I have read all the stickys on here and am still frustrated as to how to make a backup of my GC games. Ideally I would go for the modchip but I would not know where to start, I doubt I could install one myself and dont know of anywhere that would do it??? So my 2nd choice was the MAX DRIVE PRO, however I believe this is no longer on sale? Bummer, so...as my mates and myself arent the best at looking after games I would really like a feasable way to back them up in case of damage to the original, anyone help please? And finally, I read the guide for playing SNES roms on GC, does this require modchip also?
I prefer chips myself. The installations for the various chips aren't too difficult, although I won't say they're easy either. If you want to make back-ups, the qoob chips and the ViperGC Extreme are your best choices. The XenoGC and DuoQ can be a bit difficult to make back-ups with, although they work well playing them.
Basically, here's what you're looking at in terms of options and cost.
1. GCOS soft mod - Since you don't have a MDP, you'll have to do a bit of searching on eBay or Amazon to get one since CodeJunkies has stopped selling them. Also, you'd need a BBA to make back-ups, so by the time you get all the necessary hardware you're looking at about $60-$70 for both depending on how much you can get the MDP for.
2. Mod chips - If you don't have a BBA, get the ViperGC Extreme since it has USB ripping. If you do have a BBA, check out the qoob chips (Pro or SX) and possibly the XenoGC.
3. The SD loader method - I have no idea how this works, but it *might* be the cheapest route. I never really looked into it. A few people on this board use this method, or are at least familiar with it, so maybe they can give you more info on it.
Here's the thing. If you want the ability to make your own back-ups, the GameCube is the most expensive of all the current generation game consoles to do it with. Just getting it set-up averages $70, and that's if you install and set-up everything yourself. Now, if you don't plan on making your own back-ups, then it's fairly cheap to do since you can just get a $20 XenoGC and be done with it.
As for the SNES roms, you don't need a mod chip. You will, however, need a way of loading a back-up, so you need to either soft mod or hard mod it to load the disc in the first place.
