memory base games?

[vestcoat]

i'm wondering what games take advantage of the memory base 128.  were there many made? i know Brandish uses it, any others?  anyone know how exactly it works?  do you plug a turbo pad or duo pad into it?
any information would be great, thanks.

[Nutribrain]

There are several games which support the Memory Base 128. I havn't found a complete list, but remember to have seen a list somewhere.

Some games I remember which supports the MB128 unit are:

Magicoal, Vasteel 2 and Popful Mail

My guess is that there are about 40 games which support this unit.

Propably someone here have an exact list.

[esteban]

yeah, i tried looking at pcecp to see if i could search for games that use the memory base (pcecp makes a note of games that use MB 128, in a comment line...).

Unfortunately, you can't filter searches by this criteria...

Is there a FAQ for MB 128?  I too am curious about what it does and how it does it.  After a brief search, I found some vague descriptions of it... but nothing definitive.

The games listed in the prior post are correct, by the way.

[vestcoat]

yeah, i was asking because i picked a M128 up on ebay assuming it was a general memory expansion.  from time to time my tennokoe bank trashes all my files on the duo because i run it through a crappy barney converter.
the M128 still hasn't come in the mail yet and i found out yesterday (on pcecp actually) that it only works on compatible games, of which i have none...guess i'll have to pick some up.  if you guys find out more let me know

[vestcoat]

thought i'd give y'all an update...
the MB128  fits into a Duo control port (not a turbo) and you plug one duo pad into the memory base (it would be neat if the thing also doubled as a Duo Tap).
It runs on 4 AA batteries and has a totally sweet "low battery" light that comes on when...you guessed it!  The batteries are low!

ok, seriously though, the thing seems pretty cool if you have some games that use it.  I only have Brandish, so i'll talk about that.
i can't read the manual for Brandish and a brand new MB doesn't come with a manual, but this is what i've figured out.
Normally you can only save two slots for brandish on a duo without the MB.
When you have the MB hooked up you can save 10 Brandish game files.  one of the menu options on Brandish seems to format the MB, which you have to do before you can save games.
with the base, you no longer have access to the main Duo memory bank while playing Brandish.  The MB doesn't affect normal games like Y's.

I don't know how much it takes to fill the MB128 up because i don't have any other games that use it.
You can take the batteries out and replace them while the Duo is turned on and you will not lose of your save data on the MB.

in the one in a million chance that you know another human being that owns a Duo, you could take the thing over to your buddy's house and access all your saved games on his dozens of rare PC Engine imports that are Memory Base128 compatible!  

OK that's all for the MB128.

on a side note, i recently picked Might Magic 3 and i can't believe how much memory this thing uses on my Duo!  it's bigger than 3 saved Dragon Slayer files.  when you have a MM3 game saved you pretty much can't use your file space for anything else.  fortunately, i have a Tennokoe bank, but it would suck back in the 90s if you picked MM3 up in a toy store and didn't have access to any import technology.  i beat MM3 on a Mac back in the day and it took something like three months to get through.  that would be a long time not to be able to play any other TG rpgs.

[esteban]

hey vestcoat, thanks for the scoop.  I've been curious out MB128 and you really helped answer a bunch of my questions.

I'll make a note of any game that is MB128 compatible and post here.

Feel free to share additional experiences / thoughts on MB128... for example, what does the user-interface look like?

[vestcoat]

ok, a few more things and some nitty-gritty details...

Brandish can actually save 12 games on the MB (#0-11).

Like i was saying, when you're using a memory base compatible game with the MB, you can only save on onto the MB, not your Duo.
For example, i can NOT save 12 Brandish files on my MB and two more on my Duo.

There doesn't seem to be any interface for just the memory base, you have to use it through a game.  so if i press select at the "Super System" title screen it goes into the normal Duo "delete, edit, finish" options and there's no sign that a MB128 is even hooked up.

when you select Save or Load on Brandish with the MB, it goes into a special little screen with new background music that you can't get to without it.  on this interface you can: Format (which erases everything), Save or Load on any of the 12 slots, delete any of the 12 slots one at a time and Exit back to the game.

i tried taking out the batteries briefly while the MB was not even plugged into the Duo and that did not erase any of the files either.  so it seems that the MB can go for a minute or so with no power of any sort and not lose data.  however, i would change batteries while it's plugged into a running duo just to be on the safe side.

the MB is just a hair bigger than a Duo Tap and gives you a one foot controller extension(!).  it's made out of the exact same plastic as a US duo and blends in nicely.

if you can't find a bland new one like i did, don't worry, you're not missing out on any special instructions.  the box has a ton of little japanese writing and diagrams showing you how to put in the batteries and plug in a controller.  inside there's a little white card and a little pink card i can't read.

[esteban]

I am resuscitating this thread because...
(0) it is awesome
(1) I don't know much about the MB128 and
(2) I thought vestcoat had created a thorough FAQ somewhere and
(3) I thought we had a thread recently that asked about MB128 (or dealt with it tangentially)

Surely, someone can find the links/info I seek. Has a "definitive" FAQ been written yet?

Thanks in advance... 

[esteban]

Oops...

[Necromancer]

You lookin' for this thread?

[thesteve]

i have a MB128, but have never plugged it in/installed batterys

[esteban]

You lookin' for this thread?

Holly Carp! Thank you,what would I do without you?  I don't know why I couldn't find this the other day.

i have a MB128, but have never plugged it in/installed batterys

Check out the thread Necro linked to, I'm sure you have some of those games

OPEN REQUEST TO ALL: I would love SCREENSHOTS of the special MB128 UI that some games have...it seems that each game had to implement its own MB128 utility (or, at the very least, implement a custom UI front end for the Hudson-supplied backend utility).

I don't have MB128, but I'm trying to learn as much as I can. 

Thanks in advance. 

[Mercutio]

I have one... it came with my system. I'm happy to plug it in and try it out with a burn of something that uses it; maybe Popful Mail? Are there any games that are particularly easy to navigate? Popful's menu does seem to have icons, but I'm vaguely terrified of deleting all my system saves...

So to be clear, how exactly does this thing work? Can you copy saves you have on your system TO it, or do you have to move things in larger chunks?

OPEN REQUEST TO ALL: I would love SCREENSHOTS of the special MB128 UI that some games have...it seems that each game had to implement its own MB128 utility (or, at the very least, implement a custom UI front end for the Hudson-supplied backend utility).

I don't have MB128, but I'm trying to learn as much as I can. 

Thanks in advance. 

[Black Tiger]

I have one... it came with my system. I'm happy to plug it in and try it out with a burn of something that uses it; maybe Popful Mail? Are there any games that are particularly easy to navigate? Popful's menu does seem to have icons, but I'm vaguely terrified of deleting all my system saves...

So to be clear, how exactly does this thing work? Can you copy saves you have on your system TO it, or do you have to move things in larger chunks?

OPEN REQUEST TO ALL: I would love SCREENSHOTS of the special MB128 UI that some games have...it seems that each game had to implement its own MB128 utility (or, at the very least, implement a custom UI front end for the Hudson-supplied backend utility).

I don't have MB128, but I'm trying to learn as much as I can. 

Thanks in advance. 

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