Populous

[grahf]

We need to start a "Have you squeezed your Populous today?" campaign That should get some feedback.

Its a shame it wasnt released as a regular thin hucard, since i really dislike the "bumpy" cards. At least they're all good cards (sf2/arcade card/tennokoe). Well some people can argue that Populous isnt, but i'd disagree.

[Bonknuts]

Well, they wound up shipping SFIICE in the double HuCard case because they reportedly were planning on making the CD/HuCard combo work up until the last minute.

I looked at the rom and didn't find any code that writes to the CD port($1800/1801), so if they were planning on doing a combo hucard/cd, they took the code out of the game.

[esteban]

Im dieing to get to the bottom of this. Could they really have changed their minds at the last minute and decided not to include the batteries? Unless someone finds a card with one, its beginning to look like thats the case.

Well, they wound up shipping SFIICE in the double HuCard case because they reportedly were planning on making the CD/HuCard combo work up until the last minute.

So, whether it was deciding to save production costs, unfixable development problems/glitches, or whatever the reason... Populus shipping without the save feature in a romram case is still more plausible than what happened with SFIICE, so I wouldn't be surprised.

Ahh, that's interesting. I have a different take on it though, tell me what you think (I go off on a tangent):

In general, double-CD and double-HuCard cases were used when the instruction manuals + bonus items (i.e. maps) were too big to fit in a standard jewel case. Off the top of my head, Populous is the only HuCard in my collection with a double-HuCard case, and it is was clearly chosen because the manual is so thick. Also, I'm not denying that a double-sized case also makes a title feel more "special" (and thus be a deliberate marketing decision).

If SF II' has a thick manual (or bonus printed stuff)... then it supports my theory. However, even if this isn't the case, I still say the double-HuCard case was chosen for marketing reasons (the largest Mbit game ever gets a jumbo case!).

Since we're talking about packaging, Black_Tiger, I bet you could help me out with this:
 
I also have some odd sized jewel cases that were specifically designed to hold a thick manual. I'll call them "fat jewel cases." They are probably the most economical way to ship a game that has lots of printed items, but they weren't used as often as the double-CD's. Off the top of my head, Wizardry I & II uses a "fat jewel case."  I think have 1-3 more, but I know I don't have too many.

Now, I don't really know if any of this applies to SF II', and you could very well be correct about the reasons why a double-HuCard case was used for SF II'. I just think its fun trying to figure this stuff out .
 
 

Yes, it does emulate the BRAM. Maybe most people are using save states nowadays, but you can still save your progress the good old way (if the game allows you to do so, of course). Two modes are available -- you can change the behaviour of the back-up emulation in the config file.

The old mode emulates a BRAM the traditional way: one BRAM for all your games, with a 2 kB limitation (backup.ram file). The new mode creates a BRAM for each and every single game that is BRAM compatible (compiled into the backup.dat file).

The new mode is very useful for some games that need a full BRAM, but the minor downside is that you can't display the content of the BRAM anymore (the System Card's back-up manager appears always empty, because from the point of view of ME, you're looking at the BRAM of the System Card itself, not the BRAM of the last game you loaded -- if you see what I mean).

Well that is TOO KOOL! You're gonna laugh, but I have an ancient version of ME since I don't use it too often.

To clarify: Does "BRAM" stand for "Backup RAM" ? Is this its official designation? I'll be revising my article on Tennokoe Bank, Backup Boosters, etc. and "BRAM" is so much easier to use than "2K of internal RAM" . Thanks for pointing out (in another thread) the functional distinctions between MB128/Save Kun and BackupBoosters/TB2, by the way .
 
 
Back on topic: I just squeezed the center of my Populous CD and I think I broke it!

[Kaminari]

SF2's manual fits in a standard case, but there's no doubt the game was packaged in a double case for various marketing reasons:

1) it's a ROM-RAM HuCard like Populous, which makes it a special card. You don't sell a special card in a puny jewel case.

2) you don't sell the best port of Street Fighter 2 Dash in a puny jewel case.

Does "BRAM" stand for "Backup RAM" ?

Yes, but it's just a common abbreviation The official but rarely used designation of the internal BRAM was the Ten no Koe (the "Voice From Heaven"), which is how the BRAM is called in the Momotaro Densetsu series.

As for the external back-up units, here's a quick translation of my French FAQ on Necstasy. It's not authoritative though, I don't own all those units and I might be wrong on their details. I'm probably a wee bit off-topic now, but here it is anyway:

o Ten no Koe 2 (Hudson) : requires one R6 (AA) battery.

o Back-Up Booster 1 (NEC) : similar to the TK2, but includes the AV Booster (very useful for the white PC Engine).

o Back-Up Booster 2 (NEC) : similar to the BB1, but includes a built-in NiCad battery.

o Back-Up Unit (NEC) : similar to the BB2, but specifically designed for the ShuttleGrafx.

I just squeezed the center of my Populous CD and I think I broke it!

The "Squeeze Your Populous CD" campaign just took its first toll :/

[esteban]

SF2's manual fits in a standard case, but there's no doubt the game was packaged in a double case for various marketing reasons:

1) it's a ROM-RAM HuCard like Populous, which makes it a special card. You don't sell a special card in a puny jewel case.

2) you don't sell the best port of Street Fighter 2 Dash in a puny jewel case.

Exactly .

Yes, but it's just a common abbreviation The official but rarely used designation of the internal BRAM was the Ten no Koe (the "Voice From Heaven"), which is how the BRAM is called in the Momotaro Densetsu series.

Well, that would explain a lot! Now I know how TB and TB2 got their names!

[grahf]

The double case trick does work. I remember trying to decide between two PSX games, when that first came out. It was between Suikoden (i think the first one), and some other game which i cant remember. Unable to decide which to buy, i went with Suikoden because it was a dual-disk. OR SO I THOUGHT! I remember opening it up at home, and thinking "damn they got me!" I learned a lesson on marketing that day.

[Vanquish]

I decided to buy pupulous, its expansion on CD and a ten no koe 2 to save games. You all are guilty for this hehehe
I hope the game is on english... or at least in noob japanese

[grahf]

Dont worry its in english.

[Vanquish]

trust me i was afraid it would be in japanese and i would have to eat it with potatos hehehe

i hope i like it. I enjoyed a lot populous 3

Does it run smoothly?

[grahf]

Well honestly no, its kinda slow and jerky while scrolling from the main window. I remember populous on SNES to be the same way though. All you have to do is get used to tapping select (or is it run?) to jump to the overview window to scroll. Much faster that way.

[Vanquish]

ouch!
lol
well at least tell me it is a little jewel hehee

[Vanquish]

Hi, yesterday i received mine and is the same. You only can save game if you have a ten no koe 2 or any other kind of memory device.

I also received the promised lands.. and it is kinda mad, lol. Lego world is insane  

[Kaminari]

In the list of features supported by Mednafen, I just noticed this:

o Support for Populous's backup RAM.

And I clearly remember being able to save my progression in this game, at a time when I only had a CoreGrafx without any TK2 or BB.

[esteban]

In the list of features supported by Mednafen, I just noticed this:

o Support for Populous's backup RAM.

And I clearly remember being able to save my progression in this game, at a time when I only had a CoreGrafx without any TK2 or BB.

So, what is the final verdict on Populous? I thought it was the only HuCard to ever have a battery back-up (outside of T Bank)... but I guess I was very wrong .

[vestcoat]

So, what is the final verdict on Populous? I thought it was the only HuCard to ever have a battery back-up (outside of T Bank)... but I guess I was very wrong .

Yeah, I'm more confused than I was before this thread started.