SuperJoy III/CastleVania 3 issues

Doctor Vomitsaw · Post by **Doctor Vomitsaw** » Thu Nov 18, 2004 6:17 pm

Hello there. I'm having an issue, and am looking for possible answers.

I purchased one of those "SuperJoy Turbo Mech Power Player Controller Player Player III" units a while back, hacked it to ribbons, threw a capacitor on there to kill the "crappy image" problem, attached a 72pin-to-60pin adaptor (was too lazy to wire it myself), hooked up the controllers... etc.

It worked perfectly with every game I tested on it EXCEPT CastleVania 3. I'm confused. Heartbroken. Almost homicidal now. I see no point in using this unit if it won't play CV3 (or any other NES cart for that matter). But I could swear to Jebus that I saw a screen shot of someone's hacked-up SuperJoy III actually running CV3, of all games. Has anyone else had this issue? Is there something I'm overlooking maybe? Am I screwed? Wasting my time? Any information would be greatly appreciated.

Post by **SpongeBuell** » Thu Nov 18, 2004 6:19 pm

Perhaps the connectors are bad...

Doctor Vomitsaw · Post by **Doctor Vomitsaw** » Thu Nov 18, 2004 6:30 pm

SpongeBuell wrote:Perhaps the connectors are bad...

Nah, it's got to be something more than that. The game works perfectly in my other NESs, but for some reason REFUSES to do anything in the Superjoy. Here, some graphical evidence...

It just sits there all scrambled. No sound, no movement, nothing.
I'm out of ideas.

Geebs61 · Post by **Geebs61** » Thu Nov 18, 2004 6:50 pm

Was ben playing CV3 on his NESp?

Ninja edit: Yeah in the downloads section he has a video of himself playing CV3 on his NESp

Post by **Sparkfist** » Thu Nov 18, 2004 8:32 pm

But wasnt that on the NESp that was made out of the NES motherboard not the famiclone.

Geebs61 · Post by **Geebs61** » Thu Nov 18, 2004 8:49 pm

Sparkfist wrote:But wasnt that on the NESp that was made out of the NES motherboard not the famiclone.

You're right. I didnt think about that.

JackFrost22 · Post by **JackFrost22** » Fri Nov 19, 2004 3:59 pm

Is there one of his other nesp?

Doctor Vomitsaw · Post by **Doctor Vomitsaw** » Fri Nov 19, 2004 7:08 pm

Have something(s) to add...

I recall hearing a while back that CastleVania 3 does NOT work with the Game Genie for whatever reason. I don't know if these problems are somehow related, but it wouldn't suprize me at all.

Also, I noticed something kinda funny upon inspecting the pins on the cart...

Isn't that center group of pins normally reseved for the mysterious NES expansion port? Why the hell would this game need to utilize the expansion port? ...Or am I wrong about that pin?

I appreciate the feedback so far, but... arrg. Can anyone confirm that CV3 does or doesn't work in the Superjoy III (or any other clone for that matter)?

JackFrost22 · Post by **JackFrost22** » Fri Nov 19, 2004 7:10 pm

I didn't think it worked on any clone cause it didn't work on my Top loader Family computer.

Post by **Sparkfist** » Fri Nov 19, 2004 7:17 pm

From all the pictures I've seen the adapters for the NES(games)-to-famicom had the four missing pins all together, why is one pin off? That might have been something that the company did so that the game wouldnt work outside its retailed area.

Geebs61 · Post by **Geebs61** » Fri Nov 19, 2004 7:31 pm

can you tell me exactly what pin that is? Or if possible, open the case and trace the pin to where it goes on the MMC. But thats improbable.

Post by **Sparkfist** » Fri Nov 19, 2004 7:38 pm

I'd use the image gannon has of the adapter in his store, but he hasnt fixed the pictures link yet. I'll keep looking for one though to explain myself.

Post by **gannon** » Fri Nov 19, 2004 7:39 pm

that reminds me, I should fix that

Post by **SpongeBuell** » Fri Nov 19, 2004 7:52 pm

I think the missing pins are for the Famicom Disk System, which, of course, got canned by Nintendo. Later games stopped putting the pins altogether.

Geebs61 · Post by **Geebs61** » Fri Nov 19, 2004 8:06 pm

it looks like its pin 54, and by that assumption and checking good ol' Kevin Horton:

MMC5 Chip: (100 pin QFP)
----------
Only comes in one type: 'MMC5'

80 51
| |
.----------------.
81-| |-50
| MMC5 |
100-| |-31
\----------------'
| |
1 30

Pin# Function Pin# Function Pin# Function Pin# Function
---- -------- ---- -------- ---- -------- ---- --------

1 - RC0 *1 26 - CHR A11 (n) 51 - PRG A6 (s) 76 - /WE (w)-all
2 - RC1 *1 27 - CHR A12 (n) 52 - PRG A7 (s) 77 - NC
3 - RC2 *1 28 - CHR A13 (n) 53 - PRG A8 (s) 78 - NC
4 - +5V 29 - NC 54 - PRG A9 (s) 79 - M2 (n)
5 - CHR A0 (s) 30 - NC 55 - PRG A10 (s) 80 - GND
6 - CHR A1 (s) 31 - CIRAM /CE (n) 56 - VCC of RAM (w)81 - NC
7 - CHR A2 (s) 32 - CIRAM A10 (n) 57 - +Vbatt 82 - NC
8 - CHR A3 (s) 33 - CHR /WR (n) 58 - PRG A11 (s) 83 - CE (w)-all
9 - CHR A4 (s) 34 - CHR /RD (s?) 59 - PRG A12 (s) 84 - CHR D0 (s)
10 - CHR A5 (s) 35 - /IRQ (n) 60 - PRG A13 (r) 85 - CHR D1 (s)
11 - CHR A6 (s) 36 - PRG D0 (s) 61 - PRG A14 (r) 86 - CHR D2 (s)
12 - CHR A7 (s) 37 - PRG D1 (s) 62 - PRG A15 (r) 87 - CHR D3 (s)
13 - CHR A8 (s) 38 - PRG D2 (s) 63 - PRG A16 (r) 88 - CHR D4 (s)
14 - CHR A9 (s) 39 - PRG D3 (s) 64 - PRG A17 (r) 89 - CHR D5 (s)
15 - CHR A10 (r) 40 - PRG D4 (s) 65 - PRG A18 (r) 90 - CHR D6 (s)
16 - CHR A11 (r) 41 - PRG D5 (s) 66 - PRG A19 (r) 91 - CHR D7 (s)
17 - CHR A12 (r) 42 - PRG D6 (s) 67 - PRG A13 (n) 92 - NC
18 - CHR A13 (r) 43 - PRG D7 (s) 68 - PRG A14 (n) 93 - NC
19 - CHR A14 (r) 44 - +5V 69 - A13 (w)-all# 94 - CHR A0 (r) *2
20 - CHR A15 (r) 45 - PRG A0 (s) 70 - A14 (w)-all 95 - CHR A1 (r) *2
21 - CHR A16 (r) 46 - PRG A1 (s) 71 - /CE (w)-0 96 - CHR A2 (r) *2
22 - CHR A17 (r) 47 - PRG A2 (s) 72 - /CE (w)-1 97 - CL3 *2
23 - CHR A18 (r) 48 - PRG A3 (s) 73 - NC 98 - SL3 *2
24 - CHR A19 (r) 49 - PRG A4 (s) 74 - PRG /CE (r) 99 - GND
25 - CHR A10 (n) 50 - PRG A5 (s) 75 - NC 100 - RC3 *1

#: This pins have not been confirmed, and their use has been extrapolated
by the use of adjacent pins.

*1: PINS 1,2,3 & 100. These appear to be some form of data input. They are
un-used on this particular board (Castlevania 3), and their exact
purpose is unknown; however pin #54 of the cart connects to this extra
circuitry. this pin only connects to the access port underneath the
NES unit, so I doubt if this was ever used in any cart.

*2: PINS 94 thru 98. These set the cart in either SL or CL mode. I have no
clue what the diffrence between the two modes are; the cart I checked
(Castlevania 3) was set to CL mode.

To set to CL mode:

Connect CHR A0 from the NES to A0 on the CHR ROM.
Connect CHR A1 from the NES to A1 on the CHR ROM.
Connect CHR A2 from the NES to A2 on the CHR ROM.
Connect pins 97 and 98 together.
Leave pins 94,95 & 96 floating on the MMC5

To set to SL mode:

Connect pin 94 of the MMC5 to A0 of the CHR ROM.
Connect pin 95 of the MMC5 to A1 of the CHR ROM.
Connect pin 96 of the MMC5 to A2 of the CHR ROM.
Connect pin 98 to ground.
Leave pin 97 floating.

The difference between the two modes is unknown.

I get that, I am guessing that could be your problem.