The translation came out a few days ago, but I'd like to get in contact with anyone who feels like tackling that project.
Thank you!
What country? I think I have the cart for this somewhere.Better yet if you have the cart you can send it to me to convert.
You need a new board for that game, so and since the translation is 1.5MB I doubt that this game gets any repros any time soon.
Mmc5 repros with 1MB PRG have been done before. E.g. rockman 4 minus infinity.
Quote from: famiac on September 02, 2018, 11:21:32 pm
Mmc5 repros with 1MB PRG have been done before. E.g. rockman 4 minus infinity.
->that. The MMC5 is able to adress 1MB PRG rom. CHR gets another 512kb. I'll check the size of the prg/chr part as soon as I get to my PC. This needs a repro soon!
Quote from: jpx72 on September 02, 2018, 11:54:54 pm
Quote from: famiac on September 02, 2018, 11:21:32 pm
Mmc5 repros with 1MB PRG have been done before. E.g. rockman 4 minus infinity.
->that. The MMC5 is able to adress 1MB PRG rom. CHR gets another 512kb. I'll check the size of the prg/chr part as soon as I get to my PC. This needs a repro soon!
Yup, 1MB PRG and 512 CHR. I was going to attempt it but I do not have any 1MB eproms. I had already patched and split the rom, oh well, will have to wait. I was playing it on a modded WII and it looks really good
Great info! Well I will definitely try to make it, but as all my recent projects, it will take a while ;)
I will do repro, no need to canibalize existing MMC5 games.
I thought of just converting my official cart (and saving the mask rom). Is that too insane?
Quote from: krzy on September 03, 2018, 01:38:58 pm
I will do repro, no need to canibalize existing MMC5 games.
There's a MMC5 replacement board available now?
Quote from: famiac on September 03, 2018, 02:01:38 pm
I thought of just converting my official cart (and saving the mask rom). Is that too insane?
YES TOO INSANE!!! Cheapest one on eBay now goes for 200usd!
Quote from: Hamburglar on September 03, 2018, 03:54:54 pm
There's a MMC5 replacement board available now?
Not really, krzy just makes his own boards :)
I contacted krzy as the possibility of not wasting another MMC5 game sounds better to me.
Thank you all for your responses!
Quote from: jpx72 on September 04, 2018, 02:53:39 am
Quote from: famiac on September 03, 2018, 02:01:38 pm
I thought of just converting my official cart (and saving the mask rom). Is that too insane?
YES TOO INSANE!!! Cheapest one on eBay now goes for 200usd!
Quote from: Hamburglar on September 03, 2018, 03:54:54 pm
There's a MMC5 replacement board available now?
Not really, krzy just makes his own boards :)
I'm confused, so the the MMC5 comes from a sac cart?
Quote from: jpx72 on September 04, 2018, 02:53:39 am
Quote from: famiac on September 03, 2018, 02:01:38 pm
I thought of just converting my official cart (and saving the mask rom). Is that too insane?
YES TOO INSANE!!! Cheapest one on eBay now goes for 200usd!
I'd rather have a game i can actually play. I think i'll do it :P
Hamburglar, krzy is using programable logic chips to replace mmc5.
Quote from: krzy on September 03, 2018, 01:38:58 pm
I will do repro, no need to canibalize existing MMC5 games.
How good is this MMC5 clone? I'm not interested in the translation but I am interested in MMC5 repro boards.
It can mimic MMC5 in generally everything except for the EXRAM usage shared between CPU and PPU and the additional audio.
From what I just observed, Metal Glory uses the following features of MMC5:
* 4 x 8 kB PRG-banks,
* 2 x 4 kB CHR-banks,
* no external RAM, EXRAM used just for additional 1kb of RAM for CPU,
* multiplier,
*additional audio (just for the beeps during dialogs)
So it will be really easy to make.
But I would appreciate if somebody used this following modified FCEUx emulator which logs all MMC5 activity, then play the game for some time and send me the file: c:\mmc5_writes
(please change extension from fceux.mpg to fceux.zip because this wonderful forum engine does not allow zips to be attached)
Hacker for the English translation here.
The game is currently playable on hardware through the NT Mini, so it's not like there aren't options available to play on hardware.
I'd personally rather see a new flashcart with larger PRG and CHR-ROM capacity with improved emulation etc, but if I had to choose over cannibalizing old boards or making new ones, the latter is the best option. There are plans for future updates to the translation, which is why I feel a flashcart is the best option. Why would you want to play an outdated version?
Legality issue aside, there's opportunist individuals who shamelessly take advantage of the goodwill by myself and others and that's what I least like about the repro community. Not to say everyone involved is like that, there are a few pretty cool folks like gywndion etc.
The English manual for the game should almost be complete, but I'm seriously thinking about adding a draconian watermark to discourage attempts at reproducing the manual illicitly.
Krikkz, can you add support for my Jajamaru Ninpou Chou translation to the Everdrive? I expanded the VRC2 mapper to 256kb, past its limitation. Also, can you add support for my upcoming SD Gundam Gaiden translation? That uses one of those Bandai mappers and it was also expanded past its limitation. It probably won't work on the Everdrive.
I think you're mistaking krzy for krikzz.
What are future plans for the translation?
I think the same. He mistake of Krzy and krikkzz....Krzy is very good guy, and helped me debug strange mapper to fit into cart, and his "repro" bears nothing in similarity to original. Is just a very well made PCB with a generic cart shell and regards of label, absolutely nothing can be mistaken as "opportunist" when he not even try make "almost same as original". Only thing "reproduced" is the PCB. Rest totally generic and would be impossible take it as even "near to genuine".
If want make near 1:1 repro I am sure can be found other doing that, but with all respect, Krzy is no "opportunist" by any mean. Rather the opposite.
Quote from: Kagemusha on September 05, 2018, 03:36:48 pm
Hacker for the English translation here.
The game is currently playable on hardware through the NT Mini, so it's not like there aren't options available to play on hardware.
I'd personally rather see a new flashcart with larger PRG and CHR-ROM capacity with improved emulation etc, but if I had to choose over cannibalizing old boards or making new ones, the latter is the best option. There are plans for future updates to the translation, which is why I feel a flashcart is the best option. Why would you want to play an outdated version?
Legality issue aside, there's opportunist individuals who shamelessly take advantage of the goodwill by myself and others and that's what I least like about the repro community. Not to say everyone involved is like that, there are a few pretty cool folks like gywndion etc.
The English manual for the game should almost be complete, but I'm seriously thinking about adding a draconian watermark to discourage attempts at reproducing the manual illicitly.
Krikkz, can you add support for my Jajamaru Ninpou Chou translation to the Everdrive? I expanded the VRC2 mapper to 256kb, past its limitation. Also, can you add support for my upcoming SD Gundam Gaiden translation? That uses one of those Bandai mappers and it was also expanded past its limitation. It probably won't work on the Everdrive.
I understand your point and, trust me, if flash carts were a possibility, I wouldn't be pursuing a repro cartridge. I actually have fewer than 10 of those, and all of them are repros of things I couldn't have had on flashcarts otherwise at the time I purchased them. I am not interested in the slightest in owning a console such as the NT Mini, a huge part of the pleasure is seeing the NES being pushed to its limit, even if the cartridge is a custom board.
I went with Krzy first and foremost because he claimed to be able to make a custom board for it. The prospect of not having to destroy another donor cart is of importance to me as well. I can attest that, on top of this, his pricing actually ended up being below what most major websites ask for some of the easier repro projects, he's being more than fair about it considering he'll be using material and time to build this board that a donor cartridge based repro really doesn't require. I understand that I'll be stuck with an outdated version and I can live with it as is. I actually would've gotten the original game with the intention of actually playing the game on an emulator on the side, but the cartridge is far too expensive considering how I would derive very little actual game time from it in its original language.
I did not mean for you guys to feel like you're getting taken advantage of by this whole thing and I'm sorry I brought it up. I know it was inevitable anyway as this translation is a huge news story in my opinion, but I still feel like I might have opened up the floodgate for people to merchandise it. I understand that a lot of the credit for the very existence of this repro will be due to your work and I do not mean to belittle that all. If you guys have a donation link of some sort than I can verify as official for your translation team, I would be happy to send you something for all your work.
I am in absolute agreement that it'd be awesome to see less limited flash carts on the NES/Famicom absolutely murder the donor repro scene and people at flea markets selling pretend original cartridges of fan translation claiming they are somehow "rare". However, my collecting time is mostly behind me now. It'd have to be a flashcart that feels completely final and safe before I replace mine.
Post Merge: September 06, 2018, 02:19:51 am
Quote from: krzy on September 05, 2018, 12:22:16 pm
But I would appreciate if somebody used this following modified FCEUx emulator which logs all MMC5 activity, then play the game for some time and send me the file: c:\mmc5_writes
(please change extension from fceux.mpg to fceux.zip because this wonderful forum engine does not allow zips to be attached)
I jumped to the end game combat and then played through some of the scenes right before the combat in order to make sure to capture what seems to be the more intense stuff going on in that game. There is about 10 minutes of gameplay in there. Hope this helps! Thank you again!
There's a few instances of text not properly formatted and some glitchyness in a few spots.
I don't remember how long I've been waiting for this english translation, feels like forever! :o Finally glad to see it out! ;D I've got the original cart sitting on my shelf, I also thought it would be neat to get the chips swapped out with the translation if this was possible (obviously I'd keep the original chips safe!).
Tada!
(https://obrazki.elektroda.pl/1569573900_1536331060_thumb.jpg) (https://obrazki.elektroda.pl/1569573900_1536331060.jpg)
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=bGE-j7UXoYo
Lovely! I'd like one sooo bad! :o ;D
Wow there's actual solder mask. Nice!
Nice, when will these be available? Any links?
Quote from: krzy on September 07, 2018, 07:37:49 am
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=bGE-j7UXoYo
Where is the -
Quote from: krzy on September 05, 2018, 12:22:16 pm
*additional audio (just for the beeps during dialogs)
?
Those beeps may seem insignificant, but they're part of what makes Metal Slader Glory what it is. You can read a translated interview that explains all that at Shmuplations.
Yeah you definitely need those SFX to characterise the different speakers.
They were a deliberate feature according to the creator himself, I can see why.
Wouldn't this be easier to make from a MMC5 donor and bolt on some extra RAM?
But the idea is to avoid cannibalizing donors.
Regarding sound, the MMC5 soundchip comes with two square wave channels, (almost) identical to the two already in the Famicom APU and one PCM channel which Metal Slader Glory doesn't use AFAIK. In other words the talking sound effect would probably sound exactly the same using the APU squares. The only benefit of the MMC5 soundchip is, I think, that by using the MMC5 squares for the sound effects, the APU squares are free to be used for background music that's played at the same time. I guess the reason they used MMC5 was things like parallax scrolling was easier (according to the mentioned interview anyway), and the soundchip was mostly a bonus.
Anyway I'd also be interested in a reproduction of this game. But with the original untouched ROM. I will have to wait until I have access to my Famicom though.
I get it, I just have no problem with reflashing a great game over a not so great one. For example getting a nice Legend of Link rather than something unplayed:
(https://78.media.tumblr.com/c2dd8e04ecd44589a8f4f7ba00319d7c/tumblr_o3watelUS01trtbz5o1_400.jpg)
There are a good amount of MMC5 donors out there, for now, but the supply is obviously finite and diminishing so finding a solution is great in any case.
I'm not as technical as some of our geniuses on here, but I never noticed specific unique sounding sounds coming out of MMC5 games. So it probably does sound passably similar.
I thought MMC5 just had a good deal more memory which is why you see it used for a lot of those strategy RPGs or heavy text based games like Metal Slader Glory.
Yeah MMC5 games are still not rare, but I think when translations like this one are released people wants to make repros and one day they will become rare.
MMC5 is the most powerful mapper Nintendo made, and it's full of stuff and there's no game that used all of them.
Among the features are: up to 64 kB cartridge RAM (usually games only use 8 kB), one palette per 8x8 BG tile (Famicom normally only allows one palette per 16x16 BG tile), multiplication unit (Famicom only knows addition and subtraction), lots of bank switching modes, scanline counter IRQ (used to split background scrolling for status bars or parallax scrolling effects etc), 3 channel soundchip (2 squares and one PCM).
What I meant was that for example that Sunsoft 5b mapper was made for Gimmick (according to the interview with Sakai) because they needed the extra channels for the sound composer's chords. Metal Slader Glory on the other hand they (according to the interview with Yoshimiru) considered both the MMC3 and the MMC5 and also using multiple FDS disks, and finally settled with MMC5 because it was apparently easier to do parallax scrolling on it (I'm not sure of the details though considering MMC3 also have a scanline counter). The extra two MMC5 squares was just a nice bonus.
Actually I enjoy some game that was released on mapper 5. Especially Yakuman Tengoku (Mahjong) and Metal Slader Glory, but I really not personally like Koei mapper 5 games, so those would be suitable for other purpouse. By the way L_E_T, where you found that awesome Zelda thing? I never heard of it before. I reasearch but I cannot find where it is sold. Is it for sale? :D
Yakuman Tengoku is a game I've been looking to pickup. Not only said to be the best Mahjong for Famicom it also is the only known game to use the PCM channel of the MMC5 soundchip (funny reason to want to have this game haha ;D). Fortunately it isn't rare like Metal Slader Glory.
People that don't like slow-paced games like RPGs probably don't like Koei games either. I'm not a big Koei fan or anything but I enjoy their games that I've played.
Legend of Link link:
https://www.romhacking.net/hacks/2136/
All puns intended.
It certainly didn't take long for this to show up on eBay:
https://rover.ebay.com/rover/0/0/0?mpre=https%3A%2F%2Fwww.ebay.com%2Fulk%2Fitm%2F223170051246
Any chance this is a quality product?
Not sure how they justify that kind of price tag. I think you could get a repro made for a lot less.
Quote from: L___E___T on October 01, 2018, 12:54:21 am
Not sure how they justify that kind of price tag. I think you could get a repro made for a lot less.
On the site it was like 63.00. I don't know how much shipping is and it looks like there is a wait list.
Still haven't been bothered to make one for myself because I don't have the right eproms, and it looks like eproms are more expensive than the last time I ordered some.
Was playing it on an emu on the Wii.. maybe I'll stick to that.
My repro is available (35$ shipped) so if you want it, PM me.
BTW. Author of this translation can get it for free from me if he wants.
BTW2. The "real" MMC5 games will not work on some (many) cheap famiclones - that is beacuse MMC5 uses the CHR /A13 line (not CHR A13), which is not present in most today's cheap famiclones.
But my cartridge will work even in them :)
(https://obrazki.elektroda.pl/1569573900_1536331060_thumb.jpg) (https://obrazki.elektroda.pl/1569573900_1536331060.jpg)
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=bGE-j7UXoYo