HorvatM wrote:

Yes, that’s it. Extract it into C:\VBDE.

VIDE is a program used primarily for converting graphics, although I recommend using my own VBIMGC because it’s more flexible.

I wonder why VBDE isn’t listed on that page yet. I think it’s mature enough by now.

I’ll have a look at it — no harm in looking, huh?

Thank you guys for your encouragements.

🙂

DogP wrote:

Obviously I’d love to see any unreleased VB game dumped and released, though if I could choose any game, I’d personally go for Zero Racers. Dragon Hopper just didn’t look that exciting to me (my opinion could certainly change after playing it though 🙂 ). It does seem like Dragon Hopper was likely closer to release though.

I kinda got that (not exceptionally exciting); but it would likely be better than Faceball (as programmed) was.

DogP wrote:
I’d guess that it’s very likely that these still exist somewhere, but I’d be a bit surprised if they were actually in a private collector’s hands.

How did Faceball get into private hands? And the demos — I corresponded once with an ebay seller who had “Dolphins”. He wanted way too much for it; but I wouldn’t expect the demos to be privately owned. Games otoh, I’m not sure the protocols behind managing the E3 ’96 booth were — did they do high-security, diligently tracking every proto cart each day, placing them in a safe? I doubt that; they probably all went to one person who threw them in a box in his hotel room. Had I managed to insert myself into the “booth staff”, it would have been sorely tempting to swap one of the carts with, say, “Tennis” that had been given a burst of high voltage (and swapped stickers; protos were said to have been labeled with a basic label printer). If a proto cart showed up DEAD, there probably wouldn’t have been as much investigation as if one had gone MISSING.

DogP wrote:
If Nintendo still has all the VB protos (or possibly no hardware, but still the source code/ROMs), I don’t see them getting out, unless they go under (look at all the crazy Atari stuff that has appeared from them closing).

Someone help me understand — what possible reason does N have for the nasty “screw you” attitude? Letting one slip out (or two or three, Dragonhopper/Zero-Racers/Goldeneye) won’t hurt their bottom line one bit, but would go VERY far in promoting good PR with clearly loyal and dedicated customers. If _I_ was running a company, I would be PLEASED that a group of people loved a product (especially one that so many considered a FLOP), I’d be delighted to give those customers with what they want. Good PR can only mean more profit in the long run; why in God’s Universe would they dis loyal customers?

:-/

DogP wrote:
I think 3rd party protos are more likely to be released… probably just sitting in a box somewhere, or maybe backed up by one of the programmers… not even realizing that anyone would want that stuff, or not releasing the stuff since it’s technically “owned” by the company.

Oh programmers realize; apparently “N” has a hard-nosed “sue-you” attitude towards former employees. Again, what possible harm could come of letting a couple protos out? None; and plenty of good will come of it.

HP Lovethrash wrote:

Hmm, there’s something fishy with that Jack Bros. listing. I swear I’ve seen that cart for sale before, because I recognize the white carpeting it’s on haha. It was on eBay for quite a while, I believe in the $150-$175 range. The seller ID sounds familiar too. Hopefully it’s just a typo…

While I’m here, why is this game so rare anyway? I remember seeing a bunch of them at the KB Toys clearance sale, was it just a limited press??

It must be a typo.

There were fewer of them made than other titles; I checked all over in about ’97, couldn’t find one — called Atlus, “No we don’t have any.” I said, “Do you have any used?” She said, “Well, yes, but it would have to come with a photocopied manual.”

I said, “I’LL TAKE IT! TWO!” I didn’t pay a whole lot for them, I think about ten bucks each.

speedyink wrote:
If it is a typo and it’s $100..then I might actually be a little interested.

It’s a very good game, but suffers the same problem as most VB games — two dimensional images, set at three dimensional depths. The bosses are tough, especially the final one; use the “jump” disks to get all the lives and “snowballs/knives” you can, you’ll need them on the final.

Make it through the entire game without losing a man, wait out the credits, and there’s a secret code that allows you to play SUPER mode. Make it through the SUPER game, and there’s a secret code for a “pixie game”.

I think it would be very easy to use Greg’s library to do it – if you want it done with wireframes. His library is very easy to use. You could also use sprites and affine mode. In that case, you might be able to reuse code from Deathchase.

Never thought of actually programming.

Programming the VB isn’t hard if you’ve programmed before, especially in C.

My “C” class was what, seventeen years ago? Not sure I even still have the book.

My friend and I tried programming a PIC once. I’m pretty sure that the official development kit is the worst piece of software I’ve ever used. The assembly language (but not the instruction set!) is horrible too, very unintuitive, and I’m familiar with multiple assembly languages.

I was assigned to write the code for a test fixture for a power supply; the power supply used a PIC, and it was desired to use another PIC to talk to the power supply. Some have built-in A/D converters, you can actually ask it to measure voltages and currents. But while I was struggling to learn it, the company got bought and everyone laid off. They did re-hire me for a short time before the full closure, different position (no PIC programming); I guess I made out like a bandit, got two severance packages, both based on my full employment time! 🙂

While it would be an interesting project, I have enough of them already, so get working! 🙂 Install VBDE and look at KR155E’s intro, then start asking questions.

Is the latest-and-greatest “vbde” still at this address?

http://www.planetvb.com/content/vbde_preview4.7z

I looked at the directory “development/tools”, and all I found was “vide” from February, Two Thousand Three. Wonder why the “VBDE” isn’t linked to the main tabs? Or is it, and I’m just blind??? 8-/

RE “Greg’s Wireframe”, I found the thread:
http://www.planetvb.com/modules/newbb/viewtopic.php?topic_id=5522

Thanx.

vb-fan wrote:
Battlezone did not have extensive sound; the “whoop-whoop” as something entered range, some “static bursts” for shots and explosions, and some steady low tones for the buzz-bombs. Other than that it was quiet.

Oh — I forgot the saucers! They didn’t show up on radar, the only way you knew one was there was by the AUDIO. I think it was a single tone, modulated by a low frequency sine wave. Then you’d have to spin around and try to find it, and then try to shoot at where you predict it would be when the shell arrived!

thunderstruck wrote:
Not that I have any insides but I’m pretty sure MK reprogrammed HF from the scratch using sprites from other games.

I highly doubt that there is a simple way to convert a compiled Atari game to run on the VirtualBoy. Maybe programming an emulator would be possible.

Well, a simple emulator (if one could be made to run on the hardware) would be 2D. I rather think Battlezone would be as spectacular depth-wise as RedAlarm.

I guess your best try would be to reprogram it. Taking into account how technically simple Battlezone is it wouldn’t be that complicated. You could take Greg’s wireframe library. I only had a brief look but it seem pretty simple to use. The Battlezone polygons are all pretty simple so you could rebuild them quite easily using Blender or so.

I wish I had the skills to do that; I did take a “C” class in college, but got kinda lost in the input/output section at the end. Other programming minimal; Fortran, of course Basic, and a little assembly/machine. Machine code is talking directly to the processor; “load accumulator immediate”, “branch on carry clear” and so on, and no TAGS — you have to tell it how many steps to go, and if you’re off one it lands in the middle of an instruction, shuts down crosses its arms and stares at you…

I’m even ashamed to admit I’ve not programmed the PIC series; they’re easy, but one has to have a programmer, development software, and it helps to have an evaluation kit.

So — is anyone here (who is more adept at programming) looking for a project? I’ve always liked BZ, to play it in 3D would be incredible. The original was not completely monochrome; the green field had a red radar, etcetera. On the VB we have all sorts of colors at our disposal. Red, crimson, blood-ochre, red, brick, black (is “black” a color?) and red. Oh — and did I mention “red”? ;-p

It was fun playing with the image in the OP — obviously I stole the image from the Tank description here, added the second tank (as I was placing it, moving the tank left and right was the same as pushing it or pulling it out-of/into the depth), and adding the shell coming out of the screen…

DogP wrote:
…of course we could do something like Asteroids, but it’d just be another Asteroids clone… not really immersive, nor really benefit from the 3D.

A lot of the games did not exploit the 3D. “Space Invaders” is one that struggles to be 3D (others are worse, like Lab); SI does have a “sorta 3D” mode. Many of the Homebrews are 2D, but I’m happy to have new things tried.

Battlezone did not have extensive sound; the “whoop-whoop” as something entered range, some “static bursts” for shots and explosions, and some steady low tones for the buzz-bombs. Other than that it was quiet.

It also would be fun to see the opponents’ tanks explode, pieces flying away in 3D. The original would only sequence through a dozen “destruct images”; no reason that could not translate into a STEREO-PAIR of three-dimensional flying shards…

Tail-gunner — I remember that one! I was pretty good at that. But it wasn’t very challenging.

I agree that the games would probably look better in polygons; but they still sell the arcade games like “Battlezone” in original vector graphics, for nostalgia sake. And if I’m playing it, I would rather play it as I’m used to it. Besides, the transparency is part of the game; you can see shells through the objects.

I was following the discussion on “Hyper Fighting”, converting the game over to VB; but was the game “converted”, or did it just use images applied to M.K.’s “fighting engine”? That’s the question — is most of the work for Battlezone already done? Or would it have to be programmed from scratch?

The “obstacles” were the best part of Battlezone; you could hide behind something tall enough to deflect shells, and nail the opponent when he backed up to go around. The only way to avoid the “buzz-bombs” was to go in full reverse; but eventually your tank would run into something, and “OH CRAP!” was as much a part of the game as the built-in sounds. If it could convert directly — Battlezone was of course a two dimensional game. So how hard would it be to make it 3D, of the quality of Red Alarm?

Battlezone as originally made was already monochromatic; it’s not much of a stretch to see it done in red, rather than green…

TheNix wrote:
I sent an email for Flashboy+. Thanks for the tip. Virtualboy has been my favorite consol since I first played one as a kid, I’m glad I’ll be able to play more games than mario tennis on it lol.

I can vouch for how fun the Flashboy is; it’s easy to use, once you master the simple “padding”. I never thought I would ever play the rarest games, “Lab” and “V Bowling”. Lab isn’t bad. I never tire of the “WHEW-HEWWWW!” on the prototype of Faceball.

Of course, there’s something to be said for having dedicated, excellent-artwork carts for things like “Bound High” and “Faceball Remastered”. I also bought the prototype (replica) of “space Pinball”. It’s really thrilling to plug in a new game that you’ve never seen before, and even the homebrews accomplish that. I commend the programmers (and am a little jealous of them) and look forward to continued efforts; especially if someone does a Star Wars and/or Zero-Racers lookalike.

BTW, if you can find a “Bound High”, it’s easily the best game for the system (see the E3 youtube video from 1996, Bound High featured opposite Dragonhopper); if you can’t find one, definitely download it and play it on your new Flashboy. It’s exasperating and highly addictive!

speedyink wrote:
While we’re on the topic of insanely over priced VB stuff:

http://www.ebay.ca/itm/Jack-Bros-Nintendo-Virtual-Boy-1995-/330991612732?pt=Video_Games_Games&hash=item4d10a3333c

Holy crap, $1000 — and not even a box or manual! He’ll never sell it. I’m really glad I got both mine (w/o box, w/zeroxed manual) used, direct from Atlus. In the 90’s.

And now I can print a color manual from PlanetVB! 😀

i would have been a volunteer for their floor staff, and then taken a cart at the end of the 1st night and mailed it to a PO box. “where is it” — “hell if i know” — “you are dismissed” — “ok” — then run home to the PO box.

They took volunteers? You woulda had to have been very sneaky (and had a KEY) to unlock one of the displays and “borrow” a cart. That’s why it would have been good after-hours, if they left the carts in the displays (probably not). You’d be surprised how much you can get away with, if you have a uniform (or even a suit and a badge!) and a “confident-I’m-authorized” attitude. Just walk past security with a brief nod, walk right into the booth and unlock and copy a cart (no one will question the guy with a KEY), lock it back up and leave with a “Have-so-much-to-do-and-not-enough-time” expression…

(It’s highly unlikely that any “N” employees would even HEAR about the intrusion…)

Did all the displays have the same key?

I woulda been happy with just a copy; especially with them not knowing there WAS a copy. I really think it’s only a matter of time until one shows up, and likely soon — I just rewatched the Youtube “E3 1996” video (all 27 seconds), I count about TEN stations (half woulda had “Bound High” and the other half “Dragonhopper”). So there have to be 6-12 carts that were made; I hope & pray none of ’em are in landfills. I’m really really happy to have a Bound High. It’s the best VB game so far.

On an annoying note, I’m glad this thread happened; I went over to the site to look at the copier, and it’s been DISCONTINUED since Summer 2013, only current stock left. So I bit the bullet and ordered one…

The pinout for a “VB adapter” is on their site; I made a very nice “inline” cable adapter — it has a U-shaped cart slot mounted to the VB plug on a ribbon cable, other end is a 0.6″ dip plug. Obviously now I have to buy a sega cart and put a dip socket in it…

And no I didn’t destroy a VB to get the console plug; made mine from scratch!

shiro_akechi wrote:
I’d actually go so far as to say that there are members of this site that have knowledge of who owns the dragon hopper proto or even know them personally, but with the nature of this type of thing, those individuals with said knowledge have either been sworn to secrecy or have actually had to sign non-discolsure agreements. As for the rom being dumped, I’ll say DogP most likely did the dumping as he has had the tech to dump these roms for a long time, but he is most likely one of those that has been sworn to keep this knowledge secret. I could be wrong though. That’s just a theory.

Actually there’s a dumper readily available that can have an adapter made to work on a vb cart, and anyone can “dump” a rom. I’ve always been fascinated with the idea of “time travel” — if I could ever build one (and then buy a dumper), I don’t know if I’d try to covertly copy one of the 1995 E3 display carts (did they remove them after hours?), or get a passkey for Gunpei’s hotel room while he was at dinner. It’s expected that he had ALL prototype carts.

(Bwaaaahahahaha!)

(Really sucks about Gunpei’s death — interesting read disparaging “conspiracy theories” here:
http://kotaku.com/5789740/why-gamings-most-tragic-conspiracy-is-bullshit )

HP Lovethrash wrote:
Sadly I’ve wondered if the secrets would only be revealed once general interest dies down. If nobody is going crazy with anguish over these lost games, there’s no point in hiding the game to gloat. My hope is that the supposed owners would feel the urge to be the first to “donate” the ROMs. Would you rather sit on it forever or be canonized as the one who finally made the games playable to all? You can nurture a power-hungry mentality by being nice as much as you can by not giving people what they want 🙂

‘Zactly; given time, the motivation for “hoarding” and being elite evaporates; no one cares (except a few of us die-hards). Seeing as how there had to be so many carts, the first person who donates the rom will be the one remembered.

RunnerPack wrote:

e5frog wrote:
I guess the 3D print is most of the cost?

It’s my understanding that the 3D prints are only being used to evaluate the fit of the connector before the design is sent to be made into a injection mold, from which the actual connectors will be made. That is going to be the bulk of the cost. Not counting that large up-front investment, the actual connectors will likely be pennies a piece, depending on the total amount made (you could certainly get hundreds – and possibly thousands – out of the mold before it’s worn out).

Depends on the mold; aluminum is cheaper than steel, but wears out faster — it clearly is the choice if a mold is done, there won’t be hundreds of thousands sold (sadly).

I investigated getting a mold done years back, “functional aluminum but not pretty” would be only $5000-$8000. But that was a device a little bigger than a pack of cigarettes, a box with internal structures and a lid. I would think 3D printing (and a bit of final sanding) would be the most efficacious choice for us…

speedyink wrote:

I did hear the rumor about a very private rom dump that was shared with a select few, but again, those are just rumors.

I do hope a copy emerges from the depths of secrecy eventually though.

I heard that rumor too. I would be ecstatic if we would could at least form our OWN “elite”, if necessary, if someone would agree to let us play it and not make it public. I don’t understand why it can’t be made public, but if the secrecy must continue, surely there are enough of us trustworthy enough to honor such an agreement…

speedyink wrote:
There had to be a few prototype carts I would think. It was playable at E3, which had to have been on more than one unit, looking at the videos there were a few Virtual Boys to set up.

Apparently one of the carts is owned by someone who treats it like their baby and most likely won’t ever part with it or dump it, because they feel elite or something owning the only known copy. Childish, really.

Yes, it is childish. But the E3 video on YouTube has 5-6 stations playing Dragonhopper & Bound High; so there MUST be at least 6-10 carts in existence. They wouldn’t have done E3 without backup stations & carts.

What likelihood is there that there are SEVERAL groups of “childish elite”, each thinking themselves “superior”? Or does ONE group own ALL the carts? Surely there are still N employees/programmers who have unsurrendered memorabilia (which explains why THEY won’t come forward).

In time, the “eliteness” has to wear off; it is a system that’s getting older…

Benjamin Stevens wrote:
If those rumors about the very secretive Dragon Hopper owner are true, I highly doubt that he would have left the game undumped, as surely he would know that the cart could go bad any day. Thus, he probably managed to get it dumped by some means, and thus, the ROM is out there at least on one computer. But yes, if we are ever going to get Dragon Hopper, we must find some other source.

The likelihood of dumps being “out there”, is 100%. It’s also likely that at least one person on this board knows something he’s not sharing (wish it was me!).

TheSmJ wrote:

I refuse to believe that this game is buried in a landfill somewhere never to be enjoyed again…

Yikes — perish the thought! 8-/

There is also credible chatter about at least one prototype for Zero Racers, and possibly Goldeneye (we have screenshots). As time goes by, the novelty of “sole elite” decreases…

mawa wrote:

No one’s gonna pay $9000-$10000. I don’t think so, anyway…

:/

Dont say nobody i sold my set off virtual boy last year for more then that amount of money
( but my set had also more unique items ( like original faceball store flyer / red VB key chain / 2 store display units and more ) and also the big 4 games in perfect condition or brand new

Well THAT I can believe! The “big four” go for $800-$1500 each. (I paid $800 for Gundam, $450 I think for Invaders; never could afford Lab or Bowling). And the store units I’d think for several hundred.

Some day I’ll find a “vb pen” that I can afford (or maybe figure out how to counterfeit one for my own use).

He’s extended the “$1000 discount”; still bet it won’t sell. If I had that much extra cash, I’d buy a Penny Farthing (and a bowler hat & tails to go with it!). 🙂

(But, then, I really have all his games anyway!!! Except Japanese Jack-Bros…)

[vb-fan]

http://www.ebay.com/itm/151092590570?
“System with 26 games”, ONLY $10,000!

But WAIT, if you order in the next five hours, we’ll knock a thousand dollars offa da’ price! (And we’ll also throw in this handy-dandy turnip twaddler at no extra charge!)

Forty one offers, and he turned them all down. More hope than sense — for that much money ya’d think there would be at least ONE of the real rarebies — Invaders, Lab, Bowling, Gundam. Heck, he doesn’t even offer Squash! At least Fishing and Insmouse are there. I wonder what it will eventually sell for? I’ve seen things listed on ebay for outrageous prices, sometimes they’ll be up for YEARS.

No one’s gonna pay $9000-$10000. I don’t think so, anyway…

:/

• This reply was modified 10 years ago by vb-fan.

Guy Perfect wrote:
Could just manufacture our own. Just sayin’. It’s a piece of plastic with some holes in it and wires coming out of it.

Not quite. Each hole has a socket — that is, a two-pronged-fork shaped pin, two leaves closed with a spring force (picture your thumb & forefinger pinched together; your arm would be the pin soldered in the PCB). Each pin on the console connector inserts between those two leaves.

There are plenty of connectors on the market with I think 2mm spacing, with the right row & connector number; it’s a question of if they’ll work. I did acquire a couple extra consoles, I can disassemble and play with the main connector. It may fit directly; if the leaves are oriented horizontally (parallel to the connector length), it may allow a little play in the spacing. Gold plating preferred.

The VB connector is keyed; this is not a problem for making carts, the cart itself is keyed; impossible to insert upside-down.

Made a console connector from scratch once by plugging appropriate sized pins in a cart, then streaming epoxy over it; did this twice then glued the two strips together, and molded an “inline cart connector” out of epoxy putty. (Treated the cart first with paraffin to resist the putty.) The putty copied the keying of the cart perfectly.

I likely have the only “inline cable-mounted VB cart connector”!

Shame (for our copying) that they chose the console to be the plug-side and cart to be socket-side; but for longevity it’s clearly the best choice — the other way, every socket would get wear for every game-change. As it is each socket only gets used when that specific game is played. Pins wear much better than sockets.

So — how many people read this post and held up their thumb-&-forefinger???
😀

[vb-fan]

Pamphlet promoting various games, including “Goldeneye” and “Wario Cruise”. The latter becoming “Wario Land”.

Sadly, no new screenshots for “Goldeneye” — only the same one as already known.

Price $59.99 American (Brookfield, Wisconsin), on sale for 2 more days $53.99 10% off.
Shipping $4.
3 available.

http://www.ebay.com/itm/aw-cgi-/121203404338?MfcISAPICommand=ViewItem

Edit:
Seems there are TWO, just found another in Texas, $29.95 (qty one) free shipping.

http://www.ebay.com/itm/aw-cgi-/111177447399?MfcISAPICommand=ViewItem

• This reply was modified 10 years, 6 months ago by vb-fan.

Chavaflyfree wrote:

Managed to get a gamebit screwdriver that fits perfectly.

Not familiar with that screwdriver — is it a tube with splines on the inside? If you caught my earlier comment, I took an old philip’s screw-driver and filed it flat on the end (think I heated it and removed the temper first); then drilled it out so it fit snug on the screws, then tapped the end three times with a chisel (making six little tabs that grab the screws perfectly); then heated it in a blow-torch to cherry red and quenched it (re-tempered). Works fine, bet there’s enough of your screw head left to work (unless your gamebit is already that shape).

The next move if all else fails, is to drill a hole into the head with a small drill-bit (hardest part will be getting the bit STARTED, centered would be nice), then use an “easy-out”. The screw is after all, metal — and it’s stuck in plastic. The plastic’s alot weaker than the screw…

That’s sooooo kewl! No he won’t make a million bucks, but he’ll give a million bucks worth of happiness to many of us!

And I was serious about the steak dinner. 🙂

Anyone know how big a Micro-SD it will support? Seems a no-brainer to make it full 32g. As they say in the funner social circles, “the more the merrier”…