Game Accessories Part 1: Game Action Replay

Once again I'm back from the dead, this time to bring lots of useless (and a few useful) game accesories that i have collected over the years, updates will be brief but constant so get ready because here it goes.

To kick off with a good start, here's the Game Action Replay for NES, this is sort of a primitive version of savestates provided by emulators, only a lot less useful.


This is how the front of the cart looks like. It is a very nice looking transparent case with a board much bigger than regular NES carts and a visible battery and cart slot.


Here's the back, it has 5 regular philips screws and for some reason there is nothing protecting the pins on this side. The part of the board that has the pins is also thinner than regular NES carts, which means that if your NES has an old connector it is likely to not make contact.

The installation is fairly simple, though you do have to open your NES and remove a piece of metal shielding and leave the cart permanently there.


Once it is installed you are ready to insert a cart into the GAR's cart slot, doing so is tricky, you have to insert it at an angle and leave the cart door open while you play.


Now comes the fun part, using it with the games, by pressing A + select you are treated with this menu (picture shamelessly stolen from The unlicensed world of Nintendo).

Here's what it does:

Slow Motion: Real Slow motion, not that wimpy start button autofire.

Slow Motion Flash: Sometimes fixes some bugs that slow motion causes.

Function Key: Switch between the select and start buttons to access the menu (for games that use select as a pause button).

Game Type: Depending on the letter selected and the game inserted changes the number of available save states, I'm not sure how this is determined, maybe the manual says.

Save Screens: Save current state.

Load Screens: Load state.

Scan Screens: Get a glimpse of all saved states.

Quit: Exit menu.

Unfortunately its not as useful as it sounds, many games crash or get corrupted graphics when loading, this happens most when trying to load from the title screen or from a level different to the one you saved on, mostly a hit or miss. Another issue is not being compatible with the top loader due to the cart's shape.

Despite everything, this cart usually goes for more than $80 on ebay, whenever you can find it that is.

Some NES games..........and a NOMAD!

Today there was a good loot, first a few crappy beat up NES games, all in poor condition but working, they are: Anticipation, Rollergames, NES Play Action Football, Tecmo Bowl, Gotcha and Al Unser Jr. Turbo Racing, out of the whole lot perhaps only Kung Fu and Rollergames are worth more than 10 minutes, but the guy wanted 3 dollars for the lot, anyways, this isn't about those ugly games, its about that other thing I found.

......A SEGA NOMAD!




Yes, that ill-fated, not-so-portable Genesis that SEGA released in the old days. I just love it, this is the third one for me, but one got stolen, that thing is so huge I wish I could beat the guy who stole the other one with it, that would do some serious damage.

Anyways, back to this NOMAD, the screen isn't too scratched, unnoticeable while playing thanks to the battery draining backlight. It came with no battery pack, I've actually never seen a NOMAD battery pack and there is no place in it to put regular batteries, but I've read those things only give you like 2 hours of play time and that you are better off with the AC adapter, which thankfully is the same one as the Genesis 2, 3 and 32x, so it isn't very hard to find.

The NOMAD's screen looks great.......as long as nothing is moving, Sonic looks like a blur in it, which is actually kind of normal, but Eric Lecarde of Castlevania does too and also the bullets from Contra, and pretty much every sidescrolling hero, but most games are pretty much playable, like Street Fighter or Puyo Puyo, er...Dr Robotnik's Mean Bean Machine.

Another cool feature of the NOMAD is that it has a controller port at the bottom and an A/V out jack at the top, also like the ones on the Genesis 2, 3 and 32x so you can hook it on a TV and play with a friend.

Definetily recommended if you are a Sega or at least a 16-bit fan.