September 2013

Here’s a quick overview of some of the prototype PSIO hardware (rev 1.1). Revision 2.0 is already in the works. I’ll be uploading some videos of the device in action over the next week or two. Stay tuned for some interesting times! ;) I’ve finally got my hands on a... Continue reading

Another why not video? This time I replaced the video encoder and AV socket on Mega Drive 2 serial 440005313, but it didn’t fix my issues. Rather than bore you with 45 minutes of film that doesn’t achieve the goal I had hoped for, enjoy the shortened version! ;) Related... Continue reading

Replacing the VRAM in Mega Drive 2 serial 440005313 didn’t solve the issue, but boy did I have fun doing it! And that’s what this YouTube channel is all about: Fun! (or was it chaos?) This particular Mega Drive 2 had been suffering from intermittent video problems and illegal instruction... Continue reading

Winding the voltage down via a variable DC-DC step-down converter. It’s interesting to see what happens, as the Aiwa Mega-CD once showed similar symptoms on the Mega Drive side when early testing was underway. With Pac-Panic running on the Mega Drive 2, I gradually reduced the supplied voltage to see... Continue reading

A few people have been asking about circuit bending, so I thought I’d give it a go on one of my Sega Mega Drive 2 consoles. The idea is to interfere with the video RAM signals and see what sort of strange graphical effects we can produce. Completely unnecessary, of... Continue reading

Oh yes, it’s Karaoke Friday alright. Enjoy this tune brought to you by Jason and YouTube mixed in with some voice-overs and gameplay. It’s really hard to be a songwriter! Continue reading

Some footage of me playing around with Sega Mega Drive 2 serial 440005313 a while back. The DC input has already been repaired, but this particular console still has some rather spectacular video problems. Pac-Panic is doing things that I’m fairly certain it wasn’t designed to do! At first, I... Continue reading

Oh geez! Another video of a guide I was attempting to make, only to have everything go horribly wrong. Rather than throw the recording away, I thought I might as well let the internet enjoy my suffering. Perhaps somebody will learn what not to do! After the unsuccessful attempt to... Continue reading

This wasn’t much of a success. I suspected differences between the PIC12C508 and PIC12C508A. If anyone could point out what would be different, that would be swell. I’m not a datasheet wizard, and if something doesn’t just zap, I tend to try again a few different ways. Sadly, all resulted... Continue reading

Well, the case was as brittle as could be. Even cleaning this particular Super Nintendo with soap and water resulted in pieces cracking around the rear vents and sides. With the plastic already looking rather awful, I decided it might be time for something a little different. Rather than try... Continue reading

They look to me like they were separated at birth! An initial look at the internals is promising too. Looks like we’ve found our donor boombox to fix up bits and pieces from the other two. This is the Aiwa CSD-EX80 alongside the boombox section of the Aiwa Mega-CD CSD-GM1.... Continue reading

Another weekend, another Super Nintendo! Well, technically it’s Monday, but I’ve taken a couple of days off work, so that counts for something. This particular SNES, serial UP12144537, has put me in a bit of a difficult position. I originally bought it for spare parts, mainly the reset switch and... Continue reading

Wow, two videos where I fail to solder a battery holder on a SNES cartridge. The next one will be a success - I promise or your money back! Also, we touch on the TSOP40-to-DIP36 adapter used in one of my previous videos - loss of continuity there, apologies. After... Continue reading

Why did I post this? Look at my TEFAL chip cooker video… it has more views than any of my other videos. Plus I don’t want people wasting their cash on these things when for a little bit more they can get air conditioning! My mistake is your saving! Nobody... Continue reading

Very quick and easy… normally. Nothing went right in this video and I got burnt a few times… It just goes to show not every day is a good day to fix and enhance all things retro! This battery was either extremely stubborn or knew I had the wrong type... Continue reading

This was a quick video to support the previous video on AM29F032 TSOP40 flashing, but it got cut because I forgot about it! Here we’re running Super Bomberman 2 using a 27C801 EPROM on an NHL 96 or perhaps World Cup Striker donor cartridge. They look the same, so I... Continue reading

Here we create a SNES cart using a donor cart, either NHL 96 or World Cup Striker. The plan is to flash EarthBound and Donkey Kong Country 3, although EarthBound is the one that gets most of the attention in this video. I’ve got two perfectly good sports games ready... Continue reading

A lazy Sunday afternoon with RetroJunkie, and what better way to spend it than programming some flash memory for an EarthBound cartridge? I’ve got the GQ-4X programmer ready and an AMD AM29F032B to deal with. It’s a 32 Mbit, or 4 MiB, flash-memory device in a 40-pin TSOP package, so... Continue reading

Why does Europe (PAL) always get the dodgier looking logo? At least we got Sea Bass Fishing on Saturn… Mystery solved! One console I don’t seem to spend nearly enough time with is the Sega Dreamcast. The pinnacle of Sega’s home console hardware, if we’re not counting all the wonderful... Continue reading

Where does one draw the line when collecting retro hardware and games? I also test out some of the new features (and very basic ones such as blade…) in Final Cut Pro X. Decided it is time to show iMovie 11 the door. Here’s hoping the production (and content) quality... Continue reading

No horses in this video, just me horsing about with Sega Master System converters on the TeraDrive! I’ve been playing around with this wonderful machine again, and today I thought I’d see whether I could persuade it to run a few Master System games. Wonder Boy seems like a perfectly... Continue reading

Mario madness! Mario madness! I’ve got Super Mario Bros. 2 running on the Super Nintendo through Super Mario All-Stars, and I have one very simple question for Nintendo. Why change a formula that worked so well? I’m much more of a Sega sympathiser than a Nintendo nutter, but I thought... Continue reading

You’re probably wondering why on earth I’m doing this. Well, there’s a curious little problem that can appear when you swap the sound chip in a Sega Mega Drive Model 1 for a YM3438. In Sonic Spinball, going into the options menu and coming back out can leave you with... Continue reading

Welcome to a late-night edition of Cooking with RetroJunkie! This is a new segment where I mix crazy and unheard-of ingredients to make a meal anyone can stomach. Well, except for those intolerant to delicious food. And lactose. Tonight’s culinary masterpiece involves a rather generous quantity of thick custard and... Continue reading

Where there are low-quality capacitors, or poor circuit design, there’s always trouble. Today we’ve got a couple of NetComm NP285 Turbo HomePlug adapters, which let you run ethernet over your household electrical wiring. Handy little things, assuming they actually work! I’ve got two examples here, and the first one looks... Continue reading

Found this little critter in the cold and alone, motionless on the ice cold road and seemingly too cold to move. He has since been released back into the wild where he belongs. But I thought you might enjoy having a closer look at one of Australia’s more interesting little... Continue reading

Back to the Aiwa Mega-CD CSD-GM1, and today we’re going to see whether the cassette player still has a bit of life left in it. After everything these units have been through, even getting some music out of the speakers would be rather encouraging! I’ve got the working tape mechanism... Continue reading

This one didn’t have much luck, but I have since found another way to fix this board because honestly, volume control is important! A suggestion from a YouTube viewer had me trying some contact cleaner on the troublesome VR802 volume control. It was a Friday night, I’d managed to arrive... Continue reading

Neighbours, everybody needs good neighbours. So why do mine play bongo drums? I live under a very thin roof/floor and my neighbours are inconsiderate. Please suggest some ways to get back at them! I don’t know what happened to the overview video, so there’s a cool dev unit from the... Continue reading

Is there anything I won’t put on video? Probably a few things, although apparently my multimeter probes falling to pieces isn’t one of them! We’ve also got some more Aiwa Mega-CD investigation, a few complaints about my equipment and, naturally, a random cat at the end. The red multimeter probe... Continue reading

Ah, the trusty old Mega Drive 2! This is one I’ve already modified with a couple of switches around the back, but today I’m going to give its cartridge connector a good clean. After twenty-odd years, you can imagine how much rubbish might have collected inside that slot. In the... Continue reading