Project Frankenstein

[playgeneration]

I have a broken Japanese Master System, its body was beyond repair, but the organs were too good to throw away and have now been transplanted!

First step was to carefully desolder the Bios chip out of the broken console, and then recklessly rip the bios chip from the master systemII. I then desoldered a 28pin chip socket from a dead Commodore 64, and then soldered it in the SMSII. So now i can plug in any bios chip i want quickly and easily. So in went the Japanese Bios chip, and it works!



Instead of Alex Kidd appearing when the console is switched on, i now have the space harrier theme tune along with the scrolling background, everything youd get when a Japanese Master System boots up.

I have put a switch on the vdp so it can display in both 50 and 60hz.

Tommorows task is to take the cartridge port from the japanese console, and wire it into the smsII. Then i should be able to play all SG1000 and MarkIII carts on my SMSII! creating a Sega MarkIV perhaps ;D

[anagrama]

Hah, nice work man I assume you'll be RGB modding it too?

[playgeneration]

Actually RGB modding it looks like the hardest part to do!, ill have to buy all the resistors and capacitors to do it, but its probably worthwhile.

I will have to modify the case a bit, as Japanese carts are fatter and dont fit through the slot, i could spray paint it white too for the full effect

[chaoticjelly]

playgeneration said:

Actually RGB modding it looks like the hardest part to do!, ill have to buy all the resistors and capacitors to do it, but its probably worthwhile.

I will have to modify the case a bit, as Japanese carts are fatter and dont fit through the slot, i could spray paint it white too for the full effect

I can send you the bits if you want, ive got plenty spare.

I wonder if its possible to buy these kind of PCB edge-connectors instead of removing them from an original console?

[playgeneration]

Im sure you can buy edge connectors, maybe not the right length, but you can just cut them to size. I think i know what your thinking of now ;D


I think you can also just plug in the roms from cartrige games too, and they will act as the built in game. Perhaps with another smsII i could put in an array of sockets for roms in that you can switch between, thus making my very own Master System Display Unit

[chaoticjelly]

playgeneration said:

Im sure you can buy edge connectors, maybe not the right length, but you can just cut them to size. I think i know what your thinking of now ;D


I think you can also just plug in the roms from cartrige games too, and they will act as the built in game. Perhaps with another smsII i could put in an array of sockets for roms in that you can switch between, thus making my very own Master System Display Unit

Display unit reproductions.....!!!

[transbot]

when it's finished, will this have 2 ports, for both eastern and western cartridges?

or is that a stupid question

[onyx]

Cant we tell Playgen has plenty of time on his hands

Say so could this mean you could place any game into the system so it boots into that certain game? and chaotic could put a game onto a rom meaning you could have an smsII that boots into Pat Riley, Smurfs 2, Mario! or even something drastic like Transbot

Think of whats possible here!

Just for the record i can see two ppl taking a couple of weeks off work here...

Bock... Must get the sms running multiple carts, and roll over on its back for a tickle ;D

Retroboy... Must make some of these and list them as Ultra Rare Buy it Now £399

Good work playgen, will look forward to future updates

[onyx]

Also would this mean its possible to get the space harrier jap intro onto a standard cart so when plugged into a pal sms you would get it on the screen?

[chaoticjelly]

Yeah I guess playg is having two cart slots.

It seems he has only the JPN bios because he switched bioses, but its possible to have a switch to change from Euro bios to JPN bios and vice versa (ive seen the mod on SMSpower) you put the JPN bios on an eprom and wire it up.

I dont think you can put a different game in an sms without some difficulty, because the bios contains the bios, the game and the mapper all in one special chip or something.

So you'd need to wire in about 3 different chips..! (if its even possible?)

[playgeneration]

I really wish i did have too much time Onyx. Any time that i spend on any master system projects, is time im not spending on my car rebuild, or doing anything with the internet shop - my only source of income.

I originally planned to rip out the uk console cartridge port and wire in the Japanese slot instead. But now im thinking of just sharing the solder pads on the bottom of the board from the UK slot with the Japanese slot. Then having the Japanese slot sticking out of the right hand side of the console, ill have to buy some more wire first though as i have run out.

And especially for you Onyx i have taken the rom from a Transbot cartridge and plugged that in the bios socket. And it does work as the built in game!. Not all games would work though, transbot is a small game, and only has one chip in the cartridge, other games have mapper chips too which would be more difficult to try and also put in. One downside is that without any bios to choose between the builtingame or cartridge slot, the built in game always starts. No cartridges you plug in will work, so if you want a console that only plays Transbot (or another early game) now you know its possible!