This is being maintained because there are always questions on
rec.games.video.* about what a game copier is, where to get one,
how much is it, how does it work, etc.
I'll try to update this as I get new info or corrections, but no guarantees.
Some information might be incorrect, so if you have the correct info,
please mail it to me and I'll include it and list your name at the top
as one of the contributors.
Table Of Contents
a) Preface (taken from the rec.games.video FAQ)
1) What is a Game Copier?
2) What are the different kinds?
3) How does it work?
4) Are all machines compatible?
5) Where can I get GoldFinger codes?
6) What are some problems?
7) Is this thing legal?
8) How much does it cost?
9) Where can I get one?
10) Will it become obsolete?
11) News Updates
12) User Tips
13) Mailing List
14) Final Notes
a. Preface
I think the short part from the r.g.video FAQ is good for starters.
(maintained by Ken Arromdee (arromdee@jyusenkyou.cs.jhu.edu))
Yes, it is legal to copy games for your own private use.
No, it is not legal to give away or sell the copies.
No, it is not legal to give away or sell the original and keep the copy.
No, there is no known cheap way to copy CD-ROMs yet.
Yes, they have legal uses: to copy your own games for backup, and to directly
modify the game code without a Game Genie-type device. New developments
such as Real Time Saving and Slow Motion add to the versatility of these
copiers. Backup RAM copying is one great feature, it allows multiple save games instead of the 3 you are limited to in a game. It's questionable how many copierowners actually use them mostly for this.
1) What is a Game Copier?
A game copier is a machine that hooks into your game system and takes the
game that is in the cartridge and copies it to a diskette.
2) What are the different kinds?
(Note: there are more than this, this is just a sample list)
For SNES: Super Wild Card, Super Magicom, UFO Super Drive, Super Pro
Fighter Q, Supercom Pro, Game Doctor SF, Supercom Partner, Dragon Boy.
For Genesis: Super Magic Drive, Interceptor, Mega Disk, Magic Drive Plus
(SMD can be used for SNES with an optional
adaptor called the Super Magicom Drive)
For SNES and Genesis: Multi-Game Hunter, Multi-Game Hunter/ASIC.
(Note:Check your systems RAM physically. It won't show the extra 8 meg on
startup. You should have 6 rows of chips and no empty clusters.)
For SFC,SNES,MD,GEN,PCE,TG16,SuperGrafx,GB,NeoGeo: Multi-Game Doctor II
3) How does it work?
The game copier takes the game from the ROM in the cartridge and then copies
it out to a file on the diskette in the drive. Then it is your backup copy;
if you ever lose your original, you have a backup to replace it. To play the
game, you put the diskette in the drive and it loads it into memory and the
game is able to be played. Games larger than 12 megabits (like SF2)
need more than one diskette. The copier breaks the game into 2 parts which
are copied to 2 diskettes. Games that have battery saves (like Zelda 3) save
the games to diskette in files, so they are still retrievable and usable.
The disks are MS-DOS format.
4) Are all machines compatible?
No, some machines write in to their own format. But most follow the SMC or
SMD format. There are utilities to convert between formats. The most compatible
machine is the SWC. It can read all HiRom formats created by backup copiers,
and most file formats by other copiers.
5) Where can I get GoldFinger codes?
There is a server called <gold-finger-serv%nvcc.uucp@groucho.sonoma.edu>
Email a message with the text
send SNES/game_name or send Genesis/game_name
quit
For the game name you must use dashes as spaces. Like Final Fantasy 2 is
Final_Fantasy_II.
6) What are some problems?
Some cartridges require a DSP chip made by the company, or a RISC chip
(aka FX chip) in the cartridge. An adaptor can be bought, or the cartridge
must be seated at the top for the game to access the chip. Also HiRom
games are problems if your copier doesn't support them. There are 2 decoders, one for <=16M and one for >16M, make sure you get both. Now games are using an
SRAM check to check the amount of SRAM avaiailable. Most cards have 8k-16k, but a copier usually has 256k. Most copiers need a patch to fix this, but the
GDSF3, SWC, and SPF-Q automatically protect this problem. A list of games with
DSP/FX/HiRom/SRAM is at the end of this section. Also, if Nintendo comes
out with a hardware protection scheme, a new copier might
be needed (or just another adaptor) but this is not likely because it adds
to the cost of producing the cart, and not many software companies will
spend the extra money just for the sake of stopping these backup devices
when they will sell at least their expected number of units anyway.
Game Size Extra
Lord Monarch 4M HiRom
Super Mario Kart 4M DSP
Pilotwings 4M DSP
F1 ROC 2 8M DSP
Super Bomberman 4M HiRom
StarFox 8M FX/RISC
FX Trax 8M FX/RISC
SF2 Turbo 20M HiRom
Super Air Dual 4M DSP
Exaust Heat II 8M DSP
3D Baseball 8M DSP
Suzuka 8 Hours 8M DSP
Votoms 8M DSP
Barcode Battle 4M HiRom
Dungeon Master 8M DSP
Psycho Dream 8M HiRom
SD Battle Soccer 8M HiRom
Dragon Knight Group 8M HiRom
Romance/3 Kingdoms 2 12M HiRom
Ramna 1/2 Part 2 12M HiRom
Europe Sensen 12M HiRom
F1 GrandPrix 2 12M HiRom
Super Baseball 2020 12M HiRom
Wolf/Wild Deer 12M HiRom
Taikon Rissiden 12M HiRom
Elnard 12M HiRom
Dragon Slayer 2 12M HiRom
Final Fantasy 5 16M HiRom
Castle Wolfenstein 8M HiRom
World Heroes 16M HiRom
Seventh Saga 12M HiRom
Secret of Mana 16M HiRom
Shooting Macross 8M HiRom
Aladdin 10M SRAM
R-Type III 16M SRAM
Madden 94 8M SRAM
Super Mario All-Stars 16M SRAM
Art Of Fighting 16M HiRom
Another problem with copiers (usually old ones) is FastRom. Fast rom refers
to cartridges which require DRAM that run at speeds of at least 70ns. Many
of the older backup systems used 80ns DRAM boards. The reason why these
older backup systems will not run the crop of FastRom games is because the
memory is too slow to handle the FastRom routines in the cartridge, and thus
you will get black screens or glitches during a game. These FastRom routines
are beings used because the SNES is a slow machine, and so to speed up the
the newer games, FastRom is used to eliminate any potential slowdown of the
system. The first FastRom game was Super Star Wars, since then there have been
many games FastRom games released. All current backup systems can handle them,
and you can get an upgrade chip or software patch if you don't have a FastRom
decoder.
7) Is this thing legal?
Technically, yes. You are within your rights to make an archival copy of
your games for safekeeping in the event your original breaks. Piracy
is an awful side-effect of these, but if you pirate the games, the companies
will lose money, and then games will begin to suck, and then there will
be no point of using game systems anymore.
8) How much does one cost?
This is the bad part. They usually cost $300 and up, the lowest I've seen
so far was $280 for a Super Wild Card 16MB from some guy who said he was going
to get them at cost on a trip to Hong Kong. But usually expect to pay a
higher price for a system that supports more, like the Super Wild Card 24MB
is about $355, but for the MultiGame Hunter 24MB which supports SNES and Genesis
is $370. The Multi-Game Doctor II which supports every known system
(including Neo-Geo) costs $650. Check your company for what adaptors you get
with the MGD2.
9) Where can I get one?
The best place I know of is National Console Support. They sell
all of the above systems, at decent prices. They also have lifetime
support of the system, and a monthly newsletter. They can be reached at:
Voice: (718) 523-5774 (9-6 weekdays)
Mail: (917) 788-0699
Fax: (718) 523-8414
BBS: PRIVATE (If your are a NCS customer, email ratnuts for the #)
You can also email ratnuts@panix.com for an info-pak with
color pictures of their most popular systems from NCS about their
