I just learned about Everdrive tonight!

[vice350z]

Holy crap I want some of them now! I have old consoles that I wanted to use again but then though about the cost of buying all the darn carts...so I stuck to emulation. On youtube searching something about Sega I saw a video about something called a Mega Everdrive. I want this lol. I'd love to find a 19" CRT TV just to use for retro gaming. I could always pull out my old 22" 4:3 LCD monitor though too in the mean while.

 

Anyone else use these? Are they indeed as awesome as they seem?

[kitsunebi]

Can't say anything about Everdrive brand products, but I've had my DS and PSP running games off of memory for years.  Issues of pirating games you don't own aside, it can be super convenient just to avoid having to carry around/swap out games.  Although I've gotta say that I'd still rather play some things via emulation.  For example, polygonal PSP games that are compatible with PPSSPP are gonna look much nicer than playing on an actual PSP  since the resolution gets upscaled to 1080p (2D sprite games don't benefit and look better on the PSP).

[Sean697]

Holy crap I want some of them now! I have old consoles that I wanted to use again but then though about the cost of buying all the darn carts...so I stuck to emulation. On youtube searching something about Sega I saw a video about something called a Mega Everdrive. I want this lol. I'd love to find a 19" CRT TV just to use for retro gaming. I could always pull out my old 22" 4:3 LCD monitor though too in the mean while.

 

Anyone else use these? Are they indeed as awesome as they seem?

I have a Mega Everdrive and it's pretty great. I feed it to my Sega CDX which I output to my framemeister up scaler through RGB to my HDTV. Pure bliss.

[aloram]

I have seven Everdrives, and though most of them have some disadvantages/flaws, they're great and I highly recommend them. I also have a flash cartridge for my 2600, a Rhea for my Sega Saturn, and a PSIO for my Playstation. Feel free to send me a message if you have any questions.

[Areala]

...and Vice350z was never heard from again.

 

*huggles*
Areala

[RetroDefense]

I own a couple and plan on picking up a few more eventually.  They're not perfect - or cheap - but the pros more than outweigh any cons.

 

I know most Everdrive owners probably use them to avoid having to buy original carts but I've found I use mine more like a retro rental store.  I actually spend more on retro games now as it helps me focus on titles I want to add to my collection.

[Sean697]

I have seven Everdrives, and though most of them have some disadvantages/flaws, they're great and I highly recommend them. I also have a flash cartridge for my 2600, a Rhea for my Sega Saturn, and a PSIO for my Playstation. Feel free to send me a message if you have any questions.

I want to get a rhea, but they are always sold out. Any tips on getting one?

[RetroDefense]

I want to get a rhea, but they are always sold out. Any tips on getting one?

 

First step would be to determine if you need a Rhea or Phoebe.  I hear this involves opening up your Saturn to determine the ribbon cable pinout.  You'd think this'd be reflected in the model number but apparently not?

 

I've been considering a Rhea or Phoebe myself but will likely hold off 'till we see if this Saturn flashcart idea goes anywhere.

 

Would be nice if Knute would hand over Rhea/Phoebe manufacturing to Krikzz of Everdrive fame - then sit back and collect the royalties.  

[aloram]

I want to get a rhea, but they are always sold out. Any tips on getting one?

 

Go to the manufacturer's site and follow new posts (below). A heads-up is usually given a couple weeks (or less) before one or more of the devices will be available for pre-order. It seems like they go on sale once every few months or so. You could also sign up for notifications on eBay if anything with the words "Rhea Sega Saturn" gets listed, as people sometimes sell theirs.

 

If I just told you stuff you already know, sorry, but it seems to just be a matter of closely following new posts on the site. Good luck.

 

https://gdemu.wordpress.com

[aloram]

First step would be to determine if you need a Rhea or Phoebe.  I hear this involves opening up your Saturn to determine the ribbon cable pinout.  You'd think this'd be reflected in the model number but apparently not?

 

I've been considering a Rhea or Phoebe myself but will likely hold off 'till we see if this Saturn flashcart idea goes anywhere.

 

Would be nice if Knute would hand over Rhea/Phoebe manufacturing to Krikzz of Everdrive fame - then sit back and collect the royalties.  

My recommendation is to buy a launch model Japanese Saturn with a broken disc drive, and then get a Rhea. (The Saturn model will be HST-3200; see below). The Rheas seem to go on sale more often than Phoebes. You'll be ditching the disc drive anyway, so save yourself some money and get the model I specified with a broken disc drive on eBay or Amazon. That's what I did, because I didn't own a Saturn at the time and it seemed like the most efficient way to get it done. Of course, if you have a Saturn already and definitely want to keep it instead of selling it and getting a different one, you'll need to open it up to find out whether you need a Rhea or Phoebe. The manufacturer's page has the details. My main reason for going this route was because it seemed (and still seems) like it's much easier to get a Rhea.

 

http://www.segaretro.org/Sega_Saturn#HST-3200.2FHST-3210

[vice350z]

...and Vice350z was never heard from again.

 

*huggles*

Areala

lol..i dont visit here daily but i'm still here lol.

[vice350z]

I own a couple and plan on picking up a few more eventually.  They're not perfect - or cheap - but the pros more than outweigh any cons.

 

I know most Everdrive owners probably use them to avoid having to buy original carts but I've found I use mine more like a retro rental store.  I actually spend more on retro games now as it helps me focus on titles I want to add to my collection.

what do you find not perfect about them? I assume they run the roms better than an emulator?

[vice350z]

I have a Mega Everdrive and it's pretty great. I feed it to my Sega CDX which I output to my framemeister up scaler through RGB to my HDTV. Pure bliss.

just looked up a freammeister...ouch, not cheap.

[vice350z]

I have seven Everdrives, and though most of them have some disadvantages/flaws, they're great and I highly recommend them. I also have a flash cartridge for my 2600, a Rhea for my Sega Saturn, and a PSIO for my Playstation. Feel free to send me a message if you have any questions.

Great, a Rhea...another thing to looks up now and want lol.

 

I have a release day Saturn..do I still need to open up or is it known what a release day US saturn would use?

 

and what a horrible word...Rhea...reminds me of something else...

[RetroDefense]

what do you find not perfect about them? I assume they run the roms better than an emulator?

 

They run the game directly via the original hardware so certainly better than an emulator.    But not all Everdrives support all games - especially if the original game used a unique chipset.  With some systems this isn't much of a problem - the Everdrive may work with 99% of the system's game library.  With systems that often relied on enhanced carts - like the Super Nintendo - the compatibility rate is lower.  Beyond this, saving can sometimes be a little tricky depending on the system.  Like, having to reset the system before turning off the power or something.  Not a deal breaker by any means.

 

My biggest disappointment is with hack compatibility.  I was really hoping to play some quality hacks on original hardware but many are incompatible and/or very buggy beyond any inherent hack-induced buggy-ness.  Some can be patched but others rely too heavily on emulator specific code, apparently, so won't run on the actual original hardware.

 

Which kind of flies in the face of it actually being emulation, I suppose.

 

A shame, really.  Would love to find a Everdrive/hack compatibility resource someday.

 

This isn't necessarily the Everdrive's fault - they're not advertised to be hack compatible.  But keep this in mind if you were hoping to play lots of popular hacks in addition to original games.

[vice350z]

nah, don't care about the hacked games...i'm fine with straight original roms.

[Sean697]

I've found most Genesis hacks and home brews run on my Mega Everdrive on real hardware.

[aloram]

what do you find not perfect about them? I assume they run the roms better than an emulator?

 

What RetroDefense said is spot on. The disadvantages vary, such as certain Everdrives requiring you to reset the system in order to save games, game incompatibilities, and certain games requiring patches to run. Again, I'm not complaining here, and I highly recommend them, but I want you to know they're not "100% perfect."

 

Great, a Rhea...another thing to looks up now and want lol.

 

I have a release day Saturn..do I still need to open up or is it known what a release day US saturn would use?

 

and what a horrible word...Rhea...reminds me of something else...

 

It's the launch Japanese Saturns that I mentioned, I don't know about any other models, sorry. Here's some more information:

 

http://assemblergames.com/l/threads/saturn-20-pin-cd-drive.55417/

 

http://assemblergames.com/l/threads/official-rhea-discussion.57377/

[90sRetroGamer]

Another really cool use of Everdrive is to play recently made ROM-hacks on your original hardware, however some hacks won't work because of technical limitations (a classic example is Super Mario Star Road for N64).

Of course, to legally patch-play ROM-hacks you have to dump your own ROM-files but you can find dumpers online.

[gblock]

I have Everdrive N8 (for Famicom) and the SD2SNES (also previously had the Super Everdrive and the Genesis Everdrive)

Love the damn things, wouldn't give them up unless I was facing homelessness lol. Especially the SD2SNES, well worth the $230ish (was on sale) that I got it for on SAG...

 

If anyone needs them, I'll PM a link to some very well put together Everdrive ROM sets...last thing you'll need to download!

[sikcris]

I recently acquired a Turbo Grafx 16 and am considering an Everdrive as I am not a 1% billionaire.