How did Beggar Prince and Pier Solar make their own carts?

I never quite understood as to how they made their own cartridges. Did they make the innards themselves then have the casings specially made in bulk or did they take a bunch of old, dead carts' cases and use them to store the guts? Or, was it all made by them alone?

Them having cases specially made and making the innards themselves is most likely how they did it, but I want to know exactly how just for curiosity's sake.

Also, how did they get the boxes in which to put the carts? Did they use some leftover, unused boxes and have the artwork printed and stuffed in them or did they have the boxes specially made?

If either the Beggar Prince or Pier Solar people say how on their sites, please link me to the page. If there is no definite answer of which we know, just give a good guess. :D

One word: China.

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Originally Posted by NavesRegge

I never quite understood as to how they made their own cartridges. Did they make the innards themselves then have the casings specially made in bulk or did they take a bunch of old, dead carts' cases and use them to store the guts? Or, was it all made by them alone?

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At Super Fighter Team, we design the pieces (game PCB, PCB shell, game box, etc.) and our factory in China manufactures them all for us, brand new, to meet our needs. They are ordered in bulk to match estimated demand.

For Beggar Prince and Legend of Wukong, molds for the plastic cases and boxes were available, so we acquired them and went to work. For Zaku, on the other hand, we had to design and create a brand new, custom mold for the plastic shell that holds the game PCB, because the only company that ever produced these particular plastic shells was, not surprisingly, Atari.

Recycled/old stock ROMs/PROMs/EPROMs/EEPROMs or Flash + a controller/translator chip is just about the only thing you can use these days. Beggar Prince uses Flash. It's a slow and shitty technology (the only reason it's so popular, is because it's cheap), but it's fast enough for a MegaDrive cartridge, since the game files are so small. If you used Flash for a homebrew Neo Geo AES/MVS cartridge, it would give you load times, and that's no good.

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Originally Posted by NavesRegge

I never quite understood as to how they made their own cartridges. Did they make the innards themselves then have the casings specially made in bulk or did they take a bunch of old, dead carts' cases and use them to store the guts? Or, was it all made by them alone?

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Maybe we at WaterMelon will reveal this when the game is released, but for now I'll just say it's something completely unseen before and very impressive :).

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Also, how did they get the boxes in which to put the carts? Did they use some leftover, unused boxes and have the artwork printed and stuffed in them or did they have the boxes specially made?

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In our case, they are completely custom made and exclusive. I'm sure you'll think they are better than cheap Famicom pirate boxes :).

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Originally Posted by Zebbe

but for now I'll just say it's something completely unseen before and very impressive :)

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What? A tiny LP containing the game encoded as one long Heavy Metal guitar solo and an A.I. chip that translates the music into binary code? :D

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Originally Posted by KillerBean2

What? A tiny LP containing the game encoded as one long Heavy Metal guitar solo and an A.I. chip that translates the music into binary code? :D

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Damn that line killed me :lawl:

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Originally Posted by KillerBean2

What? A tiny LP containing the game encoded as one long Heavy Metal guitar solo and an A.I. chip that translates the music into binary code? :D

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:rofl: That was too good. You have been sig'd, my man.

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Originally Posted by CMA Death Adder

At Super Fighter Team, we design the pieces (game PCB, PCB shell, game box, etc.) and our factory in China manufactures them all for us, brand new, to meet our needs. They are ordered in bulk to match estimated demand.

For Beggar Prince and Legend of Wukong, molds for the plastic cases and boxes were available, so we acquired them and went to work. For Zaku, on the other hand, we had to design and create a brand new, custom mold for the plastic shell that holds the game PCB, because the only company that ever produced these particular plastic shells was, not surprisingly, Atari.

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That's pretty cool. I wish I had my own factory in China to make me Genesis boxes! Also, I didn't know some of the guys who worked on such games as Beggar Prince and whatnot were on these forums (well, at least two: Zebba and CMA Death Adder)! Also, I hadn't heard of Zaku. If ever I get an Atari Lynx, I'll have to try and order a copy!

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Originally Posted by Zebbe

Maybe we at WaterMelon will reveal this when the game is released, but for now I'll just say it's something completely unseen before and very impressive :).

In our case, they are completely custom made and exclusive. I'm sure you'll think they are better than cheap Famicom pirate boxes :).

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Hmm... I'm guessing it'll be either a Neo Geo cart turned Genesis (Keith Apicary would approve :D ) or maybe a sort of sculpture that functions as a cart. That would be awesome!

Also, are you still accepting pre-orders for Pier Solar? I'd be very interested in pre-ordering it, but as you probably know I'm 14 and don't really have the privilege of using the internet to buy stuff. Maybe I can convince my parents to get it for me for Christmas...

Anyway, very cool. I'm anxious to see what the Pier Solar cart and box will look like. I'll have to look in to Legend of Wukong, Beggar Prince, and Pier Solar some more. Maybe I'll order Legend of Wukong or pre-order Pier Solar in the near future. ;)

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Originally Posted by NavesRegge

I didn't know some of the guys who worked on such games as Beggar Prince and whatnot were on these forums

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Sega-16 has been very supportive of our efforts. I feel quite welcome here, and am always available to answer questions people have about our products. If you'd like to know anything else about us, please feel free to ask here in the forums, or contact me directly via e-mail or private message.

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Originally Posted by NavesRegge

Also, I hadn't heard of Zaku. If ever I get an Atari Lynx, I'll have to try and order a copy!

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Check it out; there's a gameplay video available, as well as some screenshots. It's a fun game, and the first ever non-Atari release to be produced in the authentic style (i.e. game PCB with plastic shell, instead of simply a naked game PCB).

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Originally Posted by NavesRegge

Also, I hadn't heard of Zaku. If ever I get an Atari Lynx, I'll have to try and order a copy!

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Picking up a $20 Lynx off of ebay to play Zaku is well worth it. It's an excellent, charming game. I've had a Lynx for years, but I bought another one for Zaku when I found out my old unit was messing up.

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Originally Posted by NavesRegge

Also, are you still accepting pre-orders for Pier Solar? I'd be very interested in pre-ordering it, but as you probably know I'm 14 and don't really have the privilege of using the internet to buy stuff. Maybe I can convince my parents to get it for me for Christmas...

Anyway, very cool. I'm anxious to see what the Pier Solar cart and box will look like. I'll have to look in to Legend of Wukong, Beggar Prince, and Pier Solar some more. Maybe I'll order Legend of Wukong or pre-order Pier Solar in the near future. ;)

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Pier Solar is currently sold out, but please check our news page once the game is shipped to see if any more copies are available (we will sell off the warranty back-up copies that are left once everyone has received their copies and they work OK).

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Originally Posted by KillerBean2

Recycled PROMs or Flash + a controller/translator chip is just about the only thing you can use these days. Beggar Prince uses Flash. It's a slow and shitty technology (the only reason it's so popular, is because it's cheap), but it's fast enough for a MegaDrive cartridge, since the game files are so small. If you used Flash for a homebrew Neo Geo AES/MVS cartridge, it would give you load times, and that's no good.

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Hmm, I got the impression that new EPROMs and PROMs (or at least old stock) of the appropriate sizes were available commercially.
You can recycle EPROMs, but not PROMs due to the lack of UV window.

I'd also gotten the impression that masked ROMs were still used for mass produced ROM based games (ie the DS), but that (as has always been the case) is only practical for very high production volumes (hence historical pirate carts using PROMs or EPROMS) and in such a context being cheaper than generic flash or PROMs/EPROMs.

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Originally Posted by kool kitty89

Hmm, I got the impression that new EPROMs and PROMs (or at least old stock) of the appropriate sizes were available commercially.
You can recycle EPROMs, but not PROMs due to the lack of UV window.

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Well, PROM covers both EPROM and EEPROM, since they all are programmable read-only memory. But I know what you mean. Most people say PROM == one-time programmable. Forgot about old stock. Fixed :)

i just wish the makers of zaku would offer maybe through a middleman secretly carts with the rare and proto games

casue those pcboards look so wrong

i like my lynx got about 52 games zaku sounds tempting but like with all old games its price is my hang up it is probably worth twice the cost though