New R4DS Kernel and Size Woes

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You know what, I've got alot of ROMs. Not Nintendo DS ROMs, but ROMs for NES, SNES, MAME, Gameboy Color, Sega Genesis, Atari 2600, and even Sega Master System games. Otherwise, how would I be able to write 5 installments of "The ROM Report"?

Anyways, despite the relatively small size of individual ROM, having a tonne of them is making space a valueable commodity in my R4's MicroSD card. Anyone willing to sponsor a new MicroSD card?

Speaking of the R4DS, a new kernel has been released for this particular Slot-1 solution. It has nothing much to offer, except for a fix for Worms Open Warfare 2. Click here to download.

Classic NES Series a.k.a Famicom Mini Series for the GBA

If you are not content with playing old NES roms on emulators and want a piece of history to call your own, there's the Famicom Mini Series for the Gameboy Advance.

The Famicom Mini Series are direct ports of Famicom/NES games in order that they run on the Gameboy Advance (GBA). Some of the games in this series are old favourites such Super Mario Bros., The Legend of Zelda, Pacman, and Ice Climber.

The packaging is really cool and comes shape like a NES cartridge, sure to evoke nostalgia among NES fans. The entire list of Famicom Mini Series games for sale is available here.

Those of you who are content on playing with old SNES and NES ROMs on your emulators, especially on the Nintendo DS, stay tuned for Part 2 of the ROM Report. Part 1 is available here.

The Rom Report - Part 1: SNES Games on the DS

For brand new The ROM Report articles, head over to www.nineoverten.com.

I seem to be spending more time with SNES and NES Roms on my Nintendo DS rather than my 30-odd Nintendo DS games. So here's a report on what really works, what works somewhat, and what doesn't work at all.

The hardware I'm using:

• Dark Blue Nintendo DS
• R4DS Slot-1 Flashcart
• 1 gigabyte Kingston Micro SD card (made in Japan)

The homebrew software I've been using:

• SNEmulDS 0.6 for SNES games
• nesDS for NES games

So lets start with the SNES games that I've been playing:

• Chrono Trigger - Seems to run pretty well. Text alignment is just a teensy-weensy off but otherwise performed well during my brief time with the game.
  
  
• Contra III: The Alien Wars - There were graphical glitches in the main menu, but once I got past that, the game ran smoothly. Difficult games are not really my cup of tea, so, little play time as well.
  
  
• Earthbound - This game is probably the best of the lot, but like most games, it does have some kinks here and there when it is run using the emulator. The first boss fight with Frankie didn't go so well because a graphical glitch prevent me from seeing all the important stuff...only the pyschedelic background was showing.
  
  It was only after I fiddled with the emulator's graphics settings that I was able to continue with the game. And it's so far so good! Definately a must have.
  
  
• F-Zero - I always heard that this game was fast, but maybe the emulator and the small Nintendo DS screen were the cause of speed being lost in translation. It does run fine though.
  
  
• The Lost Vikings - Not working.
  
  
• Super Castlevania IV - A finicky game which runs when it wants to.
  
  
• Super Mario All Stars - This compilation of NES Mario games, re-skinned with graphics to take advantage of SNES hardware is one of my favourite games, along with Earthbound. This compilation consists of the three Mario games release in the US, Super Mario Bros 1, 2 and 3, and the previously unreleased (in the US) Japanese Super Mario Bros 2, now dubbed as Super Mario Bros: The Lost Levels.
  
  The save system for Super Mario Bros 3 is abit cooky, and you'll have to replay those levels that you have completed in a particular world again, so don't forget to use the emulator's Save State function instead to save your progress.
  
  
• Super Mario Kart - Not working.

I'm still running some tests on other games, but do stay tune for Part 2!

Archaic Sealed Heat.. Makes Sense To You?

When screenshots and details of Archaic Sealed Heat (ASH for short) first came out, there were speculations that the game will be released in 2 cartridges. The reason behind these speculations was that Nintendo DS cartridges were small in capacity and won't be able to fit all the FMVs and pre-rendered gameplay graphics.

This game can certainly generate alot of dumb hogwash from citizenz of the Internetz. Essentially glorified flash memory cards. Nintendo DS cartridges can be manufactured with sizes ranging from a paltry 8 megabytes to I don't know..perhaps 2 gigabytes and above if there's a need for such large capacity cartridges in the first palce.

A scan through a list of ROM files in my R4DS reveals that while ASH is the largest with a 256MB image, the largest I've played prior to that was MechAssault: Phantom War. MechAssault has a file size that does its title proud: 128MB. In comparison, popular PSP titles such as GTA have ISO file sizes measuring above 1GB. That's pretty crappy considering a Memory Stick maxes out at 4GB.

In any case, I managed to get through the first chapter of ASH without much trouble, despite not understanding a single word of Japanese. A turn-based RPG of sorts, there's a certain high standard for production values in this game unseen in most DS titles. The developer is generous with the FMVs and there's quite abit of voice work going on during the game.

The game takes place on a 3D-rendered map and there's a grid overlay on the background as well. Characters and enemies are portrayed as 2D sprite characters on the map. Another interesting of note is that like Zelda, ASH is touchscreen exclusive.

My journey with ASH ends here, since it exists in form of a ROM file. I don't like playing with ROMs for an extended amount of time and do I subscribe to the idea that they are substitutes to buying the real game. And besides, I don't really like RPGs.

I suppose the game will appeal to a certain segment of Nintendo DS gamers and if you want to, the game is available at Play-Asia. Click here for further details.

When All Else Fails, Decrypt It!

An interesting question came up on the Chatterbox today on what to do when a Nintendo DS ROM fails to launch, more specifically, the screen goes blank and then all white. Some original games purists will take the opportunity to yell across the room: "Go get ori!!" but that wouldn't be helpful at all, right?

In any case, as far as my experience goes, the scenario might indicate that the particular ROM is corrupted or b. the particular ROM needs to be decrypted. I'm more of a "if there's something wrong, replace it" kind of guy, so I would first recommend that the ROM be downloaded again. If that fails, then you'll need a particular piece of software to decrypt the ROM.

This second solution is abit unorthodox as the act of decrypting ROMs is rather passé when it comes to using the R4. However, a friend of mine has applied this technique to great success for running problematic ROMs with the same problem, on my R4 (yes, mine). Try searching for eNDryptS Advanced on Google.

So give it a go, and tell me whether it works for you.

Disclaimer: The above mentioned advice comes with no warranty from me, or from this blog. Please use at your own risk. :)