Save States for older game consoles?

Question

Is it at all possible to save a state in a game for older consoles? I'm talking about old school game consoles like NES, SNES and Sega MegaDrive.

I know it's not built in, so maybe somebody knows of some kind of add-box, or something to put between the cartridge and the console to record the game progress or something like that..?

It would really help me finish certain older games.

Asked by dreagan

Answer

There's not a hardware device that would sit between a console and it's cartridge to record the game's state, and that's because it wouldn't be able to do this task.

The cartridges hold the game's code, commonly burned into memory chips called ROMs. Cheat devices like the Game Genie or Action Replay sit between the console and these chips, and replace or patch the code on the chip as the console requests it. Therefore, it's possible to change the way the game executes in real time.

For example, when you get hit in The Legend of Zelda, there's a bit of code that executes which takes your current life (stored in a memory cell) and subtracts one from it. Instead of subtracting one heart, the cheat device might change the code so that the "subtract one from life" instruction is never executed. This would make you effectively invincible.

Saving state is done by copying the current contents of memory/registers into a file, and then loading that file again later. The console's memory is not part of the cartridge. Therefore, this can't be done by capturing the data coming off the cartridge - you'd have to open the case, and solder down something that is capable of reading the contents of the console's memory, and allow it to be restored later. This is a complicated process, and would likely be hard to get right.

Saving state is a common feature of emulators, however. Emulators set up an environment inside your PC where the entire CPU, memory, audio/video chips, etc are all simulated. Since they're simulated, capturing data at any point in the process is fairly simple. Older generation consoles had a tiny amount of memory compared to your PC, so saving and loading many different iterations of the current game state is simple and not very taxing.

Answered by agent86

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Help me identify this Nes battle game

Question

I remember playing this on my nes.It must be a classic, since all the games i owned turned out to be.

• It was produced by nintendo
• You controlled a kind of tower\radar, in a battle agains other war units.
• The goal was to invade\destroy the enemy's base.
• The game was set in a outdoor ambient.
• I remember some green space around the battle area.
• I guess the first level you started out of your command post and then conduced the strange radar\vehicle to your enemies base.

I'm almost shure it was a single name - the name of the tower\car\vehicle you controlled. If you could help i'd be glad.

Asked by Moonlighter

Answer

I actually suspect you are talking about a game I myself have asked about on this site. Could you be talking about Field Combat?

Here are some screenshots:

And here's some gameplay:

Answered by Aubergine

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Help me identify this old NES game with lots of red bricks around

Question

I'm having difficulty remembering the title of the following game:

• It was a NES Game
• Made\Produced by Nintendo.
• Probably around 1990
• You played a character in a phase with lots of red bricks around
• I guess the main character was blue
• There was a mode where you could built your own stage, i guess
• When the level start,the camera would move from a edge of the screen to another
• The background was black.
• I think you could play 1 or 2 play games, in turns.

That's it. I don't remember what the game was about, or if there were enemies. I think it may be a classic, like Duck Hunt, Bomberman etc.

Asked by Mayongelo

Answer

The only game that comes to mind for me is Lode Runner. It had bricks, a blue character and an edit mode.

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Lode_Runner

Answered by Nathan Dries

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Why did you have to blow into an NES cartridge to make it work?

Question

Did doing this actually help at all? If so, how?

Asked by Anatidaus

Answer

Popular belief among those of us who remember the original NES held that that blowing into an NES cartridge removed dust from the contacts, which allowed a better connection to the system. In practice, the method was similar to the following:

• Plug in cartridge, turn on system
• Curse when system does not work
• Pull out cartridge, blow
• Re-seat cartridge, try system again

In a few cases, blowing may have actually removed dust, but the truth is that most of the time, what actually fixed the problem was the act of pulling the cartridge out and putting it back in.

As the original NES required you to put the cartridge in and then down, another common trick was to shove a second cartridge in the slot on top of the first one, which prevented the bottom (game) cartridge from slipping.

Answered by Steve V.

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Where can I get some screenshot or info about an old game called Mini Milk?

Question

So my girlfriend has some old video game nostalgia and she wanted to show me some screenshots or video (or play it if possible) about this game she used to play around 20 years ago. She swears it was called "Mini Milk" but we haven't found anything on the web about such a game.

I trust her memory about the name of the game but we don't know who developed it. She says it was an arcade game about "a couple of cute monsters (similar to Pac-Man ghosts but with lighter colors) and I had to get through some levels (from a lower to a higher one) to get them together, and when they got together the game showed a heart on top of them"... We have no idea of why the name was called that :/

Can anyone help us find more information about this game? Alright, thanks for any help.

EDIT:

Alright! Answering as much questions as she can from the link we just got:

Give us the general description of the game and its gameplay.
It looked like a construction that had around 4 levels, like a building seen from the side (unlike Pac-Man and Mrs Pac-Man in which perspective seem to be from above), a couple of cute characters had to get together but one was in the lowest level and one in the highest one. Somehow (though there seem to be no enemies) you had to climb from a level to the next one and when they got together a heart would appear on top of them.

When was the game released / when did you play it?
She was playing it around 1994 but it may be significantly older-we don't know

What platform did you play it on?
It was a cassette for a supposed Vietnamese clone (or other clone) of Nintendo or Super Nintendo bought in the Czech Republic. By the way the cassette had many games (one of them called Mappy), the game in question was only one of many.

If you controlled a character, what did it look like? How did you control it?
You controlled one of the two characters, it looked like a ghost from Pac-Man but with a lighter color. She remembers controlling it with the controller's arrows but she doesn't know if any button pressing was needed.

What was the perspective? Was it top-down, side-scroller, isometric, etc.?
The perspective was from the side but the game play was from the bottom of the screen to the top of the screen.

If there were enemies, what did they look like? How were they destroyed?
There were probably no enemies but she thinks maybe you had to avoid falling on some liquid that was below the lowest level

If there were puzzles or riddles, can you describe them?
There weren't, it was about the ability to move.

Do you remember anything about how the game box looked, how the title screen looked?
Unfortunately not...

Answer

This sounds very much like Nuts & Milk, originally released in 1984. Here's a video of gameplay from the NES version:

If you search for that name online you can find a lot of information about it, including videos and walkthroughs. I've also read there are playable version available in the Nintendo Virtual Console and that there's even a mobile version, but I couldn't find any more information about those.

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Is it possible to jump over the flag-pole in Super Mario Bros?

Question

When I was younger, I remember there was a persistent rumour that claimed that under certain circumstances it was possible to jump completely over the flagpole at the end of each level. Every time I jump for the flagpole and my 5000 points, I still remember this and wonder about it. On a few occasions, it seems as though I'm about to make it! Mario is on course to leap to freedom! However I always find myself "pulled" back to the top of the flagpole.

Is there any way to completely clear the flagpole at the end of a level?

Answer

Yes, but there's really only one level it's possible on, World 3-3:

Game Trailers provides a great video about the Mario Flag Pole jumping myth in an episode of Pop-Fiction.

But it can also be done with the Game Genie or other "hacks".

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What's the name of this NES game (screenshot provided)?

Question

I recently came across a video which briefly showed a few seconds of gameplay from a game I played as a child. There was no mention of what its name is, and I can't remember it myself. I'd love to play it again, or at least watch more of it.

The kid (?) in yellow is the playable character.

Thanks for any help!

Answer

According to Google Images' relatively new image-matching feature, which I fed the screenshot you provided to, apparently it's Disney's Adventures in the Magic Kingdom.

Here's another gameplay video:

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Identify this NES platformer

Question

This one shouldn't be too hard to id, however my memory is a bit fuzzy.

It was a platformer for the NES that I used to play as a kid. Around 1993.

I remember it had two player coop.

I think the main character was a doctor of some sort.

The game was split in levels and I believe they had puzzle elements.

I think the cartridge label had a dark background.

Answer

At a guess, you're referring to Gyromite, although in the standard game mode, ROB was expected to raise and lower the columns for you.

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I need help identifying an old NES game

Question

The game had 2 stages on each level. The first stage was a space ship sidescroller. You had to shoot the various enemies and pick up powerups bubbles with a letter on them like "A". Once you completed that you landed on a spacestation and exited the spaceship. Inside the spacestation you had a jetpack and a laser gun and would need to kill the various bad guys in a kind of platformer shooter.

Answer

It might be Air Fortress, which has you collecting powerup bubbles that have E and B in them, then exiting the spaceship and searching for the fortress's core with your jetpack and gun.

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Which games have “Minus/Glitch Worlds”?

Question

I've heard that several old NES, SNES, and arcade games have minus/glitch worlds, which can only be accessed by exploiting a bug or glitch in the game's code. I have also heard them referred to as "kill screen", which more specifically refers to when you reach a level that is so high that the original programmers didn't code for it. This, naturally, causes the game to crash in a way that may or may not let you continue to play.

Which games have a glitch world, and how can they be reached?

Answer

The Angry Video Game Nerd looked into video game glitches, he talks about some of these "minus worlds" and other interesting glitches

NOTE: Viewer discretion is advised, vulgar language present in link

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Does Yoshi B-type have an ending?

Question

Does the NES version of Yoshi (a.k.a. Yoshi's Egg, Mario & Yoshi) have an ending when playing the B-type game, or does the game just keep getting faster?

If there is not an ending, how many different fruits are there on the interstitials?

Answer

1. Mushroom
2. Fire Flower
3. Piranha Plant
4. Shell
5. Star
6. Apple
7. Apple
8. Strawberry
9. Strawberry
10. Melon
11. Melon
12. Plum?
13. Plum?
14. Grapes
15. Grapes
16. Pineapple

I've seen pineapple repeat three times times, so I'm going to assume that's the last fruit, and there is no end.

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what are the requirements for the different endings in metroid?

Question

What are the requirements for the different endings in metroid and what are the differencess between each ending.

Answer

There are 5 different endings. You can see screenshots of all of them along with requirements here: http://www.vgmuseum.com/end/nes/b/met.htm

• Under 1 hour: Samus removes her suit, revealing a bikini
• 1-3 hours: Samus removes her suit, revealing a one-piece swimsuit
• 3-5 hours: Samus removes only her helmet
• 5-10 hours: Samus waves, but leaves her suit on
• 10+ hours: Samus turns her head away in shame

The Metroid Database lists slightly different requirements for the two worst endings:

• 5+ hours, played with normal Samus: Samus Waves, but leaves her suit on
• 5+ hours, played with suitless-Samus: Samus turns her head away in shame

I'm not sure which is correct.

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What are the locations of the Warp Zones in Super Mario Bros.?

Question

In which levels are the Warp Zones located in Super Mario Bros. and how do you get to them?

Answer

• Level 1-2: Warp to World 2, 3, or 4
• Level 4-2: Warp to World 6, 7, or 8
• Level 4-2: Warp to Word 5 (Yes, there are two on this level)

The following detail came from this site.

Where to find warp zone #1 hidden in level 1-2

You will find the first Warp Zone located at the end of level 1-2. In order to reach it, you will need to ride the previous elevator to the top and then jump onto the brick ceiling. Run all the way to your right and you will find the Warp Zone. Enter the corresponding Pipe to skip to world’s 2, 3 or 4.

Where to find warp zone #2 hidden in level 4-2

This level contains two Warp Zones, one to level 5 located at the end of the level, and this Warp Zone that takes you to levels 6, 7 and 8 located in the middle of the level. To find this Warp Zone look for a high three-brick-long platform that is too high for you to reach, located across from the first elevator platform. There are some invisible blocks that you will need to make appear in order to reach the far left block, which contains a vine. You need to hit the invisible blocks from below to create a staircase allowing you to reach the Vine. To do this, make the first two lower blocks on the righter side appear. They will start to create a staircase. Then hop on them and break the two bricks above. If you haven’t already activated the vine, try to do so now, and then make the following invisible blocks appear if you need them to reach the vine. Climb the vine and you’ll reach the Warp Zone that can take you to worlds 6, 7 or 8 depending on which pipe you enter.

Where to find warp zone #3 hidden in level 4-2

To reach the final Warp Zone (note that you can only take one Warp Zone since both are on the same level), you will need to reach the ceiling from an elevator platform and then run all the way across it to the right, just like you did in level 1-2. This Warp Zone will take you to World 5.

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Where is the infinite (99) lives staircase in the original Super Mario Bros?

Question

I know there's a staircase at the end of one of the levels where a well-timed jump onto a turtle coming down a staircase will allow me to keep landing on the same shell until I max out my extra lives.

Where is it?

Answer

It appears to be at the end of stage 3-1. (source)(video)

I've unfortunately never been able to perform this trick. The potential of 99 lives does you no good if you die every time you go for it.

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Why doesn't Duck Hunt work on plasma or LCD screens?

Question

I'm told that the original Duck Hunt (NES) works fine on all CRT screens, but fails to register successful hits on a plasma or LCD screen. Why is this? Is there a fix for it?

Answer

It is actually a software issue. This question has it almost correct, but it doesn't address the issue of having multiple ducks on the screen and which one you are aimed at.

To understand this part, you have to know about retrace lines.

Retrace lines only exist on CRT type displays that contain cathode ray tubes (typically three). Inside this tube sits an electron gun. To draw a picture, a electron gun shoots an electron beam that interacts with the phosphor coated screen to generate a RGB color. This electron beam sweeps across the screen both horizontally and vertically many times per frame, and the end result is the picture you see.

During this process, the NES or whatever system you have hooked up to your TV knows the exact position of the retrace, and it uses that information, as well as the hit/miss detection in the linked question to determine if you hit a particular duck on the screen.

Why does this not work for LCDs and Plasma? Well, the main reason is simply because those screens behave differently. The pixels in the LCD and plasma are turned on/off rather than relying on interacting with a beam of electrons so a different method to determine where the gun is pointing has to be developed.

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I'm searching a NES game with Mario kung-fu fighting in it with a stick (not the Jackie Chan mutant)

Question

When I was child, I had a strange device which ran NES games (actually it claimed to be a SEGA "Something").

I used it to play a game in which Mario was not actually named, but the main character's head looked like his. This "Mario" carried a stick, but I can't remember its role, or even if you could use it or not.

The game-mechanics were block based.

This is all I can remember, but if you ask specific questions it may jog my memory.

It is always a very nice feeling, when finding old games I've played ages ago, so thanks for your efforts!

Answer

It was "Super Mario 14". Very fun game! (jó szórakozást / have fun)

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What back up options exist for NES cartridges?

Question

My beloved NES cartridges are getting pretty old, and recently some of them have been functioning sporadically.

Do you know of other backup alternatives other than RetroZone's PowerPak? It's pretty expensive. Is it the only alternative?

Answer

Another strategy would be to find copies of the cartridge.

Try looking in local pawnshops. They usually have lots of old cartridges for next to nothing. You might have to look for awhile if you're looking for specific games.

You can also ask at a GameStop if they have any suggestions for where to look.

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What is the average battery life of an NES cartridge?

Question

How many years does an NES cartridge battery last?

Answer

According to this page, the batteries last 15-20 years.

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Help me identify old NES sports games

Question

There were 3 games that I remember, each made by the same dev team I think(tecno or something like that)

• the 3 games were: soccer, hockey and basketball
• in the basketball game you could pick up items to fight with, also you could pick up the basket and throw if it fell off (3-3 baskets each side)
• you could fight in the games
• The players sprites had the same style in the 3 games
• up to 4 players mode I think
• fun skills(teleport, ball transforming into banana)
• the games were asian but they had english versions

Question: What is the name of these games? (Or the name of the dev team/publisher)

Other (Maybe off-topic) question: Do the games have an official site? (Or a site where I can find all of them)

Answer

It sounds a lot like the river city ransom games. There were quite a few of them like super dodgeball, as an example

Soccer: River City Soccer Hooligans

Basketball: Ganbare Dunk Heroes or possibly Crash and the Boys Street Challenge

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What is the name of a NES platformer where you attack with a metallic bird?

Question

This should be an easy one if anyone actually played this, since I remember plenty of details but simply cannot find the game itself.

This game was a platformer for the NES, and I believe I played it around the early 90s (though it doesn't necessarily mean the game itself isn't older).

The character you controlled was dressed in red with a red mask covering his eyes, and you had some sort of metallic bird with you (I don't think it was always visible). You would throw the bird to attack enemies, and it would then return to you. Proportion-wise, I think the character was pretty similar to Mega-Man.

The game contained various levels, some with some interesting mechanics. I recall a lava/volcano stage, a pirate/ghost ship stage and another stage where you were traveling on some sort of skateboard for a portion of the level. There were also some hidden whack-a-mole bonus stages that you could trigger by throwing your bird at specific spots in some of the levels.

I also recall there were powerups to pick up. One would turn your bird red, increasing its range, speed and damage.

One of the things I found most unique and compelling about the game was its boss fights. At the end of certain levels (maybe all of the levels?) you would have to defeat a boss, but when this happened the game stopped being a platformer and transformed into some sort of card game. Both you and the boss would have a set of cards you had to pick in order, with numbers on the card signifying the strength of your attack. The one picking the stronger attack would damage his opponent by the difference (so if I picked a card that says 5 and the boss a card that says 3, I would deal 2 points of damage). I recall that one of the bosses, the one in the lava level if I remember correctly, looked suspiciously similar to Freddy Krueger.

And that's everything I remember.

Answer

I believe the game you are looking for is Kamen no Ninja: Hamaru.

It was rebranded in North America into the game Yo! Noid.

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