Was there bootleg PC Engine hu-cards?

Discussion in 'General Gaming' started by StriderVM, Apr 18, 2015.

  1. StriderVM

    StriderVM Robust Member

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    Fast question. :)
     
  2. Sephirothkefka

    Sephirothkefka A very interesting person

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    AFAIK there weren't any due to their interesting design (a tiny circuit board with epoxied ROMS) and how slim they were.
     
  3. sonicsean89

    sonicsean89 Site Soldier

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    I don't know of any, especially since most all homebrew games I know of use the CD attachment. Also Japanese and US cards were wired differently, so I don't think you could have a region free Hucard.
     
  4. dyer60

    dyer60 Site Supporter 2013,2014,2015,2016

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    Last edited: Apr 19, 2015
  5. abveost

    abveost Spirited Member

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    There were bootleg hucards and considering how easy they are to make it's surprising they weren't more common. There are region free adapters so obviously adding that logic to a bootleg card would result in a region free bootleg. It would be much easier to patch and bit swap the game before flashing though.
     
  6. MottZilla

    MottZilla Guardian of the Forum

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    There are both bootleg HuCards and some PC-Engine clone systems. Not very common compared to other systems.

    I don't think you'll find any bootleg TurboGrafx 16 "Turbo Chips" or any "region free" bootlegs. I can't imagine any pirates would have bothered to produce that.

    Making a HuCard "region free" is most easily done with a physical switch. Obviously the Turbo EverDrive does this.
     
  7. Bad_Ad84

    Bad_Ad84 Keyboard Error: Press F1 to Continue

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    The turbo ever drive switch isn't like the region mod switch though. The switch on the turbo everdrive just tells the fpga it to flip the data output pins round, rather than being a switch for all 8 lines
     
  8. LeHaM

    LeHaM Site Soldier

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    The data lines where reversed on the Japanese systems also some systems had a hardware level copy protection region checking but could easily be removed by sending 1 pin low (Check out MMonkeys guide)..

    Those bootleg carts are just as I thought they'd be (how I would make one), just use normal off the shelf ROM packages and make the PCB longer.. You wouldn't even need to make a case for one, just use a thicker PCB and coat it with plasti-dip (real ghetto I know XD )
     
    Last edited: Apr 19, 2015
  9. StriderVM

    StriderVM Robust Member

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    ... So this makes bootleg HuCards cannot be as thin as original HuCards then.... Didn't know they existed..... I knew of clone PC Engine systems but not HuCards.... Thank you guys. :)
     
  10. LeHaM

    LeHaM Site Soldier

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    Last edited: Apr 20, 2015
  11. Selard

    Selard Newly Registered

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    I could not find what you are asking for. I tried but i don't think there is something like that there.
     
  12. abveost

    abveost Spirited Member

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    On some old copiers you bit swap the ROM file so when it's loaded into RAM the bits are in the correct place. This way the same device works for any console.

    I saw a PCE card that used a TSOP soldered upside down into a hole cut in the PCB.

    It may not have been a popular console to bootleg for but the bootleggers sure did come up with some innovative, simple and effective solutions.
     
  13. Bad_Ad84

    Bad_Ad84 Keyboard Error: Press F1 to Continue

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    thats pretty much exactly what the turbo everdrive does, but a switch that tells it which way to send the data so you only need 1 rom file
     
  14. MottZilla

    MottZilla Guardian of the Forum

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    I'm pretty certain I've seen bootleg HuCards that looked reasonably close to real HuCards. The forum at pcenginefx.com might have something about it. If I remember correctly they looked the same but did not say Hucard on them. They certainly have to be as "thin" because the physical dimensions must be close or else it won't fit in the system.
     
  15. xelement5x

    xelement5x Active Member

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    Ya, there are bootleg hueys. Some guy in Europe even made blanks so you could buy eeproms burn em and put em on. I got my bootleg Magical Chaise that way.
     
  16. Gentlegamer

    Gentlegamer Active Member

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