your questions Answered…
A selection of smaller questions from readers…
cart copy
What’s the cheapest and easiest way to back up save files from cartridges?
Alex Harford via Twitter
Right now we use the Retrode 2, a usb cartridge reader which supports the snes and Mega drive natively, and a variety of other systems via plug-in cartridges. We’ve found that most games work fine, but that some games don’t (particularly thirdparty ones) – we couldn’t get the data from NBA Jam Tournament Edition or Micro Machines 96.
The Retron 5 can also apparently do this for the systems that it supports.
import friends
How do you get a PAL Dreamcast to play Japanese games? Mike J Fitzgerald via Twitter
There are two good ways to do this, either with a mod or with a boot disc. The mod is a region-free replacement Bios chip, which will enable you to play discs of any region with no extra fuss – just pop the disc into the tray as normal and go. Boot discs like dc-x are cheap and non-invasive, but you have to start the console with them each time you want to play an import game. They do also allow you to force VGA on some games, which is nice.
skool daze
How do you ease your children into retro gaming? Anthony Bull via Facebook
durable cartridge-based systems are the best starters – the likes of the Master system, snes and GBA. These offer simple games with timeless characters your child will recognise, including disney games, Pokémon games and the likes of sonic and Mario. After all, you don’t want your child’s friends asking, “What’s dizzy?” Nick finds that being single means that he won’t acquire children, so he can just play games himself rather than worrying about what they’re interested in, but you may feel this is rather too drastic.