Snowboard Kids (N64, PAL) Save File

As if Mario Kart 8 and Sonic & All-Stars Racing Transformed weren't enough kart racers for one year, I also played all the way through Snowboard Kids for the N64 last Summer - a fun little racer that, despite having controls took me a while to get used to, I thought totally lived up to the cult status it had back in the day. Having finished it though and unlocked all the courses, given my chequered history with N64 memory cards, I wondered if there wasn't some way I could copy my save off the damn card before it inevitable failed on me (Yeah, I don't know why I don't just stick to N64 emulators at this point either).

So, some poking around the internet brought me to this thing:



A DexDrive, which some guy was still selling a large quantity of new units of on eBay. This thing, you hooked up to your PC, allowing you to copy saves off of and onto your memory cards. Just the thing I needed, you might imagine, but being a US device from 1998...

Hmm

Umm

Uhh

...there proved to be a few issues getting it up and running. :D But finally I did and...... nothing. Of course, the DexDrive wouldn't recognise the third party N64 controller pak I had as valid, no matter what I did. But hey, at least it came with a pretty rad promotional booklet:

InterAct 1998 Booklet

In the end, after wasting what must have been like €50 on a DexDrive, a step-down converter and a freakin' serial to USB cable (which I'm sure is going to see a lot of future use), I discovered that the Retrode (and N64 adapter) I'd already bought a few months earlier could have done the same job the whole damn time.

Which is a pretty long-winded way of saying here's a completed PAL save for Snowboard Kids:

Download from MediaFire

You could transfer it to a N64 memory card with a DexDrive. I'd advise against it though. :)

Shepard, What's Wrong With Your Faaaace?

I was going to put together a little tutorial on how to import your Mass Effect 1 Sheppard into Mass Effect 3, but now that that problem's been fixed, there isn't really much point. I've still got a photo I was saving for it on my hard drive though, so why don't I post it anyway?



Here she is, after about an hour of faffing around, and having to to manually enter a long-ass code with the 360 pad (bottom left). I'm glad I went to all that trouble though; it just wouldn't be the same going through this game with any other version of Shepard after the 70 or so hours I put into the first two. The code I got initially didn't include all her features though; I was originally left with a bald, make-up free version with white eyebrows, that I had to tweak manually using a couple of pics that I took of her Mass Effect 2 incarnation. Oh look, here they are now:





Not a bad match I think. They're both miles better than the version of her face from ME1, which had this really jarring, odd-looking join between her forehead and her hair. Having just watched all of BGS before I started playing it, I was going for a Starbuck-esque look at the time, but I have a feeling that the character editor in ME1 was aimed more at making bald space marines than tough, blonde military girls.

Oh, and while I'm at it, I might as well pop up my finished Xbox 360 Mass Effect 2 save file. I needed to extract it from my 360's wad of Mass Effect 2 data in order to get the face code. If anyone wants to start up Mass Effect 3 as a female paragon (who knew to kick Ashley to the kerb when the opportunity presented itself), be my guest. You're on your own as far as using it goes, but there should be plenty info online. Link.

Screamer (PC) Save File

I think I may have hit a brick wall with my conquest of World Rally Fever at this stage. Literally, there's a series of fucking walls in the middle of one of the Pro Cup tracks that I can't for the life of me avoid. :D I did, however, beat another hard, old-ass PC racing game called Screamer the other week, unlocking the rocket car and the Afterburner difficulty in the process.

If you want to check out this game-breaking ride, or indeed the everyone-has-a-rocket-car mode without the soul-crushing difficulty that would otherwise entail, I've put up a copy of my save file (with instructions on how to use it) here. Enjoy!

World Rally Fever Save File - Pro Cup Unlocked

Given that it's ten years since I bought it, I decided to dig out World Rally Fever again a few weeks ago and have a go at finally beating it. I managed to clear the rookie cup back in 2001, but never got any further. Playing it now, I can see that that's mainly because it's bloody hard.

I've got a bunch of videos recorded and a little bit of a write-up planned for later, but  having finally unlocked the pro cup within the last hour, I thought I'd upload a copy of my save file so anyone who wants to check out the final cup can do so without enduring the keyboard-flinging frustration this would otherwise involve.

Get your copy here, you filthy cheater (full instructions included).