The Blog

Super Nintendo 1CHIP with No Sound - Part 1 Capacitor Replacement

Nix McRetro // 4th October 2020 // Nintendo, Repairs, YouTube

Today we’re sneaking around inside a Super Nintendo. This one appears to be a PAL 1CHIP unit and we’re going to replace capacitors… because that’s what the cool thing is to do. Don’t get me wrong, being a sheep isn’t so bad when everyone is eating beef! I’m hoping a... Continue reading

Xbox OG 24" Super IDE PATA Cable Folding and Routing

Nix McRetro // 27th September 2020 // Guides, Microsoft, YouTube

These things are supposed to be limited to 18 inches. I had no issues in my testing at 24 inches, but that’s still beyond the normal cable limit. Your mileage may vary! The 80-conductor cable still uses 40-pin connectors; the extra 40 wires are grounds between the signal wires, helping... Continue reading

Microsoft Xbox OG Kasumi Blue TSOP Preparation

Nix McRetro // 5th September 2020 // Microsoft, Repairs, YouTube

Oh my lovely Kasumi Blue, we have long since parted ways but fond memories still remain. In this video we have another peek inside it and prepare the motherboard for TSOP flashing. This one had a v1.0 motherboard inside that much later limited-edition shell. Whether it left Microsoft that way... Continue reading

Sega Mega-CD Region-free BIOS Burn in the GQ-4X4

Nix McRetro // 31st August 2020 // Guides, Sega, YouTube

Today we have a very quick video from the archives that gives a vague idea of how I flashed a patched region-free Mega-CD BIOS. Little endian, big endian, we all cuss asparagus? The 27C1024 is a 1 Mbit EPROM organised as 64K x 16: 1,048,576 bits, or 131,072 bytes (128... Continue reading

Sakura Taisen (1996, Saturn Live Stream, Episode 10, Part 2)

Nix McRetro // 24th August 2020 // Gaming, Livestream, Sega

This is it. This is the second half of the finale and the end of Episode 10 - Final Judgement. We have learnt a lot throughout this dramatic adventure, about ourselves and those around us. Overall this has been a great game and I look forward to playing the reboot... Continue reading