SOLD OUT
I’m sorry to have to post a second article here. It seems that the first one didn’t get properly sent. We’re having massive web server/hosting problems right at the same time we planned to post our news about the new batch.
WS Flash Masta is here: https://www.flashmasta.com/product/ws-flash-masta-usb-cartridge-for-wonderswan/
I hope this post gets properly sent, and I apologize for any problems or double notifications.
It is a period of civil war. Rebel spaceships, striking from a hidden base, have won their first victory against the evil Galactic Empire.
Oh, wait. Let’s start over.
It is a period of COVID war. Retro gamers, distancing from society, have won victories against the evil modern gaming consoles.
Is that better?
SOLD OUT
Anyway, enough silliness. We have new WS Flash Masta carts ready to ship, FINALLY. Oh, man. We keep trying to get to the point of keeping these in stock and ready to ship at all times. We just keep running into hurdles that slow us down, so we have to catch up and then hit the next hurdle. There was a point where I had thought we might have this batch ready before Christmas. Then we hit major delays in shipping, customs, holidays, family stuff, etc.
Actually, while writing this, we had a web server outage. In fact, I think our site is now running at VERY SLOW instead of NONFUNCTIONAL. I hope it continues to run.
But, that’s all behind us now. I wrote that previous sentence before the server problem.
But, we are ready to ship! I hope you can use the site to make your order.
I can’t even link a graphic here, because it’s so slow at the moment. I’ll just wrap up this silly typing and leave you with this link…
https://www.flashmasta.com/product/ws-flash-masta-usb-cartridge-for-wonderswan/
This is just a quick post to give you a heads-up. We plan (if everything goes well) to list a new batch of WS Flash Masta cartridges for sale on Thursday February 18th (probably in the morning, US Mountain time zone).
As you may know, these often sell out very quickly. If you’ve been waiting for one, here’s your fair warning. We plan to try to get to the point of keeping these in stock instead of producing a batch, selling out, repeat. It has been difficult to get to that point, though. For example, this time around, it took over 2 months to receive the circuit boards, as they were slow to produce and then got stuck in FedEx shipping/customs limbo for weeks.
I will be out of town for a funeral on Tuesday. On Wednesday, we plan to get these all finalized. On Thursday, we hope to start selling and shipping them. If you don’t see them posted on Thursday morning, watch on Friday morning. If we really have a big problem by then, we’ll probably post news on Friday.
These will feature a new 3D-printed shell for the WS Flash Masta. We’ve been working closely with a guy called Hipcat on these, shells and I think they’ve turned out quite nice! He is also working with us to produce 3D-printed shells for the Neo Pocket Flash Masta. If you already own a WS or NGP Flash Masta, and you want a new shell for it, head over to our shop. NOTE that the 3D printed shell for the WS Flash Masta will NOT work for the older fat circuit board that was designed to work without a shell.
Also, please note that it seems like international shipping has been slower than usual lately. COVID definitely had a big effect on the shipping speeds, but I thought that things were getting better leading up to Christmas. It was no surprise that shipping around Christmas was congested, but I would have expected it to get back to normal by now. That does not seem to be the case. If you are ordering from outside of the USA, please expect delays between the package leaving the US and it entering your country. It seems that the customs process is the main bottleneck here, but this is only speculation.
Hipcat has just released his first version of a shell for our WS Flash Masta cartridge at both Thingiverse and MyMiniFactory. The links to the designs follow.
We are very excited to have this as an option for anyone that wants to print their own cartridge shell. We are also looking into how we can produce these in enough quantities to satisfy our customers. The same is true for the Neo Pocket Flash Masta cartridges.
https://www.myminifactory.com/object/3d-print-144013
https://www.thingiverse.com/thing:4672751
This is really very last-minute. We didn’t plan on listing WS Flash Masta carts today, but, all of a sudden, we decided to do a little Cyber Monday surprise. Instead of waiting for more parts to arrive to complete a full batch, we’re listing what we have ready, now, today.
HAPPY CYBER MONDAY!
SOLD OUT Buy Now (Limited Supply) WS Flash Masta Cartridges
I know this isn’t some crazy discount. It’s the same price as we’ve been selling them for previously. We just thought that listing a half-batch of WS flash carts would make the day a bit more exciting.
If you are looking for an added bonus, we can say this. By the time these ship to their new homes, we expect (but can’t yet promise) there to be a 3D-Printable shell available. I’ll add some screenshots of that work-in-progress. Since this post is super last-minute, I’m not even sure if I’m supposed to be publicizing this tidbit of info, yet. If this paragraph and the photos disappear, now you know why, but the point is that you could (in theory) get the PCB-only option for the WS Flash Masta and print your own shell.
We have just completed another batch of WS Flash Masta cartridges! As I mentioned last time, these have been very popular, and they sell out quickly when we list them. We are trying to make batches more frequently and in larger quantities. Last time they sold out in a matter of hours, so I hope these last a bit longer. There’s also a coupon code below, if you also want a Neo Geo Pocket flash cart.
We just added a new option and changed the pricing to reflect that. We now offer the cartridge as a PCB only, pre-installed into a shell, and pre-installed with a dust cover.
Note that the “Circuit Board Only” option will need to be installed into a plastic shell. You can use one from another game you already own, but you’ll need to shave/cut some of the plastic (for example to make an opening for the USB and some other parts).
We ran this same add-a-NGPC-cart promotion last time, so I’ll just copy/paste that coupon code and text here.
I know that some of you are wanting to purchase a Wonderswan flash cart AND a Neo Geo Pocket flash cart. As an added incentive, we’ll give you $10 off if you purchase them together! To get $10 off of your order when you purchase a Neo Pocket Flash Masta WITH your WS Flash Masta, please use the following coupon.
Coupon Code: FM_WS_PLUS_NGPC_10
We have just listed a new batch of WS Flash Masta cartridges! These have been very popular, and they sell out quickly when we list them. This time we have tried to make a larger batch, so I hope that those of you that have been emailing me asking for one will get one this round!
I know that some of you are wanting to purchase a Wonderswan flash cart AND a Neo Geo Pocket flash cart. As an added incentive, we’ll give you $10 off if you purchase them together! To get $10 off of your order when you purchase a Neo Pocket Flash Masta WITH your WS Flash Masta, please use the following coupon.
Coupon Code: FM_WS_PLUS_NGPC_10
We are shipping these internationally! If you want to know your options and costs, please add an item to your cart and start the checkout process to see what is available for your country.
COVID had really messed up shipping for quite a while, but, at this point, I think things are starting to get back on track. If you’re purchasing a flash cart from us and having it shipped overseas, my suggestion would be to choose the First Class option. It may take about 4 weeks to arrive (depending on the destination), but the added cost of Priority Mail doesn’t seem to improve that very much at the moment. Transit times do seem to be getting better, lately, though.
Accessories
We also suggest that you check out WS Flash Masta forum thread about this WS Flash Masta v5.1 cartridge if you want any further information or have questions.
We have our first production run of WS Flash Masta v5.1 carts ready. Our first limited run of carts was only released for US customers. That has gone well, so we are now offering these for worldwide shipment. At the moment, we only have 30 carts available, but we will be making more.
Also, to celebrate, we are offering a coupon code to get our Wonderswan Headphone Adapter for half price when you also purchase a WS Flash Masta. Put both in your cart and then apply the following coupon.
Coupon Code: WS_FLASH_PLUS_HEADPHONE
Please read our previous post (if you haven’t already) to get a bit more info about this v5.1 Wonderswan flash cart.
We are getting close to calling this version ready for full release. We would just like to have some more people play with it a bit before we call it good.
If you’d like to be an early adopter AND you’re in the USA, please use this button to get yours before the official release. The 10 units have been sold. We will be working to validate these units and then move on to full production (assuming things go as expected).
We are limiting this first batch to USA purchases, just in case we need to recall them. We definitely do not expect to have any problems, but we just want to limit the impact in case we do need to fix something. So far, we have a handful of these in testing, and we haven’t heard much negative, yet.
Don’t forget to add a Wonderswan headphone adapter to your order, if you need one.
If you are interested in compatibility, so far we haven’t found anything that worked on the previous v4.4 cartridge that fails on this new v5.1. You can read a bit more about that on our WS Flash Masta v5.1 forum thread. https://forum.freeplaytech.com/showthread.php?tid=5139
For users, this new v5.1 should work the same as the v4.4. It doesn’t add any new playability features. Here are the new benefits:
We have just released a new headphone adapter for the WonderSwan. We are calling it the WonderBeat 9480. There’s not a whole lot to discuss about this. If you’ve been looking for a headphone adapter for your WS, look no further. Check it out!
