[Andlabs]

4月 2日 ファンタシースター 復刻版 ＲＰＧ 4,800円 G-4534 ６Ｍ [Ｂ]

Ok, so:

1) Was the original thing distributed in a contest or from a sheet that you had to mail in + ¥4,800 for the game?

2) ６Ｍ? But the original game was 4Ｍ, not 6... ??? Could it really be different after all? I might get a copy and dump it to find out... but IDK what I would need to properly (IDK if Retrodes can overdump or not) dump MD games and how to set it up — just possible methods...

This post has been edited by Andlabs: 18 April 2011 - 09:59 PM

[Shoemanbundy]

I can't tell if you know already, but it says 復刻版, which means it's a reprint. Doesn't explain why it went from 4 to 6M though.

[TmEE]

JP version has FM music that is not present in English versions... but I know of no details here.

[Krigo]

JP version has FM music that is not present in English versions... but I know of no details here.

I thought that was Phantasy Star 1 for the SMS/Mark III.

[Black Squirrel]

Sometimes when making up a "megabit" value for marketing reasons, they like to add the memory used for save games.

So I suspect they mean 512kB for the main game and 256kB for saving data (=786kB = 6Mb).

But don't quote me on this because I haven't actually played the game.

This post has been edited by Black Squirrel: 24 April 2011 - 09:20 AM

[Sik]

256KB of save memory is way too much though, it's even beyond what the Z80 can access without bank switching... In fact none of the Mega Drive games ever had that much memory for starters.

[Meat Miracle]

Or maybe Sega has no clue whatsoever about their own games (as evidenced numerous times throughout history) and they just steal those lists from other fan sites.

http://www.katch.ne.jp/~kazutake/megadrive.htm lists it as 6M

http://www.asahi-net.or.jp/~fa2k-smz/rpg.htm lists it as 4M

http://www2.ocn.ne.jp/~miyag/mdroom/data/425.html lists it as 4M

http://junman.fc2web.com/g_md_list.htm lists it as 4M

Chances are, this is just the Master system ROM put in a Megadrive cart, by the way.

[Lobotomy]

I'm just going to assume it was a ROM of your run of the mill 4mbit PS flashed to a 6mbit cartridge.

[Hendricks 266]

I was told once that Phantasy Star Fukkokuban (or whatever it is) is just the SMS game/chips/board and a Power Base Converter in one cartridge.

[Andlabs]

Well that's what it sounds like though I'm not sure if anyone actually did check it... The Power Base Converter part is false — there's a pin on the cartridge connector that determines whether or not the MD runs in Mark III mode or not. However, I heard from somewhere that it also worked with Mega Drive 3-button pads (Start button detection), so ????

[Sik]

However, I heard from somewhere that it also worked with Mega Drive 3-button pads (Start button detection), so ????

Just a reminder: TH and TR can always be set as output lines on the Mega Drive (unlike the Mark III), so it wouldn't be surprising if they reprogrammed the game on that assumption (after all, it's in a Mega Drive cartridge, right?). That means they could have just easily reprogrammed the joypad routine to use a 3-pad, even if it's in SMS mode (that said, it's still a modification from the original game after all, right?).

[Andlabs]

Yes but I don't get how that ups the size to 640KB unless they stuck the routine at the end of ROM and patched it... I think we need both a dump AND hi-res pics of the PCB.

[Sik]

My point was that it was still probably running in Master System mode. And even then, a smaller ROM would have worked, no need for 256KB for such a patch =P (what's the smallest ROM on the MD anyways, not counting cartridges with custom mappings?).

In any case it'd be still a different ROM, right? That alone makes it dump worthy. While we're at it we could just dump 768KB instead of 512KB and see if there's really anything besides the original data. Maybe the game is indeed extended but we don't know because those that own the game don't know both English and Japanese so we can't really tell.

[TmEE]

That game is plain SMS game in MD mode. MarkIII doesn't let you change TH state, but SMS/SMS2 do, you can even use MD 6buttoner on SMS if the game wants to. This is the reason why you cannot use 6button controller with Phantasy Star and few other games, they expect SMS pad or 3 button controller and everyone knows what 6buttoners do when they're polled too often :P

This post has been edited by TmEE: 25 April 2011 - 05:44 AM

[Meat Miracle]

My point was that it was still probably running in Master System mode. And even then, a smaller ROM would have worked, no need for 256KB for such a patch =P (what's the smallest ROM on the MD anyways, not counting cartridges with custom mappings?).

In any case it'd be still a different ROM, right? That alone makes it dump worthy. While we're at it we could just dump 768KB instead of 512KB and see if there's really anything besides the original data. Maybe the game is indeed extended but we don't know because those that own the game don't know both English and Japanese so we can't really tell.

Maybe it was cheaper to manufacture 3x 256kbyte roms, than 2x256k or 1x512k + smallest-rom-needed. There are many other games which don't fill up all their rom space either.