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Happy birthday, Retrode! In one of these bright moments, it just came to me that the project completed its first year a few days ago. Looks like the perfect occasion for a little anniversary offer. With the first hundred-something units out there, quite a few users have realized just how much more fun the device is to use when the cartridges are really clean. Well, now you can get really thorough on yours! For a limited time, every Retrode ordered through my online store will come with two free security screwdriver bits (for Nintendo and Sega carts). If you love your vintage games (and your Retrode), now it’s time to open all your cartridges and make those card edge pins shine like it’s 1991! The fit of the bits is not perfect, but with a little pressure they absolutely do the job.
To get you started right away, I will also throw in a free USB cable with every Retrode order.
This offer is valid until July 18, 2010.
Order your Retrode now…
This web site is dedicated to my USB adapter for 16-bit games, the Retrode (was: snega2usb). Feed your SNES or Mega Drive / Genesis emulator with games from your original cartridges! The project started as a little proof of concept for myself, but eventually turned out way larger than that. Here are some links to the most important bits of information:
The USB part of the Retrode firmware is based on the LUFA library by Dean Camera (license). Thanks Dean for such an awesome piece of code!
N64/GB* adapter prototype Yep, it’s true. I’ve got a ridiculous amount of N64, GB/GBA/GBC and A2600 connectors in stock, which means I can start building adapters as soon as the circuit boards are here. I’ll be doing some travelling in the next few weeks, so I expect that everything should become ready for shipping around mid-August.
Here are the details:
N64/GB/GBA/GBC plug-in adapter
- plugs into SEGA port
- Includes custom USB voltage converter (needed to regulate down the Retrode to 3.3V)
- two cart slots for N64 and GB* games, respectively. Simultaneous operation of both slots
- Easy mounting in Genesis / MD cartridge case
- Retrode displays proper filename with title of game
- Gold plated card edge
- Price: 24.90 EUR with free shipping (can be combined with regular Retrode order)
A2600 plug-in adapter
- plugs into SNES port
- special board design unlocks dust cover of cart enclosure
- Price: 9.90 EUR.
N64/GB/GBA/GBC and A2600 plug-in adapter bundle
- Get both of them for 29.90 EUR with free shipping (can be combined with regular Retrode order)
Order your plug-in adapter(s) now! (Again, they will be shipped around mid-August)
Dear North American Retrode enthusiasts,
I’ll be traveling to the US very soon, and I’ll bring a small number of Retrodes with me to ship from within the United States. In other words, now is the chance to get your hands on a Retrode for cheaper than ever! The price is USD 84.90 including shipping, so you save almost 10 dollars compared to the regular price in my webstore.
For various reasons, this offer is valid for Retrodes only, no accessories or other stuff I’m afraid. Shipping only to the US and Canada. Offer ended July 19, 2010, 11.59pm.
I am currently investigating a case where the Retrode doesn’t seem to work the way it should. In particular, it appears as if under MacOS, write accesses to the Retrode (config file, SRAM) are sometimes ignored and the files are not written correctly. For instance, after saving the config file from a text editor and resetting the Retrode, the file would contain the old data again. Needless to say, this is quite an annoyance, and the problem has been haunting me for some while now.
The good news is: I have come up with a possible solution. However, since I do not have a Mac, I cannot test it myself. Therefore, I would appreciate if someone could help me out with some testing. If you are a Mac user and you think you are affected by this problem, please report to me and you can contribute to the further improvement of the firmware.
 
Got a lot of things done lately! In particular, the GB/GBA/N64 plug-in adapter is now fully working. So what remains to do is,
- Convince that company to send me a handful GB/GBA connectors after all (they just got a PO from Canon and Panasonic and told me they don’t care about my order any longer. Sigh.)
- Find a company that makes affordable small batches of PCBs. Olimex are just a tad too bitchy for my taste, so should I go for China again?
You see, this is going to take another couple of months :D
It’s been a while since my last blog post, and I apologise for the sparsity of updates in the recent time. Thing is, I haven’t found much time to work on the Retrode recently; a couple of research projects and a class I am co-teaching this semester are keeping me rather busy. But the little time I did find was well invested:
- I managed to trace down that one big nasty bug.
- [Aaron] over at consoleclassix.com and I got his home-built Turbografx 16 adapter to work. Details to follow.
- I came up with a simple solution to the logic level translation required for N64/GBA carts. Firmware support at 95% (N64) and 30% (GBA) complete; full schematics of cart adapter will follow soon.
So, you may expect some definite good news in the near future :)
Until then,
Matthias
I told you that our first mini-contest was going to be a hard nut, and it certainly took some odd technical thinking to crack it. Amazingly enough, 8 folks found out the solution, which is (drum roll)…
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