Recent posts

1

Technical & Repair Assistance / Re: Glitchy sprites on FDS

Last post by P - January 21, 2026, 01:32:03 pm

OK this age-long problem finally seems to have a known cause and solution, but not many people knows about it (including me until recently), so that's what I'm trying to fix with this post.

It turns out that the pull-down resistor fix is a bad fix which may cause problems with other games.
The true solution is to use termination resistors like described over at Nesdev.

The correct way to fix the signal reflection problem is to add 30-100 ohm resistors in series on the CPU data lines in the cartridge. These act as termination resistors and suppress the reflections without side effects.

Unfortunately, people who encounter this problem with the FDS instead fix it incorrectly by pulling the CPU data lines to ground. While this does apparently solve the problem, it also eliminates CPU open bus, which may break any games that rely on it.

So there we have it I guess!

2

Buy / Sell / Trade / Selling 6 pirate carts FC and ...

Last post by Protoman - January 17, 2026, 09:03:34 am

Hello there, I'm on my third or so major sell-off of games, only the pirate carts I can't sell like normal because of regulations so I figured I'd ask here. I have:

Darkwing Duck
Young Indiana Jones Chronicles
Monster in my Pocket (ironically with a pokemon sticker hehe)
Power Blade
Power Blade 2

and also Metal Warriors for SFC.

I don't really have any price tags so I'm open to suggestions/offers/going rates.

[DEF MOVE]

3

Famicom / Disk System / Re: New Family BASIC Disassemb...

Last post by micahcowan - January 07, 2026, 09:44:09 am

The Family BASIC v3 disassembly is now effectively complete. All autogenerated labels have been replaced with bespoke mnemonic labels, virtually all the zero-page vars have mnemonic names, and the code is dense with rather thorough comments.

I'm planning to do a walk-through from the top, to ensure that no local variable tables have leaked out to obscure global names where they shouldn't (here I'm referring to global-purpose zero-page vars, where they're temporarily used within some subroutines for very different purposes from their global meaning, for which I used temporary, scoped names), replace more magic numbers with mnemonics, and add additional comments if they seem necessary. But the current version is extremely close to what I expect the final state to be.

I'd also like to add write-ups for details on how DEF MOVE animations are managed by the NMI handler, and on how keyboard input is processed. It's unclear at this time how motivated I'll be to actually finish those, though.

It is also doubtful at this point in time whether I will put much effort into a disassembly for Family BASIC v2.0 or v2.1. Documents like Enri's guide do an excellent job at roadmapping it already, and translating my v3 work onto v2 will likely require the aid of additional tools I'm not terribly motivated to write. I may leave it as a project for some other person to attempt... though as I discover important differences in behavior, I may annotate them in a (very) partial disassembly file for v2.

I'm hoping to write an "attract mode" BASIC program, or possibly an interactive demo, showcasing FB's unique features. Something I could load onto real hardware running FB, to pique the interest of passersby at a convention or club meeting. Likely a thin BASIC shell around mostly machine code.

I'd also like to create a demo program showcasing a bespoke wrapper around the NMI handler, including a simple BGM player, and some additional automatic sprite handling. Family BASIC provides the opportunity for a user to replace the default NMI handler (responsible for sprite animation, playing music, and virtually all screen operations, such as printing text). Normally, you wouldn't want to replace it, because it handles all kinds of vital tasks, and FB would freeze up without it. But, you could wrap it, or replace with a mildly-modified copy that alters some behaviors. You could, for instance, add some timing-critical logic around animated sprites, to improve responsiveness; and I suspect you can add a BGM player. I'd like to demo this capability.

There are also some projects whose existence would make me happy, but which I'm personally not very motivated to work on:

• A cheat sheet of useful PEEK/POKE locations (derived mostly from the zero-page vars, which fortunately seem to be relatively stable between FB v2 and v3)
• A terse guide to the many interesting and useful entry points and useful routines
• A more thorough guide to using assembly and machine code within Family BASIC. I'd probably have lots of contributions for such a thing, but don't necessarily want to write an exhaustive guide, myself. Maybe a series of YouTube videos, idk.

I have several other project ideas in mind, but describing them well would take too much space, and I'm still working on concept details.

4

Buy / Sell / Trade / Re: Finds (Famicom/FDS)

Last post by Pikkon - December 25, 2025, 09:40:07 pm

That's one awesome looking shirt.

5

Other Gaming / Re: GBA (Not SP) Aftermarket B...

Last post by Jedi Master Baiter - December 25, 2025, 12:54:33 pm

I tested it out again this morning and all looked fine so I gave it to my brother with Zelda: Oracle of Seasons in the cartridge slot.

While playing around with it, he also said it cycled through colors. I may need to open this up again. But first I need to know which IPS version I have. It has OSD and touch (more like 'no touch') controls. The menu options display vertically like this, but it has another option called 'FRM'.

BREAKING NEWS! I just discovered the top touch sensor is actively working. Pressing the top of the screen changes the color on the fly. Bottom does nothing (electrical tape disabled it?).

6

Buy / Sell / Trade / Re: Finds (Famicom/FDS)

Last post by hippy dave - December 25, 2025, 09:29:14 am

What's this? Is it the original Metroid for Famicom Disk System?

You cannot see attachments on this board.

You cannot see attachments on this board.

Packaging looks right, but... It's way too big.

Ah, it was cunningly disguising an awesome t-shirt

You cannot see attachments on this board.

Amazing Christmas prezzie from spouse.

7

Other Gaming / Re: GBA (Not SP) Aftermarket B...

Last post by Jedi Master Baiter - December 21, 2025, 10:21:18 pm

Another issue that came up now, is I'm noticing light bleed on the left side of the screen. The shell is opaque, but I can see light escaping underneath. Maybe this is because I'm only putting in half the screws? I hope so.

Yeah maybe, did you put in screws only on the left side?

Looking at it from the back, only the inner left screw is missing. The light bleed is coming from the left side looking from the front, so one would expect the bleed from the right side, right? (also the screw underneath the battery is left out because I hate removing the rechargeable battery)

Anyway, I thought maybe the membranes might be the culprit. I feel like they made it harder to close the GBA this time.

This time I tried the eXtremeRate membranes (can't find a product link) while leaving the Funnyplaying buttons in. It didn't feel any easier closing the GBA, and I still got the same light bleed (screws are in the same place). Before I take this apart I'll put in the other one, I don't have time to do this now because I've got work early tomorrow morning).

This configuration has the same problem I first had: double clicking! I'll try it again with the eXtremeRate buttons next time.

Edit: Still got the light bleed with all the screws it! I'll see if I can find a guide on how to mitigate this.

Also tried the eXtremeRate buttons with their membranes, and this is one of the worst cases of pressing down, but not pressing down hard enough to register the button. I do really like the white color. -Light bleed still an issue.

So far I like the Prestige membranes. Although there's significant resistance, it doesn't feel 'stiff' and the travel distance feels natural.

I realize I haven't even tried the funnyplaying membranes nor an anbranded black set of membranes. I have one more day to try these.

Edit: Tried the Funnyplaying buttons with their membranes and, to no surprise, it 'double clicks' but this combo feels better than the eXtremeRate combo.

Edit: Tried the Funnyplaying buttons with the black unbranded membranes (I think it's this). Much like the Retrosix Prestige membranes, the d-pad is clicky, but not double-clicky. However, some directions push harder than others (easy to push 'up' but more resistance pushing 'down.' Seeing as I haven't had this problem with the Funnyplaying buttons, I'm not going to use these membranes going forward.

It's now late, I'm tired, and it's Christmas. So far I liked the Funnyplaying buttons/Prestige membranes most so I'm going with that. <-me sleeping

Edit: after I put the GBA back together with this setup and started playing, the screen started cycling through the different filters. What the hell?

Edit: Also, it turns off randomly.

Edit: Okay, so it shuts off because the battery's low on power. I put electrical tape over the loose connection inside which I assume is the touch screen sensor, but I swear, the screen changed color again one time when it was low on power. Oh well, at least it's not cycling rapidly.

I bought a pack of two screen protectors, screwed up one set, but got the second one on nearly flawlessly.

I'll test this out again tomorrow when it's fully charged.

8

Famicom / Disk System / Re: Famicom 3D System Adapter ...

Last post by P - December 21, 2025, 03:22:20 pm

What a good old thread to dig up. I saw it in this video here.
For the record the video is about someone trying to build the Famicom 3D System for use with active 3D-shutter-LCD-glasses (they all work the same way, 2 LCD planes over the 2 lenses and becoming opaque when powered, just 3 wires and 2 LCD-shutters). He tried to contact OP of this thread, but no response. Then he found another project using the same components so he tried to build it for his Brazilian Famiclone. It worked, but the voltage was a little low so he added a battery to make it perform a bit better.

The schematic he based his work on is in a PDF (page 2 and 3). Still no final schematic and it's kind of a hack using a battery like that.

9

Other Gaming / Re: GBA (Not SP) Aftermarket B...

Last post by P - December 19, 2025, 01:57:08 pm

it was missing a 'B' button.

Ugh, not fun when they make mistakes like that.

Next, I tried the Retrosix Prestige buttons with their membranes. There is a clear difference! They feel 'mushier,' they are hard to press, and feel like there's resistance like springs pushing back. It's hard to tell if I like this better or not.

Hmm, doesn't sound too good. I think for buttons to perform well in video games they should have very little pressure resistance (but not so little that they engage by merely touching them), minimally tactile (but still have some tactility), a pretty short throw and minimal contact bounce (not a big problem in video games though).
Only arcade buttons achieves that ideal level of performance but the controller should have something in that direction.

A big problem right now is, there is a clean amp pro mod that seemed to be working fine until I opened it. Now I can hear a weird noise when loading my game from my flashcart. Maybe this was there the entire time and I didn't notice it? (it can also be heard on an unmodded GBASP). There's supposed to be an anti-hiss mod done to this, but I can't tell where.

This might not be the hardware's fault. I have an Everdrive for Game Boy and it's just very noisy in the menu where you select the game for some reason, it's the most noticable on my GBC because it supposedly has a very noisy DAC, but it's audible on other systems too. Probably whoever programmed the flashcart menu forgot to mute the APU (for better or for worse). Shouldn't matter as long as it's not noisy when running a game.

Edit:
Now I tried the Funnyplaying buttons combined with the Retrosix Prestige membranes. Immediately I didn't like how hard the On/Off switch was to move, so I switched it out for whatever On/Off switch was included when I got the mod. The d-pad is now clicky, but not too clicky: it doesn't feel like there's two clicks, there's significant resistance, but it feels just right. The A/B buttons, however, do have that double click, but it's not terrible. Still, I'm going to experiment with those.

OK that sounds much better.

Another issue that came up now, is I'm noticing light bleed on the left side of the screen. The shell is opaque, but I can see light escaping underneath. Maybe this is because I'm only putting in half the screws? I hope so.

Yeah maybe, did you put in screws only on the left side?

10

Other Gaming / Re: GBA (Not SP) Aftermarket B...

Last post by Jedi Master Baiter - December 16, 2025, 11:34:06 pm

So I finally had the chance to take it apart (had to buy another tri-point screwdriver ) and I'm still going through the different buttons/membranes.

First I tried what I think were the OEM buttons and their membrane. First of all, it was missing a 'B' button. Second, it feels much the same as whatever buttons were on it before, so pass.

Next, I tried the Retrosix Prestige buttons with their membranes. There is a clear difference! They feel 'mushier,' they are hard to press, and feel like there's resistance like springs pushing back. It's hard to tell if I like this better or not. I wish I had more time to test this. This is going to be a Christmas gift for someone.

A big problem right now is, there is a clean amp pro mod that seemed to be working fine until I opened it. Now I can hear a weird noise when loading my game from my flashcart. Maybe this was there the entire time and I didn't notice it? (it can also be heard on an unmodded GBASP). There's supposed to be an anti-hiss mod done to this, but I can't tell where.

Edit:
Now I tried the Funnyplaying buttons combined with the Retrosix Prestige membranes. Immediately I didn't like how hard the On/Off switch was to move, so I switched it out for whatever On/Off switch was included when I got the mod. The d-pad is now clicky, but not too clicky: it doesn't feel like there's two clicks, there's significant resistance, but it feels just right. The A/B buttons, however, do have that double click, but it's not terrible. Still, I'm going to experiment with those.

Another issue that came up now, is I'm noticing light bleed on the left side of the screen. The shell is opaque, but I can see light escaping underneath. Maybe this is because I'm only putting in half the screws? I hope so.