Is there a possibility to dump Genesis games?

[sackstark]

hey mike,

i was really impressed by the sms reader and will solder one soon..

is there a similiar possibility for the genesis ? i saw a dump reader and writer for genesis on ebay..but it was much too expensive for me...

and maybe its quite similiar to solder one for the mega drive as for SMS ...

has anyone any suggestions ?

 

[IceDigger]

I think Mike is actually working on one for genesis, but he'll be able to tell you more than me.

you can usually grab a genesis copier for a decent price if you look around.. HK shops are your best bet, although ebay and even flea markets can have a good price on them at times.

 

[ExCyber]

A Genesis/MD dumper isn't really the most difficult thing to design, but it seems that 64-pin 0.1" edge card connectors have fallen out of favor in the electronics industry, so they might be a bit tough to find...

 

[IceDigger]

a genesis is cheap enough, it's gonna be pretty easy to find a used or defective one to take the slot from.

 

[sackstark]

cool thanx for the help...

i am looking forward to getting some electronics stuff...

i hope i can get the ICs here in germany...

arakon..sprichst du nicht auch deutsch? 😉

 

[Mike G]

Thanks for your comments on the SMSReader. I have built a Mega Drive reader/writer which plugs into the parallel port:

http://www.mikeg2.freeserve.co.uk/masterful/megareader.jpg

but I haven't written a tutorial for it at this stage. I also built an 8 meg writable cart with SRAM; it was a heck of a task to put that thing together.

A device just for reading can be a lot simpler than this - don't be put off by all those wires. 🙂 There's actually a tutorial for building a "minimalist" reader somewhere (only 4 chips!) - I don't have the URL to hand.

As for the 64-pin edge connector, I "welded" one together from different sized connectors: if you look carefully, you can see the join 😉 That's one way of skinning the cat anyway, and it was easier and less "wasteful" than cannibalising one of my Mega Drives.

One thing I discovered from building this project is that there are a heck of a lot of undumped ROMs out there, especially when it comes to European cartridges. I dumped 70 or so carts with the thing, and got 6 new dumps.

Mike

 

[IceDigger]

Mike, I suggest you look for some MD/Genesis bootleg carts.. usually you got 95% of the wiring all ready to go already that way, ends up ALOT less messy.

I managed to modify several bootlegs to work with up to 32 mbit (from being 8 mbit at first) with your and Ex-Cyber's help, works fine for eproms, and I'd guess it would for flashram as well.

 

[ExCyber]

Do you just cut the ends off and use an iron to melt the suckers together? I might have to try this...

 

[Artemio Urbina]

Wow.. I am really impressed. Also very interested in this stuff.. I have a couple of bootleg carts here they are scanned:

and Moonwalker

(BTW, this moonwalker has thriller when dancing in the third level, unlike the normal one with Another Part of Me)

Could these be used?

So far I have not had the time or resources to experiment with the stuff you sent me Arakon...

regards

 

[ExCyber]

Fantasia/Moonwalker: Maybe, but I can't tell just from just scans.

Spider-Man: Almost certainly.

 

[IceDigger]

Fantasia has a pretty unusual layout (a stupid one I'd think, the amount of chips used doesn't make it very cost effective for such a small game), haven't seen that yet.. seems to use two 256 kb 16 bit eproms. it's also missing pins on the edge connector, which means you most likely won't be able to wire it up for anything higher.

Spiderman can be used, and can be easily wired for up to 32 mbit too. . the layout is very similar to the 2 carts I use (I use one for 16 and one for 32 mbit, each being 4 eproms)

Moonwalker is also possible, but it uses a 16 bit eprom, which is more expensive and you won't get beyond 8 mbit with that. you can pop a 27c4002 with a bin file burnt to it straight in, tho.. no rewiring needed.

also be very careful, the PCBs aren't exactly of the highest quality, and will not survive more than one, maybe two times desoldering without taking traces off.

the best thing you can do is desolder them and replace them with a socket right away.

as for the file order needed for spiderman, if you didn't get the program eidolon wrote (not sure if I sent it to you), dump all 4 of the eproms and name them according to their position, then send them my way and I'll check out the correct order to use for eidolon's tools, so you can convert other roms to the right format.

 

[Gallstaff]

I just have a quick, unrelivant question here, but why did america get the sega genesis and other parts of the world get the mega drive? I know they are the same system... but why? and dang, them jap. carts are tight!

 

[IceDigger]

it's simply different names, not that unusual.. like japan got famicom/super famicom, while USA/Euro got NES/SNES.

nowadays videogames are alot more common and well known, so if all got the same name it's an advantage for the companies.

 

[IceDigger]

Just FYI, this is what my carts look like now:

you can easily see the extra pins used to wire the 32 mbit cart from its initial 12 mbit to 32.

 

[Mike G]

Gallstaff -

I think that originally it was down to a trademark issue, i.e. Sega of America couldn't use the "Mega Drive" name because it was already registered to a different company (a hard drive manufacturer). Hence they had to think of a new name.

ExCyber -

Yes, that's right - I sawed the two connectors, filed the ends down so they mated together, then welded them with a hot soldering iron. Looks messy, but it works 🙂

Mike

 

[Artemio Urbina]

Quote: from Arakon on 9:04 am on Mar. 4, 2002

Spiderman can be used, and can be easily wired for up to 32 mbit too. . the layout is very similar to the 2 carts I use (I use one for 16 and one for 32 mbit, each being 4 eproms)

...

as for the file order needed for spiderman, if you didn't get the program eidolon wrote (not sure if I sent it to you), dump all 4 of the eproms and name them according to their position, then send them my way and I'll check out the correct order to use for eidolon's tools, so you can convert other roms to the right format.

I will as soon as I get acces sto the device for dumping them.... which I hope doesn't take that long, but I have been quite busy at the office (we have to get this TV station up and running in a month with our system)....

Thanks a lot for the help and info...

 

[wonder boy]

Hi! I am very interested in this stuff!!!!

Few years ago one friend gave me some docs with info to make a megadrive cart reader and writer but I lost it.

I always wanted to play the roms in my megadrive not in emu (it is not same feeling I think).

I have a lot of components of broken megadrives so the conector is not a problem.

I want to begin to build something!

How I start?

How the writable carts are made?

thanks!

 

[Zziggy00]

Originally posted by wonder boy@June 03 2002, 3:45 am

Hi! I am very interested in this stuff!!!!

Few years ago one friend gave me some docs with info to make a megadrive cart reader and writer but I lost it.

I always wanted to play the roms in my megadrive not in emu (it is not same feeling I think).

I have a lot of components of broken megadrives so the conector is not a problem.

I want to begin to build something!

How I start?

How the writable carts are made?

thanks!

are there any FAQs or tutorials on doing this...?

or maybe a website?