Micro Machines Game Pc
Juliane Bari
Hey guys...I just picked up a sealed copy of this great game..only to find that it's constantly blinking. You can see the opening screen try to load, only to flash on and off. I followed the instructions inside regarding this problem, and there's even a small switch on the back of this unlicensed cartridge. Nothing works.
I recall reading somewhere that the latest NES machines made after 91 had 'lockout' chips...so you couldn't use a Game Genie or other unlicensed games. Is this true? My current NES is a latter machine...it came with Super Mario 3 bundled.
What are my options? ...anybody experience this? I guess I'll have to track down an older NES so I can play this great game. Are there any easy mods I can do to my newer NES to get it to play unlicensed games?
i don't know, sounds to me like a bad pin connection. This happens all the time with my NES that I'll either get a blinking grey screen or blinking title screen. Just need to wiggle the cart a little bit while hitting reset and eventually the games work.
You have to disable the lockout chip on your NES to play Micro Machines, it will keep your NES from ever blinking again and you will be able to play Unlicensed games. Here is a video that I made that will explain just what you need to do.
The copy with the switch is an unlicensed game and will not work on the front loading NES. The reason it works on the top loader is because it doesn't have a lockout chip. I own this same game that you are speaking about and also own the front loading NES. Now that the lockout chip is clipped in my NES I can play it along with any other unlicensed game.
Thanks for the tips, dudes. I'm not going to disable the lockout chip on my 'new' nes, as it was sitting in a box since the early nineties and has to last a loooong time...lol. I'm going to go pick up a junky console from a pawn shop and disable IT'S chip...mind you, it'll probably have a filthy connector in it as well so maybe a cleaning will be in order.
I remember having a bit of a problem with this game back in the day, but I don't recall it had a switch on the back of it. I'm thinking picking up a Game Genie may be worthwhile if I can just bypass the safety chip without clipping anything off.
I don't think that the Game Genie lets you bypass the lockout chip. I remember trying it in the past and having no success. The Game Genie uses the lockout chip in the game in order to work. Unlicensed games don't have that chip. Your only options are to disable the chip in the NES or get a top loader.
the unlicensed games were supposed to deal with the nes lockout chip thanks to some quick reverse engineering. I remember not having any trouble with an unmodded nes and micro machines back in the day.
that said, there are different versions of the game. My *current* one has the gold cart with the hole in the back, but just an unused connector where the switch would have been. I imagine that as nintendos evolved the complexity of defeating the lockout chip also had to evolve and older versions just can't work on newer nes toasters.
The game is 'running' on my NES with the lockout chip disabled, but the video is very quirky...it's like the vertical hold is shot on some levels, especially on the pool table level...the game screen scrambles when there's a lot of checker pattern on the screen, it seems.
Micromachines was one of my favorite NES games, me and my friends could play that for HOURS. And the last time I played it was on a toploader, so I doubt any lockout would cause problems (unless Nintendo Saved on the Toploader by removeing some er...unnecessary baggage or something)
A small run of production Micro Machines carts was made with EPROMS instead of mask ROMs, and the symptoms you're writing about may be the presence of bit rot. The cart does not contain security screws so it will be pretty easy to eliminate this as a possibility yourself: just open the cart up and look to see if any of the ROM chips have windows.
Like I said before Micro Machines with the switch on the back is Unlicenced and will not work on the NES toaster. The top loader does not have a lockout chip in it so any unlicenced game will work. If you want to play it on the toaster you must disable the lockout chip. Here is a link to Nintendoage that shows that it is an unlicenced game.
Before I sold this and a bunch of the other unlicensed games I had, I was able to play them just fine on my frontloader. It was weird though, they wouldn't work unless the carts were pushed down. I had left it up because I was just testing games to make sure they worked, and I was getting frustrated b/c several games which I had cleaned wouldn't work. Then I tried pushing them down, and they worked fine.
Dude you can't make blanket statements about unlicensed games and the toaster NES like that. There were MANY revisions to the NES (prior to the toploader) and it's pretty hit and miss as far as what unlicensed game will or won't work on what console. I have a Micro Machines with a switch that works on 2 of the 3 toasters I currently have unclipped, and that game will definitely work on any NES made through 1988.
And simply picking up a new toaster isn't a foolproof solution, since it appears to work on some, not on others. Since I bought this game sealed, I didn't realize it had the switch on the back. I guess I'm just going to have to try with a couple proven older units. If it won't work, then I'll just have to find another one on ebay that doesn't have that switch. Not fun, since I kinda overpaid for the sealed copy...not expecting this issues.
Does anybody have a version of this game with the switch that can get it to work on a toaster?...I mean, some must exist. Either that or buy an NES off ebay with the chip disabled and 'somewhat' guaranteed.
Another option may be getting a new 72 pin connector. They're pretty easy to replace, just lots of screws to undo, really. I got one several years ago, and WOW. I don't even have to push the games down into the system for them to work anymore. Over time, the 72 pin connectors get REALLY loose, and the unlicensed games are the first to suffer from this problem. A new connector will help, trust me. Along with clipping the lockout chip, this should eliminate the blinking screen from now on. Good luck!
I've disabled the lockout chip, and it STILL has an issue that I don't know if I mentioned...for some reason, the game graphics get all wonky on certain levels..mainly the edges of the table, and especially during the bonus rounds with the monster truck. It literally looks as if the channel on your tv 'scrambles'...now, it's not as bad as it was (I recently did a 72 pin connector swap), but I'm just wondering what the deal is....I certainly don't remember this happening back in the day!
Anybody have any suggestions? My previous posts tell you about my cart, which was sealed when I purchased it. It has a two way dip switch on the back, and right now the game is only stable (with the graphic distortions) in the A, or first, position.
This game is hard enough as it is without the glitchiness...but I can't see what else to do. Such a shame, cause it's one of my all time favorites on the NES...even thought the difficulty is high and the game 'cheats' like many racing titles of its kind back then, lol.
I have an NES. Probably from 1990. It has a lockout chip. It's not disabled. (I know how to disable it. I did it for some other people. I just never cared to open mine and do it on my own.) My Micro Machines cart works on it.
You know, I'm having similar trouble with my Micro Machines. It worked the first time I played it, but the graphics were kind of wavy. Then it just started blinking forever. I think all my other Camerica games work just fine. There's also one AVE and one Wisdom Tree game that I can't get to work. All my other unlicensed games work fine though. Maybe I'll try disabling my lockout chip with my extra NES if that's what the problem is.
I was thinking of trying to find a copy without that goofy switch on the back of the game, perhaps that would work. I've clipped an NES in the past to get rid of the lockout, but it's not that the game isn't 'playing', it's just that when it does work, it goes all wavy and screwy on certain levels...something I don't remember from back in the 90s. I should record it, but I'm sure nobody would really care, lol. It's almost always on the pool table F1 level, and also the bonus rounds. Just takes a lot of the fun out of the game when you get hosed because you can't see what's going on the screen!
Sounds like you just have a bad connection, or the game/console thinks it does. I assume you have a front loader. Sometimes I can shove the cart in, and pull it part way out then push it down and that will often work.
Initially I had trouble getting Micro Machines to work in Windows 10 as it would crash when loading a race. I realized the issue was that the game couldn't select 320x240 resolution so I had to go to the nVidia drivers and manually create 320x240@60 resolution and that fixed the issue.
Unfortunately in Windows 10 the game seems to run in software graphics mode (not 100% sure) and therefore seems to have reduced colour, missing shadows and lighting effects. When you start a race it initially runs in 320x240 but after the race starts you press F7 to change into 640x480.
I have attached two pictures. One shows MMV3 running with Voodoo acceleration in DOSBox Daum and the other shows it running natively in Windows 10. Was just wondering if it was possible to add support for this game in dgVoodoo2. I would much rather just be able to play it in Win 10. Thanks heaps.
- The game freezes at startup if too many resolutions are enumerated to it, so I had to disable default resolutions in the config and add 320x240 and 640x480 as extra enumerated ones (320x240 is used for sw rendering, 640x480 is for hw rendering)
- Even with that, dgVoodoo has some incompatibility with MS DDraw in the deep details which prevents the game from starting up, but I've fixed that
- Now the game run in sw rendered mode, for menus and ingame (and indeed, F7 raises the resolution to 640x480)
- The game executable also needed some patching to get D3D accelration to work: the part checking the hw capabilities might have worked for very old cards but incompatible with modern ones. After that, I got it running with hw acceleration too, without any problems (quick test)