A Nice Warm Day

A few days ago I picked up Mario vs. Donkey ($5) for the Game Boy Advanced at Super Book Off. I really like the box art and had wanted this for a few years but eventually I broke down and bought the US version with its lame box art, not that I got it with the box but the cart art was dumb too (so there). Anyway this one is cool.

Well today was really nice about 70 degrees, much better than Bostons 48 degree forecast. Being so nice out I decided to go out. Well that wasn't the whole reason, so yesterday I had gone to Mandarake and finally, finally finally, came across Marvel Super Heroes vs. Street Fighter for the Saturn. At only $5 I was really happy to pick it up and head home, I have X-Men vs Street Fighter (a few copies actually) but this was the first time I had seen the Marvel version. When I got home I ran up stairs to try it out, I ripped the plastic off the game and opened my Saturn to change the game. I took out X-Men vs. Street Fighter and put in X-Men vs. Street Fighter..... wait I put in .... X-Men vs. Street Fighter? Gah!!!! It was the wrong game it was the X-Men vs. Street Fighter game inside a Marvel Super Heroes vs Street Fighter case. I mean I can kind of understand because the disc of both have Marvel characters and Capcom characters so if you just do a quick spot check its easy to make the mistake. Though the X-Men version is purple and the Marvel one is red.... but only crazy people would know that..... I should work there. Sorry I forgot to take a picture, I was too shattered from the experience.

So anyway I had to go back to the store and return the game. I jumped on a bus and headed into Tenjin to take the game back. Now normally I always have the receipts of the games I buy but of course this one time that I need it I couldn't find it anywhere. I looked for it right when I noticed the mix up but it was gone. So I went in and explained the situation and after waiting for the manager I was able to get a refund. The experience wasn't bad at all I'm just disappointed because I was looking forward to playing that game.

Anyway when I left there I jumped on the subway to go over to Hakata station where I could switch to the train and go over to Hard Off and Eco Book. As usual I headed to Hard Off first and while they did have a Super Game Boy 2 for the Super Famicom I decided to pass on it. Making my way over to the hardware section I found that Hori Playstation arcade stick I mentioned before, they also had a Dreamcast arcade stick but I liked the layout of the PS one better so I picked that up for $5 and headed over to Eco Book.

I have been dying to play Street Fighter Zero 3 for the Saturn, its the most arcade perfect version of the game and there is virtually no loading, so don't tell me to play one of the other versions I have. The only issue is that it is super rare and super expensive about $150 for the game alone and $250 for the boxed version with the ram cart. Anyway as I was walking over I was hoping that by some miracle they would have the game.

I got to the store and headed right over to the Saturn section and nope no SFZ3 but that was kinda of expected. They did however have Street Fighter Zero 2 ($2), meh not the same but I picked it up anyway. I also found a boxed ram version of X-Men vs. Street Fighter ($15), seems to be popping up a lot lately hmmm, I dropped that in the basket as well. Lastly I found another copy of Virtual On this one was only $.28 so I couldnt pass at that price.

Looking at the Playstation games I found Street Fighter Zero ($1) and figured I could sell it with the copy of SFZ2 that I already had for the Playstation. Finally I went over to the Super Famicom section which was pretty bare, I did manage to find Wolfenstien 3D ($1.78) which joined the party in the basket. With that I left and headed home.

After I got home I started to work on my project, I am making a Xbox 360 arcade stick incase you forgot. Anyway, I will use an old stick for the buttons and shell and the board from one of my Xbox controllers. That was why I had got the Hori arcade stick, anyway I'll need to order a new soldering iron as mine is back in the states but I figured I would get a head start and take the stick apart. Unfortunately that didn't really go to plan. After I opened it up I could see right away that I wouldn't get very far, the buttons are all directly soldered to the main board, ha boo.

While I was in there I took a look around and found some good news, first was that there was a daughter board for the Select, Start and Mode buttons which I will be able to use. It should make it a little easier as I can just use the existing wires and desolder them from the main board and attach them to the Xbox 360 controller board.

The board at the top is the daughter board and those are the wires I will use.

One will be the Xbox button and the other likely the Connect button for syncing the controller to a system, that will leave me with the Mode button and a slider button as well but they might go unused. Yes, I am going wireless and don't start about nano second delays that a true arcade master could not deal with. A) this is for fun, its a project, B) I don't want a cord running across the floor and C) I don't have a wired controller to use anyway.

Also a plus is that the stick has a motor on it for force feedback which I should be able to hook up to the pads for the Xbox controller and have that work as well. I may decide not to use it but its nice that its already set up if I do want it.

So now I'm off to order a new soldering gun and probably some other goodies as well, seems Ill need some solder braid hmm and might as well get some flux while I'm at it. Thats all for now I'll keep you up to date with the project and how its going etc.