out that loading time is not really relevant because the difference between similar products is a matter of a few seconds. And typically when you load a game you will be playing it for far longer than you had to wait.

Being able to play DSP2, 3, and 4 is just 3 more games that alot of people have no interest in. Cx4 support is nice if you are a Mega Man X fan but could not afford the real carts and somehow don't own the MMX Collection or just want the actual SNES versions. The Satellaview support shouldn't be confused with actually making all the games work as they never will all work. It's interesting if you are a fan of it I'm sure. But for those just interested in playing actual games it isn't that impressive. Super FX support in the future is a nice feature primarily for Star Fox Super Weekend Competition and Star Fox 2.

So the SD2SNES is pretty nice. But for those that already own a PowerPAK or Super EverDrive the motivation to upgrade is not that great. The two mentioned devices already play around 95% or more of the SNES library.

In your case since you don't have any device for SNES you should spend the extra money on the SD2SNES only if you are interested in the mentioned games that will be available if you get it. Primarily Mega Man X2, X3, Star Fox Super Weekend Competition, and Star Fox 2. The DSP1 games can be supported in other products. The other Super FX games are cheap. So you're really talking about 4 games maybe. Oh although Star Ocean won't work on the Super EverDrive.

A good UI is another factor. Plus the fact that the SD2SNES is still being worked on with more support coming and such still is also really good too.

I can also vouch for the sd2snes. It's the first SNES flash cartridge that's truly the SNES equivalent of the NES PowerPak. You get compatibility with tons of expansion chips and it still doesn't destroy any original cartridges in order to do so. Plus, another amazing feature is that it supports byuu's MSU1 specification, which gives the SNES some amazing FMV capabilities, even though homebrewers have been a bit slow to support it.

Loads games MUCH faster (the 96 megabit neviksti Star Ocean hack takes around 45 seconds on PowerPak IIRC

Well, have you owned a Commodore 64 ? It was common for games to take 10 minutes to load....
Also Seiken Densestu 3 (which I'm playing these days) is 32 megabit loads in about 10 seconds, therefore I think Star Ocean should load in about 30 secs.