Hey guys, I just posted a video on my YouTube channel, Todd's Nerd Cave, showing off the 8 Bit Music Power cart and thought you might be interested in seeing it.
www.youtube.com/watch?v=enUdHU_FTv4
Feel free to subscribe and check out any of my other stuff.
Thank you for posting this, I've been curious about the music and graphics on this cart since it was first announced.
Nice! Mine shipped on Jan 30th and I am still waiting for it to arrive, and thanks to the Chinese New Year holiday, I will be waiting for a whole extra week....grrrrr! Looks like a really nice piece though, and I'm glad I ordered one.
I... forgot to order one (I actually meant to order two) - anyone got an extra I can buy?
Quote from: L___E___T on February 05, 2016, 04:05:44 am
I... forgot to order one (I actually meant to order two) - anyone got an extra I can buy?
Sadly I had only ordered one. In hindsight I wish I had ordered a second one.
They are back in stock at play asia, but they raised the price:
http://www.play-asia.com/8bit-music-power/13/709i8h
Says sold out for me - already sold out of a second batch? What was the price?
Quote from: L___E___T on February 06, 2016, 08:41:46 am
Says sold out for me - already sold out of a second batch? What was the price?
I think it was $49.99, but I only peeked at it before so I might be off.
Still waiting for my cart to come in, but the tracking says it's in the country so I'll be getting it early next week.
Quote from: Ghegs on February 06, 2016, 10:47:18 am
I think it was $49.99
Yes, it was.
BTW, some of the reviews on amazon.jp say it doesn't work on the older Twin Famicom.
For some reason mine doesn't work on my famicom but it does work on some clones I have lying around. I've read (google-translated) accounts of it not working on some hardware runs... anyone else here have this issue?
Quote from: jorygriffis on February 16, 2016, 09:28:15 pm
For some reason mine doesn't work on my famicom but it does work on some clones I have lying around. I've read (google-translated) accounts of it not working on some hardware runs... anyone else here have this issue?
Exactly what Famicom model do you have?
I read it doesn't work on later non-FF Famicoms, nor the Titler...
Quote from: mfm on February 06, 2016, 12:10:46 pm
BTW, some of the reviews on amazon.jp say it doesn't work on the older Twin Famicom.
That might explain why it's not running on mine. Got the screen to load up twice but it crashed almost immediately and now all there is is a white screen. The older ones are the black with red highlights?
Tried it out on my NES with a Gyromite Converter and that failed as well.
They are using pirate boards with 3.3v tolerant flash chips, without voltage shifters. Which I'm sure is causing issues on many NES/Famicom systems since the systems supply 5v to all carts.
http://imgur.com/a/F2WMH/all
Quote from: muckyfingers on February 17, 2016, 02:59:05 pm
They are using pirate boards with 3.3v tolerant flash chips, without voltage shifters. Which I'm sure is causing issues on many NES/Famicom systems since the systems supply 5v to all carts.
http://imgur.com/a/F2WMH/all
Isn't the TD33B in your pictures a regulator down to 3.3V?
Quote from: mfm on February 17, 2016, 11:35:50 pm
Quote from: muckyfingers on February 17, 2016, 02:59:05 pm
They are using pirate boards with 3.3v tolerant flash chips, without voltage shifters. Which I'm sure is causing issues on many NES/Famicom systems since the systems supply 5v to all carts.
http://imgur.com/a/F2WMH/all
Isn't the TD33B in your pictures a regulator down to 3.3V?
Right, but a voltage regulator is not the same as a voltage level shifter. The regulator does supply 3.3v to the chip, but the NES/Famicom uses 5v logic, so the chip is still being fed 5v from the NES/Famicom on the address lines when it is being accessed by the NES/Famicom.
Quote from: muckyfingers on February 18, 2016, 04:24:51 am
Right, but a voltage regulator is not the same as a voltage level shifter. The regulator does supply 3.3v to the chip, but the NES/Famicom uses 5v logic, so the chip is still being fed 5v from the NES/Famicom on the address lines when it is being accessed by the NES/Famicom.
I see, thanks for the clarification. I was close to spending $54 + import taxes on a copy from ebay but now I doubt I will.
Mine doesn't work on my Twin Famicom, and mine is one of the black and green ones.
They really don't look very well made...
https://twitter.com/Xymiem/status/693814197507870720 (https://twitter.com/Xymiem/status/693814197507870720)
Someone who can read Japanese should verify this first, but it looks like you can tape over pin 32 on the cart and then it will work (with garbled graphics) on other consoles.
Pin 32 is M2. From: http://wiki.nesdev.com/w/index.php/CPU_pin_out_and_signal_description
QuoteM2 : Can be considered as a "signals ready" pin. It is a modified version the 6502's φ2 (which roughly corresponds to the CPU input clock φ0) that allows for slower ROMs. CPU cycles begin at the point where M2 goes low.
In the NTSC 2A03, M2 has a duty cycle of 5/8th, or 350ns/559ns. Equivalently, a CPU read (which happens during the second, high phase of M2) takes 1 and 7/8th PPU cycles. The internal φ2 duty cycle is exactly 1/2 (one half).
In the PAL 2A07, the duty cycle is not known, but suspected to be 19/32.
Could that mean it's related to the speed of the ROM chip(s)?
I checked out the twitter link, possible "fix"?
(http://pbs.twimg.com/media/CaNGRmOUMAEdMPA.jpg)
Quote from: jorygriffis on February 16, 2016, 09:28:15 pm
For some reason mine doesn't work on my famicom but it does work on some clones I have lying around. I've read (google-translated) accounts of it not working on some hardware runs... anyone else here have this issue?
It killed my first famicom (blew the PPU) and doesn't work on the replacement.
It BROKE your Famicom?? Sheesh no way am I chucking one of these in now.
(http://i115.photobucket.com/albums/n310/Protogem/8bitmusic_zpsip13iyx9.jpg)
Got mine in today. General quality (externally, anyway) is OK. I think too little for the money. The pcb is a mess, as many have mentioned. I had a friend who makes reproduction carts look over some photos of the pcb and he confirmed it isn't laid out well at all. It seems to use a weird pirate cart mapper that is a variant of MMC3, which would line up with the low build quality in general. I can confirm it works fine without modification in a Sharp AN505-RD Twin Famicom with an NESRGB pcb installed.
(http://i115.photobucket.com/albums/n310/Protogem/8bitmusic2_zpsyli9t9jq.jpg)
On the subject of the actual software, it is pretty interesting, the music tracks are fun and varied. the artwork and games are OK, nothing special - standard moe/loli stuff you see these days for the art, simple minigames for the games. I think it's something best suited for hardcore famicom enthusiasts like the folks around here, not for casuals.
Quote from: Arasoi on February 20, 2016, 10:31:45 amIt seems to use a weird pirate cart mapper that is a variant of MMC3.
Makes sense considering it seems to be heavily based on Kira Kira Star Night's engine, which at initial release was TK/TSROM
On a side note, NSF RIP when?
I got mine at the beginning of the month, it works fine on my AV Famicom with NesRGB mod. I was pretty pleased with it but I am surprised at how many issues people are having with it.
(http://i115.photobucket.com/albums/n310/Protogem/8bitmusicpowerdump_zpsvknme89p.png)
It's possible to run this game somewhat inaccurately dumped as MMC3 assigned as mapper 118/TKROM. Graphical glitches will pop up. I only wanted to get it running on my powerpak due to the cart's poor build quality, but with it running OK on my AN-505RD I'll probably just use the original cart.
I don't really have the skills to create an NSF file, I'm not sure if I'd want to if I could (just as I won't share the rom) due to this still being a commercial product.
Would you be willing to share the rom with those of us that have non-working copies? The waste of $50 plus the cost of buying another famicom frustrates me greatly.
EDIT: And mapper 188 is TKSROM, not TKROM. That's mapper 4, where your best bet is TL, TK, and TS because if the presumably large PRG/CHR size.
That is correct, some folks on nesdev mentioned this as well. Please check your PM.
Just as an update to correct my previous misinformation - the cart is standard mmc3 mapper 4, nothing special. However it cannot be dumped with a kazzo/INL pcb, for currently unknown reasons, and this caused the confusion. Tapedump or dumping the PRG/CHR from the actual chips will work for anyone wanting to put a copy on a flashcart for personal use.
Mine finally arrived from AmiAmi today. Boots to a white/gray screen on my unmodded RF Famicom. Wonderful.
Edit: But it works in my "Super Joy III" clone. Glorious.
(http://i.imgur.com/cVzx8pSl.jpg)
I'm honestly not sure why there are so much negative discussion about the build quality and compatibility of this cart. Although the "game" isn't particularly to my style I bought it because of what it was, namely a CIB Famicom release from the year 2016. To top it off, I didn't even need to order it from some "sketchy" website or from an online auction, like how many of the NES homebrew releases are distributed nowadays.
Regarding compatibility, I see it in this way: The Famicom's "hardware" has "changed" from its initial release in 1983 until now. We can try to argue otherwise, choosing to ignore the subtle differences from the original Famicom that produced to the Famiclones being distributed today, but I find it silly to do so. Calling a spade a spade, I see it like this: an unlicensed game will run on unlicensed hardware, yet it won't run on official hardware. Oh the horrors! We saw the same thing stateside back during the 90s, with unlicensed NES games not running on legit NES machines. So there are some compatibility issues, but...but...you are trying to use unofficial software on official hardware, doesn't sound like that big of a deal to me.
Famicoms and Famiclones are both cheap enough these days and easy enough to obtain that I feel as though Famicom enthusiasts should have one of each in their possession. There are good games on both sides of the spectrum, licensed and unofficial, which won't run on hardware from the other side. All problems solved.
I just hope that all of this negativity and the complaints don't discourage more projects like this from happening in the future :'(
Yeah, but, unlike pirate releases, the music was the entire point here instead of simply an afterthought. The last thing I trust clone systems to get right is the sound reproduction.
I get your point, though. It just stings a bit given the price point of this release.
Quote from: fcgamer on February 24, 2016, 08:19:23 pm
I'm honestly not sure why there are so much negative discussion about the build quality and compatibility of this cart. Although the "game" isn't particularly to my style I bought it because of what it was, namely a CIB Famicom release from the year 2016. To top it off, I didn't even need to order it from some "sketchy" website or from an online auction, like how many of the NES homebrew releases are distributed nowadays.
Regarding compatibility, I see it in this way: The Famicom's "hardware" has "changed" from its initial release in 1983 until now. We can try to argue otherwise, choosing to ignore the subtle differences from the original Famicom that produced to the Famiclones being distributed today, but I find it silly to do so. Calling a spade a spade, I see it like this: an unlicensed game will run on unlicensed hardware, yet it won't run on official hardware. Oh the horrors! We saw the same thing stateside back during the 90s, with unlicensed NES games not running on legit NES machines. So there are some compatibility issues, but...but...you are trying to use unofficial software on official hardware, doesn't sound like that big of a deal to me.
Famicoms and Famiclones are both cheap enough these days and easy enough to obtain that I feel as though Famicom enthusiasts should have one of each in their possession. There are good games on both sides of the spectrum, licensed and unofficial, which won't run on hardware from the other side. All problems solved.
I just hope that all of this negativity and the complaints don't discourage more projects like this from happening in the future :'(
If the quality was so bad that it actually broke an original Famicom then it deserves criticism. I've had better quality carts made and shipped for ~$3 including registered airmail shipping (and much better quality for a few dollars more). On play-asia.com we can also read that "after an hour, the cartridges would get hot and shut off. They need to rest for a few minutes before further use". It's not OK!
Of course 2016 Famicom CIB releases are very nice, but if they don't work on original Famicoms (or even break original Famicoms) then don't bother! Then they can sell the ROM file on some webpage instead and leave the cartridge creation to someone else than the dodgiest and cheapest factory in all of China.
Alternatively we can treat it as some emulator thing for emulator people that is not relevant for Famicom enthusiasts, but is that really what the actual artists prefer? (Columbus Circle seems to be in the business of selling clone system from China so they probably don't care about real hardware)
Quote from: fcgamer on February 24, 2016, 08:19:23 pm
I'm honestly not sure why there are so much negative discussion about the build quality and compatibility of this cart.
Because the build quality is below that of $5 pirates and it doesn't work (or outright breaks) some peoples' consoles?
Quote from: chowder on February 25, 2016, 12:01:39 am
Quote from: fcgamer on February 24, 2016, 08:19:23 pm
I'm honestly not sure why there are so much negative discussion about the build quality and compatibility of this cart.
Because the build quality is below that of $5 pirates and it doesn't work (or outright breaks) some peoples' consoles?
The build quality on the modern pirates is shit, I hate all of that Aliexpress-quality stuff. Those carts are just garbage imo.
This one, the case is not nearly as brittle, etc, and is of a much better quality (imo) than a lot of stuff I've seen in recent years.
Regarding breaking machines or not, I always find claims like that to be a bit dubious and would like to know exactly what happened there. With evidence and stuff like that. Could be that the machine was faulty to begin with, we don't know.
The following was mentioned:
QuoteOf course 2016 Famicom CIB releases are very nice, but if they don't work on original Famicoms (or even break original Famicoms) then don't bother! Then they can sell the ROM file on some webpage instead and leave the cartridge creation to someone else than the dodgiest and cheapest factory in all of China.
Alternatively we can treat it as some emulator thing for emulator people that is not relevant for Famicom enthusiasts, but is that really what the actual artists prefer? (Columbus Circle seems to be in the business of selling clone system from China so they probably don't care about real hardware)
Why does it even matter if it works on original hardware or not? Even with the original machine, there were so many different revisions, why is it even necessary (is it even possible) to guarantee compatibility with all of them? It just seems a bit nit picky to me, and a bit hypocritical as well. I am sure that if we asked everyone here who plays on a clone and who uses real hardware and why, the vast majority would choose real hardware for all sorts of reasons, such as quality, sound, picture, legality, moral issues, purist reasons, etc. Yet then the software being used is unlicensed. Just something that is a bit funny to me.
I personally would rather see (and support) releases like this and have "official" releases, rather than releases like Blade Buster where the only way to get one for the collection is to make it by hand or pay someone to do so, and then print off a label, leaving everything feeling even less legit / collectible than factory made pirate carts.
I think the product has a quite small selling demographic anyways, so most of the people buying this would be collectors. And I think this product fills the needs of collectors.
I do think if the game has build and compatibility issues, that is very poor. Absolutely I would support this if those issues weren't there. I had planned to get two actually, but forgot to place an order, now after reading these complaints I won't buy one at all. It really should work on real hardware, revisions included. Every other game out there managed this, it's not a new thing.
I think the compatibility issues stem from copy protection on the cart maybe?
Quote from: L___E___T on February 25, 2016, 03:16:24 am
I think the compatibility issues stem from copy protection on the cart maybe?
No, the compatibility issue is the 3.3v flash chips used on a 5v system then compounded on a pirate board with a pirate MMC3 clone mapper chip. It's just not stable on Famicom systems across the board.
The good news is, you can replace the 3.3v chips with 5v tolerant versions(Micron M29F160F). The problem for most would be removing/dumping the 48 pin TSOP chips, programming the new 48 pin TSOP chips and then soldering onto the board. I plan to do this to mine, or possibly just make myself a repro with Eproms and shove it in the case since I have Eproms and a donor cart already.
You could also do this mod: https://twitter.com/taivatri/status/694169232393658368 (https://twitter.com/taivatri/status/694169232393658368)
Quote from: UglyJoe on February 25, 2016, 05:05:19 am
You could also do this mod: https://twitter.com/taivatri/status/694169232393658368 (https://twitter.com/taivatri/status/694169232393658368)
I'd rather have the proper 5v chips so I don't risk them burning out and possibly causing other problems.
Quote from: fcgamer on February 25, 2016, 02:30:44 am
The build quality on the modern pirates is shit, I hate all of that Aliexpress-quality stuff. Those carts are just garbage imo.
This one, the case is not nearly as brittle, etc, and is of a much better quality (imo) than a lot of stuff I've seen in recent years.
Regarding breaking machines or not, I always find claims like that to be a bit dubious and would like to know exactly what happened there. With evidence and stuff like that. Could be that the machine was faulty to begin with, we don't know.
The following was mentioned:
Why does it even matter if it works on original hardware or not? Even with the original machine, there were so many different revisions, why is it even necessary (is it even possible) to guarantee compatibility with all of them? It just seems a bit nit picky to me, and a bit hypocritical as well. I am sure that if we asked everyone here who plays on a clone and who uses real hardware and why, the vast majority would choose real hardware for all sorts of reasons, such as quality, sound, picture, legality, moral issues, purist reasons, etc. Yet then the software being used is unlicensed. Just something that is a bit funny to me.
I personally would rather see (and support) releases like this and have "official" releases, rather than releases like Blade Buster where the only way to get one for the collection is to make it by hand or pay someone to do so, and then print off a label, leaving everything feeling even less legit / collectible than factory made pirate carts.
I think the product has a quite small selling demographic anyways, so most of the people buying this would be collectors. And I think this product fills the needs of collectors.
Funny that you call aliexpress-stuff just garbage because the quality of this cartridge is even worse than the regular cheap aliexpress-stuff. The case doesn't matter unless you throw it on the ground and there are better Chinese pirate cases if you pay a little more.
It's not too much to ask that they try it on some real hardware especially since they are located in Japan and have easy access to different hardware. Obviously the usual pirate stuff works better than this and they don't try especially hard.
Any why it does matter that it works on real hardware? Because if it doesn't work on Famicoms then it's not a Famicom game! Simple as that. Also funny that the first review I find of a Columbus Circle Famicom clone complains that the sound of the games doesn't sound right(!!). I just think that Columbus Circle is totally the wrong publisher for this kind of thing.
For Blade Buster I can buy a copy from China that is much better quality than the 8 bit music power cartridge(and actually works on real Famicoms). I think it's good that many authors don't want their work to be limited by artificial "limited editions" or such crap but that everyone who wants to produce cartridges of their work can do it. Especially easy for Blade Buster since it includes label graphics.
If you by collectors mean people that buy overpriced stuff in the hope that it will be even more overpriced in the future and just put it away without using it or opening then i'm sure this works for them, but I don't see this as anything positive. Not for us as Famicom enthusiasts or for the actual composers of these tracks anyway.
Quote from: L___E___T on February 25, 2016, 03:16:24 am
I do think if the game has build and compatibility issues, that is very poor. Absolutely I would support this if those issues weren't there. I had planned to get two actually, but forgot to place an order, now after reading these complaints I won't buy one at all. It really should work on real hardware, revisions included.
my bet: it wasn't tested against real h/w. let's face it, devs' were unable to test it against various revisions of famicom, twin, etc. The actual reasons are unknown. Was it intentional? idk.
if it got tested well, then it will be sporting a mentioning about that somewhere in description. "Tested on real h/w. Guarantee to work on any authentic famicom and twin, etc". Are you ready for paying say $99 for this kind of guarantee?
otherwise, you don't have a right to claim about compatibility issues as the compatibility wasn't guaranteed by all means :)
I was disappointed for missing the orders too, but right now, i'm pretty happy that didn't buy it.
Sadly, the cart's box itself has a warning that it may not work with all systems. The Amazon page description even goes further and lists off a few Famiclones from Columbus Circle themselves (same guys who produced/manufactured this) that it will definitely work on.
Wow, I didn't see that. I can still complain though, it shouldn't even be an issue, small print or no.
I dumped the flash chips from my cart this weekend, the rom works fine on my Everdrive. I'm ordering the replacement 5v flash chips this week and hopefully I'll have a fully working, non overheating cartridge by next weekend.
Quote from: Yodd on February 04, 2016, 06:58:58 am
Hey guys, I just posted a video on my YouTube channel, Todd's Nerd Cave, showing off the 8 Bit Music Power cart and thought you might be interested in seeing it.
www.youtube.com/watch?v=enUdHU_FTv4
Feel free to subscribe and check out any of my other stuff.
Thank you for the nice demo. :yoshi:
I wanted to get this initially because I love 8-bit/chiptune music and projects, but it looks like I'm late to the party...
I'll try to get the dump for my ED as well, maybe check my stash of systems for compatibility. :'(
I got mine, it also works on the Retro Freak with the new patch update. Really digging it.
(https://farm2.staticflickr.com/1682/25007658091_0b3fa7d8ae_k.jpg) (https://flic.kr/p/E6QMuP)
I got a copy of 8 Bit Music Power as a late birthday gift in February from someone very dear to me and I had to hang on to it until march to be able to try it out.
I bought a Famicom and it arrived around the 10th. When I first popped it in the console I wondered if it was just the Famicom not working, at that moment it was the only cartridge I had to test the Fami with.
I opened the Fami up and cleaned it out every part, gosh did it need it, especially the microphone (terrible humming).
Well, yesterday my copy of Rockman 4 arrived and helped straightened out a few things.
My Famicom works just fine (after cleaning), My CRT Tv wont pick the Famicom up on ch95 or 96, but my Tv tuner on an old winXP32 SP2 machine will pick it up through RF with a less than stellar picture however it is functional and I beat the game while streaming to hitbox.tv (I thinks I'll look into modding it's video and audio output method sometime soon, those mods should be within my abilities to perform).
The only way I can get 8 Bit Music Power to boot up is by doing that elec tape over pin32 trick, but that produces garbled graphics in the majority of the art, and I doubt it's safe to do for an extended amount of time.
I streamed 2 songs, surprisingly the artwork in one of them seemed to display flawlessly.
Such a bummer, in theory it's so perfect of a gift idea to me that was really thoughtful but it turned out this way.
The person that got it for me was a little irritated that it doesn't function as advertised, and I felt a bit saddened because I was very excited to live stream share it to some friends, especially to share it with the person that got it for me.
I've read through this whole thread, so I understand what's essentially wrong with the way the cart was put together.
I seriously wish I had the expertise to correct the issues it has... The thing is really sentimental to me, and I don't exactly want to just shelf it forever :'(
Also, first post here :-[
the fact the game might bork your famicom makes me somewhat reluctant to buy one, but it looks like it features some really good music! :-[
I think every serious Famicom gamer should have at least one real machine and one decent clone in their collection. It's the best way to play the software to the max.
So true fcgamer.
8bit Music Power is back in stock again :bomb:
>> http://www.play-asia.com/8bit-music-power/13/709i8h
I've already ordered one and be sure I'll share my detailed experience once I grab it.
Did they put the price up?
Yeah, wasn't it around $30 plus shipping originally? Or maybe this includes shipping, I've not ordered from PlayAsia before.
It's either that or they've improved the cart. Or they're covering previous/future RMAs ;)
If anyone is interested I have uploaded two videos of 8Bit Music Power to my YouTube. One shows a demonstration of the game, where I go through all the menus, test out everything, and play all the minigames. The other is a full rip of the album, where I let the cartridge just run idle as it cycles through all the music
Game Demonstration:
youtube/watch?v=5e0QdtXiMmc
Full Album:
youtube/watch?v=1oe5ygwg4wY
Was played on an AV Famicom and recorded using an HD PVR 2. Works perfectly fine! Haven't tested it on my RF Famicom although after seeing some negative experiences with some people I'm kind of weary to check now :-[ Figured if anyone couldn't grab a copy or their copy doesn't work or any other reason, then my videos hopefully aim to emulate the "full experience" that the cartridge provides :)
Edit as of April 25th, 2016:
It seems Columbus Circle, the company responsible for this release has filed a nasty copyright strike on my channel, removing the two videos in the process and severely limiting my channel for 6 months. Damn :(
Quote from: muckyfingers on February 29, 2016, 04:14:42 am
I dumped the flash chips from my cart this weekend, the rom works fine on my Everdrive. I'm ordering the replacement 5v flash chips this week and hopefully I'll have a fully working, non overheating cartridge by next weekend.
Sorry to necro a thread on my first post here, but what did you use to dump the cart? I've also got an Everdrive (Famicom version, not NES), so hopefully what worked for you will work for me. My console does not like the 8bit Music Power cart, at all.
Quote from: Kveldulf on April 14, 2016, 09:59:40 pm
Quote from: muckyfingers on February 29, 2016, 04:14:42 am
I dumped the flash chips from my cart this weekend, the rom works fine on my Everdrive. I'm ordering the replacement 5v flash chips this week and hopefully I'll have a fully working, non overheating cartridge by next weekend.
Sorry to necro a thread on my first post here, but what did you use to dump the cart? I've also got an Everdrive (Famicom version, not NES), so hopefully what worked for you will work for me. My console does not like the 8bit Music Power cart, at all.
I used a hot air station to remove the flash chips and a TopMax II Programmer to read back their contents.
Quote from: muckyfingers on April 15, 2016, 01:35:47 am
Quote from: Kveldulf on April 14, 2016, 09:59:40 pm
Sorry to necro a thread on my first post here, but what did you use to dump the cart? I've also got an Everdrive (Famicom version, not NES), so hopefully what worked for you will work for me. My console does not like the 8bit Music Power cart, at all.
I used a hot air station to remove the flash chips and a TopMax II Programmer to read back their contents.
Thanks for the quick reply! To be honest, that sounds a bit beyond my capabilities and level of investment. If that's what it takes to dump the cart, perhaps I'm better off just learning to solder and doing the Twitter fix that UglyJoe posted earlier in this thread.
Has anyone looked to see if new versions of the game have been improved? It seems to get taken down/put back online quite a bit.
EDIT: According to the website, it seems to be the same. It's also out of stock again.