Import mod for Super Mario RPG

[Yod@]

I got a message from someone asking about a mod for Super Mario RPG to enable it to run on his PAL SNES, but so far all I've found in reference to it is one post on a forum from someone who said it didn't work.

Here's a pic of the cart:
http://img.photobucket.com/albums/v204/ret...da/sa1_cart.jpg

According to the (rather sparse) information, pin 127 of the SA1 chip should be lifted and either left floating or else have 5 Volts supplied to it in order for it to work on a PAL SNES.

It's not clear whether or not the PAL SNES still needs to have a working territory lockout chip.

I was wondering if anyone here might be able to confirm the veracity of this info? I'd rather not risk exploding my own Mario RPG cart needlessly.    

[Lawrence]

From what I've heard it's true that Super Mario RPG is one of the only carts that refuses to run with the standard import mod.  Another is Street Fighter Alpha 2.  I don't know if there's any cure.

Mario RPG is a cheap enough game to replace, I'd try it and see what happens.  =)

[Yod@]

Well, I've now had one positive report of it working on a PAL SNES with this SA1 mod applied.
Strangely, it doesn't seem to work with most import adapters (even when just using it as a pass-through adapter) - the guy had to connect the bare PCB straight into his PAL SNES for it to work (his PAL region chip is enabled, BTW).

Mario RPG is a cheap enough game to replace, I'd try it and see what happens.  =)

Haha, I might lose my savegame though! I'm only half-way through, and it's already taken me ages to get even that far!

Anyway, I'll try modding it and testing it out on one of my PAL SNESes over the next day or two and post an update.

[atom]

Super Mario RPG and Street Fighter do not work with neither copiers nor imports and here is why. The game does two things to make sure it is running legit. It tries to write to several memory locations like rom or to the gamepad where on real hardware you can not write to. If the write succeeded then the game knew it was either on an emulator or a copier and it would cease function. And then the lockout chip. Your basic snes lockout chip in a cartridge would only respond to the lockout chip in the console. This lockout chip actually shuts off the cartridge *GASP!!!* untill it recieves the signal from the console! I think your only hope is to transplant a lockout chip into your euro snes and solder up a switch to choose witch one to power up..... Or maybe now that I think about it you could disable the lockout chip in the cartridge which is what your doing anyways. Glad I could help  :ph34r:  

[Yod@]

Sorry, I should have made my original post clearer. I already know that some copies of Mario RPG and one of the Street Fighter games do not run without a *functioning* matching territory lockout chip.

The point of this mod is to get Mario RPG to work either on a standard PAL console or any SNES which has a disabled territory lockout chip.

Anyway, I've just tested it and I've got it working on a PAL SNES which has *not* been region modded. The Mario RPG cart is connected directly to the SNES without the means of a bridge adapter, and it's working fine. The PAL territory lockout chip is definitely working - PAL games are booting, standard US games are not.

A couple of things:
1. My Mario RPG cart is one of the type which *will* work on a region modded console. However, it does *not* work on an unmodded PAL unit, so it's still good for this experiment.

2. I lifted pin 127 (previously grounded) and, as I expected, there was no change. But I've now given it a 5 Volt supply, and it's working perfectly.

I was speaking to a guy a little earlier and he says his Mario RPG is also booting now (he says he has the version of Mario RPG which doesn't work on modded machines). He said that he got his to work just by lifting pin 127 (in fact, he said it broke off!).
He's posted his cart to me so that I can confirm it for myself, I'll do so after I receive it in the next few days.

[Yod@]

Right. I've spent ages arsing about (both my PAL SNESes are a bit temperamental, which didn't help :/ ) and I *think* this is how it all works.

I have my own Mario RPG cart which, even before modding, worked both in a US SNES with an enabled territory lockout chip, and in *all* my SNESes with the territory chip disabled.
I've borrowed another Mario RPG cart which, as mentioned, has had pin 127 broken off entirely.

First thing I found is that none of the 3 import adapters that I've tried would work with Mario RPG - the cart had to be connected directly to the SNES in order for it to work at all.
If anybody has a copy of Mario RPG which they can't get to boot, you first need to try it connected directly to the SNES - you may find it'll work like that.

Obviously if you have a PAL SNES then you'll have difficulty getting the cart to fit - you'll either need to remove the cartridge shell and insert the bare pcb, remove the top shell of the SNES, widen the cartridge slot of the SNES shell, or else try and put the Mario RPG pcb into the shell of a PAL cartridge.

There are 3 possible states for pin 127:
1. Grounded. Pin 127 was originally grounded in both carts that I've got here - in this state, the cart will boot with a US/JP *functioning* territory lockout chip. My cart also booted with the territory lockout chips disabled, but I gather that not all versions of Mario RPG will do that.

2. Floating. With pin 127 left floating, the game will boot on a PAL SNES with a *functioning* territory lockout chip. (My cart still boots on my region-modded SNESes, but the cart with the broken pin 127 does not - it only works on the PAL SNES w/working region chip).

3. 5 Volts supplied to pin 127. In this state, the cartridge booted on a SNES with a disabled territory lockout chip, but refused to boot on any SNES with a functioning lockout chip.

Here's a (very blurry!) pic of my cart after the mod:
http://img.photobucket.com/albums/v204/ret...MarioRPGMod.jpg

I'm truly sick of Mario RPG after all this messing about - if anyone else wants to try the mod and post their findings here, that would be great.

If anyone wants to take my ramblings and write it up properly, then that would be even *more* great.

[Vertigo]

SF Alpha 2 (PAL version, 20 quid new direct from Nintendo, I KNOW!!!) works fine in my PAL SNES running at either 50 or 60Hz, even though it's got the decompression chip in it. It also doesn't appear to have a speed check at all because it boots fine in 60Hz mode, something that a lot of big release newer PAL carts won't do.
This is at odds with anything that contains a SuperFX because that chip has specific versions depending on a PAL or NTSC cart. Stick a PAL Starfox in at 60Hz and it's a jiggly mess of shite that doesn't draw polygons properly. Not unlike a PSone
Does this help with the SFA2 question? (Probably not)

I also read from numerous reliable sources (one of these being Cherryroms forum) that an import SMRPG won't work properly even on a PAL console running at 60Hz because there are still weird timings involved with the NTSC console that aren't in existence on a PAL console at 60Hz. I'm not stating this as fact because I haven't tried it, but I've read it on numerous sources, as reliable as the internet and teenaged Americans will allow.

If it helps, when I played SMRPG in an emulator, I found it quite boring and not worth my time, although I finished PM64 and Superstar Saga, so I'm probably an idiot

[phreak97]

lol, you mean people actually play these games? i thought they were just there as a challenge to see who can get them working where they arent meant to isnt that the whole point of them?

[Yod@]

It also doesn't appear to have a speed check at all because it boots fine in 60Hz mode, something that a lot of big release newer PAL carts won't do...

That's interesting. I noticed that neither of the Mario RPG carts which I tested over the weekend had any issues with booting at either 50Hz or 60Hz. As you say, it's unusual for a later game not to have a speed check.

I also read from numerous reliable sources (one of these being Cherryroms forum) that an import SMRPG won't work properly even on a PAL console running at 60Hz because there are still weird timings involved with the NTSC console that aren't in existence on a PAL console at 60Hz.

I can't say that I noticed any problems with these carts running on a PAL SNES, but I didn't really have time to play very far into the game. There may well be issues which surface later on.

If it helps, when I played SMRPG in an emulator, I found it quite boring and not worth my time, although I finished PM64 and Superstar Saga, so I'm probably an idiot

I'm about half-way through RPG, and it's *ok* - I've definitely played better RPGs. I find the N64 Paper Mario's battle system to be very similar in many ways, yet it's a much more enjoyable game.

[Vertigo]

That's interesting. I noticed that neither of the Mario RPG carts which I tested over the weekend had any issues with booting at either 50Hz or 60Hz. As you say, it's unusual for a later game not to have a speed check.

SFA2's production does have a 'rushed to market' feel, like Nintendo were getting rid of it before they moved on properly to N64 manufacture.
I got all the proper stuff with it but new and shrinkwrapped direct from Nintendo it didn't have any of the usual promo leaflets or safety guides in it and like I say it was new for 20 quid, something you'd not have really expected from a game of that magnitude.
Interesting because SFA2 was a huge (in marketing terms) game at the time but got barely a mention, apart from a preview in Super Play.
It's a really good conversion too, definitely better than the job done on World Warrior, even if there is a nice big pause before FIGHT while the SNES decompresses everything

[Yod@]

Ok, I've got another Mario RPG cart (one of the versions which doesn't normally run on a region-modded SNES), but this time *with* pin 127 intact.

It seems that on this type of cart leaving the pin floating or feeding 5 Volts to it makes no difference; it will *only* run on a SNES with a functioning territory lockout chip - a US/JP one if the pin is left grounded, or PAL if the pin is floating or supplied with 5 Volts.

Phew. Case closed now, I hope.

[phreak97]

anyone got a mario rpg cart for sale?

[Mario101]

A short while back someone was selling an actual authentic pal version of mario RPG for the SNES. Some guy chose the buy now option though.

I'm absolutly sure it was the real deal as it had the serial numbers and Nintedo seal on its right side. It's picture lable was also set up the UK way and even had that wierd printing of PAL VERSION in bold on it that I've only ever seen on that game Super Putty and Super International Cricket, both from UK territory.

Could be wrong though but i'm almost certain it was for real.www.ebay.com

 

[Guest]

I seen the mario rpg cart on ebay,i think it went for �35 or so.
there's a topic about it over at digitpress.com,I thought it was an
australian copy or something.

I dont think its an original

[atom]

Mario RPG is one of the SNES games that people think are rare, but they are indeed lots of them floating about. Another one is Chrono Trigger. They were short of copies on release day, bla bla bla. It really shouldn't cost more then any other SNES game.

Tool Time, now THAT is a rare one id pay 35 euro thingies for.

[Guest]

I got a Mario RPG cart (US). There was no way I would get it to boot on my "universal" PAL SNES.

About an hour ago I lifted pin 127 on the SA1 chip successfully. Now the carts boot just fine. No CIC or PAL CIC does not matter - it boots. 50Hz or 60Hz does not matter - it boots.

Very nice hack - thanks for the information. This works!

CF

[phreak97]

i got a us copy of mario rpg, and with no modification at all, it runs perfectly at 60Hz on my lockout-disabled (pin floating) pal snes. i dont remember what it does at 50Hz, and it's too late to set it all up right now. oh, and this is with an import player with no second game inserted, i use it purely as a cart slot extender. one thing i have noticed, is that some of these adaptors included the outer pins on the cart, and some do not. obviously in the case of the ones which do not, certain games will be unplayable. i believe mario rpg is one of these carts. (i have two adaptors which look identical, untill you look at the pins in the slot at the top and bottom. i only tried mario rpg in the one which uses the outer pins, because that's the one i use for everything)

turns out theres another game with a funky lockout system. for christmas i got an american copy of Super Bonk, which doesnt work in my pal snes at all, 50 and 60Hz both return a black screen. this cart does not use the outer pins, so im guessing it has some communication going with the lockout chip like someone said for mario rpg, looks like the cart is completely disabled.
luckily i have an american snes (two actually) to play it on, but i still prefer the colour my pal snes gives.
so what's the deal? anyone else got this game to test?

[Blizzje]

I have some information that might be of some help to you guys. I remember importing Super Mario RPG and being bummed about it not working on my PAL SNES. I had a cart-mod back then. I had to put a PAL game in the back slot and a NTSC game in the front slot.

After that, I had to turn on the SNES, but due to the region protection, it wouldn't run Super Mario RPG. I would then unplug the power cable (power switch still switched to on), wait for 5 seconds and then plug it back in. Worked for me every time. If there's anyone that hasn't tried this yet, let me know if it works out for you.

[Guest_RyleFury]

There are 2 ways to run Mario RPG without opening the cartridge when you have the standard import mod.

- Put an adhesif tape to hide the connector of the image below :



If that does not function here is the 2nd solution.

- When you run the game turn on, turn off and turn on again very fast.

That function with Star Ocean, Street fighter alpha 2 and DBZ Hyper dimension too.