Author Archives: Flavor

WS Flash Masta Limited Supply Available & Now Selling Backlight IPS LCDs for WSC and NGPC

We are going to try this a little differently this time. Last time, we announced that we would be listing WS Flash Masta carts for sale in two days. That was on a Monday. On Wednesday, maybe due to all the people checking the site, our webserver went down and many people couldn’t get the carts when we had said that they’d be available. We can’t seem to get it perfect, but we keep making carts (albeit inconsistently).

SOLD OUT

So, this time, we plan to list carts for sale at 12:00 (NOON) MDT (Mountain Daylight Time). That’s in about 2 hours from now (as I type). I’m hoping that people get the email version of this news article by the time we add the stock to the site.

WS Flash Masta USB (Cartridge for WonderSwan)

I also want to announce that we are also now selling Backlit IPS LCD Kits for Wonderswan Color and Backlit IPS LCD Kits for Neo Geo Picket Color. Check those out if you want to take your retrogaming to a new level.

I guess, if we’re doing announcements, I’ll also mention that we have a couple Neo Geo Pocket Color (NGPC) games in stock, too. In fact, we now have dust covers for NGPC carts, but I just realized that I haven’t made a page for them, yet. I’ll do that now.

Actually, just click the following link, and you can see everything available in our shop.

Flash Masta Carts And Accessories: FlashMasta.com Shop

WS Flash Masta Available

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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.

WS Flash Masta USB (Cartridge for WonderSwan)

Swan Wonder: Episode IV – A New Batch (Wonderswan Flash Carts Now Available)

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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

~~Buy Now: WS Flash Masta~~

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/

WS Flash Masta Carts Available SOON

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New 3D Printed WS FM shell thanks to “Hipcat”

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.

*New 3D Printed NGP FM shell thanks to “Hipcat”*

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.

3D Printable WS Flash Masta Shell for Wonderswan

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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

Cyber Monday WS Flash Masta Carts For Sale

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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.

WonderSwan Flash Masta – Another Batch Ready To Ship

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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.

Purchase WS Flash Masta Cartridge

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

Wonderswan Flash Masta Cartridges Back In Stock – Shipping Internationally!

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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!

SOLD OUT! ~~Purchase WS Flash Masta Cartridge~~

Coupon Code: FM_WS_PLUS_NGPC_10

IMAGE: Batch Of Wonderswan Flash Masta Cartridges — Most of these shells will have original stickers still on them. We have yet to get “WS Flash Masta” stickers produced, and we don’t want to delay cartridges just for stickers.

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.

Wonderswan Flash Cart v5.1 First Production Run

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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.

Purchase WS Flash Masta USB Cartridge

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.

WS Flash Masta v5.1 / Looking For 10 More Early Adopters

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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.

SOLD OUT! WS Flash Masta v5.1 Early Adopter Version

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:

Cartridge Shell – The cartridge circuitry now fits inside of a modified WS cartridge shell.
~~Battery~~ – The cartridge no longer relies on a battery to store savegame data, so you won’t ever need to replace a dying/leaking battery.
Manufacturable – The previous versions of the cartridge were troublesome to source parts for and difficult to assemble. This v5.1 version should be much easier to keep in stock, so we don’t have to trickle out tiny batches of carts sporadically and annoy people that miss the opportunity to buy.