The Hardware Fact Sheet is so bizarre. Only 400 NES games as of 12/31/94? It should be close to 677 games, the total number of licensed NES cartridges. Also, Game Boy is a 4-bit handheld portable? What?
Guy Perfect wrote:
Graphics are usually handled by a dedicated video component in the hardware called VIP (Virtual Image Processor). The CPU overhead for configuring the VIP is usually negligible. You could run into trouble trying to do realtime affine calculations, but most people don’t. (-:
The VB is sounding like a very efficiently designed system, especially with dual high resolution screens. Nintendo doesn’t get enough credit.
Guy Perfect wrote:
As before, the CPU won’t be weighed down one way or the other, so that’s not an issue. Though disabling video could conceivably utilize the VIP as a makeshift coprocessor if you were clever about it… I think you just nerd sniped me.
Having said that, the VIP does draw frames discretely with a top-down procedure, though reverse engineering exactly what that procedure involves is a month-long project in an of itself. What I can say about it is that in profiling experiments, I did not see an increase in drawing capacity when disabling drawing to one display. Apparently it does all the pixel calculations, but at the last moment decides whether or not to apply them.
Bwahaha… I seem to have that effect on people sometimes.
Would you say the VB was designed to be easy to program? Or at least that’s what the hardware layout sounds like to me. Most other game consoles have a more complicated dynamic between the CPU, GFX chipset and the rest of the system. The VIP sounds like it takes care of some of the more menial tasks involved with drawing the screens. Are programmers allowed much flexibility? Can it do raster effects? Or other unusual visual effects?
In Mario’s Tennis, a landscape effect is in use, like what is seen on the SNES (and other consoles if done in software). Is that landscape effect a hardware feature? Or is it done in software too? I’ve often wondered how much more powerful the VB is over the SNES.
One other question, I know this would largely be a waste of time, but would the VB benefit from a co-processor on the cartridge? Think like the SNES. Or is it plenty powerful enough on its own (sort of like a GBA).
3DBoyColor wrote:
Would the VB’s power be cut in half if it had to draw two completely different screens at the same time?
If you want to basically cut the VB’s processing power in half, have it play two completely different games… one using the left screen, speaker, buttons, etc… and the other using the right ones. 😉
DogP
Ah ok I see, so the VIP and CPU together account for the overall system.
While on the subject, is the VB better at drawing 2D graphics than polygons? Does the VIP have any polygon rendering capability, or is it all software rendered using the CPU?
L___E___T wrote:
Heh, seconding that NES comment – I think Nintendo Age sums that up pretty well.
Having said that – the Japanese side (Famicom) of NES collecting is much, much friendlier in the west, and I’ve been visiting FamicomWorld.com daily for ten years now, they are a great bunch and there’s nothing like the elitism and passive aggression you see on Nintendo Age there.
For any NES fans, the Famicom is also a better machine to play and collect for (if I can put my bias to one side), for many reasons.
Given the choice, I’d rather stay at Famicom World exclusively. What I love is piracy has been a part of the Famicom for almost as long as the Famicom itself, so nobody is offended by bootlegs, unlike at NintendoAge. Well, I guess the only exception is Gimmick, but Famicom doesn’t really have a quadruple digit game (or full-time collectors), so there isn’t much counterfeiting going on. The few Famicom collectors around are very friendly. I find the bootleg underbelly of the Famicom helps contribute a sense of levelheadedness to the hobby.
vuefinder83 wrote:
But here I am a year and a crap load of more grammatical errors later, and not a single person has ever said anything to upset me in any way, and that is just one reason why I like and respect this community so much…
the people here are very respectful.
We’re all too busy playing Virtual Boy or coding VB programs to notice. 😛
InactiveX wrote:
Well I think you are all a bunch of bastards and everything all of you ever post is stupid and retarded.
(j/k !) :p
Gee, I thought I’d at least qualify for “bloody git”.
thunderstruck wrote:
One thing I know for sure though. This place would exist today without Minestorm. The Flashboy and all the reproduction carts made this place worthwhile. So thanks for that.
I second that. Thank you Minestorm! Your repro work has helped breathe life into our favorite Nintendo console. (eventually I’ll buy a Flashboy…)
If anything, the VB repro carts have not only helped get protos ahd homebrews (especially homebrews!!!) into the hands of players, but they’ve also raised awareness for the Virtual Boy as a whole. I think it’s safe to say that the VB has been enjoying the most positive popularity in history during the last several years. Although prices have increased, the nice thing is more people realize the VB has value, meaning fewer broken units will end up in the landfills.
The selling visibility is great, but eBay’s final value fees kill any sort of extra profit one may be able to get from selling there. You’d be better off listing it here and on other forums.
I’m probably not “long-standing” but I’d enjoy a loose copy of Hyper Fighting if given the opportunity to buy one. If not then eventually a Flash Boy Plus would be sweet.
You’ve got a buyer right here if you’d be ok shipping to Canada. What were you looking to get for yours?
I’ve been meaning to get a Flash Boy Plus, but a donor cart is required and the only spare I have is Galactic Pinball, feels wrong to let one of those die.
I prefer to angle the VB forward so that the displays are facing upwards. Then I just lean forward and rest my hands with controller on the table in front of the VB. This is bar none the most comfortable method. One of these days I need to get a picture for visual reference.
skcin7 wrote:
Hi, I have a full set of USA released Virtual Boy games, including the 2 distribution “Not For Resale” demos in my collection. I know the ROMs already exist and are easy to find on the Internet. US federal copyright law allows you to make back copies of media you own. Technically in order for backup copies to be legal, you need to make the backup copy yourself, not download them. So I’d like to do that if possible. Plus, I just think it would be fun dumping the games to ROM format and learning how that process works.
So my question is – how can I dump a Virtual Boy game I own to ROM format to back it up on my computer? Are there any known or recommended methods, and what hardware should I own in order to do this?
Thanks for any help or insight you may provide.
Just so you know, assuming the dumps in question are bit-for-bit accurate and no copier headers are involved, there’s no technical or legal difference between backups you make or ones you download off the internet.
The US SNES uses a custom DC barrel jack connector. It’d be a lot easier to simply use a SFC AC adapter, or something compatible with it (Famicom, Genesis, Master System, JPN Virtual Boy etc).
I haven’t made such an adapter because I think the VB controller is plenty good on its own. In fact, I’d rather see the VB controller on other consoles.
I tested that Elite ROM in Nestopia and on the Everdrive FC. Although the header says NTSC and the opening crawl says “NTSC Emulation”, it’s still basically the PAL version, complete with partially off-screen visuals and graphical corruption. That’s probably why nobody’s made reproductions with it.
same here, I can attest to playing a real, fully working VB is a lot different than just looking at screenshots. The VB is actually one of my favorite Nintendo consoles. It was both a gamers console and extremely innovative, rather than the Wii where it was geared more towards what would become the smartphone crowd.
The easiest way around different ROM versions is to look at the Nintendo product code on the cartridge label (the answer to most technical questions across Nintendo consoles).
VUE-VWCJ-USA/JPN
Notice how both Wario Land cartridges share the same product code, VWCJ. The J indicates a Japanese ROM. WC means Wario Land. V means Virtual Boy.
VUE just means Virtual Boy and the USA or JPN at the end of the product code means which region the game is packaged for (unrelated to ROM origins).
Conversely, look at Virtual League Baseball. VUE-VVPE-USA. The E signifies that this is an English ROM, which is obvious since the game is significantly different in Japanese.
