Hypothetically if you couldn't swap boards you could remove the original connector traces and drill holes in the traces and down to the connector slot to run a thick gauge hammered flat copper wires with a long/short arrangement that doesn't overlap the other side of the board pins.
Do other games share a similar board? If so, transferring the chips may be a solution. sure ,second I hit enter on this comment as the vid is playing you say exactly what I suggested.
Dude you are looking better and better, I saw the "future Tronix Fix" ad segment from a different episode and it looks like your hair is coming back in great! I'm glad you are doing better!
@@Tronicsfix Thats great. I have two questions: is this game worth less with the replacement board? Also would you be interested in a sony a6300 to fix for the channel? Mines just dead and I'd give it to you.
@@Tronicsfix It was a flop on release but developed a cult following that sort of misses its point. But anyway, I've played it since I was young and will tell you that intro sequence is still pretty badass even today. Great job, by the way, but I would never pay over two hundred bucks on anything that requires me to repair it. They really are reaching with those prices.
Seeing the blurred thumbnail I immediately knew it was Earthbound. I still have my original cart and the guidebook that came with it... I just wish I had been smart enough to keep the box when I was a kid!! Not that it matters because my cart is priceless to me. One of the save files is the first game my much-older-than-me sister and I beat when I was a kid. She passed away back in 2010, and that cart is a piece of her I have left. 💜 I'm always happy to see you upload! Love your videos and I've recced your channel to my dad who used to deal in electronics and repairing radio communication equipment. 😊
Hey Steve. I am glad to see that your health is improving. I also battled and won against Hodgkin's Lymphoma. Glad to see you kicked its ass. I am in the market for this game right now and can think of no better way to get it from a trusted source than yourself. If you are interested in selling it, please let me know.
fun fact, there are 2 solder points on the opposite sided of the board to the battery, that when tested with a multimeter, carries the power from the battery, if you solder another 3v battery to these points before removing the original battery, then continue to change the original battery. then after you remove the temporary battery, your game saves will still be on the cartridge
I always think it's funny when people complain about the magic eraser wearing away pins. You know what else wears away the pins? Plugging it into the console to play it. Removing it to play another game. Things wear out over time. That's life.
@@SBBurzmali People can do whatever they want with their games. I buy old, sealed games so I can share the experience of opening the shrink wrap, plugging in the cartridges, and playing them in the living room with my kids. If that destroys the value and somebody doesn't like it then too bad. It's mine to destroy.
@@andywest5773 Some people juggle geese, but I'd still bet a sizable amount of money that anyone paying $400 for a loose cartridge of a game available on multiple platforms for a fraction of the price, has no intention of ever plugging it into a machine.
@@andywest5773 if you want to split hairs inserting the cartridge isnt considered abrasive, magic erasers are wearing away coating faster. i prefer to use other methods before scrubbing things with what is basically 10000 grit sandpaper
Wouldn't have been a very long video if he gave up that easily. I have replaced the board because the old one had the complete insertion part was broken all the way across(mario kart). I have one that board is snapped in half (mario 64). I find the sports games make cheap donors.
making the parts not the original parts so can you REALLY sell it for $400? also bought it for $200? probably can get it off a flea market who doesn't sell it at retro gaming collectors prices
But now you have a not so valuable game parts and you could save that too by migrating them to a brand new snes circuit board. I dont think it would devalue it anymore but it would be working.
@@lookitskazzy agreed. I have done the same thing on another valuable sega genesis game that my local video game store had. We found another donor game that had the same board that was very cheap and I swapped out the ic chips to save the other game.
As someone who's moderately experienced in Soldering, the number of times I had seen others fail in soldering just because they used a crappy iron which doesnt heat enough is insane. Most large pads require atleast 5-10 seconds with 450 degrees on soldering iron, and many irons just cant achieve that and people end up either heating for too long and damaging the top layer of the PCB, or pulling without the solder properly melting and ripping the pads out. Also a little bit of flux usually makes the whole process way easier.
Yes! I was using a cheap ebay £20 iron and it was junk... bought a Yihua soldering station for £120, not high end by any means but its a night and day difference compared to the unbranded one.
This was my problem when I was trying to learn too. I felt like I was doing everything right and still couldn't accomplish much. I even showed the soldering iron to someone who solders for a living and they said "yeah that's fine, I use one like that too" Eventually I caved and bought a proper soldering iron & station, KSGER something, and finally I can actually solder. Some people say a bad craftsman blames his tools, but there is a line where crappy tools absolutely exist and you will have a bad time if you use them no matter how good you are.
No one is ever going to need to replace that battery again. I have my original copy of Earthbound that I got on release day. Battery still works. Can not imagine someone will need to change that battery in 2055 lol.
Most people argue that it's unnecessary, but to me it seems sensible that if you already put in the effort to desolder it, you might as well install a permanent fix, even if it won't be required for the next 10 years.
I have had family dealing with similar ailme to and for u to be able to still be repairing and making videos is amazing. You are built different brother. Bless u brother
In this case, just swapping the ROM sticks should just work, but many SNES games have a copy protection mechanism, if they detect incorrect Save RAM (The upper chip; it contains the save data), the game will activate copy protection mechanism. This was used to detect Floppy Disk copiers, which usually had a single SRAM for all games. Earthbound has an interesting copy protection, you would get more random encounters and the game would get more difficult. If you reached the final boss, the game would erase all save data. However, Earthbound and NHL97 both use 64k SRAM, so it should be fine.
@@volvo09 The Save Ram, as if the chip itself. The game checks for the exact size of the chip (64k in this case), it doesn't care whether there's an existing save in it or not.
@@tamoghnapal6619 ah ok, I misunderstood what you were getting at. Thanks! I bet that got a bunch of people back in the day wondering why the game is so crazy, I never would have expected something like that, but it's smart!
Battery holders are the only way to go IMO. I did all my Gameboy (and the 2 GBA games I have that have batteries), replacing them with low profile battery holders. I use emulation for the 8/16 bit conosles so I don't own any other cartridges that have batteries.
@@Tronicsfix As far as the resale value on the collector market...honestly I don't know. Some collectors are reasonable, others go absolutely nuts when everything isn't 100% original. But for the latter, I would think the act of replacing the battery or soldering in the cartridge would "destroy" it as far as those people are concerned. As somewhat of a collector myself (who likes CIB copies), I had NO issue replacing them with battery holders, and that increased the value of those cartridges to me. Because I know when the batteries die again I can pop in a new one in about 5 seconds.
Dude you rock. I had to do chemo for 3 months myself. I always kind of took the approach that I had been sick with cancer for a long time and am just now dealing with it. Two years later and I feel better than I ever have. Keep doing your thing beother
Earthbound has some pretty nasty copy protection, including checking if the version of the lockout chip is the correct type, among other checks, in some cases you won't notice anything is wrong til you get to the final boss, it'll freeze and wipe your save (on purpose), don't know exactly if it's triggered by the chips on that particular game, but i really reccommend swapping the other chips as well, you don't wanna accidentallt sell someone a copy of Eathbound that might misbehave like that, swapping the other chips will definitely add to the authenticity as well, as right now this game is more NHL than Earthbound. Great fix though!! you always make it look easy, not hating just would be a bummer to have to deal with this later down the line when it could cost both your time, the buyer's time, and most importantly the buyers SAVE, Better safe than sorry! lol
I think it goes through a number of checks and gettinga bootleg version to work through to the final boss would require a bit of hacking. Also it spawns a lot of enemies so even if you did make it to the end it would notice the difficulty.
I was coming here to say this. It is one of the reasons that Earthbound costs so much - it isn't just the rarity it is also because doing board swaps are such a pain. One blown chip and it makes the other chips useless. You might be able to play the game, but not be able to actually FINISH it. Sometimes you can't even swap between different versions of EARTHBOUND boards (although sometimes you can without issue). All of that contributes to the high price from working copies.
I didn't even think about that but you're right. I wonder what Frankenstein-ing the board/chips would do, if anything, to the game. It's not immediately obvious if anything is actually wrong and it does think that you're playing a bootleg version of it... if all you're looking at is whether it starts up or not, you'd miss that completely. You actually have to know a little about the game itself to spot things that might be going wrong. Easily the most famous of them all is the game freezing on purpose before the final battle and it deletes your save game when you start it back up, but of course you have to play through the entire game to get there and find that out. It does all kinds of things before then like crashing/freezing randomly, spawning way, WAY too many enemies than what's normal in certain areas, sometimes the battle backgrounds glitch out, etc. This one's worth a play for maybe a few hours and maybe some of these will pop up... the super dedicated would have to actually play through the entire game to see if you can actually beat the game. I doubt you can concoct some set of circumstances where none of the other anti-piracy measures kick in at all except for the final boss freeze and delete, to avoid playing through the entire game just to see if you can beat it, but I don't know for sure.
A few years ago, I bought a Open Box listing of Earthbound. It's complete, so complete the guide is still in the plastic. I was so lucky to get it for $250, it's worth 1k now lol.
You know what I like? The fact that you aren't hiding behind the camera. Also that you give off positive energy. You have an awesome talent! Praying for ya!
Enjoyable repair, nice save 👌 I would've loved to see the rest of that corroded board, underneath the other chips. It was in bad shape. Is there any identifiying text on the motherboard that indicates it's not the original circuit board?
so glad you just went for the chip swap, seen so many channels doing videos like this and making janky ass fixes with jumper wires all over the place, reflowing chips etc, im always so annoyed thinking "dude, just buy a $2 donor game and swap the ROM chip" 100x faster and a 100x better more reliable job, especially if they are planning to resell the game
adding a battery socket to this games is very much worth it, it reduce the need to doing multiple soldering and de-soldering which helps even greater for the preservation and longevity of the game. I already did this kind of things to my games like SMW, and boy it is a blessing having those battery sockets.
10:18 hot air is really not ideal for removing a through-hole chip. I've killed two NES PPUs doing that, and old cheap circuit boards love to bubble and warp when you put hot air on them. I sometimes use it as a last resort if the chip legs really don't want to come unstuck but I really try every other method first. The best tool is a desoldering gun, but I know you mostly work on newer stuff where that wouldn't be useful very often. If the holes aren't plated, though, you can pretty easily just do it with solder wick!
@@rfmerrill I've been brute forcing it with a big solder sucker for a while until I updated my gear to the USBC iron with that Silver Solder sucker. I was so astounded when I pulled out two chips on a SNES cart in a fraction of the time I used to do.
I'm no expert on cartridge value and I like how you are worried about the battery holder devaluing the game when you literally swapped the whole guts. Love to see you better every day.
I remember getting this for Christmas one year. The big box with guide included. I have been KICKING myself for years for letting my folks sell it off for literal dollars at a garage sale. One of the best SNES titles ever, if not the very best.
I used to fix a lot of arcade game and pinball boards. I used deoxit on the edge connectors religiously and I used to use a pencil eraser to clean them up. (Before Magic Erasers existed) I replaced the battery on my original Zelda cartridge for the NES with a CR2032 battery holder like that.
For everyone doing board swaps - look for the version of CIC lockout chip. SNES had a few of them, and games can recognize which is installed on board.
17:31 I use CRC contact cleaner and 2000 grit automotive sandpaper with just fingertip pressure. People don't seem to realize that the only way to clean corrosion and tarnish from metal is with abrasives. You HAVE to remove material to get a good connection no matter what method you use. If the contacts are shiny again, you removed metal. You can see in 6:23 just how durable the contacts are. It took a Dremel grinder just to get down to the board so there's no risk of me "sanding them off."
With pad replacement there are 2 things which makes all the difference. Flat "screwdriver" type soldering iron and poliamid tape. Also while those pads are solid enough to solder some components to them they will wear out pretty quick when inserting into a SNES cartridge slot. For that kind of application pads are plated with some hard copper alloys with or without gold.
It’s been a while not YouTubing much and haven’t come across your video on my feeds until I saw a new look on you. I had no idea about your health. Long story short, I’m glad you’re getting better. The first time I came across your channel was while searching on how to clean PlayStation 5 or removing the cover etc. I’m happy to still get hints and ideas watching your videos. Thanks a lot. 👍🏼
This is almost worth just getting one of those blank boards and move the chips over. I know it won't be "original" but cleaner. (or use a donor game as you did)
I knew it was earthbound from the blurred image. Such an underrated gem. I'm honestly surprised they never revamped it. There is probably a high demand of people who would buy an updated copy. I'd buy it right away if it hit steam.
To the people saying no one will ever know the board was swapped..... yes they will. A true collector will spot the date stamp on the board. Changing caps is not gonna hurt the price. Changing the whole board will. Still a nice fix. But it won't bring what he paid for it.
@@vadimbellous8313 as a high end collector of SNES and SEGA I can point 3 things that are not original and an issue with the board swap but you can keep pretending that no one will ever know, its not original now period
The erasing part feels exactly like how Marshall describes polishing for watches on wristwatch revival. As long as you aren't overdoing it (seen on the pin you fixed where there was a lot of material taken away), you really aren't damaging it too much.
While it isn’t necessarily popular, it does have a very dedicated fan base. Earthbound is the game that directly inspired Undertale, one of the most popular indie games of all time. I enjoyed playing both, and I can see why an original SNES copy of Earthbound would be expensive (but not $400!)
Hi Steve, I only just realised that your were dealing with cancer. I've been watching your videos for a while, and they helped me while my wife dealt with cancer. She passed away this year, I'm praying for your success.
I don’t even play videos games but I enjoyed watching the whole video. My instructor told the whole class once to learn everything even if you think you don’t enjoy it, didn’t understand him at that time but I’m glad to have remembered his lessons.
If you were worried about devaluing the game with your repair, that ship basically already sailed as soon as you transplanted the ROM to another board. Because at that point, it's no longer an original. No matter though. Whatever the case may be, swapping the ROM was the smart thing to do considering the state of the original board and changing out the battery for battery holder is a nice quality-of-life improvement. The end result is a very nice, working and future-proof copy of Earthbound. Well done!
pretty weird how it's not considered "original" despite it being the same chip and same case, you could argue it's even the same board since that was a 1 to 1 identical replacement down the very serial numbers and traces, though if he was to ever re-sell it that would be a thing to mention that it was board swapped, it would be the right thing to do
For replacing the card edge contacts, one thing you might try at some point is to use an electroless copper plating kit. Electroless copper is how most PCBs these days are plated, so you could use that to lay down a thin layer of copper across the entire board edge, electroplate a thicker layer if needed, then re-etch the pins back to their original shape using your favourite PCB etching technique. An involved process to be sure, but it would make for some interesting content!
Looking good my man. Been watching for a few years now. You are an incredible repair man and you seem to be a genuine person as well! Congratulations on all that you have achieved!
As a huge collector of SNES and SEGA there is no way a chip swap is original anymore. The value would be massively tarnished, you could fake most people by not telling them but I would wager that most would turn that down. I dont think you could even get your $250 back.
@@mewinthedark8513 You keep things original thats what collectors want, adding things doesnt make something better you are clueless. Also you dont know how to read at all from what I wrote he takes the earthbound chip and puts it on a NHL pcb that is what massively devalues the game. The battery holder devalues it also so yea stop acting kid I have batterys that are 30+ years old still going in my carts its not needed.
@@nogon1382 you getting offended really shows your character. You know when the copper is broken on the game pins and the board is so neglected he did the best choice for repair to preserve the game. He will have to add more of the chips to prevent the last boss battle from not working.
@@nogon1382 the carts are a fairly standard design, the game is the game. What you really want is another copy taken out of circulation to raise the value more.
Hey brother, I used to watch your vids when ps5 released and CZcams just brought you up again and I was like something is wrong then I did my research, you are an absolute warrior and I wish you all the health in the world!
To remove remnants of a corroded pad/trace prior to repair set your iron to ~250°F and use an unloaded chisel tip the same width as your damaged. Then, using light pressure, essentially stroke the damaged area weakening the bond/adhesive. Get a sharp chisel in there to do the initial release and then follow up pulling with tweezers or a pair of needle nose pliers depending on size. I've never had this method fail to work in the 15 years I've done milspec (IPC Class 3) repairs of cards and modules. IPC 7711/7721 has all sorts of great processes for repairs even if you're not certified/don't do work that is inspected to that level. HIGHLY recommend investing the $$$ in the .pdf's! Happy Tinkering my dude(tte)s.
Hey man. Thanks to your cleaning and liquid metal vids I just fixed my PS5. I'm legally blind and never even took apart a TV remote before so big thanks :3
Please be aware, there are levels of copy protection on this game, well documented if you wish to check it out. The game designers put their own checks into the game to detect piracy, and unfortunately you won't see the effects till you are late into the game. The difficulty ramps up along with other things and ultimately if you make it to the end boss it basically kicks you out and deletes your save game. Only telling you this as I'm not sure if the way you fixed it would trigger the copy protection. Part of the checks are based on the amount of save data available on the cartridge itself as this amount wasn't consistent across different games, so this might be something that could trigger the issue. Amazing content as always, it's awesome to see you looking healthier. You are an inspiration.
6:40 Oh oh oh! I have a perfect tip for this! Just hold a soldering iron on it for a while, it'll come right off :) I'm not joking, it does actually work.Heat weakens the bond between the copper and board substrate. Just be careful you don't scorch the board (especially a worry with phenolic paper PCBs, which this one might be. Less of a worry with fiberglass)
It's truly amazing how we have all this knowledge and tools to restore old games and technology. Back when I was a kid no one would have had a clue on how to fix something like this and probably would have thrown the game away.
I replaced the battery in mine years ago, still play it from time to time. I have the original guide with the scratch and sniff stickers and everything. I always wondered if the game was worth anything, didnt expect it to be this valuable.
I am just seeing a video for the first time in close to a year and I was devastated to learn what you're going through. I'm happy things are looking up for you and I just read through the health information on your page. I wish you the best luck on your road to recovery. Thank you for all the content that truly got me through some tough times.
Yes, you put in a battery holder! Anyone that replaces the battery should put in a holder. One, it's easier to replace, two, it can be removed for longterm storage. It might not look original, but someone 20-30 years from now is going to thank you for doing that.
Been watching you for years and you helped me to fix my stuff countless of times. I dint know and im really saddened by this but im going to pray for you and hope all gets better for you sir.
I don't remember who did it but i think i seen someone here in CZcams replace game slot pins effortlessly. I wish i knew what we're looking at and methods on how to go about fixing it 😅. This is so satisfying to watch
That's such a wide replacement, holy cow. I'd really love to see a video with an "Anything goes, fix it no matter what it costs" repair. A lot of times it comes down to: "This doesn't make sense to repair", but then I don't really see a ton of sales unless it's on eBay or such. So I'd love to see just one 'This is so bad, it's never going to be worth the repair... let me show you what it'll take and what our total is.' video. Maybe have the whole team work on it.
I bought this game for $5 at Best Buy in 1998. I still have the box and guidebook in good condition. Crazy how expansive this game has gotten even though it came with the SNES mini.
Woah, I had no idea that prices had gotten so high! As a sidenote, I got my copy at a thrift store for a few bucks about fifteen years ago. One of my best finds ever.
Was recently watching another youtuber and he had a cameo from Steve asking about some information on a part or another. The video in that was jarring. Had no clue about the health scare. (I'm bad at staying with youtube channels comes with adhd) Glad to see you're doing better! Hope it continues!
Greetings from Russia!!! I have been repairing game consoles in Ulyanovsk since 2005. You can do it, the main thing is not to give up and believe in recovery. I wish you to undergo the complex, long-term treatment with dignity and, most importantly, to recover. I know about oncology firsthand, in 2019 I was also shocked that I was diagnosed with Ewing’s Sarcoma on the middle third of the bone of the right thigh. A year of chemotherapy, 2 surgeries, prosthetics, now it’s 2024 and I’m enjoying life. Everything will be fine, I'm sure!
back around 2007 or so I bought two copies at a pawn shop for $5 and sold them on Ebay for $90 a piece. I really thought I was ballin'. I still had a copy for myself with the big box too.
Just want to say I found your channel like 3 years ago to clean my ps4 heat sink (I was terrified) I was able to fix it fan didn’t sound like a helicopter anymore… anyways just wanna say you’re inspiring to say the least I’m glad I found your channel and I hope you’re doing well.
I noticed something else about that NHL cart that is helpful. It has the same number 40 stamp on the back label as Earthbound. My back label is almost ripped off on my Earthbound so will find a copy just to use the back shell.
Two things, you look great glad things are going well and random when you zoom in and out you use the robot monocular sound and it's awesome lol great vid man!
Hey, buddy, you're looking a lot better. I'm glad to see it. I hadn't watched any videos in a while, and then i saw one and thought, what is going on? something dont seem right, and then i went and looked up old videos and found out. Im glad to see tour looking happy and healthy again.
Awesome repair! I will say though, there are a lot of antipiracy checks in the game, in particular quite a few SRAM checks. In theory if it boots it should be fine, since there is an SRAM check at startup, but you may want to guarantee by checking the chip codes on the donor board.
I bought the exact same battery holders like 10 years ago from china. They have worked like a charm in my N64 cartridges. Nice to see they also fit the SNES cartridges. Wonder if a pcb producer could make nes/snes/n64 game blanks that could be used for games where only the chips can be saved.
Exceptionally one of my favorite fix up videos of all time, it was great to see a complete transplant! You give me inspiration to finish my hobbies that I never finished, YOU DA MAN!
This is one of those games I picked up like 10 years ago for $100 and I played it through and enjoyed it. Now I'm just holding on to it because it's a classic and the price keeps climbing!
We started a Discord! Come hang out: discord.gg/FE3Q3GFn
@@Tronicsfix you are the best
Hypothetically if you couldn't swap boards you could remove the original connector traces and drill holes in the traces and down to the connector slot to run a thick gauge hammered flat copper wires with a long/short arrangement that doesn't overlap the other side of the board pins.
Great work Steve, you are amazing!! Keep at it.
I want to buy that game
Do other games share a similar board? If so, transferring the chips may be a solution. sure ,second I hit enter on this comment as the vid is playing you say exactly what I suggested.
Dude you are looking better and better, I saw the "future Tronix Fix" ad segment from a different episode and it looks like your hair is coming back in great! I'm glad you are doing better!
Yep. I'm doing much better.
@@Tronicsfix Thats great. I have two questions: is this game worth less with the replacement board? Also would you be interested in a sony a6300 to fix for the channel? Mines just dead and I'd give it to you.
@@Tronicsfix I'm so glad your doing well. 👍.
Ngl. Im going to miss having *CALIBAN* fix broken stuff very very much.
@@Tronicsfix
19:36 "Annnd.... that's pretty scrambled. Oop- that's just part of the game." As a Mother fan, you had me rolling on the floor 😂😂
Lol, I thought for sure it wasn't fixed when I first saw that on the screen.
😂 I was like well that’s rough it’s not going work after all that.
Hell, I played the game and under the current circumstances I still thought, "oh no"
@@Tronicsfix It was a flop on release but developed a cult following that sort of misses its point. But anyway, I've played it since I was young and will tell you that intro sequence is still pretty badass even today.
Great job, by the way, but I would never pay over two hundred bucks on anything that requires me to repair it. They really are reaching with those prices.
• You cannot grasp the true form
of Earthbound's start up screen!
Seeing the blurred thumbnail I immediately knew it was Earthbound. I still have my original cart and the guidebook that came with it... I just wish I had been smart enough to keep the box when I was a kid!!
Not that it matters because my cart is priceless to me. One of the save files is the first game my much-older-than-me sister and I beat when I was a kid. She passed away back in 2010, and that cart is a piece of her I have left. 💜
I'm always happy to see you upload! Love your videos and I've recced your channel to my dad who used to deal in electronics and repairing radio communication equipment. 😊
Wow, that's quite a story about your game. Definitely priceless.
So glad you're enjoying my videos!
arent you worried the battery can die and wipe the save?
Use a Cardtridge Reader with a Program and you can Backup your Save File
@@jebadaiah1228 I'm looking into getting a cart reader to rip and save the file before the battery dies.
I wish I had my DKC2 cart, I had a save there of a play through I did with my sister in coop mode when we were kids, she also passed away in 2010
Hey Steve. I am glad to see that your health is improving. I also battled and won against Hodgkin's Lymphoma. Glad to see you kicked its ass.
I am in the market for this game right now and can think of no better way to get it from a trusted source than yourself. If you are interested in selling it, please let me know.
fun fact, there are 2 solder points on the opposite sided of the board to the battery, that when tested with a multimeter, carries the power from the battery, if you solder another 3v battery to these points before removing the original battery, then continue to change the original battery. then after you remove the temporary battery, your game saves will still be on the cartridge
nice information...
or solder it while it's powered up. or just back the saves up if you have dumping hardware
simple logic
Just like what a mechanic does when they replace your battery
@@fastinradfordable with a dead battery? 😂
I always think it's funny when people complain about the magic eraser wearing away pins. You know what else wears away the pins? Plugging it into the console to play it. Removing it to play another game. Things wear out over time. That's life.
Lol, so true!
Once the game is a collector's item, why would you ever plug it in again? This game is destined to sit on a shelf for the rest of its existence.
@@SBBurzmali People can do whatever they want with their games. I buy old, sealed games so I can share the experience of opening the shrink wrap, plugging in the cartridges, and playing them in the living room with my kids. If that destroys the value and somebody doesn't like it then too bad. It's mine to destroy.
@@andywest5773 Some people juggle geese, but I'd still bet a sizable amount of money that anyone paying $400 for a loose cartridge of a game available on multiple platforms for a fraction of the price, has no intention of ever plugging it into a machine.
@@andywest5773 if you want to split hairs inserting the cartridge isnt considered abrasive, magic erasers are wearing away coating faster. i prefer to use other methods before scrubbing things with what is basically 10000 grit sandpaper
As soon as I saw the condition of the old board I thought this would be a good candidate for a board swap.
You were right!
I thought the same thing
Wouldn't have been a very long video if he gave up that easily. I have replaced the board because the old one had the complete insertion part was broken all the way across(mario kart). I have one that board is snapped in half (mario 64). I find the sports games make cheap donors.
Same
making the parts not the original parts so can you REALLY sell it for $400? also bought it for $200? probably can get it off a flea market who doesn't sell it at retro gaming collectors prices
Good to see future Steve is getting better man.
Thanks! It feels amazing to get doing better.
As soon as i ssw that wrecked edge connector I was saying to myself, "just swap the ROM to another board", glad that's how it played out!
Yep, those edge connectors are very difficult to repair.
But now you have a not so valuable game parts and you could save that too by migrating them to a brand new snes circuit board. I dont think it would devalue it anymore but it would be working.
@@lookitskazzy is there a way you can flash that chip ie so you can put that rom onto other chips?
@@lookitskazzy agreed. I have done the same thing on another valuable sega genesis game that my local video game store had. We found another donor game that had the same board that was very cheap and I swapped out the ic chips to save the other game.
@@user-vo4ft8rj4g No, NES games used non-rewriteable mask ROMs. You could switch the ROM chip out for a programmable eeprom though.
As someone who's moderately experienced in Soldering, the number of times I had seen others fail in soldering just because they used a crappy iron which doesnt heat enough is insane. Most large pads require atleast 5-10 seconds with 450 degrees on soldering iron, and many irons just cant achieve that and people end up either heating for too long and damaging the top layer of the PCB, or pulling without the solder properly melting and ripping the pads out. Also a little bit of flux usually makes the whole process way easier.
Yep. I think this is probably the number 1 problem when people first learn to solder. A cheap iron makes soldering WAY more difficult
Yes! I was using a cheap ebay £20 iron and it was junk... bought a Yihua soldering station for £120, not high end by any means but its a night and day difference compared to the unbranded one.
This was my problem when I was trying to learn too. I felt like I was doing everything right and still couldn't accomplish much. I even showed the soldering iron to someone who solders for a living and they said "yeah that's fine, I use one like that too"
Eventually I caved and bought a proper soldering iron & station, KSGER something, and finally I can actually solder. Some people say a bad craftsman blames his tools, but there is a line where crappy tools absolutely exist and you will have a bad time if you use them no matter how good you are.
Finally, someone installs a battery holder inside the cartridge to make it easier to swap in future 👏🏻
No one is ever going to need to replace that battery again. I have my original copy of Earthbound that I got on release day. Battery still works. Can not imagine someone will need to change that battery in 2055 lol.
Most people argue that it's unnecessary, but to me it seems sensible that if you already put in the effort to desolder it, you might as well install a permanent fix, even if it won't be required for the next 10 years.
@@Sepioth Its more to safeguard against a leaking battery damaging the board
Future Steve is a blast from the past! Looking good, man! Hope your recovery has been going well.
Good Lord, I had no idea you were battling cancer...its a damn good thing to read the comments and see you doing better, brother!
I'm so glad you're health is improving. Been watching for a couple years now and using your advice to fix quite a few things.
Mr. Steve getting out of his comfort zone again. Always love that! Good job, stay safe and happy Friday!
Yeah, this was a fun one.
Glad to see you're still putting out the positive energy no matter what! I beat thyroid cancer 10 years ago. Keep it up! You're amazing!
I have had family dealing with similar ailme to and for u to be able to still be repairing and making videos is amazing. You are built different brother. Bless u brother
In this case, just swapping the ROM sticks should just work, but many SNES games have a copy protection mechanism, if they detect incorrect Save RAM (The upper chip; it contains the save data), the game will activate copy protection mechanism. This was used to detect Floppy Disk copiers, which usually had a single SRAM for all games. Earthbound has an interesting copy protection, you would get more random encounters and the game would get more difficult. If you reached the final boss, the game would erase all save data. However, Earthbound and NHL97 both use 64k SRAM, so it should be fine.
Wouldn't the save ram be gone because the battery was pulled?
@@volvo09 The Save Ram, as if the chip itself. The game checks for the exact size of the chip (64k in this case), it doesn't care whether there's an existing save in it or not.
@@tamoghnapal6619 ah ok, I misunderstood what you were getting at. Thanks!
I bet that got a bunch of people back in the day wondering why the game is so crazy, I never would have expected something like that, but it's smart!
Battery holders are the only way to go IMO. I did all my Gameboy (and the 2 GBA games I have that have batteries), replacing them with low profile battery holders. I use emulation for the 8/16 bit conosles so I don't own any other cartridges that have batteries.
Yeah, I wasn't sure if that will increase the value or decrease it.
@@Tronicsfix As far as the resale value on the collector market...honestly I don't know. Some collectors are reasonable, others go absolutely nuts when everything isn't 100% original. But for the latter, I would think the act of replacing the battery or soldering in the cartridge would "destroy" it as far as those people are concerned. As somewhat of a collector myself (who likes CIB copies), I had NO issue replacing them with battery holders, and that increased the value of those cartridges to me. Because I know when the batteries die again I can pop in a new one in about 5 seconds.
@@StormsparkPegasusPragmatic conservation. I like how you think.
@@Tronicsfix Value shouldn't be the deciding factor in this case I feel. Better have a solid working rare than no rare at all. Well done!
Dude you rock. I had to do chemo for 3 months myself. I always kind of took the approach that I had been sick with cancer for a long time and am just now dealing with it. Two years later and I feel better than I ever have. Keep doing your thing beother
Earthbound has some pretty nasty copy protection, including checking if the version of the lockout chip is the correct type, among other checks, in some cases you won't notice anything is wrong til you get to the final boss, it'll freeze and wipe your save (on purpose), don't know exactly if it's triggered by the chips on that particular game, but i really reccommend swapping the other chips as well, you don't wanna accidentallt sell someone a copy of Eathbound that might misbehave like that, swapping the other chips will definitely add to the authenticity as well, as right now this game is more NHL than Earthbound.
Great fix though!! you always make it look easy, not hating just would be a bummer to have to deal with this later down the line when it could cost both your time, the buyer's time, and most importantly the buyers SAVE, Better safe than sorry! lol
Interesting. Good to know. Thanks for the comment
I think it goes through a number of checks and gettinga bootleg version to work through to the final boss would require a bit of hacking. Also it spawns a lot of enemies so even if you did make it to the end it would notice the difficulty.
I was coming here to say this. It is one of the reasons that Earthbound costs so much - it isn't just the rarity it is also because doing board swaps are such a pain. One blown chip and it makes the other chips useless. You might be able to play the game, but not be able to actually FINISH it. Sometimes you can't even swap between different versions of EARTHBOUND boards (although sometimes you can without issue). All of that contributes to the high price from working copies.
I didn't even think about that but you're right. I wonder what Frankenstein-ing the board/chips would do, if anything, to the game. It's not immediately obvious if anything is actually wrong and it does think that you're playing a bootleg version of it... if all you're looking at is whether it starts up or not, you'd miss that completely. You actually have to know a little about the game itself to spot things that might be going wrong. Easily the most famous of them all is the game freezing on purpose before the final battle and it deletes your save game when you start it back up, but of course you have to play through the entire game to get there and find that out. It does all kinds of things before then like crashing/freezing randomly, spawning way, WAY too many enemies than what's normal in certain areas, sometimes the battle backgrounds glitch out, etc. This one's worth a play for maybe a few hours and maybe some of these will pop up... the super dedicated would have to actually play through the entire game to see if you can actually beat the game. I doubt you can concoct some set of circumstances where none of the other anti-piracy measures kick in at all except for the final boss freeze and delete, to avoid playing through the entire game just to see if you can beat it, but I don't know for sure.
A few years ago, I bought a Open Box listing of Earthbound. It's complete, so complete the guide is still in the plastic. I was so lucky to get it for $250, it's worth 1k now lol.
You know what I like? The fact that you aren't hiding behind the camera. Also that you give off positive energy. You have an awesome talent! Praying for ya!
I cant believe you paid 250 Dollars for that. Looks like someone found the PCB at the bottom of the ocean.
Lol, could have happened!
@@Tronicsfix Sure🤣
agree 110%. that game was worth little to nothing dead, which it was. could have probably gotten $50 for it.
Pretty easy fix. I’d pay 200 for it.
@@triforcelink i would count my blessings getting 200 for a PCB thats basically dissolving
Enjoyable repair, nice save 👌
I would've loved to see the rest of that corroded board, underneath the other chips. It was in bad shape.
Is there any identifiying text on the motherboard that indicates it's not the original circuit board?
so glad you just went for the chip swap, seen so many channels doing videos like this and making janky ass fixes with jumper wires all over the place, reflowing chips etc, im always so annoyed thinking "dude, just buy a $2 donor game and swap the ROM chip" 100x faster and a 100x better more reliable job, especially if they are planning to resell the game
wwpwowwowowoowo YOU LOOK SO MUCH BETTER IN THE AD SEGMENT. CHEERS MAN, KEEP UP! SO GOOD TO KNOW YOU ARE BETTER
adding a battery socket to this games is very much worth it, it reduce the need to doing multiple soldering and de-soldering which helps even greater for the preservation and longevity of the game. I already did this kind of things to my games like SMW, and boy it is a blessing having those battery sockets.
10:18 hot air is really not ideal for removing a through-hole chip. I've killed two NES PPUs doing that, and old cheap circuit boards love to bubble and warp when you put hot air on them. I sometimes use it as a last resort if the chip legs really don't want to come unstuck but I really try every other method first. The best tool is a desoldering gun, but I know you mostly work on newer stuff where that wouldn't be useful very often. If the holes aren't plated, though, you can pretty easily just do it with solder wick!
@@rfmerrill I've been brute forcing it with a big solder sucker for a while until I updated my gear to the USBC iron with that Silver Solder sucker. I was so astounded when I pulled out two chips on a SNES cart in a fraction of the time I used to do.
4:16 Damn, that folding effect scared me like an jumpscare! I thought half the circuit had broken and fallen down 🤣
I'm no expert on cartridge value and I like how you are worried about the battery holder devaluing the game when you literally swapped the whole guts. Love to see you better every day.
this is probubly why its worth so much
I remember getting this for Christmas one year. The big box with guide included. I have been KICKING myself for years for letting my folks sell it off for literal dollars at a garage sale. One of the best SNES titles ever, if not the very best.
you did an amazing job of fixing that!
Hey thanks! I enjoyed this one
@@Tronicsfixwe all look at this as a fun hobby or even a job/career but it's also preserving history.
I used to fix a lot of arcade game and pinball boards. I used deoxit on the edge connectors religiously and I used to use a pencil eraser to clean them up. (Before Magic Erasers existed) I replaced the battery on my original Zelda cartridge for the NES with a CR2032 battery holder like that.
Hell yeah! Got your hair back. That's great to see man, keep cranking out these awesome videos.
For everyone doing board swaps - look for the version of CIC lockout chip. SNES had a few of them, and games can recognize which is installed on board.
Steve can repair a lot, i like that. I always try at least repair my stuff that broke 😄
17:31 I use CRC contact cleaner and 2000 grit automotive sandpaper with just fingertip pressure. People don't seem to realize that the only way to clean corrosion and tarnish from metal is with abrasives. You HAVE to remove material to get a good connection no matter what method you use. If the contacts are shiny again, you removed metal. You can see in 6:23 just how durable the contacts are. It took a Dremel grinder just to get down to the board so there's no risk of me "sanding them off."
Glad to see you getting better Steve
With pad replacement there are 2 things which makes all the difference. Flat "screwdriver" type soldering iron and poliamid tape. Also while those pads are solid enough to solder some components to them they will wear out pretty quick when inserting into a SNES cartridge slot. For that kind of application pads are plated with some hard copper alloys with or without gold.
It’s been a while not YouTubing much and haven’t come across your video on my feeds until I saw a new look on you. I had no idea about your health. Long story short, I’m glad you’re getting better. The first time I came across your channel was while searching on how to clean PlayStation 5 or removing the cover etc. I’m happy to still get hints and ideas watching your videos. Thanks a lot. 👍🏼
This is almost worth just getting one of those blank boards and move the chips over. I know it won't be "original" but cleaner. (or use a donor game as you did)
0:05 "only" 250 basketball fields. Jeez..
I knew it was earthbound from the blurred image. Such an underrated gem. I'm honestly surprised they never revamped it. There is probably a high demand of people who would buy an updated copy. I'd buy it right away if it hit steam.
glad u are doing better. you are the only repair channel i like to watch.
19:14
I'm sure most people will never notice this, but the screen transition Fade Out into the cartridge, is masterfully done!
God bless you all!
To the people saying no one will ever know the board was swapped..... yes they will. A true collector will spot the date stamp on the board. Changing caps is not gonna hurt the price. Changing the whole board will. Still a nice fix. But it won't bring what he paid for it.
Yes. It should be disclosed that there was a board swap when it is sold on.
Same date stamp. And no, no one will ever know
@@vadimbellous8313 as a high end collector of SNES and SEGA I can point 3 things that are not original and an issue with the board swap but you can keep pretending that no one will ever know, its not original now period
The erasing part feels exactly like how Marshall describes polishing for watches on wristwatch revival. As long as you aren't overdoing it (seen on the pin you fixed where there was a lot of material taken away), you really aren't damaging it too much.
I never understood the fascination with Earthbound. I just didn't enjoy it, always fun watching you fix stuff though!
Never even played it. I'm surprised with how much it's worth. Must be a rare game or something.
It's extremely nerve racking and you basically need a Nintendo Power magazine or guide. The game gets goofy as heck later on. lol
While it isn’t necessarily popular, it does have a very dedicated fan base. Earthbound is the game that directly inspired Undertale, one of the most popular indie games of all time. I enjoyed playing both, and I can see why an original SNES copy of Earthbound would be expensive (but not $400!)
@@Swinny_08Exactly for that price you can buy four pokemon black toast for if you wanted 24 some reason❤❤11❤1❤1q p
I think rarity is more of a factor over gameplay in regards to it's value
Hi Steve, I only just realised that your were dealing with cancer. I've been watching your videos for a while, and they helped me while my wife dealt with cancer. She passed away this year, I'm praying for your success.
@@mikehibbett3301 Well, that’s depressing.
I don’t even play videos games but I enjoyed watching the whole video. My instructor told the whole class once to learn everything even if you think you don’t enjoy it, didn’t understand him at that time but I’m glad to have remembered his lessons.
If you were worried about devaluing the game with your repair, that ship basically already sailed as soon as you transplanted the ROM to another board. Because at that point, it's no longer an original. No matter though. Whatever the case may be, swapping the ROM was the smart thing to do considering the state of the original board and changing out the battery for battery holder is a nice quality-of-life improvement. The end result is a very nice, working and future-proof copy of Earthbound. Well done!
Came to say this, its not the original board so any value is out of the question
@@Neopumper666 99% of people won’t know the difference. I’ve seen the stupid clone cartridges that sell like crazy.
To me its as original as its ever going to be. Using identical original circuit board.
Doesn't matter, nobody will ever know
pretty weird how it's not considered "original" despite it being the same chip and same case, you could argue it's even the same board since that was a 1 to 1 identical replacement down the very serial numbers and traces, though if he was to ever re-sell it that would be a thing to mention that it was board swapped, it would be the right thing to do
For replacing the card edge contacts, one thing you might try at some point is to use an electroless copper plating kit. Electroless copper is how most PCBs these days are plated, so you could use that to lay down a thin layer of copper across the entire board edge, electroplate a thicker layer if needed, then re-etch the pins back to their original shape using your favourite PCB etching technique. An involved process to be sure, but it would make for some interesting content!
I must be a turbonerd because even with the blur on the thumbnail I said "that's Earthbound"
Lol, it's not a super strong blur but that's still pretty impressive
Looking good my man. Been watching for a few years now. You are an incredible repair man and you seem to be a genuine person as well! Congratulations on all that you have achieved!
As a huge collector of SNES and SEGA there is no way a chip swap is original anymore. The value would be massively tarnished, you could fake most people by not telling them but I would wager that most would turn that down. I dont think you could even get your $250 back.
if your a collector then you would know most people prefer the battery holder cause its only a matter of time till the battery goes out.
@@mewinthedark8513 You keep things original thats what collectors want, adding things doesnt make something better you are clueless. Also you dont know how to read at all from what I wrote he takes the earthbound chip and puts it on a NHL pcb that is what massively devalues the game. The battery holder devalues it also so yea stop acting kid I have batterys that are 30+ years old still going in my carts its not needed.
@@nogon1382 you getting offended really shows your character. You know when the copper is broken on the game pins and the board is so neglected he did the best choice for repair to preserve the game. He will have to add more of the chips to prevent the last boss battle from not working.
@@nogon1382 the carts are a fairly standard design, the game is the game. What you really want is another copy taken out of circulation to raise the value more.
That was such a creative approach to fixing that cartridge. Is there a list of compatible game boards somewhere or are they all mostly the same?
What happened to you man? I hope you are good.
Had cancer, got treatment, now in remission
He got cancer and is undergoing treatment.😢
@@Tronicsfix glad to see you doing videos. I hope for a full recovery.
Happy to see you better and better! I’m glad to see the progress. God bless you! 🎉❤
I must have missed something. What happened to my boy's hair?
I had cancer, got treatment and now I'm in remission.
@@Tronicsfix I figured but wasn't sure. You got this! I will pray for you.
I'm almost 28 and fighting against lymphiod cancer since a year now. You will rise again like a phoenix.
Hey brother, I used to watch your vids when ps5 released and CZcams just brought you up again and I was like something is wrong then I did my research, you are an absolute warrior and I wish you all the health in the world!
bro do you have a free laptop lying around because i want one and have no money to buy one please can you send me one for free
Hey @techleak_official do you have a free iPhone lying around because I don’t really want to pay for one so I’d rather get one from you for free.
@@njones621 😄
R/choosingbeggers
@@JStorm13 he's not a choosing beggar. He's just asking for a laptop, not any particular laptop, let alone a high-end laptop.
To remove remnants of a corroded pad/trace prior to repair set your iron to ~250°F and use an unloaded chisel tip the same width as your damaged. Then, using light pressure, essentially stroke the damaged area weakening the bond/adhesive. Get a sharp chisel in there to do the initial release and then follow up pulling with tweezers or a pair of needle nose pliers depending on size. I've never had this method fail to work in the 15 years I've done milspec (IPC Class 3) repairs of cards and modules. IPC 7711/7721 has all sorts of great processes for repairs even if you're not certified/don't do work that is inspected to that level. HIGHLY recommend investing the $$$ in the .pdf's! Happy Tinkering my dude(tte)s.
Hey man. Thanks to your cleaning and liquid metal vids I just fixed my PS5.
I'm legally blind and never even took apart a TV remote before so big thanks :3
Please be aware, there are levels of copy protection on this game, well documented if you wish to check it out. The game designers put their own checks into the game to detect piracy, and unfortunately you won't see the effects till you are late into the game. The difficulty ramps up along with other things and ultimately if you make it to the end boss it basically kicks you out and deletes your save game. Only telling you this as I'm not sure if the way you fixed it would trigger the copy protection. Part of the checks are based on the amount of save data available on the cartridge itself as this amount wasn't consistent across different games, so this might be something that could trigger the issue. Amazing content as always, it's awesome to see you looking healthier. You are an inspiration.
6:40 Oh oh oh! I have a perfect tip for this! Just hold a soldering iron on it for a while, it'll come right off :) I'm not joking, it does actually work.Heat weakens the bond between the copper and board substrate. Just be careful you don't scorch the board (especially a worry with phenolic paper PCBs, which this one might be. Less of a worry with fiberglass)
This man is a component level repair MACHINE!
It's truly amazing how we have all this knowledge and tools to restore old games and technology. Back when I was a kid no one would have had a clue on how to fix something like this and probably would have thrown the game away.
I replaced the battery in mine years ago, still play it from time to time. I have the original guide with the scratch and sniff stickers and everything. I always wondered if the game was worth anything, didnt expect it to be this valuable.
I am just seeing a video for the first time in close to a year and I was devastated to learn what you're going through. I'm happy things are looking up for you and I just read through the health information on your page. I wish you the best luck on your road to recovery. Thank you for all the content that truly got me through some tough times.
Wow, 400 USD is a lot for a Super Nintendo game. Soldering work is very good! Nice to hear that you hair is growing again, hope you doing well.
Dude I got that game! Didn't realize it was worth $400 now! One of my most favorite games from my childhood!
Yes, you put in a battery holder! Anyone that replaces the battery should put in a holder. One, it's easier to replace, two, it can be removed for longterm storage. It might not look original, but someone 20-30 years from now is going to thank you for doing that.
Back in the day when I used to repair NES consoles and games we used to use crocus cloth to polish the contacts. Worked great for me.
Been watching you for years and you helped me to fix my stuff countless of times. I dint know and im really saddened by this but im going to pray for you and hope all gets better for you sir.
I don't remember who did it but i think i seen someone here in CZcams replace game slot pins effortlessly. I wish i knew what we're looking at and methods on how to go about fixing it 😅.
This is so satisfying to watch
That's such a wide replacement, holy cow.
I'd really love to see a video with an "Anything goes, fix it no matter what it costs" repair. A lot of times it comes down to: "This doesn't make sense to repair", but then I don't really see a ton of sales unless it's on eBay or such. So I'd love to see just one 'This is so bad, it's never going to be worth the repair... let me show you what it'll take and what our total is.' video. Maybe have the whole team work on it.
I bought this game for $5 at Best Buy in 1998. I still have the box and guidebook in good condition. Crazy how expansive this game has gotten even though it came with the SNES mini.
thats a steal even in 98. damn
I'm a fan of BadAss Steve but if you want to go back to Super Steve with hair instead, I'm good with that ;)
Lol!
Woah, I had no idea that prices had gotten so high!
As a sidenote, I got my copy at a thrift store for a few bucks about fifteen years ago. One of my best finds ever.
Was recently watching another youtuber and he had a cameo from Steve asking about some information on a part or another. The video in that was jarring. Had no clue about the health scare. (I'm bad at staying with youtube channels comes with adhd) Glad to see you're doing better! Hope it continues!
Greetings from Russia!!! I have been repairing game consoles in Ulyanovsk since 2005. You can do it, the main thing is not to give up and believe in recovery. I wish you to undergo the complex, long-term treatment with dignity and, most importantly, to recover.
I know about oncology firsthand, in 2019 I was also shocked that I was diagnosed with Ewing’s Sarcoma on the middle third of the bone of the right thigh. A year of chemotherapy, 2 surgeries, prosthetics, now it’s 2024 and I’m enjoying life. Everything will be fine, I'm sure!
That was a really smart repair. The original board was such a mess. Now one quick chip swap later good for another 30 years
Why 30?
I used your tutorial to fix my ps5 controller a few days ago
I hope you get well
I'm rooting for your improvement from Egypt 🇪🇬
God bless you 🙏
Praying for your healthy Bounce Bak Brother. The world needs u. Ive learned a good Bit from you myself, & i look forward to learning more.
back around 2007 or so I bought two copies at a pawn shop for $5 and sold them on Ebay for $90 a piece. I really thought I was ballin'. I still had a copy for myself with the big box too.
Just want to say I found your channel like 3 years ago to clean my ps4 heat sink (I was terrified) I was able to fix it fan didn’t sound like a helicopter anymore… anyways just wanna say you’re inspiring to say the least I’m glad I found your channel and I hope you’re doing well.
I noticed something else about that NHL cart that is helpful. It has the same number 40 stamp on the back label as Earthbound. My back label is almost ripped off on my Earthbound so will find a copy just to use the back shell.
I'm glad that you used a donor PCB. This one was just too far gone for a reliable repair
It's actually incredible that most of these games work flawlessly for nearly 40 years now
I still have this, still works. I don't have an snes right now though, been about 4 years. Decent game,
Two things, you look great glad things are going well and random when you zoom in and out you use the robot monocular sound and it's awesome lol great vid man!
Hey, buddy, you're looking a lot better. I'm glad to see it. I hadn't watched any videos in a while, and then i saw one and thought, what is going on? something dont seem right, and then i went and looked up old videos and found out. Im glad to see tour looking happy and healthy again.
Awesome repair! I will say though, there are a lot of antipiracy checks in the game, in particular quite a few SRAM checks. In theory if it boots it should be fine, since there is an SRAM check at startup, but you may want to guarantee by checking the chip codes on the donor board.
Dude is good to see you doing so well I hope you kicked cancer’s butt and I learn so much from you thank you for what you do
I bought the exact same battery holders like 10 years ago from china. They have worked like a charm in my N64 cartridges. Nice to see they also fit the SNES cartridges.
Wonder if a pcb producer could make nes/snes/n64 game blanks that could be used for games where only the chips can be saved.
Exceptionally one of my favorite fix up videos of all time, it was great to see a complete transplant! You give me inspiration to finish my hobbies that I never finished, YOU DA MAN!
This is one of those games I picked up like 10 years ago for $100 and I played it through and enjoyed it. Now I'm just holding on to it because it's a classic and the price keeps climbing!