From: jamiekg@wizardling.geek.nz   
      
   Kendrick Kerwin Chua  wrote:   
      
   > In article <00251605$0$24169$c3e8da3@news.astraweb.com>,   
   > benstylus   wrote:   
   > >BelPowerslave wrote:   
   > >>> There are only two options - continue (no way to do that without a save)   
   > >>> and delete... !!! WTF? Can anyone advise on how on earth I get past this   
   > >>> old guy in purple with only these two choices?   
   > >>   
   > >> Have you tried doing "Delete" to clear the cart's memory?   
      
   Yup, but I'm still stuck. Le crap...   
      
   > >> If so, and it still gives you that screen, it's possible the battery is   
   > >> dead. Why that would stop you from, at least, starting the game, I'm   
   > >> not sure, but it's possible that's the issue. What *should* happen is   
   > >> the guy asking you what your name is, you enter it and then the game   
   > >> starts...   
      
   Huh - precisely when? Like - I turn on the system, the old guy appears   
   and then... what _should_ happen if there are no saves?   
      
   > >I'd agree with this, except with a dead battery, you should simply have   
   > >no saves on there at all.  The battery just keeps the data in the RAM,   
   > >and without that battery, the ram empties itself when the power is off.   
   > >   
   > > From the sound of this situation, there's something corrupted with the   
   > >save files (or possibly the game itself).   
   > >   
   > I agree with Ben's diagnosis. There's not an easy way to confirm it, or   
   > repair the damage if it's true though. The first thing I can think of to   
   > do is to disconnect the battery entirely and try to run the game through   
   > the paces of saving a file and starting a saved game. If that all works,   
   > then the problem is definitely with low or erratic voltage into the save   
   > RAM chip. If you get the same behavior even without the battery, then   
   > there's no good way to proceed unless you have the tools to do   
   > byte-by-byte write tests of the chip.   
      
   Nah, I'm not that handy, I'm afraid.   
      
   > SitD is relatively common now on the aftermarket, so the fast fix is just   
   > to get a replacement cart. There was one of those in every Genesis or   
   > Megadrive lot of games I picked up over the years.   
   >   
   > -KKC, headed out shopping...   
      
   Well, I might as well give opening the cart a go - I can't make the   
   situation any worse, heh. In the meantime has anyone got a ROM file for   
   this game they could share? I'm keen to see what should happen using an   
   emulator and whether I really dig this game, otherwise I doubt I'll go   
   to the trouble of buying another copy. I live in New Zealand, you see,   
   and the local secondhand classic videogame market is very small and   
   import costs are high.   
      
   Thanks again for the help, guys :-)   
      
   Regards,   
    Jamie Kahn Genet   
      
   P.S. Anyone else tempted to go 100% with emulation nowadays? Maybe I   
   take gaming way too seriously, but with more and more hardware dying on   
   me as the years pass I REALLY don't like the idea of losing high scores   
   and important saves. The trouble is of course that emulation still   
   leaves much to be desired compared to the real thing *sigh*   
   --   
   If you're not part of the solution, you're part of the precipitate.   
      
   --- SoupGate-Win32 v1.05   
    * Origin: you cannot sedate... all the things you hate (1:229/2)