Love for thy Genesis

Wooduck51 · Post by **Wooduck51** » Fri Dec 01, 2006 8:53 pm

Today I spent some quality time with a soldering iron, periodically searing flesh, and slicing open my fingers, but it was worth it.

The story is that after traveling to the ends of the earth to find a 5 pin din plug, (which had to come in the form of a ps2/Din adapter) and purchasing a soldering iron, I started to build that which would bring life back into my Genesis: a Composite video cable.

Unfortunately all my skill with sharp things such as power saws and with hot things such as fire left me as I began my task. I began by slicing myself as I stripped the plastic cover from the ps2 adapter, no biggie, only a little blood. Then as I began soldering I experienced the pain of hot solder on flesh, blister-lishess! Anyway after about an hour of work, give or take,(I'm not experienced at all with soldering electronics, even something as simple as cords) I finished. It was not beautiful, an odd mutation of a thing, but when I plugged it in the minor amount of discomfort was worth it! For the first time I saw Sonic 2 clear as the moon on a crisp winter night; throwing all prophesy of Sonic's demise to the wind I settled down to enjoy some good ol' solid gaming. Then 30 seconds into Emerald Hill the Genesis died, it just stopped no power at all, what horror is this? one of the most accursed, a short in the adapter cord. Dammit, I spent 2 friggin weeks looking for the Din plug (yes I looked on Ebay, didn't want to pay 7 or 8 bucks for it) and now the adapter plug conks out. So now I have no way to enjoy my labor of love until I can snag another cord from my local second hand shop.

Anyway, did you ever make a Video cord for your Genesis? or do some other thing to resurrect an old console?

Post by Bo » Fri Dec 01, 2006 9:08 pm

I'm notoriously bad with a soldering iron, too, and I'm an electrical engineering student... I did successfully finish my semester project without burning myself this year, though (by making another group member do it).

I could have sworn I'd seen a Genesis composite cable at some point, but I can't find any trace of one. I think I have a box that will take RF and give out component or S-Video, though, so if I ever decide to break out the Mega Drive I won't have to make my own cable.

I've made some cables in my day, but the only cool videogame related hack I've done was making a AA battery back for my Dreamcast VMU. I had an interview for an internship last month, and wound up telling about that, and the interviewer thought that that was like the greatest thing in the world. Any GHZers know anything about Columbus, OH? As a result of said interview, I'll be there this coming summer.

MegaKitsune · Post by **MegaKitsune** » Fri Dec 01, 2006 9:11 pm

My love for the Genesis knows no moral boundaries.

As such, the cartridge port sticks.

Wooduck51 · Post by **Wooduck51** » Fri Dec 01, 2006 9:28 pm

Bo wrote:I could have sworn I'd seen a Genesis composite cable at some point, but I can't find any trace of one. I think I have a box that will take RF and give out component or S-Video, though, so if I ever decide to break out the Mega Drive I won't have to make my own cable.

Well, even a VCR or DVD Player can do that, but the problem with RF is that the signal from the console is horrible, and the cord and quality degrades with time. It will eventually reach a point where you are looking through a blizzard. The cable was not that hard to make, despite my complaints the finger slicing was just stupidity on my part, and the soldering (minus the one time hot solder dripped on me) was actually quite easy, and that is coming from someone who had never soldered anything before in his life. Plus, the end product is worth it.

If you are curious the instructions I used are here:
http://www.stageselect.com/News/NewsVie ... &fromint=1

I had to butcher this though to make it:
http://www.cablestogo.com/product.asp?c ... &sku=02478

(sorry I can't find the instructions for making links into single words)

Arcade · Post by **Arcade** » Sat Dec 02, 2006 3:39 pm

Just go to Latin America, you can get a Sega Genesis here for like...20 Euros...

MegaKitsune · Post by **MegaKitsune** » Sat Dec 02, 2006 5:05 pm

Yeah, with the uber-cool 50 game ROM built in too! ^_^

http://www.gbax.com/brazilsega.html

On turning the units on you get the familiar shiny Sega logo, then a licenced by TecToy screen then a classy custom menu in an A-Z format with screen shots from the games and music, this is very useful if you want to see what the games are without running them all. The systems can also take the original carts, if there is a cart present they will boot that rather than the menu.

The games supplied are an excellent choice, some of the very best from the Megadrive/SMS/GG series - much better value than the Sega5-in-1 system they recently released in the USA. Here are the games (please note i've missed some out which have Brazilian Titles):

Art Alive!, Alex Kidd in the Enchanted Castle, Alien Storm, Altered Beast, Arrow Flash, Battle Golfer Yui, Bonanza Brothers, Columns, Columns III , Crystal's Pony Tales, Cyber Police ESWAT, Decap Attack, Fatal Labyrinth, Fica 1, Flick, ForÃƒÂ§a AlienÃƒÂgena, Gain Ground, Golden Axe, Golden Axe III, Jewel Master, Junte 4 (mini games), Kid Chameleon, Last Battle, Out Runners, Pense Pem (10 mini games), Shadow Dancer, Shinobi III, Sonic 3, Space Harrier 2, Super Hang On, Super Thunder Blade, Turbo OutRun, World Championship Soccer, Wrestle War.

The pads are great, the systems work perfect, the games are in English and the models in question must rank as some of the rarest Sega editions ever - we have an extreamly limited stock with a further small amount on its way - when they are sold they are gone forever.

Grant · Post by **Grant** » Sat Dec 02, 2006 8:27 pm

Bo wrote:Any GHZers know anything about Columbus, OH? As a result of said interview, I'll be there this coming summer.

There's a good stand-up scene and a good punk scene. It's the state capital. That's all I know.

Light Speed · Post by **Light Speed** » Sun Dec 03, 2006 3:01 am

I once spent way to long making my Shenmue save load up on my PAL Shenmue 2 just so I didn't start the game broke. You should all know how that ended up working out...

I'm such a 1337 hacker though.

Locit · Post by **Locit** » Sun Dec 03, 2006 12:10 pm

You actually started with a fair amount of money and a lot of the better capsule toys if I remember correctly.

Light Speed · Post by **Light Speed** » Sun Dec 03, 2006 4:50 pm

You get robbed.

Baba O'Reily · Post by **Baba O'Reily** » Sun Dec 03, 2006 7:19 pm

Amazing Grant wrote:
Bo wrote:Any GHZers know anything about Columbus, OH? As a result of said interview, I'll be there this coming summer.
There's a good stand-up scene and a good punk scene. It's the state capital. That's all I know.

I've been there. Punk scene is grossly exaggerated to almost New Jersey proportions. It's nice, but it's just like any other industrialized American town. North Bank Park has a great view of the skyline, though.