Pedro's Retro Video Game News and Notes

Gameboy Game Compatibility Guide

2010-10-11T16:08:00.000-07:00

Game Boy Advance Only Games (Special Full Color)

Wide screen games that will work with Game Boy Advance, Game Boy Advance SP, Game Boy micro, Nintendo GameCube Game Boy Player, and Nintendo DS. They will not work with Game Boy Color, Game Boy pocket, or the original Game Boy.
Games display up to 512 colors from a palette of up to 32,768 colors.
The Game Paks are about half the size of all other Game Boy Game Paks.
Packaging clearly indicates that these games are "Only for Game Boy Advance."

Game Boy Color Only Games (Full Color)

Games use up to 56 colors out of a palette of 32,768.
Will only work on Game Boy Color, Game Boy Advance, or Game Boy Advance SP.
These Game Paks have a transparent plastic housing.
Even though the packaging indicates that these games are "Only for Game Boy Color," they will work on Game Boy Advance and Game Boy Advance SP. Note: The words "Only for Game Boy Color" and the icon on the back of the Game Boy Color Game Pak packaging do not appear if the game was released or re-issued after June of 2001.
When playing these games on a Game Boy Advance or Game Boy Advance SP, the screen size can be switched between standard Game Boy size and Game Boy Advance size by pressing the L & R buttons. (Changing the screen size may distort the images.)
Due to the motion sensor in Kirby's Tilt 'n' Tumble, and the different orientation of the game pak in the Game Boy Advance SP, it may be difficult to play the game as the directions will be the reverse of the intended directions.

Dual Mode Games

These games will work with all Game Boy systems, except for the Game Boy micro.
When using either the Game Boy Advance or the Game Boy Color they will display up to 56 colors out of a palette of 32,768. When using the original Game Boy or Game Boy pocket they will use 4 shades of gray.
These Game Paks have a dark gray or black plastic housing.
When playing these games on a Game Boy Advance or Game Boy Advance SP, the screen size can be switched between standard Game Boy size and Game Boy Advance size by pressing the L & R buttons. (Changing the screen size may distort the images.)

Original Games

With the exception of the Game Boy micro, these Game Paks will work with all Game Boy systems and will display 4 - 10 colors when used on the Game Boy Color, Game Boy Advance, or Game Boy Advance SP. You can change the color scheme using special palettes. When these games are played on the Game Boy or Game Boy Pocket, they will appear in 4 shades of gray.
These Game Paks have a light gray plastic housing.
A very small number of older games may not function properly on the Game Boy Color, Game Boy Advance, or Game Boy Advance SP. Common symptoms include scrambled images, missing graphics, or sound problems.
When playing these games on a Game Boy Advance or Game Boy Advance SP, the screen size can be switched between standard Game Boy size and Game Boy Advance size by pressing the L & R buttons. (Changing the screen size may distort the images.)

Pedrogames.com - Buy NES Game System, Zapper Gun, Controllers and Super Mario/Duck Hunt Game - Nintendo NES

2010-10-04T04:30:00.000-07:00

Pedrogames.com - Buy NES Game System, Zapper Gun, Controllers and Super Mario/Duck Hunt Game - Nintendo NES

Some of the faces of internet scammers

2010-06-18T11:59:00.000-07:00

So internet scammers as it turns out aren't the smartest bunch. Who knew?! As I have discovered, they often times use their real names when trying to place orders using stolen credit card numbers. So crafty! What's even better than that? They all have Facebook accounts! Here's a few of these pathetic pieces of trash.

Solomon Adune of Ghana! - has his stolen goods shipped to an address in Fort Worth, Texas

Jolmer Barrios of Venezuela! - has his stolen goods shipped to an address in Miami, FL

Michael Kophy of Ghana! - has his stolen goods shipped to an address in Fort Worth, Texas

Matthew Aubyn of Ghana! - has his stolen goods shipped to an address in Canada

Most common buyer excuses on ebay

2010-06-02T08:05:00.000-07:00

In my numerous years on ebay, I have heard it ALL. Here are the most common excuses I receive when a buyer has not paid for their item. I'm not saying that they're all lying, but sometimes you just know.

1. My child/friend/roommate bid on this using my account

2. I was in the hospital

3. A relative died

4. My Paypal account is having issues (like there's no money in it?)

5. My account was hacked

What are some of the excuses you've heard?

Pedrogames.com - Buy Mega Man - Nintendo NES

2010-05-28T06:16:00.000-07:00

Pedrogames.com - Buy Mega Man - Nintendo NES

Pedrogames.com - Buy Battletoads in Battlemaniacs - Super Nintendo

2010-05-27T09:56:00.001-07:00

Pedrogames.com - Buy Battletoads in Battlemaniacs - Super Nintendo

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Pedrogames.com - Buy SNES Super Scope Light Gun

2010-05-23T22:31:00.001-07:00

Pedrogames.com - Buy SNES Super Scope Light Gun & Game - Super Nintendo

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Pedrogames.com - Buy Mario Party 2 - Nintendo 64

2010-05-23T11:46:00.001-07:00

Pedrogames.com - Buy Mario Party 2 - Nintendo 64

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Pedrogames.com - Buy Alien 3 - Nintendo NES

2010-05-22T07:06:00.001-07:00

Pedrogames.com - Buy Alien 3 - Nintendo NES

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Pedrogames.com - Buy AD

2010-05-21T19:11:00.001-07:00

Pedrogames.com - Buy AD&D Eye of the Beholder - Super Nintendo

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Pedrogames.com - Buy Double Dribble - Nintendo NES

2010-05-20T18:04:00.001-07:00

Pedrogames.com - Buy Double Dribble - Nintendo NES

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Pedrogames.com - Buy The Adventures of Batman and Robin - Super Nintendo

2010-05-19T15:37:00.001-07:00

Pedrogames.com - Buy The Adventures of Batman and Robin - Super Nintendo

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Pedrogames.com - Buy Adventures of Lolo - Nintendo NES

2010-05-19T04:38:00.001-07:00

Pedrogames.com - Buy Adventures of Lolo - Nintendo NES

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Pedrogames.com - Buy Bonk's Adventure - Nintendo NES

2010-05-17T14:00:00.001-07:00

Pedrogames.com - Buy Bonk's Adventure - Nintendo NES

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Pedrogames.com - Buy Dr. Mario 64 - Nintendo 64

2010-05-15T20:28:00.001-07:00

Pedrogames.com - Buy Dr. Mario 64 - Nintendo 64

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Pedrogames.com - Buy 1942 - Nintendo NES

2010-05-13T09:11:00.001-07:00

Pedrogames.com - Buy 1942 - Nintendo NES

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How to replace the 72-pin connector in your Nintendo NES

2010-04-30T11:00:00.000-07:00

If you've ever played a Nintendo NES then you probably know that as fun as they are, over time you'll have issues with blinking or solid colored screens appearing, rather than the game you intended to play. Generally this means it's time for a new 72-pin connector. Well you're in luck, not only do we have connectors, but here's how to install it to make your system run like a champ once again.

You'll need-

(1) new 72-pin connector.

+(1) Phillips head screwdriver.

+15 minutes

Start with the NES on a clean, accessible workspace.

Turn the NES over and remove the six screws (see photo below) from the bottom in order to open the enclosure.

Turn the NES back over and lift the top cover off.

With the top cover of the NES removed the upper RF shield must now be removed.

Remove the seven screws (see photo below) to allow the upper RF shield to come loose.

Lift the top RF shield off of the NES PCB.

Removing the top RF shield reveals the NES cartridge mechanism.

Remove the remain seven screws indicated to detach the main NES PCB and cartridge mechanism from the enclosure. Make note of the silver screws and their location.

Slide the NES cartridge mechanism slightly forward, then lift it up and slide it away from the PCB.

The NES cartridge mechanism should slide right off of the NES 72-pin edge connector.

Gently lift up the PCB to make the 72-pin edge connector easily accessible, then remove the connector by pushing it in the direction of the arrows.

Here is the main NES PCB with the edge connector removed.

Push the new 72-pin edge connector on to the edge of the NES PCB.

After the replacement 72-pin edge connector is fitted to the NES PCB, ensure that the bottom shielding from inside the case is fit properly to the PCB, especially around the bottom connector.

All screws removed from the NES for edge (72-pin) connector replacement are the same size and color, except for the two silver screws from the cartridge mechanism. Be sure the silver screws go back where they belong.

When fitting the cartridge mechanism back on to the PCB, be sure to slide the bottom lip of it beneath the PCB, else things will not fit together properly. Also note the proper fitting of the bottom RF shield around the bottom connector.

Close everything back up and replace all the screws in their original locations. No need to over tighten.

With the NES reassembled you should be ready to go!

another bunch of shill bidders on ebay

2010-03-15T12:33:00.000-07:00

This is just a quick add-on to my last post. Here is a ring of several ebay members who all live near each other, all bid on one another's items. This one is also super clear as you can browse through the feedbacks for each and see where they continuously leave feedback for one another, only to resell the items that their friends bid on for them.

magpie7367

stacey6336

mnamy

1timnamy

Update May 13th, 2010- a couple more dirtbag shill bidders. These two are related and bid on each other's items. Obviously since it's the same guy. Just see the current or past listings from either one: same background, same wording, items "bought" by one will be sold by the other a few days later, etc... But of course none of this is proof enough for good ole ebay!

judyma66

2010timothywalker97

Update May 31st, 2010- This user is a well known shill bidder in the video game community. In addition to his shill bidding, his hobbies are making fake Mike Tyson's Punch-Out insert letters and selling them as real. Real loser here.

jayr922nes

april101sabine

eBay allows shill bidding as a way to increase their revenue

2010-03-15T08:56:00.000-07:00

Let's start this off with a bang. First of all, I'm Doug, co-owner of Pedro Games. There is no one named Pedro within our company, it was just a name that came to my mind when I needed an ebay id several years ago. We were going to change it, but people seem to like it so we left it. At some point we'll have a website under another name, but we'll always hold on to Pedro Games.

So here's the bang part. I want to tell people about an issue I take very seriously because it directly affects my bottom line. I'm talking about shill bidding. Shill bidding is the practice of a seller bidding on his own items in order to drive the price up. We buy a good bit of our products directly from ebay, so this underhanded technique costs me untold thousands every year. For a long time, probably as long as ebay has existed, the site had held a strong stance against this practice. I've known numerous people who have been removed entirely from the site for shill bidding. I've even gotten several of them removed personally by reporting them myself. Well about a year ago, ebay began hiding all bidder's id's. Their explanation for this was to curb scammers contacting bidders after auctions were over, offering to sell them a similar product for less. While this may be part of it, the bigger part as I have seen personally on several occasions is that ebay feels that shill bidders cannot be reported any longer since bidder's id's are obscured.

Why would ebay not want shill bidding reported, even though it remains an official ebay violation? That's easy. Because like I said, shill bidding artificially raises the final price of items for auction on ebay. Ebay profits from shill bidding because they make more money based on that final price. Ebay makes a fortune by turning a blind eye to shill bidding, and with their stock price having taken a dump in recent years, anything helps.

Now how do I know for sure that this is ebay's new stance on this once severe violation? I know because I report each and every obvious case of shill bidding I see. Here's a few examples-

Ebay seller id- bambooexpress- This one's ridiculous it's so obvious. In alot of cases I can figure out the bidders id even though it's been hidden, because the shill bidding seller will leave himself feedback for his other id. This seller has not done so. Regardless, this one's open and shut. Even though the bidder's id is hidden, anyone can still click on the hidden name, and it will take you to a page that shows you how many items the member has bid on, and how many different seller's make up those bids. This bidder- 9***8
has as of this writing bid on 32 items. That's not the obvious part. What's obvious is that EVERY one of those items belongs to the same seller. Now if the seller were selling all similar items, like say video games, then maybe not so unusual, but this seller sells all sorts of things- computers, cameras, video games, cards, etc... and this bidder bids on them all! Another very tell-tale sign of shil bidding is that the items won by that member will be relisted, since of course it's just the buyer bidding on his own stuff. What brought this case to my attention is that I got a second chance offer on an item I was the second highest bidder on. Whenever I get one of these I get very suspicious, as second chance offers are another sign of a shill bidder. So I looked into it to see who beat me, looked at his bid history, and it was clear. The last, and biggest sign of a shill bidder is that the items won by the shill bidder will be relisted soon after he wins them. So I check for that and OF COURSE, each item this fake bidder won is now back up for auction!

In the past, each case I reported to ebay was taken very seriously. I don't report something like this to ebay unless I am 100% positive. As you can see from the evidence above, there's no mistaking. I get an email from ebay today regarding the report-

Hi Doug,

I had my investigations team look into this and show no evidence of
shill bidding on this seller or items.

Thanks,

Raj Bhatia
eBay

Uh, okay. Way to live up to all the bad things people say about you ebay. Ebay has become a pathetic shell of the site they once were. They raise fees constantly, give sellers less and less respect, constantly make policy changes that make it even less enticing to sell there. I'm a very large seller on ebay at the moment, but only because we currently have no other options. The good news is that our website is almost done, and we'll be doing less ebay business as quickly as our bottom line permits.

Thanks for reading everyone, have a great day!

-Doug

Gotta start somewhere.

2009-07-05T17:48:00.000-07:00

So here goes. Hi guys and girls, welcome to our blog. It's going to be pretty neglected for a while as no one here has much time to add anything at the moment. Give me a few months and check back. It'll be worth the wait. In the meantime, check out our game store- http://www.pedrogames.com