NES Game Link Issues

Magister

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I'm going to contact the making of it, but wanted to get some input from others to see if they have had these issues.

I just bought the NES Game Link and the NES Powerpak. Before the Powerpak came in the mail, I was trying out NES carts with the Game Link in my PC-10. For the most part they worked. Final Fantasy wouldn't work at all with it.

Once I got the Powerpak, I loaded all the roms on it and fired it up. A bunch of games(Blaster Master, Castlevania 3, Abadox to name a few) either have graphical glitches, freeze up right away, or won't even boot up at all. This is all happening in the PC-10.

Now when I try it in a regular NES, they all work fine. So it clearly can't be the Powerpak.

So, it either has to be something to do with the NES Game Link or my PC-10. Just wondering if anyone has had these issues?

P.S.- I did try a completely different ROM set and I still had the same issues.
 
I'm going to contact the making of it, but wanted to get some input from others to see if they have had these issues.

I just bought the NES Game Link and the NES Powerpak. Before the Powerpak came in the mail, I was trying out NES carts with the Game Link in my PC-10. For the most part they worked. Final Fantasy wouldn't work at all with it.

Once I got the Powerpak, I loaded all the roms on it and fired it up. A bunch of games(Blaster Master, Castlevania 3, Abadox to name a few) either have graphical glitches, freeze up right away, or won't even boot up at all. This is all happening in the PC-10.

Now when I try it in a regular NES, they all work fine. So it clearly can't be the Powerpak.

So, it either has to be something to do with the NES Game Link or my PC-10. Just wondering if anyone has had these issues?

P.S.- I did try a completely different ROM set and I still had the same issues.
Final fantasy might need to be cleaned? The cart connectors sometimes need to be cleaned for a game to work properly. So far there hasn't been any original NES carts tested that didn't work with the Nes Game Link, and hundreds have now been tested.

As far as the powerpak goes, it has really good compatibility. Games like blaster master certainly should work. It working in a NES and not working on the Game link, still could be a rom issue or a mapper issue. Contact me through the site and I'll send you a link to a known good set of mappers and roms that people have no issue with. We can see if that clears up your issue.
Another slight possibility might be power related. Not having a good clean 5v source could cause some issues with the Nes Game link, Powerpak combo, as the Power Pak does use more volts/amps than a standard playchoice cart. I know a few people in the past have rebuilt, replaced or adjusted the power supply. That goes for some standard playchoice cart issues as well linking back to bad power.
 
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It'll be later today when I get out of work. I don't have email set up on my phone so I can't email you through the site.
 
Nope. Tecmo Bowl and Mike Tyson's Punch Out carts were interfering with the Powerpak. Once I pulled those two carts from the board, the Powerpak worked just fine.
 
Nope. Tecmo Bowl and Mike Tyson's Punch Out carts were interfering with the Powerpak. Once I pulled those two carts from the board, the Powerpak worked just fine.

Are those carts a common issue when using the Powerpak?
 
Are those carts a common issue when using the Powerpak?
usually only carts that have issues cause problems. They hang onto a pin and then show garbage on the screens for other games. A few random carts here and there have issues, but it seems to be cart specific and not title specific. What I mean by that is he might have a problem with his punchout cart, but installing a different punchout cart could work perfectly fine. This holds true to not only The Nes Game Link, but playchoice carts in general.
It could still be an underlying power issue as well. But right now he is taking it one step at a time.

I repair carts on a regular basis, so it's not uncommon for issues to creep up. From just a bit of data on an eprom being bad. To sram needing to be replaced. To MMC1 & mmc3 chips needing to be replaced.
 
Yeah, my Super C for PC10 plays fine but makes other PC10 carts have scrambled graphics. I guess Super C has some bad chips?
usually only carts that have issues cause problems. They hang onto a pin and then show garbage on the screens for other games. A few random carts here and there have issues, but it seems to be cart specific and not title specific. What I mean by that is he might have a problem with his punchout cart, but installing a different punchout cart could work perfectly fine. This holds true to not only The Nes Game Link, but playchoice carts in general.
It could still be an underlying power issue as well. But right now he is taking it one step at a time.

I repair carts on a regular basis, so it's not uncommon for issues to creep up. From just a bit of data on an eprom being bad. To sram needing to be replaced. To MMC1 & mmc3 chips needing to be replaced.
 
Yeah, my Super C for PC10 plays fine but makes other PC10 carts have scrambled graphics. I guess Super C has some bad chips?
A great place to start with super C would be the U1 and U5 eproms. Also look for messed up traces or scratches on the back.
I've replaced a few mmc3 chips on the G-rom carts, but I don't think that would be the issue here.
 
I've had that issue on the scrambling. I run 8 carts leave a space and then have the adapter on the end. Every 15th time or so I'll end up with scrambled graphics but with a quick reset it goes back to normal.
 
I've had that issue on the scrambling. I run 8 carts leave a space and then have the adapter on the end. Every 15th time or so I'll end up with scrambled graphics but with a quick reset it goes back to normal.
Not being able to run all 10 slots like that sounds like a power issue.
 
Not being able to run all 10 slots like that sounds like a power issue.

I agree, I do have a Mike Tyson punch out as one of the cartridges, and this was before I figured out my basement was running at 95 volts instead of 120.
 
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