Most people aren't too familiar with the NCC -- everyone knows about the NWC. Well, bunnyboy has finally repro'd the NCC and made it available for sale (http://www.retrousb.com/product_info.php?cPath=23&products_id=68), which is kinda cool. I picked myself up a copy.
It seems this was a college campus challenge similar to the NWC but with different games. Anyone who loves NES has got to be at least remotely intrigued.
That is very cool. I will definitely want to pick this up in the near future, probably next month when I have more cash. NCC is news to me as I have just found out of it's existence! The games selected for the challenge are some of my favs too!
Got a link handy?
The link is actually present and hidden in the words "available for sale" in JC's post. I imagine you didn't mouse over it as I had, haha. Here is the link:
http://www.retrousb.com/product_info.php?cPath=23&products_id=68 (http://www.retrousb.com/product_info.php?cPath=23&products_id=68)
My NWC repro cart stopped working, so I think I'll pass on this one.
Really...defective? I hadn't heard of that. Did you try to exchange it or get a refund? Just curious what bunnyboy does in those situations.
Well it kinda starts up, but graphics are pretty messed up and the game stops working somewhere in the first section (if it even gets that far). Really, it looks like a dirty NES game.
I didn't want to send a complaint to bunnyboy with a description like that. So, I ordered a new 72-pin adapter for my toaster NES, just to make sure it wasn't a problem on my end. That ended up taking like a month to get to me due to some shipping mishap. Got that installed and it still didn't work. Then I kinda stopped caring about it.
Although, his site does say "5 year replacement warranty - if the cart stops working we replace it", so maybe he would replace it. I dunno. It would be kinda sad, though, since I have one of the numbered carts from the first production run. Oh well.
Well, presumably he could just swap out the board and give you the same shell -- not quite as authentic, but how many times have we run into square-button Famicoms that have new innards...at least I remember vealchop's tragic discovery of his swapped out square-button.
$85? :o This must be one awesome game.
I just thought of this though...
Couldn't you just as easily get ROMs of NWC and NCC? And put them on your PowerPak...and save money
What's the Nintendo Campus Challenge?
Quote from: nintendodork on March 04, 2009, 12:00:41 pm
Couldn't you just as easily get ROMs of NWC and NCC? And put them on your PowerPak...and save money
What about the dip switch thingies?
Yeah, it's expensive, but I think you're seeing the cost of the reproduction of each custom board, which someone said was $50, and then the profit for bunnyboy and maybe even a cut being taken by the owner of the only real NCC cart.
There'd be lots of problems emulating them. While the NWC ROM is available, because there are no dip-switches, the timing can't be properly set. I bet you'd have the same problems with the NCC ROM -- which, right now, is only in bunnyboy's possession, I'd assume.
The NWC ROM I had ended at 6:21, I timed it once.
Oh this is pretty cool.
No one answered my question; what is the Nintendo Campus Challenge?
Read about it on retrousb...or Google it
from retrozone:
In 1991 Nintendo created another nationwide contest after the success of the 1990 NWC. This time the event traveled to around 60 college campuses where thousands of students battled for a chance to compete for the next Nintendo World Champion title. To compete, gamers had to grab twenty five coins in Super Mario Bros. 3, get 100,000 points in Pin Bot, and reach the highest score they could in Dr. Mario, all before time ran out. At the event, all three games were combined into a special cartridge made specifically for the NCC. Almost all of these cartridges were destroyed and now only one is known to exist. Not publicly played in 17 years, now you can experience the thrill of the competition in your own home with the Nintendo Campus Challenge 1991 Reproduction Cartridge!
Sounds nice, but does it have to be so expensive? :'(
Is there a ROM?
Quote from: JC on March 04, 2009, 12:08:22 pm
the NCC ROM -- which, right now, is only in bunnyboy's possession, I'd assume.
85 dollars? ouch! maybe I should wait for them to have a contest and hope I win the cart for free.
Or he should just put the rom online.
I wonder why he doesn't get sued by Nintendo. I mean, the NWC and this new NCC are copyrighted material, right? And he's making money off them...
Yeah you have a point. Maybe no one dares to report him....or Nintendo knows and is looking the other way.
Probably because the market for old console repros is so small that Nintendo would end up losing more by suing him into oblivion. It's not like he's making millions like the Chinese Famiclone manufacturers.
"reports chinese famiclone manufacturers" take that har har har!
*Chinese mafia shows up before FF's house*...
"lets snakes loose"
You don't know much about China, heh? ;D
They eat snakes and make shoes from their skin.
But probably you made friends with them that way. ;D
Back on topic, i'd like to play the rom. For me there's just not enough value in this to justify spending 85$. :-\
Someone rich buy one of these and dump it!
I don't see why not just share the rom with everyone. Are you really that greedy?
Quote from: FamicomFreak on March 05, 2009, 09:04:25 am
I don't see why not just share the rom with everyone. Are you really that greedy?
It's not necessarily greed on bunnyboy's part. With rare carts like this, having a ROM floating around lessens its value. I suspect the owner of the original cart is getting a piece of bunnyboy's sales. So, it's sort of the owner's way of distributing the cart (thus lessening his own cart's value) while still making a bit of money off of it.
If the owner had nothing to lose by releasing the ROM, then I would say he's being greedy. But, as it is, he's just protecting the value of his rare cart.
The ROM will become available once these carts are released; someone will try dumping and would probably be successful. You never know the back-dealing that goes on, but I'd imagine the owner of the original cart -- if not the dude who discovered it but someone different -- certainly paid a lot for it and would like to use these repros to make a little bit back. I would.
EDIT: Beat me to it, Ugly. :P
I don't understand that.
Even if millions of people have copies as rom data on their pcs, the only physical copy is still the only one copy. It's "worth" as much as it was before. Maybe that's just me thinking this way...
Not exactly. The real one is lessened because now it's mostly a collector's piece, where before it was both a collector's and gamer's cart. In other words, it'll always be coveted, but only by mad collectors, not by people wanting it just to be able to play it.
It's worth as much as it was before...but only to the person owning it and possibly collectors. If there was a ROM of it, it would be a lot easier to reproduce, and people wouldn't think so highly of it as they do now. I don't plan to buy this in the future, but if I had the ROM, there wouldn't be a chance in hell I'd buy it, because I'd rather spend my money on a PowerPak, put it, NWC, Recca, etc. on it and save money.
EDIT* JC beat me to it. :P
Another edit (Off-topic)* I was playing my NWC repro yesterday, and I found out something interesting...
If you have a zapper plugged into port 2 when you turn on the game, it will go straight past the title screen and into the game, instead of you having to press start, it just skips it all together! Someone needs to try this on the Famicom with a light gun.
I don't get it. I think I'm just not the typical collector. :D
A famous painting isn't worth less just because some dudes print it a million times...
But people will be less interested in the real thing if they can get a print for much less for their own use. It sort of fills their need of whatever it is they're admiring
Hmm... still not convinced.
Frankly, I don't even care that much. :D
And I might even try it to see I can't stand a chance to beat the record. ;D
If I really wanted to do a gaming competition, like this, I would get a stop watch, get my copies of SMB3, Pinbot and Dr. Mario out and away I go.......I just saved $85. 8)
That's a way, too, but it's too easy to cheat that way. ;)
Quote from: nintendodork on March 05, 2009, 08:08:22 pm
But people will be less interested in the real thing if they can get a print for much less for their own use. It sort of fills their need of whatever it is they're admiring
Wait a second! won't people still try to admire the real thing therefore pay to see the real painting not printed copies? The price will not change and might even interest people more.
Quote from: satoshi_matrix on March 06, 2009, 12:20:30 am
If I really wanted to do a gaming competition, like this, I would get a stop watch, get my copies of SMB3, Pinbot and Dr. Mario out and away I go.......I just saved $85. 8)
That really takes the fun out if it...so rudimentary.
Quote from: FamicomFreak on March 06, 2009, 08:34:23 am
Quote from: nintendodork on March 05, 2009, 08:08:22 pm
But people will be less interested in the real thing if they can get a print for much less for their own use. It sort of fills their need of whatever it is they're admiring
Wait a second! won't people still try to admire the real thing therefore pay to see the real painting not printed copies? The price will not change and might even interest people more.
I'm saying that, if someone were to buy a print of a famous painting, they would still want to see it, but I think it would be knocked down on their priority list, because at least they have a print to admire for the time being. And if they ever got a chance to look at the real thing, then that's great...and they may have a stronger admiration for it, because they had only seen prints, but at the same time, they already know what it looks like. So their excitement would be purely on the fact that it's the original copy. If I had that NCC repro, and then, one day, I played the real thing..it would be cool, but not as cool, because I already know what to expect.