#retrode

[aaronmeterchanges]

Using a Retrode 2 to back up some of my Genesis carts. Happy to find out that my copy of NBA Jam is the slightly more coveted version with Charles Barkley!

[heavyelectricity]

I only ask that you forgive me my sins.

[gengamer110]

Build your own @polymega using a #USBNES and #Retrode with a #MiSTFPGA. @usb_nes now functions with @retrobitgaming’s #MetalStorm: https://youtu.be/cmrrCOE_54I #RetroGaming #retro #retrogames #retrogame #retrogamer https://www.instagram.com/p/CdgAuJiOfDa/?igshid=NGJjMDIxMWI=

[frolic-chronis]

So I was gifted the Retrode and received it today and it’s a pretty sweet device! As you can see from the images above it allows one to use their physical cartridges on the computer, the base device allows for Genesis/Mega Drive and Super Nintendo/Super Famicom but there are plugin carts to allow many more kinds of carts to be used. While at shameless-otaku‘s place I was able to test out the SNES slot and SNES controller ports too. This is a pretty neat device for backing up/playing your own carts as well as your saves.

If you want your own Retrode they are available over at DragonBox (Note: Site not loading at the time of this post for some reason.)

[babypinkserfbort]

Are you tired of your old Nintendo games collecting dust?

The Retrode is the world’s most versatile (and fun!) USB adapter for vintage video games. Revive the good old 16-bit times on your computer/smartphone/tablet, using your original cartridges and controllers!

Read more here!

[consoling-myself]

Retrode SMS/GG plug-in adapter pin-out

Okay then, this is the pin-out for the Master System / Game Gear plug-in adapter. Not sure if this is exactly the same as the final production version that Matthias is making, but its the same as the prototype and it works!

MD Edge<\th>Signal<\th>SMS Edge<\th>GG Edge<\th><\tr> A1<\td>gnd<\td>21<\td>16<\td><\tr> A2<\td>+5v<\td>1<\td>2<\td><\tr> A3<\td>a7<\td>32<\td>5<\td><\tr> A4<\td>a10<\td>12<\td>25<\td><\tr> A5<\td>a6<\td>31<\td>6<\td><\tr> A6<\td>a11<\td>10<\td>29<\td><\tr> A7<\td>a5<\td>30<\td>7<\td><\tr> A8<\td>a12<\td>33<\td>4<\td><\tr> A9<\td>a4<\td>29<\td>8<\td><\tr> A10<\td>a13<\td>7<\td>32<\td><\tr> A11<\td>a3<\td>28<\td>9<\td><\tr> A12<\td>a14<\td>6<\td>33<\td><\tr> A13<\td>a2<\td>27<\td>10<\td><\tr> A14<\td>a15<\td>11,36<\td>28<\td><\tr> A15<\td>a1<\td>26<\td>11<\td><\tr> A16<\td>a16<\td>49<\td>-<\td><\tr> A17<\td>a0<\td>25<\td>12<\td><\tr> A18<\td>gnd<\td>20<\td>17<\td><\tr> A19<\td>d7<\td>14<\td>-<\td><\tr> A20<\td>d0<\td>24<\td>-<\td><\tr> A21<\td>d8<\td>-<\td>13<\td><\tr> A22<\td>d6<\td>15<\td>-<\td><\tr> A23<\td>d1<\td>23<\td>-<\td><\tr> A24<\td>d9<\td>-<\td>14<\td><\tr> A25<\td>d5<\td>16<\td>-<\td><\tr> A26<\td>d2<\td>22<\td>-<\td><\tr> A27<\td>d10<\td>-<\td>15<\td><\tr> A28<\td>d4<\td>17<\td>-<\td><\tr> A29<\td>d3<\td>18<\td>-<\td><\tr> A30<\td>d11<\td>-<\td>19<\td><\tr> A31<\td>+5v<\td>35,46<\td>35,39<\td><\tr> A32<\td>gnd<\td>19<\td>18<\td><\tr> B1<\td>N/A<\td>-<\td>-<\td><\tr> B2<\td>N/A<\td>-<\td>-<\td><\tr> B3<\td>N/A<\td>-<\td>-<\td><\tr> B4<\td>a8<\td>8<\td>31<\td><\tr> B5<\td>a9<\td>9<\td>30<\td><\tr> B6<\td>a17<\td>5<\td>-<\td><\tr> B7<\td>a18<\td>-<\td>-<\td><\tr> B8<\td>a19<\td>-<\td>-<\td><\tr> B9<\td>a20<\td>-<\td>-<\td><\tr> B10<\td>a21<\td>2<\td>3<\td><\tr> B11<\td>a22<\td>4<\td>26<\td><\tr> B12<\td>N/A<\td>-<\td>-<\td><\tr> B13<\td>N/A<\td>-<\td>-<\td><\tr> B14<\td>N/A<\td>-<\td>-<\td><\tr> B15<\td>N/A<\td>-<\td>-<\td><\tr> B16<\td>/C_OE<\td>-<\td>24<\td><\tr> B17<\td>/C_CE <\td>13<\td>24<\td><\tr> B18<\td>N/A<\td>-<\td>-<\td><\tr> B19<\td>N/A<\td>-<\td>-<\td><\tr> B20<\td>N/A<\td>-<\td>-<\td><\tr> B21<\td>N/A<\td>-<\td>-<\td><\tr> B22<\td>d15<\td>-<\td>23<\td><\tr> B23<\td>d14<\td>-<\td>22<\td><\tr> B24<\td>d13<\td>-<\td>21<\td><\tr> B25<\td>d12<\td>-<\td>20<\td><\tr> B26<\td>N/A<\td>-<\td>-<\td><\tr> B27<\td>N/A<\td>-<\td>-<\td><\tr> B28<\td>/LDSW<\td>-<\td>-<\td><\tr> B29<\td>/UDSW<\td>-<\td>-<\td><\tr> B30<\td>N/A<\td>-<\td>-<\td><\tr> B31<\td>N/A<\td>-<\td>-<\td><\tr> B32<\td>/CART_IN<\td>-<\td>-<\td><\tr>

As each system uses a different cartridge pin numbering scheme, I have made up a few images to help make it (hopefully) obvious for each one.

With all three of these PCB's, I have considered the side with the components mounted as the front as it is the side that faces the side of the cartridge case with the label.

[cowagoomba]

Retrode 2 es un accesorio fabricado en Alemania , que te permite poner los cartuchos de Super Nintendo y Mega Drive en el Pc, aparte de poder poner también las Rom’s de dichas consolas, ya que Retrode 2 se conecta al puerto USB que dispone.

Retrode 2 viene con 2 ranuras para poder poner dichos cartuchos así como puertos para los mandos de la Snes y Mega Drive. La compañía asegura que Retrode 2 funciona tanto en Windows como en Mac y Linux.

Un accesorio pequeño y gracioso para los que quieren jugar a sus juegos de antaño en un ordenador, se echa de menos el poder conectarlo a la televisión como si de una consola se tratara, pero que se le puede sacar un buen uso.

[consoling-myself]

Retrode SMS/GG plug-in adapter follow up

I have been going through my Game Gear and Master System games, trying them out with the SMS/GG Plug-in adapter and have noticed two things:

The Game Gear connector needs to be secured.

Game size detection is a little flaky.

Game Gear connector - Every time you insert/remove a Game Gear game, the connector moves a bit as it is only secured by the solder joints. Now this might not seem like much of an issue, but over time, it could cause the solder joints to fail. In the Game Gear, the connector is held in place with two rivets (see photo below), the plug-in adapter could do with two holes to secure it in a similar way. I mentioned it to Matthias and he said that the production Adapter will have such holes, perfect.

Game Gear PCB

Game size detection - The first few cartridges I tried with the adapter worked fine, the resulting ROM files were the correct size and they loaded straight up in an emulator. As I tried more, I started to notice that some of them were not working, mainly because the ROM files were smaller than they should be. Lets take Super Monaco GP as an example, it is a 256KB cartridge which the Retrode makes a 128KB ROM file from.

It isn't the Retrode that's at fault here, its the cartridge (or the games programmer).

The SMS/GG ROM header has a location that specifies the ROM size (0x7FFF), and it turns out that quite a few games (seems to be mostly games larger than 128KB from my experience) don't have the correct size there, they have a smaller size listed. The Retrode looks here to work out what size to make the ROM file, and if it is wrong in here, the file you get is the wrong size and doesn't work. In this instance, Super Monaco GP has $F (128KB) at 0x7FFF, which is wrong (it should be $0 (256KB).

Super Monaco GP SMS header screenshot (location 0x7FFF highlighted)

Luckily, the Retrode is a clever beast. As of firmware v0.16a, there has been an overdump function. The HWB button cycles between auto size detection and 3 predefined ROM sizes. Using this feature I set the size to 256KB, and what do you know, I had a working ROM file! I was able to get all the other non-working games to work using the same method.

It won't be a problem with every game you use, but it is something to bare in mind when using this adapter.