Making a REAL Gradius III SA-1 Cartridge!

WARNING!! GRADIUS III SA-1 REQUIRES 128KB S-RAM TO RUN PROPERLY!!! DO NOT USE PGA TOUR 96 UNLESS YOU WANT TO WIRE THE S-RAM IN MANUALLY!
IF YOUR CART DOESN'T HAVE ENOUGH S-RAM, YOU CAN USE THIS PART! IS62C1024AL-35QLI-TR
THESE 2 GAMES REQUIRE NO S-RAM MODS:
Kakinoki Shogi or (SHOUGI)
Dai Senrya Ku Expert WWII - War in Europe
ALL OTHER GAMES WILL NEED AN S-RAM UPGRADE!!
► Follow me on Twitter: / voultar
► Store Website: voultar.com
►Want to know where to find the soldering station, tools, flux, and other equipment that I'm using!? Check out my Amazon Page: www.amazon.com/shop/voultar
►SA-1 Conversion PCB:
oshpark.com/shared_projects/O...
► Gradius III SA-1 Patch:
github.com/VitorVilela7/SA1-R...
►You guys are ALWAYS asking me about programmers. Here's the unit that I use primarily for EVERYTHING. From old, UVPROMs all the way to "fixing" PS3's by reading their NAND/NOR memories.. I have a special kit put together that's incredibly affordable! Of course, it supports all of my cartridge mods! You'll be hard-pressed to beat this for the price. Check it out:
www.embeddedcomputers.net/pro...
►I use the INL Retro Dumper:
infiniteneslives.com/inlretro.php
☢WARNING! This video is NOT for the technically faint of heart! It's super technical!!☢
♰ I don't condone piracy! As you'll see, I am dumping the games that I legally own! ♰
In this installment, we take advantage of Vitor Vilela's latest polarizing ROM hack! Gradius III with SA-1 support!
Credits:
Gradius III Comparison Footage - VitorSuperMarioWorld

[@PersianImm0rtal]

Bob Ross of Soldering.

[@stevensexton5801]

Well put

[@BluCanti]

"Souldering" according to Voultar

[@Fattydeposit]

@@BluCanti According to most people

[@rubenmejia4881]

Facts!

[@ChloePaws]

I was right about to comment that. The skill and the positivity are so great.

[@flandrble]

Voultar sounds like a less angry Louis Rossmann

[@illuminatiCorgi]

Peers: "Did you see the game last night?" Me: "No...but I did see a guy do a clean SA-1 mod to a Gradius III cart 😐 🔥'

[@floopflarp]

I'll never do anything with legacy hardware but I love watching you implement the hardware mods. Super props to good solder habits and technique.

[@kennylauderdale_en]

The BOSS RUSH at the end of the game is still one of the most insane things I've ever beaten as a kid. I would argue it actually makes the game easier though.

[@Reaper212323]

Knowing you watch voultar makes you my second favorite youtuber.

[@badreality2]

He also watches RetroTech.

[@PrekiFromPoland]

I'd argue the high-speed stage that comes before is much more frustrating.

[@jonnielsen547]

Your soothing voice helped me make my first SA-1 transplant, learning some nice soldering techniques in the process. It was a magical session the likes of which I hadn't experienced since that time I watched your NESRGB video and had the PPU simply fall out on desoldering the last pin. Oh, and thanks for the 1Mbit SRAM part info. Good stuff.

[@BartekSzzz]

Man, your videos are hypnotizing, outstanding soldering technique! And Vitor basically just repaired what Konami couldn't, big respect for you guys!

[@kaishenlong0502]

Always so satisfying to see those bright shiny pads of solder.

[@RobertoVillegas-vincent404]

I was hoping to see a video like this come out after reading about the hack if nothing more than to see it done. Super cool.

[@ThinkBeforeYouSleepYT]

Man if Voultar actually made content he would have over a million subs.

[@legoboy-ox2kx]

Yooo, I didn't know you watched Voultar

[@OptimusSatanas]

I cant be the only one who noticed all that solder that got on the board when he pulled the chip off?

[@johneymute]

He didn’t mention the reason why to use that heat gun in motion,but i guess he did that to avoid that plastic from the chip getting melted accidentally.

[@alex_mula]

Man, you motivate, inspire, and believe it or not, encourage me as well. Thanks for existing!

[@sukaslav5500]

do more of these. I love seeing upgraded carts.

[@bedwablackburn]

A sight of beauty as always. Thank you for the wonderful work!

[@rfmerrill]

Never hurts to put some flux on the pins between the preheating and hot-air desoldering. The oxide is a fairly good thermal insulator so adding flux helps heat get into the metal.

[@sylvaingauthier908]

awesome, your soldering work is such satisfying to watch

[@Nandolavras]

I was amazed by your solder techniques.

[@alex4alexn]

love watching you build stuff

[@joesshows6793]

You are a hero sir! Been dreaming of playing this without slowdown since day 1

[@hadesmcc]

I didn't know this was a thing, pretty cool, both the software and the hardware modding.

[@hussssshie]

I never liked to play games, but I just can't miss any of your videos. Your soldering is outstanding and it's something I do on a daily basis. Keep it up!

[@cromulence]

You don't solder on a daily basis, just crash. You're a bad browser and should feel bad.

[@hussssshie]

:c

[@cromulence]

@@hussssshie :P

[@RolaDsigns]

OMG , i have to do this one! i love gradius games so this is a must! , thanks for the great tutorial lord voultar!

[@pedroTFP]

Super cool! Cart soldering mods feel so freaking cyberpunk!

[@lishd]

yes & thank you, lord voultar

[@StrawHat587]

Gradius III is one of my favorite games. Love to see you working on it while playing those tunes

[@Wazoo117]

i prefer space megaforce myself

[@heoioh]

Thank goodness you made this video after the news came out!

[@mjl4423474]

Can I just say, I'm excited when you release a video as it makes that little part of my OCD happy haha

[@retroforce6919]

Great video 👍 This video inspired me to do things which I felt was impossible.

[@greenteagod]

Fantastic, I'm gonna have to give this a go as this is probably top 3 games of all time for me. I played this all summer long at my aunts house as a kid for probably 6 summers in a row =D

[@indalecio539]

Thank for the fun and informative video. You sound like a really cool guy!

[@JB2X-Z]

Hell yeah, there it is!

[@CarecaRetrogamer]

Holy shit man... I wish I had 1 tenth of your soldering ability... GG on a perfectly done cartridge!

[@Voultar]

Thanks so much for your support.

[@71dembonesTV]

Awesome that problems like this are being solved. Has some pretty big implications

[@waynecuff3140]

Amazing soldering!!!

[@joszer]

As someone who knows nothing about old Nintendo hardware, electronics, or soldering, I enjoy watching these videos!

[@Kippykip]

Thank you Voultar, very cool

[@segajcharrua]

Looking forward to that flash-cat with the dip 42 16 bit rom adapter!

[@James-nj8gx]

Cool video man, really enjoyed that one

[@Walczyk]

just bought a hot air smd rework station!!! Now my tools are essentially complete and i gotta do voultar things

[@GameTechRefuge]

02:50 . Classic Voultar. Love you man. LMAO!

[@Arcadiality]

Great job man. Cool AF.

[@ryulord23]

the best soldering on youtube, just awesome

[@Power-Wiesel]

I'm not saying he's bad, but if you think that's the best soldering on youtube you haven't watched much soldering on youtube. Still very well done - don't get me wrong.

[@ryulord23]

@@Power-Wiesel no doubt there are more professionals on youtube and yes i havent watched much but wen i started to get into soldering for pcb modding etc, i found a handful of videos that were helpful but Voultar's ones were what I was looking for in terms of techniques I could use and adopt as I had no clue to what I was doing, every video he puts out is like soldering pr0n, mainly due to my interest in what he is doing, im sure i wont get the same reaction watching someone soldering 2 wires together.. anyhow its just an opinion of mine, it wasnt meant to be taken literally. =)

[@tsbspionkop]

Great commentary as always

[@theYTfox]

That soldering job was so fucking satisfying to watch!!!

[@user-ko1qo7qw8r]

I love watching, thanks!

[@r100curtaincall]

This is really cool I’ve actually considered doing some thing like this myself. Although I would not have cut the legs on that chip. I would’ve simply laid them flat instead. Although it does look like there are holes on the other side they’re just covered and filled in with solder you could wick it out easily.

[@poppinblisters8782]

So soothing.

[@ardentdrops]

If you want to make your cart revertible, you can tape the mask ROM to the inside of the front shell, and store the label behind the back of the PCB. Use a hairdryer, not a heat gun, to loosen the adhesive on the label so as not to burn it. Non stick paper like a used sticker sheet can keep the adhesive from drying out.

[@graymouser7649]

awesome as per usual

[@ctrlaltrees]

Top work... If in doubt, add more flux!

[@LastMegaMan]

I wish i had known about some of your soldering videos about 8 years ago but I suppose its never too late to get back to learning huh.

[@doctorx0079]

Super Ghouls 'n' Ghosts would really benefit from this. Also Super R-Type.

[@Voultar]

Oh, absolutely. Vitor (the person responsible for this Gradius SA-1 patch) is actually working on BOTH of those titles to receive the same treatment!

[@sund0260]

"Mini Yonku Shining Scorpion - Let's & Go!!" is the cart he uses and will work just fine too. I find it easier to come by than the other two JPN carts suggested. Going to try this mod ASAP.

[@tava780]

Did you have any luck? I'm thinking of trying it on a SHVC-1L5B-10 board, but it has 256K SRAM. I wonder if it will work.

[@sund0260]

I have a couple boards and the needed parts, I just need to do the mod. I am not thrilled about the boards I got from OSH Park as some of the half vias where the board was cut don’t go all the way through, however they may not be needed anyway.

[@DJAlexUnderBase]

Thank you lord ! You are great as always !

[@linuxstreamer8910]

i never looked at it but after you say the battery nintendo uses is a maxter now i watch for it

[@taskanawa9604]

great! awesome dude

[@mohsinsajid288]

Great job dude

[@TBustah]

I might try this, I have that exact same SFC game. It was part of a junk lot.

[@BAGINAZARD]

oooo we get to see it run, noice.

[@lorenzoporciani]

Btw, wanted to ask if you could suggest some mods for a PAL Snes 2-chips, like I've found a board with supercic+uigr but literally no one sells it, so maybe there's something better?

[@doc_sav]

I am not convinced anyone in history has ever booted a PGA Tour 96 cart. There probably isn't even a game on it. It was just a ploy to make shelves look densely populated, a feature which still works in thrift stores and pawnshops today. Of course, that will probably mean in 5 more years it will be ultra rare. Seriously, this is just amazing. It wasn't too long ago that someone coding a game to work with specific cart hardware, and being able to put that on custom pcb adapter in a real cart seemed more like fantasy than reality.

[@senhorpenajaca]

Great video master 😄🇧🇷

[@diegocrusius]

this blew my mind

[@JoshLloyd]

I've decided to follow along and try to make repros following Voultar's guides. Fork PGA Tour 96.... but my copy from ebay came with SHVC-1L3B-01. I also got a copy of "Mini Shiku Shining Scorpion Ready & Go" as shown in this video. Will also try recommended sram module. Edit: I really should have read the video description!

[@Silhouette_Six]

Can we have r type 3 + sa1 ??

[@skins4thewin]

Heya Voultar, another great and informative video! I was wondering, what type of solder do you use exactly? I have had horrible luck with the super cheap stuff and need to buy something decent. What would you recommend?

[@theimperfectgod7140]

Yes... YES!!! I played this game so much ( emulator only tho ) and sometimes the slowdown is real.

[@sophilebali5945]

fantastic job

[@JohnSmith-qn3ob]

Contra 3 SA-1 is out, time to make a cart for it.

[@DeQMinister]

Lets hope Super GnG is the next on queue!

[@PardusRain]

Makes me wonder if one day they'll just clone the snes security chip and have 100% diy solutions with a mcu handling this, but it was also calming listening to the pro solder and such.

[@ZX81v2]

"You smell that? You Smell that?! I love the smell of Flux first thing in the morning." Worth noting Voultar's method for removing chips is one of the easiest methods. Be warned, being heavy handed will break things. If your new to soldering/desoldering - PRACTICE before atempting by using old tech to learn how to remove components correctly, AND how not to... (You'll understand) and DON'T Skip the Flux ! Thanks V

[@_zoinks2554]

Great video and a new sub!

[@rfmerrill]

It's not obligatory but wicking the pads flat tends to make it a *lot* easier to place your component correctly. The solder domes tend to make things really want to slide out of position plus your component probably won't sit flush to the board.

[@jong2359]

The donor cart may be legacy hardware that some may covet... but you made it better, faster, stronger.... so F it. Nice work.

[@TheRestartPoint]

This is amazing. I love all Gradius and all its related games, my favourite shooters of all time. I'm never gonna have the skills to do this without risking breaking old stuff, are there any modders out there selling these already done or selling the service if I get the parts?

[@astrolite3192]

I see a completed cart with a label & everything for $80 Australian dollars on eBay if you just want to buy it. I'll be doing a few too eventually.

[@Fridelain]

A bit of flux will help the solder on the chip legs melt. And if it's silver based stuff, adding in leaded solder.

[@albatross990]

Great to see a cartridge of Gradius III (donor anyway) running with a SA-1! However, I have a question; what are your thoughts on verified 100% accurate emulators such as BSNES and Higan?

[@sHiNkAoLaSu]

nice work! ^^ TheRealPhoenix did great adapters indeed :) Was wondering, any good and "relatively cheap" UV eraser you'd recommend ? (I'm based in France but I guess it'd be helpful for anyone based anywhere) Thanks!

[@bergrocks5424]

Nice job!!!

[@sebastianciampichini3694]

greetings from Argentina!!! excellent video. I love electronics and your videos are inspiring. for more videos and excellent channel !!! for more successes !!!

[@avrel820]

Hi i have been watching your video's and liking them I wish to get much better at precision soldering First what kind of flux do you use ?? I have basic brown flux not so good Second what is your heating equipment ? I'd like to be able to unsolder using hot air but need to know what's a good machine. And your's looks good .. I'd like to get something like you have as in the past i failed replacing a cpu socket not having a correct hot air tool.. Sorry being a pain with my questions

[@thekid36]

I may try this with my copy of Gradius 3

[@race2speed]

Another kick ass vid. Your theme song in your intros and outros are addicting, what theme is it?

[@AmirKhan-qx2lr]

was it not possible to fit a socket?. Just in case you need to reprogram in future

[@daifuku74]

Excellent! What no clean flux pen do you recommend please?

[@alexj0101]

Very cool

[@andresorcajo1145]

Great job!! one question, how do you connect your SNES to your computer?

[@SullySadface]

Oh cool, I can enter that weird trance state at BLINDINGLY FAST SPEED

[@flamer00070]

you should do in in depth video about how to solder

[@ShootTheCore]

When flashing the patched ROM, do you have to pad out the file since Gradius III is a 4 megabit game and the 27C322 is a 32 megabit EPROM? Also, should you perform a SwapBin on the patched ROM before flashing as well?

[@RoseColoredGaming]

No, and no.

[@nevermind824]

you make soldering look so easy! I need to get a test rig to learn :/

[@udance4ever]

@9:10 this is really fascinating - is it the flux that prevents the pins from being shorted w extra solder? i always thought u had to go one pin at a time so it's really neat to see this dragging technique!

[@J0r]

Any reason you didn't socket the 27C322 for future SA-1 hacks?

[@gaier19]

good job! only one thing i dont like about this hard soldering the ep-rom to cartridge :/ Use a socket for easy removability ^^

[@rockhyde7775]

Slowdown really isn’t an issue to me at all, it in fact makes the game easier because if it runs too fast, you are sure to crash. I went through 3 stages without dying thanks to it! Haven’t beat the entire game yet (p.s. I beat the first one on NES), but I definitely plan to. But I guess if you want to experience the whole thing without “lag”, this is the way to go. Otherwise no problems here. Very solid game overall.

[@chrisstone-streetlightinte5629]

I sense I'll be trying this in the very near future...

[@NethTech]

I'm not sure I've ever seen soldering look so easy. Looks like my kid could do it.

[@edwardtcrump5312]

What's the most challenging and extensive console mod you've done? Any console, any mod. I've just started modding things for fun (your vids are a great way to get into this) and I'm looking for something fun and challenging to work towards

[@J0r]

PGA Tour Golf '96 prices skyrocketing in... 3... 2... 1...

[@mwk1]

Hey Voultar! Awesome work, as always... but, can it be done with Gradius II on Famicom? ;-)

[@halcyo]

I dunno tho. Dat slowdown when 100 different things are flyin’ around the screen all around you and you think there’s no chance you’re gonna be able to process it all and dodge to survive- it’s like bullet time or the matrix- something about that is totally awesome when you finally feel the relief of the screen clearing up and the game speed returning to normal. How can anyone feel like the slowdown isn’t just part of this game?