Importing Terranigma

[6arm79]

So of the North American gamers here, how have you gone about playing Terranigma, or have you not played Terranigma? Describe how you did it, how much it cost, etc.

[SoulBlazerFan]

So of the North American gamers here, how have you gone about playing Terranigma, or have you not played Terranigma? Describe how you did it, how much it cost, etc.

Not sure if it would technically fall under emulation, but these is another option: a reproduction cart. There are several websites where you can order one. I know at least one person who does them, and if you send him the donor the cost is only $25. The donor is another SNES Cart, and TN can actually use old Madden carts as donors. Some people are against this for obvious reasons.

To answer your question... yes, I have played a brief part of it, but it was via emulation... I intend to, eventually, order a reproduction cart of the game when I have the spare funds (And a Madden '95 lying around)

[6arm79]

Good suggestion SoulBlazerFan. Now that you mention it I remember seeing a reproduction cart in the local used game store.

Who does it for only $25? All the SNES repros I've seen are like $60. I know on nesreproductions.com you can do the $25 + donor cart deal, but he only does NES games.

I wouldn't like the idea of making repros with certain carts, but it doesn't seem like it would matter with sports games.

[6arm79]

Double post.

[inferiare]

I physically own a cartridge for Terranigma (I'm a NA fan) and over Christmas my fiance got me a reproduction cart as sort of a layaway for landing me a PAL SNES to play my PAL cart on.

Crazy for one game? Sure. But on the upside, I could probably import Illusion of Gaia and Soul Blazer for it and have the collection from two different regions.

[EverPhoenix]

Well, I had the original PAL cart when I lived in Australia. Then it got borrowed and never returned, so I've been emulating ever since.

[psychokind]

Terranigma OG here

[SoulBlazerFan]

There is another forum I take part in for Nintendo collectors such as myself. It's called Nintendoage.com. You can buy/sell stuff on there while also discussing the collecting scene as a whole. One of the sellers offers this service, while another seller offers 23$ NES repros +donor.

There are a bunch of repros the guy does besides TN, but there are only so many repros I'm even remotely interested in at this point.

[6arm79]

First off: not sure why I've been double posting. Sorry about that.

Second: How do I change the poll to add the repro option? Or do I have to start the poll fresh?

Thank you all for your responses.

Another question: how far do you all think you should go for the "legitimate" experience? Do you need to import a PAL cart? Is a reproduction good enough? Or is an emulator fine, since the game was never released here? Tell me your thoughts.

[SoulBlazerFan]

First off: not sure why I've been double posting. Sorry about that.

Second: How do I change the poll to add the repro option? Or do I have to start the poll fresh?

Thank you all for your responses.

Another question: how far do you all think you should go for the "legitimate" experience? Do you need to import a PAL cart? Is a reproduction good enough? Or is an emulator fine, since the game was never released here? Tell me your thoughts.

Problem with repros is since they use EEPROMs instead of a regular retail cart permanent ROMs, they do have a finite shelf life. Unlike a NES/SNES cart which could presumably last forever if properly take taken care of, due to the nature of EEPROMs they only have an estimated shelf life of 25 years before bit rot begins taking effect. (Bit rot is when digital information begins rotting away bit by bit- everything that exists electronically can/will have bit rot). Also, EEPROMs have UV windows which, if exposed to direct sunlight, can cause the information to delete very quickly.

While I'm not into spending say... 90 or so they usually ask for a repro, I don't mind the 25 dollar experience to be able to play it on legitimate hardware, even if the cart only has 25 years of playability. I don't think there's much of a difference. If I were to play it legitimately otherwise, the cost of the cart has been upwards of 40 on ebay, plus between 50-100 to get the system, another 10-15 to get power converters since PAL doesn't mix well with NTSC. Then you have to account for screen lag between PAL and NTSC setups...

In the end, I think it's whatever each person wants. No one way is more right then the other... but given the questionable legality of repros (even if never released in NA) can be a deciding factor for some.

[inferiare]

My fiance's TV that I've got my PAL SNES hooked up to can play it just fine without any converters for PAL -> NTSC. My guess is that newer TVs does it automatically.

[6arm79]

Interesting. Where did you get that TV? I remember I called Best Buy up about a year ago and asked them if they had any TVs that accepted 50 Hz input, and they didn't know what I was talking about.

Of course, even if you have a PAL SNES outputting 50 Hz and a TV that will display it, it isn't really ideal because the 50 fps frame rate slows down all the in game animations. I think the only way to boot up a PAL Terranigma cart in 60 Hz is to either mod your console, PAL or NTSC, or get one of those eluse universal programmable adapters or Mk 3 Actions Replays.

SoulBlazerFan, maybe I'm not looking hard enough, but I haven't seen any PAL Terranigma carts in English online for less than about $100. That's an aweful lot to pay for the "legit" experience, especially when you include the other costs needed. Paying $60 for a repro, though, is also way too much. I don't think people should be making money off of them, but I wouldn't mind paying $25 for one to be able to play it on a console w/o a flash cart.

[6arm79]

Interesting. Where did you get that TV? I remember I called Best Buy up about a year ago and asked them if they had any TVs that accepted 50 Hz input, and they didn't know what I was talking about.

Of course, even if you have a PAL SNES outputting 50 Hz and a TV that will display it, it isn't really ideal because the 50 fps frame rate slows down all the in game animations. I think the only way to boot up a PAL Terranigma cart in 60 Hz is to either mod your console, PAL or NTSC, or get one of those eluse universal programmable adapters or Mk 3 Actions Replays.

SoulBlazerFan, did you say PAL Terranigma carts are as low as $40? I've never seen an English one for less that about $100. Am I looking in the wrong places?

[SoulBlazerFan]

Interesting. Where did you get that TV? I remember I called Best Buy up about a year ago and asked them if they had any TVs that accepted 50 Hz input, and they didn't know what I was talking about.

Of course, even if you have a PAL SNES outputting 50 Hz and a TV that will display it, it isn't really ideal because the 50 fps frame rate slows down all the in game animations. I think the only way to boot up a PAL Terranigma cart in 60 Hz is to either mod your console, PAL or NTSC, or get one of those eluse universal programmable adapters or Mk 3 Actions Replays.

SoulBlazerFan, maybe I'm not looking hard enough, but I haven't seen any PAL Terranigma carts in English online for less than about $100. That's an aweful lot to pay for the "legit" experience, especially when you include the other costs needed. Paying $60 for a repro, though, is also way too much. I don't think people should be making money off of them, but I wouldn't mind paying $25 for one to be able to play it on a console w/o a flash cart.

Last time I was looking for a copy, which was some time ago, the game was going for under fifty... guess the price spiked. All I know is now if I wanted to CIB my SB or IoG it's going for a 100+ a piece for both... thanks to a couple of internet videos some of these lesser known titles we've all loved for years have taken a price hike.

@Raini I know some TVs have no issues with playback, but that's not always the case. Also, isn't the power plug for a other country console different? I was more referring to that... but hey, I might be wrong.

[inferiare]

The PAL SNES I have is slightly modded, but only for the power adapter to be a NTSC one instead. Everything else is PAL, including video output.

As for the TV, the one my fiance has is only ~2 years old, bought it at Best Buy. My roommate's TV, however, is older than that and it didn't work. So, a never LCD screen TV should do the trick. Played a little of the beginning with no problems.