Multi Game Hunter Review <by Hobbes> ------------------------ Multi Game Hunter MGH is a new copier in the market. Here is the hardware info/version on the MGH unit that I was using for this report: ROM Version = 1.2 DOS Version = 1.0 ROM Check Sum = 08A3 SRAM = 256K DRAM = 16Mbit The MGH does not come with any power adapter. A main unit got its power from the cartridge slot, but the drive (detachable unit) is required an external power source. The manufacture recommended a 10v 1A power adapter. I've experienced that 1A is too hot for the floppy drive unit, I switched to the 9v 800mA (0.8A). You can get this adapter from Radio Shack (Cat No. 273-1656) for $12.95. The MGH unit is very nicely built. The drive itself is detachable. There are two cartridge ports on the top of the unit for MD and SFC cart. The bottom of the MGH unit has both cart ports for SFC and MD interfaces. There are two male-male adapters come with the unit to connect to both SFC and MD system. Due to the cart copy protection, you will need a SFC or SNES cartridge when you use the MGH in the SFC mode. The graphical interface on both systems are in English. See below for the interface layouts: ==================================================================== MegaDrive Mode: --------------- Button C on the joypad is for selecting an option on the menu and button B is to cancel, button A is unused. There are eight main items on the MegaDrive Menu: * Disk Option - Run (play disk game) - Dir (directory MD files) - Load (load file to MGH Dram) - Write (write Dram to disk) - Rename (edit file name) - Delete (delete file) - Exit (quit this menu) * MD IC Card Option - Play (play cart game) - Dump (copy IC cart to disk) - Exit (quit this menu) * SRAM - Load (load Sram from disk) - Write (write Sram to disk) - Dump (copy IC card Sram to MGH) - Dir (directory Sram files) - Rename (edit Sram file name) - Delete (delete Sram file) - Exit (quit this menu) * SF IC Card Option - Dump (copy SFC cart to disk)...OPTION NOT AVAILABLE - Write (write Dram to disk)......OPTION NOT AVAILABLE - Exit (quit this menu) * MGH Tools Option - Format (format diskette) - Dir (directory disk) - Rename (edit file name) - Delete (delele file) - Check (check disk space) - Copy (copy MGH file) - Run (run MGH file) - Exit (quit this menu) * MGH Special Option.....................OPTION NOT AVAILABLE * MGH hardware check - Check MD cart - Check SFC cart - Check MGH unit * MGH Joypad Control.....................OPTION NOT AVAILABLE PRO: ---- * Everything items (except the one listed as NOT AVAILABLE) worked as expected. * Cartridges can be insert/remove while the unit is on. CON: ---- * The character select is in one line. ie. 0123456789ABCDEFGHIJKLMNOPQRSTUVWXYZ Only 15 characters are visible on the character 'window', but the character windows will scroll horizontally. * No special characters, lower case, etc. to choose for the file name (I know, I know, it's DOS problem :) ) * All MegaDrive/Genesis files should be named as MD????, you will have to rename your existing SMD or MGD2 disks to this format. ===================================================================== SuperFamicom Mode: ------------------ Button A = Select Button B = Cancel Button X, Y, L, R = unused SuperFamicom Menu Items: * Disk Option - Run disk file - Dir disk - Format (will format 720k, 1.4Meg, 1.6Meg) - Delete - Rename * SFC Option - Run IC card - Write IC card to disk (see CON below) - Run IC card on DRAM - Check IC card (identify the cart, # of Mbit, SRAM) * SRAM Option - Read disk to SRAM - Write SRAM to disk - Read IC card to SRAM * MGH Option - Check MGH hardware (identify ROM/DOS/Checksum/SRAM/DRAM) - Upgrade software PRO: ---- * All copy/dir/format/delete/rename/etc. functions are working perfectly. * "Upgrade software" option via floppy disk is a plus, but I am not sure the upgrade will be permanent (flash rom) or temporary. * Worked with Super Magicom and MDG2 format files, but you will have to rename your file to SF???? CON: ---- * The "Check IC card" option identifies the card and SRAM is not reliable. Some Capcom and Konami carts are identified as 16Mbit instead of 8Mbit and therefore, the MGH requires 2 disks to copy these carts! Here are a few of my carts that I've encountered with this bug: - Super Ghouls and Ghosts (SNES) - Castlevania IV (SNES) - Joe and Mac (SNES) - Final Fight (SFC) - Final Fight Guy (SFC) just to name a few... The MGH splits the cart into two 8Mbits file named SF????_A and SF????_B for these carts, but I did a binary compare for both files and they are identical! To fix this bug, you will have to rename the SF????_A file to SF????. This is a bit annoying but is workable solution. * There is a problem with a disk version of Super Ghouls and Ghosts (SNES). I used a cheat code to get to the last boss and the disk version apparently has MORE flickers than the cart version! Any idea? * Same as the MD mode, all SFC/SNES files will have to rename to SF????, otherwise, the MGH will not recognize these games. * You cannot remove the cart while the unit is ON, bummer! but you can do this in the MD mode. -------------------------------------------------------------------- Well, that's all I can reported for now. If I found any bug in the future, I will keep you posted. But I am sure Sentry will beat me on this :) he is much quicker than me :) Until then...happy gaming! -Hobbes 05-JUL-92
Amiga7878