GnG graphical glitch

[nat]

I was playing Ghouls 'n Ghosts today on the SuperGrafx and I noticed there is some graphics glitches with some enemies (mainly the birds). It's possible this has been hapapneing all along and I haven't noticed-- I've only had the game a month or two and haven't played it much. The system is showing random tiles for their animations, some tiles aren't even parts of the bird. It's hard to explain. Is my copy of G 'n G bad, somehow? The game was brand new when I bought it. All my other SuperGrafx games play fine. The cart is not dirty at all-- as I said, it was brand new when I got it. The system is also not dirty-- pristine, in fact.

BTW, I did some searching on these forums and came across a really old thread about a switch on the back to toggle graphics modes. I never even knew it was there before. I thought that might be the problem, so I switched from the "I" setting (where it's always been) to the "II" setting. On "II" the game won't even boot-- I get a white screen.

Any ideas?

[Joe Redifer]

Take a pencil eraser to the game.  It might need some cleaning.  The switch on the back is to enable blast processing.

[nat]

Take a pencil eraser to the game.  It might need some cleaning.  The switch on the back is to enable blast processing.

Tried it. But it wasn't dirty to begin with... Didn't help, either way.

Maybe my Ghouls 'n Ghosts cart is bad?

[Tatsujin]

may it's possible to post a screen shot (by a digi-cam e.g.) of that phenomenon? possibly Elnino can tell you if it's normal or not, since he's playing that game almost weekly for years now.

[nat]

As soon as I get my camera back (tomorrow?) I will take a pic and post it up.

But I can say for certain it is NOT normal.

[Tatsujin]

even it was a brand new copy, the contacts could be oxidised or just dirty from the sleeve (marked from the plastic over the years the card was unmovable inserted). once had the same problem with a sealed game before, and to make it run, i had to clean the contacts with contact cleaner. may be it helps, but i assume that you already checked this matter in advance.

[termis]

I thought the I and II switch is for either the SuperGrafx mode or the "regular PCE" mode.  I think it can be kept in regular SuperGrafx mode, since most regular PCE HuCards will boot up with it just as well.   (And Space Harrier reportedly freezing on modded SuperGrafx can maybe be resolved by switching to PCE mode?)

I could be completely off on that, so someone correct me if I'm wrong. 

[elnino]

There is in fact some flickering in the animation, usually when a lot of action takes place e.g. at the second part of level one with the plants, the fire spitting flowers and the vomiting pig. However, your description sounds more like a problem you get when the contacts are not clean or the card hasn't been used for quite a while. Sometimes it helps not inserting the HuCard to the very end of the slot.
It would be cool if you could take a screen shot anyway

[nat]

Yeah, the effect is like that of a dirty NES cart not making clean contact in a toaster NES. And I'm sure we've ALL seen that.

I've never experienced this on a TurboGrafx/SuperGrafx before now.  I've had carts dirty enough they didn't work at all, but not this.

I just don't think the contacts are the problem. The game was brand new when I got it. Despite this, I still took an eraser and thoroughly cleaned the contacts just to be sure. No change.

Hopefully I will have my camera today and I will take a picture. It's just so baffling. Normally in a case like this I would suspect the contacts inside the console needing some cleaning, but all other games work great (SuperGrafx and regular carts too).

[grahf]

My arcade card duo was acting up like this due to dirty contacts. While playing sapphire, the opening video would be littered with garbage like your describing (just like a dirty nes game). The game would still play fine, just garbage.

A pencil eraser would not fix the problem. I actually had to take a fiberglass pen to it. (Its basically a mildly abrassive fiberglass brush for cleaning contacts). Problem solved. The point being is that even if it seems clean, it may not be.

[Joe Redifer]

Or you could try some really fine sandpaper.

[ParanoiaDragon]

I thought the I and II switch is for either the SuperGrafx mode or the "regular PCE" mode.  I think it can be kept in regular SuperGrafx mode, since most regular PCE HuCards will boot up with it just as well.   (And Space Harrier reportedly freezing on modded SuperGrafx can maybe be resolved by switching to PCE mode?)

I could be completely off on that, so someone correct me if I'm wrong. 

You are not wrong, you are correct sir.

As for the what's happening with the game, one thing I've noticed lately, whenever I see something like this, is that if you look closely, those are actually random tiles/sprites from the game, with the wrong colors.  Took shots of this recently happening while playing thru DE2 on ME.

[nat]

That's correct, that's exactly the way it appears. But why is it happening?

I'll take a pic tomorrow and post it up. Time for bed now.

[nat]

OK, since I last posted to this thread I have:

*filed the contacts on the HuCard with a metal file to hopefully remove any kind of oxidation
*cleaned the contacts with alcohol after filing
*tried seating the HuCard in every position imaginable in the SuperGrafx when booting it

Doing these things had the following effects:

* Not a f*cking one.

So here are a couple screenshots. Sorry for the poor quality but they convey what's going on pretty well IMO:


That rat bastard vulture got what he deserved. Those square blocks are supposed to be feathers. Notice there actually ARE some feathers, too.


This time the mofo made a clean getaway, although at this point plastic surgery might be a wise career move. That scrambled blob is the vulture in flight.

[Black Tiger]

I had a PC Genjin 2 HuCard that was permanently screwed up like that. No amount of cleaning could ever fix it.