WTB: 32MB PCMCIA flash card for 573 stuff

[Merk]

Hello all!

Before I blow $60 on eBay I figured I would check here first since a good number of us have spare arcade knickknacks laying around and I'd much rather give my hard earned tape monkey dollars to people I know and love instead of some pedophile on the internet. I'm in need of a 32MB PCMCIA flash card that works with the good ol' Konami 573 arcade board and remarkably none of the three 573s that exist at Da Butt Hut have a card in them that I can salvage.

Yes, I am trying to run that sweet, sweet DDR Superdisc on Chad's old USA cabinet.

If anyone knows what model of DVD-ROM drive I will need for this disc as well that would help me out greatly!

[Ho]

If you can get one for $60 on eBay, you should probably just do that. That's well below typical prices I see. There is a list on sows of DVD drives that people have used successfully.

[Merk]

I'll re-check the SOWS list, for some reason I thought they were all just CD-ROM drives but I'll admit I didn't look at each one individually.

Brian do you have a spare PCMCIA card? I'll give you $50 and a hug for it.

[MonMotha]

It's probably not a real Konami card he's looking at for $60. There are some 3rd party models that have been discovered to work experimentally. There are also some that work for reading, but not writing, so you have to do the PCMCIA card install yourself on a PC, but the game will otherwise run on it.

Either that or he's seeing an old ATA card which, uh, won't work.

I had a spare Konami branded card, but I sold it about 6 months ago.

[Merk]

No it's some third party card and it was something that the dudes on sows confirmed would work. I'd grab the eBay link from sows but I'm at work and the sows forum is absolutely riddled with pedo anime avatars and the last thing I want is to have my co-workers get the wrong impression of me.

Ughghghghh.... I'm guessing DDR won't work at all without this card? I have two DM 573s and it looks like neither of them needed a card to work. It looks like the DDR USA 573 that came out of Chad's machine didn't have the card in it either.

[MonMotha]

There are a few versions of the dance games that don't need it. Most of the "Dancing Stage" titles don't need it as they were smaller and fit entirely on the onboard flash. All of the "Dance Dance Revolution" titles from 2nd Mix Link and newer do need it, with the exception of DDR USA.

[Merk]

God. Fucking. Damn it.

Of course, we happen to get the one DDR mix that doesn't need it.

So would the Dancing Stage that used the Max2 theme/engine not require a flash card?

[MonMotha]

You're thinking of Euromix 2, I suspect. I don't remember if it needs a flash card or not. It was one of the largest "Dancing Stage" titled 573 mixes.

[Fluffyumpkins]

I'm not even sure I'd want you to salvage it. Isn't some part of the process permanent?

[MonMotha]

I'm not sure if there's a good way to go back to a legit USA install once you've installed the hacks (you may be able to convince it to do an upgrade of DDR1.5), so yes, it could be considered permanent. I'd have the same concerns with my DMX system, though I may be able to get it to do an upgrade of a hacked 2nd mix.