FAQ
Here at RetroStage, we strive to provide the best products for a great price, across many different retro game consoles.
We’ve been working with and designing circuit boards for retro gaming consoles since 2010. Our first product was for the SNES – a cartridge that could be configured to run a variety of SNES games. Since then, we’ve expanded to also support NES, N64, Sega Genesis/MD, Gameboy/GBC, GBA, and even consoles like the PC Engine / Turbo Grafx-16!
Due to having a number of different products available, we often get asked the same questions by many different customers. So we decided to put this FAQ up with some of the most common questions regarding us and our products!
RETURNS AND EXCHANGES
Q: Do you accept returns, or offer exchanges on a product I ordered from you?
A: No. All sales are final. For more information, please see our Refund and Returns Policy for more information.
WARRANTY
Q: Do you offer warranty on the products you sell?
A: Yes! All of our products are backed by a 90-day warranty, which covers any defect found at time of delivery, or failure during normal use, up to 90 days from the purchase date. If a product is found to be defective in the warranty period, we will replace or refund it at no cost to you! Please see our Warranty Policy for more information.
SHIPPING
Q: How long does it take to ship my order?
A: Because items are often made-to-order, orders are processed and shipped within 2-4 weeks. During sales events or holidays the processing time may exceed this, though we still try to stay within the 2-4 week time-frame.
Q: Do you ship to my country and what does shipping cost?
A: We ship to most countries, with a few exceptions. To see if we ship to your area, put the items you want in your cart and go into the checkout process. Once you’ve entered your address info, you will see a shipping cost estimate. If a message appears that no shipping options are available, your address is either not entered correctly or you are outside of our shipping area.
PRODUCTS
Q: Can I use your programmer to write a game ROM to an original/authentic/OEM game cart? (Example, put Mario 64 game hack onto original Mario 64 cartridge).
A: We get asked this an awful lot, but an original game cartridge (for any console) cannot be rewritten with a new game ROM. The memory chips that hold the game ROM are read-only, so no data can ever be changed with a programmer. The save game section of a cart CAN be rewritten (for example, writing a saved game file from an emulator like a .SRM file), but not the game data itself.
This is why we developed the Blaster series of programmable cartridges, because they can be rewritten however many times you want with a different game every time – they were designed for this. Original manufactured games, regardless of the console, were not.
Q: Are your products safe to use? Do they have proper voltage translation for 3V parts?
A: Yes! All of our products are built to be 5V safe, meaning that they use parts that are rated for 5V natively, or have extra circuitry (voltage level translation) specifically for running safely in a 5V system. Our RetroStage Guarantee is that the product works as safely in the console as an original OEM manufactured cartridge.
Q: I am having trouble using one of your products, where do I go for help?
A: If you are having difficulty with any of our products, we offer free tech support via email. Please contact us at support@retrostage.net for any tech support issues for all of our products.
Q: Can you make a PCB to play games on “xyz” console?
A: We support a large number of consoles and that number is growing regularly, but we don’t have a PCB for every console yet. If you are looking for a specific design for a custom project, feel free to contact us via email at support@retrostage.net.
MISCELLANEOUS
Q: Can you publish a game that I made?
A: Currently we don’t do publishing, but we have friends in the retro gaming business that do! Please contact us at support@retrostage.net if you have any questions about publishing your own games and we’ll get you going to the right people!
Q: Can I put a game from PC (.exe file or similar) onto a game cartridge?
A: No. If you’re putting a game onto a cartridge, it needs to be in the proper format for that game console (a game ROM file). PC applications like a “.exe” file will never work on a retro game console.
