::fs
Photo
what you are seeing here is around... 15.000 USD worth of PCBs
Pink sweets -Ibara Sorekara- would probably go for around 3-4K now
Ibara is a cool 1200? without box you could get away with 800 maybe. MAYBE.
a Dodonpachi SaiDaiOuJou PCB is EASILY 10k. like, EASY.
CAVE boxes are around 250 bucks each, the instructions and the rest are expensive as well. If these are full kits you really are looking at a massive amount of money.
They didn't use to cost this much but they've become rare collectors items over the years. The fact that the CV-1000 hardware is still impossible to emulate 1:1 and doesn't work on FPGAs like MiSTER doesn't help either.
There have been bootleg chinese boards popping out on ebay and such though, the CV-1000 PCBs were the "base" board and the game was what was written in the sound and program ROMs. Desolder / flash them via JTAG (a process which takes THREE DAYS per pcb, by the way!) and you can change games. Well, it's a bit more complicated than that, actually.
You see, to save money, CAVE used substandard memory chips. They're not, like AAA "actually working" memory chips, the program itself is much smaller than the maximum memory capacity of the program ROM, but the ROMs they bought in bulk were ROMs with corrupt sectors. They costed less.
So, to write the programs in the good sectors, they just used a secondary ROM that contained data about the sectors that worked and the ones that didn't, a "map" of sorts. Therefore, to add a program to the program memory chip, you have to analyze your specific memory chip for bad sectors, map the location of the bad and good ones to the secondary ROM, then read the bad sector ROM so that you know which blocks can be written, and which ones cannot to then, finally, flash the game to the good blocks, and the sound portion of the game to the sound chip.
Oh, the bad blocks sometimes corrupt other blocks adjacent to them, which means that the good blocks could fail over time, and they often do. So, every time you turn on the PCB, you run the very real risk of fucking up your ROM and having to replace the whole chip or re-analyze the memory chip to know what are the new bad blocks.
It's actually quite insane. Oh, and you better have a dump of your game. If you didn't, and there were no public dumps, then you now have a very expensive and rare brick.
Until 2 years ago, SaiDaiOuJou did not have a public dump. Neither does Akai Katana right now. Both games cost more than 9k USD for just the PCB. You could buy them new (game + motherboard) via ExA arcadia, which is a completely new and official arcade system, but that would cost you MORE.
Pink sweets -Ibara Sorekara- would probably go for around 3-4K now
Ibara is a cool 1200? without box you could get away with 800 maybe. MAYBE.
a Dodonpachi SaiDaiOuJou PCB is EASILY 10k. like, EASY.
CAVE boxes are around 250 bucks each, the instructions and the rest are expensive as well. If these are full kits you really are looking at a massive amount of money.
They didn't use to cost this much but they've become rare collectors items over the years. The fact that the CV-1000 hardware is still impossible to emulate 1:1 and doesn't work on FPGAs like MiSTER doesn't help either.
There have been bootleg chinese boards popping out on ebay and such though, the CV-1000 PCBs were the "base" board and the game was what was written in the sound and program ROMs. Desolder / flash them via JTAG (a process which takes THREE DAYS per pcb, by the way!) and you can change games. Well, it's a bit more complicated than that, actually.
You see, to save money, CAVE used substandard memory chips. They're not, like AAA "actually working" memory chips, the program itself is much smaller than the maximum memory capacity of the program ROM, but the ROMs they bought in bulk were ROMs with corrupt sectors. They costed less.
So, to write the programs in the good sectors, they just used a secondary ROM that contained data about the sectors that worked and the ones that didn't, a "map" of sorts. Therefore, to add a program to the program memory chip, you have to analyze your specific memory chip for bad sectors, map the location of the bad and good ones to the secondary ROM, then read the bad sector ROM so that you know which blocks can be written, and which ones cannot to then, finally, flash the game to the good blocks, and the sound portion of the game to the sound chip.
Oh, the bad blocks sometimes corrupt other blocks adjacent to them, which means that the good blocks could fail over time, and they often do. So, every time you turn on the PCB, you run the very real risk of fucking up your ROM and having to replace the whole chip or re-analyze the memory chip to know what are the new bad blocks.
It's actually quite insane. Oh, and you better have a dump of your game. If you didn't, and there were no public dumps, then you now have a very expensive and rare brick.
Until 2 years ago, SaiDaiOuJou did not have a public dump. Neither does Akai Katana right now. Both games cost more than 9k USD for just the PCB. You could buy them new (game + motherboard) via ExA arcadia, which is a completely new and official arcade system, but that would cost you MORE.
『HARDWARE ROMANCE』
There have been bootleg chinese boards popping out on ebay and such though, the CV-1000 PCBs were the "base" board and the game was what was written in the sound and program ROMs. Desolder / flash them via JTAG (a process which takes THREE DAYS per pcb, by the way!) and you can change games. Well, it's a bit more complicated than that, actually.
Anyways, this is interesting because it means someone has been taking other CV-1000 PCBs and re-flashing and repurposing them, OR has reverse engineered them
option 1) is the easiest and what most people do. In fact, my DaiOuJou and Ketsui carts are old PGM games that have been re-soldered, flashed and modded to have another ROM running in them, but that means taking old games that CAVE released (probably Medal Banchou Mahjong, which is not a shmup but some cheap mahjong game) which costs several thousands less than the CAVE games, and re-flashed them to be high-demand games, to sell at a fraction of the cost. It's the least ethical of the options since it kills availability of that specific game and removes them from the market, effectively, and only generates a new bootleg.
2) is reverse-engineering the PCB and then buying new-old-stock or used components (memory chips, sound chips, PPUs ) to re-create the board. It requires sacrificing a board entirely (CV-1000 is a 4-layer PCB, so you have to ablate the superficial layers of the board with acid or mechanically, sanding them, effectively destroying it fully, to have the entire circuit layout and then re-print it to add the components. Sometimes people use X-RAYs to reverse-engineer traces beneath the surface too, it's pretty neat, but hard to do for 4-layer.
It's the least likely of the two, though.
Arcade-projects has a thread about it. Go look at it and let me know, i haven't read it for a while, because reasons.
Anyways it's all pretty interesting and i will probably expand on it sooner or later since i want to shmup post a lot... I could write more i think but i literally just fractured a fucking molar EPIC STYLE, so i am just going to take 900 ibuprofens and go to bed. Ouch. Oof.
option 1) is the easiest and what most people do. In fact, my DaiOuJou and Ketsui carts are old PGM games that have been re-soldered, flashed and modded to have another ROM running in them, but that means taking old games that CAVE released (probably Medal Banchou Mahjong, which is not a shmup but some cheap mahjong game) which costs several thousands less than the CAVE games, and re-flashed them to be high-demand games, to sell at a fraction of the cost. It's the least ethical of the options since it kills availability of that specific game and removes them from the market, effectively, and only generates a new bootleg.
2) is reverse-engineering the PCB and then buying new-old-stock or used components (memory chips, sound chips, PPUs ) to re-create the board. It requires sacrificing a board entirely (CV-1000 is a 4-layer PCB, so you have to ablate the superficial layers of the board with acid or mechanically, sanding them, effectively destroying it fully, to have the entire circuit layout and then re-print it to add the components. Sometimes people use X-RAYs to reverse-engineer traces beneath the surface too, it's pretty neat, but hard to do for 4-layer.
It's the least likely of the two, though.
Arcade-projects has a thread about it. Go look at it and let me know, i haven't read it for a while, because reasons.
Anyways it's all pretty interesting and i will probably expand on it sooner or later since i want to shmup post a lot... I could write more i think but i literally just fractured a fucking molar EPIC STYLE, so i am just going to take 900 ibuprofens and go to bed. Ouch. Oof.
『HARDWARE ROMANCE』
Anyways, this is interesting because it means someone has been taking other CV-1000 PCBs and re-flashing and repurposing them, OR has reverse engineered them option 1) is the easiest and what most people do. In fact, my DaiOuJou and Ketsui carts are old PGM…
one last thing, regarding Dodonpachi SaiDaiOuJou, because i can't just not say it
it literally is the hardest game CAVE ever made, harder than even DaiOuJou death label, which took MON like, 8-9 years to clear and afaik he's still the only one to do so to this date.
It was released in 2011 and featured a secret boss you would access through obtaining a high enough rank during play (remember my pinned garegga post? that kind of rank) without losing lives or bombing.
It was finally beaten, on an arcade PCB, in april of this year. It took 13 years for someone, ONE PERSON, to finally beat that boss. The fact that we got a dump of the game ROM soon before that is no coincidence either, since it enabled practicing routes and re-playing states, which was unavailable to anyone.
The Xbox 360 port version of the game was beaten shortly before the PCB version of the game, but it's a different game... most CAVE ports are never faithful to the arcade originals with the sole exception of the M2-Shottriggers ports.
CAVE had made this easter egg boss as a 'swan song' of sorts, they never cared about making the game beatable by 'casuals' or just 'people not hardcore enough'. The whole point of it all was surpassing insormountable, absurd challenges, and that's who the games were made for. If you couldn't do it, that's okay too, you can creditfeed as much as you want, but you're not getting the REAL ending. Besides, even if you can't do it now, it doesn't mean you should try to practice and someday even manage it, in the future.
死ぬがよい。- "dying is good." It means that even if you fuck up and die, that's fine, because that's how you learn. Die all you want, that's what our games are made for. No shame in dying. Just pick the pieces back up and try again. As long as you keep dying, you keep learning. At some point, you'll die little enough to maybe clear one of our games. You just have not to give up.
If you wish to know what a game hard enough to not be beaten in more than a decade looks like, here is the winning run. If you read the comments, you will agree that it is quite a historical moment for humanity, in terms of sheer will and dedication, skill in something so specific like shmups demand, and pure plain old fucking autism.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Z9skBAPlC2U
Oh, by the way: the navigators were all voiced by famous seiyuu at the time. The element doll 'Saya', the main protagonist of the game, is voiced by none other than Aya Hirano herself, of Haruhi and Konata fame!
Of course, that was before she got cancelled in japan because she slept with her whole band and half the producers in the company that she worked in or something. lol, lmao even.
it literally is the hardest game CAVE ever made, harder than even DaiOuJou death label, which took MON like, 8-9 years to clear and afaik he's still the only one to do so to this date.
It was released in 2011 and featured a secret boss you would access through obtaining a high enough rank during play (remember my pinned garegga post? that kind of rank) without losing lives or bombing.
It was finally beaten, on an arcade PCB, in april of this year. It took 13 years for someone, ONE PERSON, to finally beat that boss. The fact that we got a dump of the game ROM soon before that is no coincidence either, since it enabled practicing routes and re-playing states, which was unavailable to anyone.
The Xbox 360 port version of the game was beaten shortly before the PCB version of the game, but it's a different game... most CAVE ports are never faithful to the arcade originals with the sole exception of the M2-Shottriggers ports.
CAVE had made this easter egg boss as a 'swan song' of sorts, they never cared about making the game beatable by 'casuals' or just 'people not hardcore enough'. The whole point of it all was surpassing insormountable, absurd challenges, and that's who the games were made for. If you couldn't do it, that's okay too, you can creditfeed as much as you want, but you're not getting the REAL ending. Besides, even if you can't do it now, it doesn't mean you should try to practice and someday even manage it, in the future.
死ぬがよい。- "dying is good." It means that even if you fuck up and die, that's fine, because that's how you learn. Die all you want, that's what our games are made for. No shame in dying. Just pick the pieces back up and try again. As long as you keep dying, you keep learning. At some point, you'll die little enough to maybe clear one of our games. You just have not to give up.
If you wish to know what a game hard enough to not be beaten in more than a decade looks like, here is the winning run. If you read the comments, you will agree that it is quite a historical moment for humanity, in terms of sheer will and dedication, skill in something so specific like shmups demand, and pure plain old fucking autism.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Z9skBAPlC2U
Oh, by the way: the navigators were all voiced by famous seiyuu at the time. The element doll 'Saya', the main protagonist of the game, is voiced by none other than Aya Hirano herself, of Haruhi and Konata fame!
Of course, that was before she got cancelled in japan because she slept with her whole band and half the producers in the company that she worked in or something. lol, lmao even.
YouTube
【日本語字幕解説】AC版怒首領蜂最大往生 陰蜂ノーコンティニュー撃破ALL A-EX
Date：2024/04/06
Player：犀領
Location：ネオアミューズメントスペースa-cho（ http://www.a-cho.com/ ）
現地映像は同じa-cho勢のろくきちさんが撮影してくださりました。
遂に、遂にa-choで陰蜂ノーコンALLを達成することができました！！！
多くの方々が見てくださって、応援してくださったからこそここまで来れたと思っていますし、自分が達成する瞬間を届けたいという思いも強くなっていきました。
個別に反応はしていませんが、YouTubeのコメント…
Player：犀領
Location：ネオアミューズメントスペースa-cho（ http://www.a-cho.com/ ）
現地映像は同じa-cho勢のろくきちさんが撮影してくださりました。
遂に、遂にa-choで陰蜂ノーコンALLを達成することができました！！！
多くの方々が見てくださって、応援してくださったからこそここまで来れたと思っていますし、自分が達成する瞬間を届けたいという思いも強くなっていきました。
個別に反応はしていませんが、YouTubeのコメント…
i will take this chance to re-post my Espgaluda II PCB, full fucking kit, by the way
Forwarded from 『HARDWARE ROMANCE』
and why not, here is my espgaluda II new old stock full kit i got this year, it's some holy grail tier and I'm still stoked for having it, months after
I'd like a batrider or garegga kit soon, honestly...
I'd like a batrider or garegga kit soon, honestly...
❤2
it's finally the most exciting day of the year, the day i get to post this CLASSIC
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=WlzevRRubeE
Happy birthday, dj nagureo!
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=WlzevRRubeE
Happy birthday, dj nagureo!
YouTube
DJ nagureo - 20, november (HQ)
20, november by DJ nagureo. DDRSongs brings you the highest quality versions of your favorite Dance Dance Revolution songs. I take requests.
『HARDWARE ROMANCE』
it's finally the most exciting day of the year, the day i get to post this CLASSIC https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=WlzevRRubeE Happy birthday, dj nagureo!
i'm going to pretend i TOTALLY didn't forget yesterday was the 19th and should have posted '19, november' by good-cool, which i was looking forward to doing, and will post it now
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=PH4oUUL5du8
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=PH4oUUL5du8
YouTube
19, November - good-cool
Video for 19, November by good-cool, originally from Beatmania IIDX included in DDR Ultramix 2 for American Xbox and DDR Strike for Japanese PS2.
I thought we were getting two games worth of bg videos. The bg video is originally from L'amour et la Liberte…
I thought we were getting two games worth of bg videos. The bg video is originally from L'amour et la Liberte…
Apologies for no posts in the past few days, this will probably go on a little while longer, but will surely end soon.
Nothing's up. I just wanted to take it easy.
I spend 90% of my time at a pc since the year 1996 and it's kinda NO BUENO, and I can't do much in my current hometown IRL (my boundless disgust for it is such that i >>LITERALLY NEVER<< leave the house unless i MUST), but I'm trying, regardless, to dedicate some time to other things and start actually living again instead of spending 100% of my time waiting for things to improve or for something to happen as a requisite to live well while sitting my ass at the battlestation.
I've also had issues to attend to, the big kind; the kind of issues that have a 2030 expiration date and various fees. Maybe i'll tell at some point, it's quite a fucking story.
I'll keep complaining about figuring out WHAT/WHERE/HOW/WHY at a minimum, but I'm not going anywhere, just so you know.
tl;dr the admin touched grass this week (some may say he even smoked it)
Nothing's up. I just wanted to take it easy.
I spend 90% of my time at a pc since the year 1996 and it's kinda NO BUENO, and I can't do much in my current hometown IRL (my boundless disgust for it is such that i >>LITERALLY NEVER<< leave the house unless i MUST), but I'm trying, regardless, to dedicate some time to other things and start actually living again instead of spending 100% of my time waiting for things to improve or for something to happen as a requisite to live well while sitting my ass at the battlestation.
I've also had issues to attend to, the big kind; the kind of issues that have a 2030 expiration date and various fees. Maybe i'll tell at some point, it's quite a fucking story.
I'll keep complaining about figuring out WHAT/WHERE/HOW/WHY at a minimum, but I'm not going anywhere, just so you know.
tl;dr the admin touched grass this week (some may say he even smoked it)
『HARDWARE ROMANCE』
It's a story as old as time for any fan of japanese music; easy come, easy go. But i hope that this small portion of history has been, at the very least, entertaining for you, and it comes with an album you'll appreciate as much as i do, maybe even without…
Bajune Tobeta - Love Deluxe [FLAC] {ODES-0005}.7z
622.5 MB
That being said, i couldn't just leave you without a musicpost this long. Today, you get Bajune Tobeta's Love Deluxe, ripped&scanned by yours truly.
No, you could not find this album on the internet before.
Yes, i bought it just to rip it.
Yes, you can have FLAC+LOG 100%.
Yes, i have more.
Yes, i'll upload the rest.
Yes, it's a pretty good album.
No, no need to thank me.
Yes, this post reads like a James Joyce novel, with yes all his yes and all my love and yes all my heart and all my yes i will keep yes posting and i will Yes.
Yes, i do love Ulysses.
No, you could not find this album on the internet before.
Yes, i bought it just to rip it.
Yes, you can have FLAC+LOG 100%.
Yes, i have more.
Yes, i'll upload the rest.
Yes, it's a pretty good album.
No, no need to thank me.
Yes, this post reads like a James Joyce novel, with yes all his yes and all my love and yes all my heart and all my yes i will keep yes posting and i will Yes.