Super Mario Clouds (2002-)
Super Mario Clouds is an old Mario Brothers cartridge which I modified to erase everything but the clouds. This project was very much in the line of the stuff that various Beige Programming Ensemble (RIP) reps were doing then. Anyway, check below for the ROM, source code, a gif, a scan of the cartridge, a video, and instructions on how 2 make it yourself.
Video
Cartridge
Gif
When I originally posted this on the Internet in 02, the web wasn’t actually able to contain video (it sounds funny now, but remember youtube didn’t start making waves till like 05ish??), therefore I made a gif of the video. Of the gazillion bootlegs of this project, most are from this gif, which has a reduced frame rate, and a different background color.
Download & Source Code
Click here to download the ROM. Below is the source code for the project. The original 2002 code disappeared in a laptop theft, but I wrote it again using the code posted on this website as a guide. This gave me v2k3. The code was recently modified again in 2009 to fix an error in one of the Sprites pointed out by J.Grahl. Thanks Jack! To compile this code you will need nasasm and nbasic.
Super Mario Clouds v2k2- Super Mario Clouds v2k3
- Super Mario Clouds v2k9
D.i.y. (How to get this stuff on a cartridge)
The process of making a NES cartridge was originally taught to me by Beige Programming Ensemble (RIP) member Paul B. Davis. In this section I will pass this technique on to you. Basically in short, the process will entail us taking apart an old Super Mario Brothers video game cartridge, de-soldering one of the chips in the cartridge, and then soldering a new one in its place.
a
The first thing you will need to get is an original Super Mario Brothers cartridge. Not a “Duck Hunt+Mario Brothers” cartridge, but just a plain old Super Mario Brothers cartridge. Next you should unscrew the plastic back on the cartridge, and inside you will see a circuit board like the one you see below. There are two chips on this board. The CHR chip, and the PRG chip. We are interested in the PRG chip for this project. Also please make sure the cartridge says NES-NROM-01 (01-05 in also fine). This let`s us know it is a 32k Nintendo circut board.
b
Next take some wire clippers and clip the legs of the PRG chip. I like to use the red clippers from Radioshack.
c
Once the legs are clipped you should be able to take the chip off like this.
d
The end of the legs will still be soldered to the circuit board though.
e
Now, with a pair of wire holders, hold a leg that is still attached to the board. While you are holding it, touch it with a hot soldering iron. This will melt the solder that is keeping it attacked to the board. You should feel the leg losen, and you will be able to pull it out of the circut board. Do this for each leg.
f
Next, get some Desoldering Briad!
g
Put it over the holes in the circuit board. Then place the soldering iron on the braid. This will make the solder heat up and the braid will suck it up.
h
When you are done, the holes in the circuit board should look clean like this
i
Now you will need to solder a socket into the holes where the program chip used to be. You will need to buy 28 pin low profile sockets. You can get these form Jameco.com. This makes it so you can take the chip in and out of the socket with out re soldering. This isn’t so necessary, but I always make mistakes, so it is kinda a precaution in case I need to make a new chip.
j
To solder, just touch the pin, and the solder at the same time, and you will see the soldering melt into the hole thus sealing the socket pin into the hole.
k
Now you can place a chip into the hole. The way you make these chips is by getting an EEPROM burner. It is like a CD burner, except for computer chips as oppoed to Cd`s. I would get one from Jameco. The kinda chip you will get is called a 27C256. This is a 32k EEPROM which is exactly the sameone the Nintendo used for cartridges like Mario Brothers. I would also get those from Jameco.com. Remember to make sure your EEPROM burner can burn type 27C256 chips! So once you have this, (or maybe a friend has one?), you can download the compiled 32k PRG file from the source code section above (It is called clouds.prg) and burn this data to the chip.
l
The next part is the easy part. Get a drill, drill some start holes into the front of the plastic cartridge. Then with your wire cutters you used earlier, bore out the plastic. You need to do this cause the socket we used is too tall for the plastic case of the cartridge, so you need to drill out a hole so the new PRG chip can stick out.
m
Don`t forget to label it!