Prospect of Making Some OMG RAREZ! Game Boots

[GohanX]

I really didn't know anything about Space Fantasy Zone, not being a Fantasy Zone fan, but I just looked it up and nobody told me it was Space Harrier starring Opa-Opa. Do want!

[Black Tiger]

I really didn't know anything about Space Fantasy Zone, not being a Fantasy Zone fan, but I just looked it up and nobody told me it was Space Harrier starring Opa-Opa. Do want!

You might as well download it and start playing it. It doesn't exist in anything other than cdr form.

[vestcoat]

Sapphire still isn't that cheap and available and bootlegs still sell for as much as or more than the original Turbo versions of some of the titles in the poll (and even real copies of Sapphire), which means that it would still be more worthwhile to bootleg it than those games.

Except we all have copies.  Anyone who doesn't can ask nice and get one.  Maybe we don't all have packaged bootlegs, but resources are better spent making new glass-mastered discs to help gamers play more rare games on real hardware than making extra facsimiles for half-assed collectors too lazy to either print their missing packaging or buy the real thing.

Well then, why waste money on packaging at all and not just have a few different games pressed as disc-only for the price of a single packaged game?

Personally, I'd rather have professionally made inserts and manuals and have to burn my own cdr (whether professionally labeled or not) than the other way around. I'm still thinking more about fan translations and unreleased games though.

I argued for minimal manuals in my first post and would be fine with disc-only boots. 

CD-R's are useless.  I've spent hours burning Grade A Taiyo Yuden CD-Rs and other high-quality brands at different speeds and they don't work.  They jam the laser in my Duo and, while playable in my SCD, they make really bad noises.  I have some old games on 74-minute discs that work fine, but such discs can't found anymore.

Most of the Turbo games we're talking about don't go for too much. Why does anyone need Air Zonk in english anyway? Dynastic Hero is the only CD game that isn't available too often and goes for quite a bit. But the only benefit of going to the trouble of bootlegging it would be so that a single guessing game is a little easier (if we're talking about simply helping people play on real hardware). I may play through a lot of gaijin protected games, but I literally guessed randomly the few times I've played through the import and it wasn't a big deal. The other thing to keep in mind is that this isn't some original game that we can only fully appreciate by playing the rare Turbo version of. The Genesis version can be bought CIB for $10 and is always available.  I suggest doing any Turbo games only after all the unreleased, translated and better expensive and/or rare PCE games have been done.

I'm also for doing unreleased and translated games first.  I think we're on on the same page other than doing another Sapphire bootleg.

I think the Space Fantasy Zone print by Anime4Ever is really decent, I personally don't think it warrants an improved version.

edit: the version I'm talking about is this one:
https://www.pcenginefx.com/forums/index.php?topic=5143.0

Except for the ridiculous price   Plus looks to be "sold out".

Yeah, Space Fantasy Zone deserves special attention. 
Unlike the Sapphire...
1)  it was never officially released
2)  the bootleg is now sold out
3)  the bootleg is a CD-R, albeit a high-quality one
4)  the bootleg originally sold for $160, then $89 + $10 shipping (compared to $60 for the Sapphire bootleg in 2005)
5)  no one like BlueBMW has ever given away free copies

[DragonmasterDan]

Yeah, Space Fantasy Zone deserves special attention. 
Unlike the Sapphire...
1)  it was never officially released
2)  the bootleg is now sold out
3)  the bootleg is a CD-R, albeit a high-quality one
4)  the bootleg originally sold for $160, then $89 + $10 shipping (compared to $60 for the Sapphire bootleg in 2005)
5)  no one like BlueBMW has ever given away free copies

I was unaware the Bootleg of Space Fantasy Zone is a CD-R, I guess it's another possibility.

But I am on the translated game and unrelased game only bandwagon. So Motteke Tomago, Ys IV and Space Fantasy Zone are the logical choices here.

[Black Tiger]

I argued for minimal manuals in my first post and would be fine with disc-only boots. 

CD-R's are useless.  I've spent hours burning Grade A Taiyo Yuden CD-Rs and other high-quality brands at different speeds and they don't work.  They jam the laser in my Duo and, while playable in my SCD, they make really bad noises.  I have some old games on 74-minute discs that work fine, but such discs can't found anymore.

I think that it's more of a system by system issue as well as people trying to burn crappy isos off the net. Although I haven't made and played many games on cdr in years, the ones that I have that weren't random franken-isos, such as Ys IV and Xak III, which I ripped myself without converting the audio tracks into a different format, plus all the Mysterious Song betas, have always played just as well as factory pressed discs. The last time my Duo had problems playing cdrs, was not too long after I got it years ago as the old laZer was dying and had trouble reading real games as well.

I have a spindle of RiDATA that I got from a local computer store, after asking for "the cheapest cdrs you have". I burned the latest MS build a few months back at full speed and it plays perfectly fine. Maybe you just need a new laser or system?


I'm not pro-Sapphire bootlegs, they just make more sense than some of the other suggestions. The copies that BlueBMW gave away are loose misprints. People are still paying as much as $100 - $200 for what they know is a (complete) bootleg, while authentic copies can be found for as little as $200.

[GohanX]

I think the biggest problem with Duos reading CDRs isn't the discs themselves, but crappy isos like you said. I can't think of a single iso I've used that I haven't had to fix, but the fixed isos work fine on Taiyo Yuden cdrs.

[thesteve]

how do you fix the ISO

[SignOfZeta]

I'd be interested to know if anyone has encountered a jammed laser on something other than a black Duo or SuperCDROM2 (both of which, IIRC, use the same sled).

I don't play a lot of CDRs, but the only time I've had a jammed laser was with a US Duo. I've never had a jammed laser with my briefcase or Duo R and most of the CDRs I've played were on those two systems.

[Mishran]

I'd be interested to know if anyone has encountered a jammed laser on something other than a black Duo or SuperCDROM2 (both of which, IIRC, use the same sled).

I've owned two Duo systems already and one would jam with CD-R media all the time while the other read them without trouble. Sold the jammer several years ago. Still have the other, but haven't used a CD-R on it in a long time. My Duo-R never gives me a problem. The Turbo CD unit also reads CD-Rs no problem, though it has been starting to make that grinding sound some people have been experiencing lately. 

[Necromancer]

Nice to see such a positive reaction.  Y'all are making my pants tight. 

As for Ys IV (and similarly translated games) being omitted at the start - it's because it would be a lot more work and require outside assistance; if this doesn't work out, I'd rather waste only my own time and as little of it as possible.  The five games listed are pretty much ready to go (outside of ensuring Dave Shadoff doesn't have a problem with me distributing his translation of Motteke Tomago), whereas Ys IV would need it's manual and liner translated, and pressing it now without an audio dub would either kill the chances of such a dub ever being completed or make baby Jebus cry if a dub were later finished.

Are fake US copies of games worth more than legit JP ones, even to neuvo hardcore eBay retards?

Of course not.  At the same time, PCE versions of the expensive US games can't be bought for $2 either.

Manuals pose a problem and should be minimized.  Inserts larger than eight pages become really expensive....Sparky-style inserts are cheap, effective placeholders and impossible to confuse with originals.

This can be discussed further (and possibly voted on in another poll), but the difference in cost isn't all that much per disc: using four-panel inserts (Sparkler Style^TM) as a base point, 8 page books are about $.45 more, 12 page books are $.65 more, and 16 page books are $.83 more.  Even cheaper than a four-panel insert are the two-panel at a savings of $.08, or cheapest of all just the disc itself for a savings of $.73.

I am just afraid that it would be hard to distinguish the real game from a fake when buying online. Which is the case with Sapphire.

Things would definitely be changed to make it obvious to anyone that bothers to look that it's a boot - more obvious than the Sapphire boots which aren't at all hard to distinguish from the real deal if you know what to look for.

On another note, I think another possibility for a pressed CD would be the Super Hu Card CD (I think that's how it's called).

That's a neat idea, but unfortunately the vast majority of roms on there do not work properly.

[DragonmasterDan]

As for Ys IV (and similarly translated games) being omitted at the start - it's because it would be a lot more work and require outside assistance; if this doesn't work out, I'd rather waste only my own time and as little of it as possible.  The five games listed are pretty much ready to go (outside of ensuring Dave Shadoff doesn't have a problem with me distributing his translation of Motteke Tomago), whereas Ys IV would need it's manual and liner translated, and pressing it now without an audio dub would either kill the chances of such a dub ever being completed or make baby Jebus cry if a dub were later finished.

How much of a manual would Ys IV really need. D-pad functions and explaining how to RAM enemies, maybe put the text translation of the cutscenes in very tiny font in the manual?

Motteke Tomago is a good choice especially since he made a manual for it as well. Just replace that PC Engine logo with a TurboGrafx 16 logo and you have it ready to go.

[vestcoat]

I'd be interested to know if anyone has encountered a jammed laser on something other than a black Duo or SuperCDROM2 (both of which, IIRC, use the same sled).

I've owned two Duo systems already and one would jam with CD-R media all the time while the other read them without trouble. Sold the jammer several years ago. Still have the other, but haven't used a CD-R on it in a long time. My Duo-R never gives me a problem. The Turbo CD unit also reads CD-Rs no problem, though it has been starting to make that grinding sound some people have been experiencing lately.  

Interesting.  Could you tell me what are the production date(s) is/are on the bottom sticker?  I have an August '92 Duo and a January '93.

[_joshuaTurbo]

I would be more than happy to chip in $50 for such a project, for multiple copies, or just one copy of any of the games listed.

If I had to make a list of games that I'd want booties of (If anything, just to reduce use of the real copies) they'd be:
Dracula X
Beyond Shadowgate
DEII and Ys IV (Translated )

I'm really curious about this Motteke Tomago - maybe that's a good starting point?

[DragonmasterDan]

I would be more than happy to chip in $50 for such a project, for multiple copies, or just one copy of any of the games listed.

If I had to make a list of games that I'd want booties of (If anything, just to reduce use of the real copies) they'd be:
Dracula X
Beyond Shadowgate
DEII and Ys IV (Translated )

I'm really curious about this Motteke Tomago - maybe that's a good starting point?

Motteke Tomago is a game where you are a bird and you have to round up your eggs and bring them to your home. It feels like a combination of Hungry Hungry Hippos and Bomberman.

[thesteve]

I'd be interested to know if anyone has encountered a jammed laser on something other than a black Duo or SuperCDROM2 (both of which, IIRC, use the same sled).

I've owned two Duo systems already and one would jam with CD-R media all the time while the other read them without trouble. Sold the jammer several years ago. Still have the other, but haven't used a CD-R on it in a long time. My Duo-R never gives me a problem. The Turbo CD unit also reads CD-Rs no problem, though it has been starting to make that grinding sound some people have been experiencing lately. 

Interesting.  Could you tell me what are the production date(s) is/are on the bottom sticker?  I have an August '92 Duo and a January '93.

this in not quite correct.
the black DUO and the DUO-R(X) use the exact cd drive assemble (laser, motors, sleds ect), however the CDR2 drives use a laser from a sony walkman.