May 5, 2011
Super 8: The Ultimate Downgrade Peripheral



Console collecting… It can take up a lot of room can’t it? I love my SNES collection, but every now & again I feel like playing some Famicom or NES games. Trying to find the machines though & then dig them out of wherever they are means I normally can’t be bothered. For most people though, Famicom games aren’t even an option as they don’t have one of these…



… which means a whole library of fantastic games are closed off to them. That’s where this little device comes in.



I introduce to you, the Super 8. This device claims to “Bring the NES back in SNES!!” The tagline is a bit “Engrishy”, but what is it? Well, to cut a long story short it’s a converter for playing NES & Famicom games on your Super NES / Famicom. It has 3 ports, one for the SNES, one for the NES & one for the Famicom. A flap prevents you using both NES & Famicom carts at the same time for obvious reasons (ie. It wouldn’t work).

How does it work? Does it work in all regions? I’m glad you asked. I’ve done a bit of testing in various setups so let’s check out the results.

First let’s see if it fits all the SNES models. First the PAL system:



Now the US model:



& of course, the Super Famicom:



So it looks nice & snug sitting on top of your original release SNES systems. How about the Jr models?



The Super 8 is almost as big as the Super Famicom Jr itself! There’s just one thing I want to try & it’s to prove a theory I’ll get to in a minute. Does this thing fit in the Sharp SF-1?? (The Sharp TV with a built in Super Famicom)



It fits nicely but isn’t the prettiest looking setup. Let’s use the SF-1 as our first test unit since it’s already plugged into it. Let’s put in a couple of games & turn it on.



It works, IT’S ALIVE!!!

Now before we continue, have a look at the back of the Super 8.



It has a multi cable that goes into the SNES & a multi output from the Super 8 to the TV. Ignore the RF as that isn’t even present. The box even shows you this…



… which makes you wonder why the port is even there in the first place, but oh well…

My theory is that the 8 bit part of device doesn’t use the SNES for anything more than a power & video out source. Let’s check that theory by hooking it up to the Sharp TV sitting next to it.



As I’ve mentioned in my article about the SF-1, the set has specific SNES multi out so you can connect it to another TV. Now keep in mind here that the SF-1 only has the Super 8 sitting on top with the multi out going from the SF-1 to the Super 8 & then the Super 8 connected to the TV.

Hope that didn’t confuse anyone… Turning on the device will bring up the following menu:



Quite simple. Choose either 16 bit for the SNES port or 8 bit for which ever of the 8 bit ports is open. Firstly let’s try the Super Famicom game that’s in the device right now. It’s Kunio Kun Dodgeball. Will it work on both TVs?



It looks like it will. It looks like the SNES port just feeds directly into the SNES itself. Naturally US games work as well:



What about an 8 bit game now? Does my theory ring true? Will the SF-1 show the image for the 8 bit game? Or will it only feed through to the other TV?



I thought so… Now to the consoles. Most 3rd party devices are NTSC specific unless they say otherwise. What about the PAL SNES? Let’s plug it in & try it.



Firstly I confirmed that the SNES & the game (Actraiser) work perfectly. What about with the Super 8?



UGH!!! It’s very green… I tried shifting cables, turning it on & off, re-seating the Super 8, trying different carts & nothing… I guess we’ll shift to the NTSC machines.



Being that the device worked on the SF-1 I have no doubt that this is going to be fine. Let’s turn it on & try Super Mario Bros 3:



Excellent, & NO PAL BORDERS!! I absolutely loathe PAL borders… & this does prove that PAL NES games will work on the Super 8.

Now for a game I just purchased: Gyatto Ninden Teyandee. Otherwise known as Samurai Pizza Cats!!! I love Samurai Pizza Cats. I have models of all 3 of them & even have a Japanese Pizza Cats: Pizza Parlour play set. Yeah, I’m a fan. Let’s turn it on & see what happens:



Sweet… let’s check out the game itself.







It works beautifully. I think I’ll wrap this up now & get back to defeating the Big Cheese & his minions.

So the Super 8: Don’t waste your money if you only have a PAL machine. If you have an NTSC machine then go for it! There are only 4 negatives I can think of:

1) All 3 cartridge ports are VERY tight. I had to wrestle to remove each cartridge I used. I assume they will loosen up the more I use it.

2) You can’t use Famicom peripherals that require the expansion port on the front as this device doesn’t have such a port. For those interested this DOES mean that the Famicom disc drive works. I don’t have one to test, but a Google search will bring up many a testimony to that fact.

3) It doesn’t work on a PAL SNES. No problem if you have a Super Famicom or US SNES though. One other thing to keep in mind is that this is not a SNES adapter & will not allow PAL SNES games to be played on an NTSC SNES.

4) The AV out cable on the unit is quite loose & you can lose a picture & / or sound by the slightest movement. Just pushing it back in fixes this problem though, so it’s a minor annoyance.

Now I must go. Little Tokyo / Edoropolis needs me!!!

4:03pm  |   URL: http://tmblr.co/ZHAMUy4sjMF9
(Notes: 6)
  
Filed under: Super 8, Nintendo Famicom Super Nintendo Super Mario Bros 2 Samurai Pizza Cats Sharp SF-1 
January 18, 2010
We Love AV, why don’t Nintendo & Sega?

Back in the 80s/90s AV was the way to go when playing consoles. Instead of sitting there for hours tuning in the TV you could plug in the AV cables & spend those hours playing games. That’s why AV was the way to go when it came to connecting consoles to a TV. Then Nintendo & Sega decided to change the rules…

Let’s look at the first generation Nintendo Entertainment System (NES) & the Sega Master System (SMS):

Seeing these 2 machines would bring back a few memories I’m sure. These 2 machines started what is now known as the “Console Wars”. Yes there were other consoles back in the day that were competing for marketshare, but it was with Nintendo & Sega that things started to get nasty. These days Nintendo, Microsoft & Sony fight for marketshare, but it’s not as much “fun” as the “console wars” of the late 80s/early 90s. Off topic, here’s something to think about, as of 2010 we are still in the first generation where Sega hasn’t had a console release. Anyway, back to the topic at hand.

On the back of the SMS & the side of the NES we see AV ports. In Japan the Nintendo Famicom (NES equivalent) did not have an AV port but the Sega Mark 3 (SMS equivalent) did. Anyway, the NES & SMS can be easily connected to your TV without any troublesome tuning. Let’s look at the second generation models of these machines:

Here we have the NES Toploader & the Sega Mastersystem 2. Both sleeker looking machines in their own way to appeal to the late 80s/early 90s gamers. Very nice machines, you cannot deny that. Let’s look at the back:

That’s right, NO AV OUTPUT. The only way you can tune in these modern-second-generation-up-to-date versions of these machines is to go it old school. Plug in the RF adapter & sit there either pushing buttons or turning switches to find the right tuning. I won’t mention the lack of card port on the SMS2, but I know that annoyed some people at the time.

The question I have to ask is why? These machines came out at a time that more & more TVs had AV input as standard. Why would you not include that as a feature? Japan had a slightly different set of circumstances with their machines. The Sega Mark 3 didn’t receive an update (Japan just received the Master System instead), but the Famicom AV had just that: AV. So their upgraded model really was an upgraded model.

The thing is, I can’t think of another company that has taken this backwards step. NEC, the other main 8-bit condender in Japan released the original PC Engine with RF output only, but the later Coregrafx 1 & 2 models introduced AV & SCART output. It just seems very strange of Sega & Nintendo to do this. It is widely known that these were cheaper models to produce, but what a thing to leave off…

Throughout 2 generations of the SNES (except in PAL territories) & 3 generations of Megadrive/Genesis (3 in the US, 2 everywhere else) AV was present. Did Nintendo & Sega learn their lesson? Who knows? Will we ever know why they did this? Well we can speculate, but this is probably going to remain one of those mysteries of the console world & a bloody annoying one at that.

5:38pm  |   URL: http://tmblr.co/ZHAMUyKIypl
Filed under: NES SMS Nintendo Sega Master System Top Loader 
December 8, 2009
Super Mario Brothers 2: Why the hate?

Super Mario Brothers 2. When I say it today 2 games might enter your mind: Super Mario USA & The Lost Levels. Mario USA obviously being the game released in the Western world as SMB2 & The Lost Levels being the Japanese SMB2. Most Western gamers were introduced to the Japanese SMB2 via the Mario All Stars collection that was released on the Super Nintendo in 1993. In the Western world opinions were always divided over SMB2, but the knowledge that we didn’t even get what has been since referred to as the REAL SMB2 did not help matters.


My question is, why the hate over Super Mario USA?



Firstly, the gameplay is very different from the other games in the series. Jumping on an enemy no longer kills them, you pick up vegetables from the ground, you have flying carpet levels, & Bowser isn’t even in it. It’s just not Mario to a lot of people. By now almost everyone knows the game was a modification of a Japanese game called Yumi Kojo: Doki Doki Panic which explains why the game is so different.

The main theory behind the reason why we got such a different game instead of the Lost Levels is because the Lost Levels is a VERY difficult game. Infact it was said to be too difficult for Western gamers. Was this the only reason though? I believe there may be more to it than that, but be aware that this is only my opinion. I could be way off in my assumption, but to me the following argumemt makes sense & has been rumoured to be one of the reasons for the differing releases. Let’s have a look at this lesser known theory which is often written off by members of the gaming community as ridiculous.

To put it simply I believe the game is too similar to the first. Well, not even too similar, the Lost Levels basically is the original Super Mario Bros with new levels. It’s like someone at Nintendo played around with a level design kit & this is the end result. Sure there are a few differences in gameplay, Luigi now jumps higher than Mario, there are poisonous mushrooms & a few other changes. Is it enough though?

Who remembers Boulderdash? A lot of people have fond memories of the game, you play the little ant (dubbed Rockford on some ports) & dig your way to the diamonds avoiding boulders. On the Amstrad CPC several Boulderdash games were released, & while the original game was rated very highly, this was not true of later games in the series. For the record only the first few of those games were official, the rest being designed independently with the Boulderdash Construction Kit. The problem was that every single one of those games played exactly the same as the others. Sure there were a few minor cosmetic differences, but did you really need to buy the same game so many times?

So let’s look at it from a Mario point of view. Would a Mario “construction kit” designed sequel have been accepted by the gaming community at the time? Let’s look at other Nintendo games of that era: the first 2 Zelda games were completely different to each other. One was an overhead quest style game & the second was more of a platformer. On the other hand the second Bomberman game was widely criticised for being too similar to the first. My theory is that Mario could potentially have suffered the same fate which could have seriously affected his popularity. Remember, this is Nintendo’s mascot, the figurehead for the company. If Mario had a game that received negative reviews this early in the piece he could very well be sitting on the sidelines with Alex Kidd while Nintendo ran with a new mascot.

Let’s take a look at Alex Kidd for a second. Miracle World was a brilliant game that received excellent reviews at the time. Most of the sequels on the other hand were absolute flops. The series was redeemed with Alex Kidd in Shinobi World which received a decent score from C+VG magazine which was one of the main authorities on gaming at the time. The problem was there were 4 crap games inbetween Miracle World & Shinobi World. It really didn’t help that Sega’s new console the Megadrive/Genesis received the horrible “Enchanted Castle”. Compare this to Super Mario World which still is in my opinion the finest game ever. Both mascots laid their 16-bit cards on the table & Mario won. Alex Kidd got replaced by Sonic & it was all over.

If Mario the Lost Levels had been released as SMB2 in the Western world would this outcome have been the same? Sure, Mario 3 was a great game, but might it have been too little too late? Now I’m not saying the Lost Levels is a bad game, that’s a matter of opinion. You could argue that in Japan Mario was still successful there inspite of the first & second games being so similar. At the time Japanese audiences were a very different breed of gamer to their Western counterparts. Sure, this has changed in recent years & the Internet has certainly helped gamers from all over the world experience games they may not have had access to in the day. I could use other examples to back up my argument, but ultimately it’s a question we may never know the real answer to. The argument however will carry on for years to come.

In summary I believe Nintendo America took the best course of action by making the second game a very different beast from the first.

Today when looking at the Mario games you have 3 options:

Accept the Lost Levels as Super Mario Bros 2

Accept Super Mario USA as Super Mario Bros 2

Accept both games & place them between Super Mario Bros 1 & 3

Ultimately it’s up to you.

5:41pm  |   URL: http://tmblr.co/ZHAMUyGMfDl
(Notes: 1)
  
Filed under: Mario Bros 2 Mario USA Doki Doki Panic SNES NES Nintendo Lost Levels 
November 27, 2009
Ufouria: The Saga

Ufouria: The Saga (Nintendo Entertainment System)

Released 1991

I’ve been known in the past to complain about games & systems that Australia never got & how much better the Americans (& the Europeans in some respects) have it than us. Yes I am somewhat of a whinger, but let’s look at the history. When I think of games that never made it to Australia I think of:

Final Fantasy 2 & 3 - SNES
Megaman Collection - GC
Cubivore - GC
Megaman 64 - Nintendo 64
Hey You Pickachu - Nintendo 64…

… actually that last one isn’t a bad thing… My girlfriend still has nightmares about yelling into that microphone & having the little electric puffball do either nothing or something else. ANYWAY, let’s save that for another review. As it happens, there were a few English releases Australia did get that the American’s did in fact NOT get. Sounds strange I know. Traditionally games come out in Japan first, then get translated for North America, then if they feel like it we might see a PAL release. That was not the case for Ufouria, which for some unknown reason was released in Europe & Australia, but not the US.


Ufouria is a platformer that is similar to Wonderboy 3. It offers one big world to play in rather than individual levels & includes different areas that only certain characters can access. Seeing the similarities so far? The only real difference is that Ufouria features 4 seperate characters & Wonderboy 3 features changes to the 1 character, but from a gameplay perspective that hardly matters. For those not familiar with Wonderboy 3, let’s have a look at what makes this a great game.

The game starts with Bop Louie (I’ll get to the names later) who has been transported from his homeworld of Ufouria to this mysterious world with 3 of his friends who he has been seperated from. Bop Louie has the ability to bop his head into enemies to defeat them. All the characters start off with one ability, but upgrades for each character are available. For example, later in the game Louie can gain the ability to climb calls.

The first thing Louie needs to do is to rescue his friends. The problem is that when you find one of Louie’s friends they start to attack you. I’m probably giving away part of the storyline here, but each of Louie’s friends has been brainwashed & must be defeated to knock some sense into them & have them join your party. Freeon Leon is the first candidate for some brain wash bashing. He has the ability to swim on top of the water & walk on ice, which will lead you to Shades who can float, then Gill who can swim underwater. You can change characters are any point in the game which you will need to do on a regular basis.


Aside from battling your friends, there are also bosses in the game who each offer a different challenge. While they can be difficult (particularly the one in the submarine) you never feel like they’re impossible to beat.



The music is very boppy & enjoyable. At the recent Ultracade event I got to hear a remix of the main tune which surprised me as I didn’t think the game was popular enough for that sort of attention. Sound effects are your standard Nintendo platform affair, so there’s nothing that really stands out.



The controls are brilliant. One thing Nintendo systems are good at is platform games & this is no exception. All the characters move just as they should. You feel the bump as a character slips on the ice & falls over. You feel the inertia as you slowly start moving in the water & progressively speed up.


Now onto the names. In Japan there is a series of games based on a character called Hebereke. Ufouria is one of the Hebereke games rebadged for the Western market. Not only the names have changed, but the character sprites have been modified from the Japanese original for some strange reason. Bop Louie is actually the “Westernised” version of Hebereke himself. This doesn’t affect the gameplay in any way shape or form however.


To make things even wierder, the Australian & European versions differ slightly. The main character sprites look the same, but the health status & a few other minor things were changed. The bulk of the game is the same, which begs the question: why?

If you have difficulty the handy password option is there to allow you to continue your game. The only problem with this is you always start in the same spot, so if the boss is a fair distance away you have to go all the way back to them, but everything you’ve done up to that point is unlocked.



Overall if you owned a NES but loved Wonderboy 3, this was a great alternative. The controls are outstanding, there is minimal sprite flicker with the graphics & the music is brilliant. So it’s time to be patriotic people. Put your hand on your heart & declare to the world just how proud to be Australian. After all, we got Ufouria & the US didn’t. 5/5

5:16pm  |   URL: http://tmblr.co/ZHAMUyFSpxA
(Notes: 1)
  
Filed under: Ufouria NES Nintendo