For When You Need To Backup Those Saves (i.imgur.com)
from v1605@lemmy.world to retrogaming@lemmy.world on 23 Sep 2023 20:45
https://lemmy.world/post/5602715

The Open Source Cartridge Reader is a great diy project for dumping your own roms and saves. If you order a kit with the surface mount components already installed, it’s also a great beginner soldering project.

#retrogaming

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j4k3@lemmy.world on 23 Sep 2023 21:04 next collapse

Awesome project. Please crosspost this to !3dprinting@lemmy.world

v1605@lemmy.world on 23 Sep 2023 21:11 collapse

Thanks and done

Epsilonean@lemmy.world on 24 Sep 2023 00:24 next collapse

Nice! I got my Save the Hero Builders OSCR and it’s fantastic. Backed up my whole cartridge collection

v1605@lemmy.world on 24 Sep 2023 00:38 collapse

Yeah they make pretty solid prebuilts, this was a diy kit.

UnrealRealityX@lemmy.world on 24 Sep 2023 01:15 next collapse

The closest thing I ever used that backed up actual hardware was a Playstation 1 card reader. At the time I was backing up game saves and porting them to the ps2 for emulation or something i forget exactly.

It was wild to do something like that on your computer back then. A Sony memory card in your PC? Bonkers.

brsrklf@jlai.lu on 24 Sep 2023 18:07 collapse

Once I extracted my Fire Emblem 7 GBA cartridge’s save to keep stuff I had unlocked and play it elsewhere.

It was easy, I didn’t need any special hardware beside a DS and a flash cart, and a bit of homebrew software.

nandeEbisu@lemmy.world on 24 Sep 2023 01:53 next collapse

Cloud saved banjo kazooie runs. The future is now.

P03@lemmy.world on 24 Sep 2023 03:28 next collapse

Love my retrode 2 but this one looks awesome.

v1605@lemmy.world on 24 Sep 2023 04:12 collapse

The retrode was a good device when you could buy it. What I like about this one is that you can dump all the popular cart systems without needing adapters, while being able to build additional adapters for less common systems.

91x@lemmy.sdf.org on 24 Sep 2023 05:47 next collapse

I thought the saves were in my memorypak though?

radostin04@pawb.social on 24 Sep 2023 09:03 collapse

Most N64 games don’t actually use the controller pak, instead using their own battery saves

sebinspace@lemmy.world on 24 Sep 2023 13:41 next collapse

IIRC none of the games that require the expanded RAM module (DK64, OOT, Majora) actually utilize its RAM under normal conditions. For instance, DK64 only used it as a means to stave off a memory leak.

v1605@lemmy.world on 24 Sep 2023 15:34 collapse

That’s a myth, the ram was a requirement by management at the beginning of development to showcase it’s use. The ram was heavily used for the dynamic lighting. Sources: gamesradar.com/how-the-n64-confidently-signposted… and nintendolife.com/…/feature_donkey_kong_64_devs_on…

sebinspace@lemmy.world on 24 Sep 2023 15:43 collapse

Oh well shit, that’s metal

91x@lemmy.sdf.org on 24 Sep 2023 14:33 collapse

Hmmm, I still have my N64, all my old games, etc and could test. Do you know if there is a way for me to check the memorypak to see what games actually saved to it?

Now that you mention it, I recall either OoT or MM saving to the cart directly.

Edit: May have found my own answer:

HOLD THE START BUTTON DOWN and turn your console on. Make sure to HOLD THE START BUTTON DOWN while it boots up. This will pull up the data management screen where you can view and delete your stored data on your memory card.

Will check and report back.

v1605@lemmy.world on 24 Sep 2023 14:42 collapse

To add to this, the reader also has a N64 controller port so you can also dump memory cards via a controller.

topinambour_rex@lemmy.world on 24 Sep 2023 11:43 next collapse

Awesome project.

YuzuDrink@kbin.social on 24 Sep 2023 13:21 collapse

I built one of these a couple weekends back and have been blissfully extracting ROMs from my cartridge collection since then. I love it so much, and it's a really solid design!