The following is a direct record of the disbanding of Damaged Cybernetics, one of the more prominent console groups that has had a direct influence on Nintendo and Super Nintendo emulation. Emulators like Virtual SuperMagicom, SNES '96, and some unfinished projects like LandyNES were all creations by members of Damaged Cybernetics. At the time of this article, Yoshi, the single most important person in console emulation was an active representative of Damaged Cybernetics. Archaic Ruins was Damaged Cybernetics's emulation page.

Typhoon Z

NESticle, which at the time of this document is the most powerful and usable NES emulator, hit the emulation scene by complete surprise on April 4th, 1997. Just the name would imply that its composure would completely mock the emulation scene. A blood spewing hand guides your way through NESticle's easy to use interface which features many different input devices, emulation options, and other random bells and whistles. The documentation accompanying NESticle also bleeds however... with the level of appeal reaching out towards a 3rd grade maturity level with quotes such as "...is essentially the product of 2 weeks of boredom and a smattering of effort." I don't see how any author can see any project like this boring. "Some games are screwed all to hell. Galaxian comes to mind. Fuck it, play Galaga instead. Status bar gets screwed in SMB3 when you fly." Both quotes add to the feeling that the emulator took little actual brain power...

I may be wrong, but I perceived it this way... what else can you expect from a company called 'Bloodlust Software'? I'll assume that Y0SHi felt the same way about NESticle, because he sighed and realized that there was no point in continuing qNES because everyone had jumped the ship onto NESticle, and lost all faith in Marat and Y0SHi. While it is obvious that Marat's emulators cost a pretty penny, it still strikes me as an extremely unfaithful and immature thing to put all your eggs in one basket and forget about everything else. It seems that thats what occurred.

Donald Moore, aka MindRape, the late founder and manager of Damaged Cybernetics, was able to hack into the system of "Kronk"'s computer and obtain the NESticle source code. Y0SHi was approached with the fact that MindRape had the source from the horse's mouth and responded the way I did when the emulation scene found the source code for NESticle floating around. "Its not mine to see." Well, truthfully, Y0SHi used the excuse that he codes in ASM, as opposed to C++, but I'm certain that if the source code would have been freely distributed, Y0SHi would reviewed it out of curiosity, which is merely one of my many opinions.

It seems that after maintaining Damaged Cybernetics for almost two years, doing the public a great service by providing technical documentation and other utilities that emulators are based on, MindRape was dubbed as the killer of the emulation scene. Lamers began climbing through the woodwork into #Emu because of the popularity of NESticle. Y0SHi quit the emulation scene on IRC (see Y0SHi's Farewell located on Archaic Ruins's Archaic Articles), and everything started going to hell.

At the time of writing this, SNES '97, the premiere SNES emulator just became shareware. Node 99 also just disappeared completely. The emulation scene is falling apart. I personally am having problems maintaining Archaic Ruins. I will keep it up however... I promise.

Below is the last transaction on IRC from MindRape to myself before dC was closed. This should clear up any thoughts on it. All added comments have brackets around them.

MindRape

So what do you think about NESticle

Typhoon Z

Wot?

MindRape

so wot do u think about this

Typhoon Z

Personally? I'm quitting Damaged Cybernetics, otherwise, It's a pain in the [rear].

MindRape

you are? because of this?

Typhoon Z

All of this started when VSMC went commercial... Because of this, and many other problems. Its not really working out.

MindRape

well i understand

Typhoon Z

The emulation scene is [not nice]. I feel like a [not nice person] for quitting, none of the other sites are pulling together. I gave up caring quite a while ago.

MindRape

same here about the emulation scene i never told you but i was getting threat mails and hate mails since december

Typhoon Z

Sigh. I'm moving AR to Parodius BTW.

MindRape

i know this already

Typhoon Z

I just hope you aren't too hurt by my leaving. Hrmm...

So, Y0SHi told you?

MindRape

well i am sad, it has been great reading y0shis mail :)

Typhoon Z

dC was great... but, the problem is that dC never pulled together... I really hate what you've been doing with the WHQ... sorry, but the intro looks like its written by a little kid [in the way that it explains Damaged Cybernetics's reasons for not having updates for months]. Before, the site was quite professional and straightforward... I no longer find it impressive... AR wouldn't be what it is right now if it wasn't for dC. But, I owe most of what I have to dC... you've let me have AR on your site for quite a while...

MindRape

your more than welcome to keep using it, if you want take DC i could careless. i will let you know this, DC will be a real company, i'm doing things with it, consulting jobs, using the name

Typhoon Z

I don't think I'd be able to take on DC... for what it was supposed to stand for, its too big for one person. I wanted to do alot [to help] with DC.... But, not one [member] was serious.

You had a crisis, which is true, but I see no reason why you can't maintain the page?

MindRape

that is extacly the problem, that is one reason why i just kinda dropped it

Typhoon Z

And seriously, the page has backgrounds from 2 sets ago on some things!

MindRape

you are the only other person who put any effort into it

Typhoon Z

Rowan put some effort... Rowan put enough effort....

MindRape

and yes he did to... well do you have everything off of AR backed up?

Typhoon Z

Almost.

This summer, I'm thinking about expanding AR... I'm not sure how. I was just [not happy]... I've been getting emails from ppl wondering why the main site doesn't have certain N64 utils, or new SNES utils etc.

MindRape

well i'm gonan move the public_html dir. DC_DEAD in a minute so i won't delete. don't delete anything, cauzz i'm gonna move it all to cd and keep it for memories... and closing down DC ...

Typhoon Z

Hrmm. Why not move on to something smaller? You have web talent... hell its your job, you need something to call your own on the web. I'm kind of disappointed that dC should die though... Node 99 is going too I think BTW. My site, other than Conjurer's is going to be among the oldest standing pages...

Sorry. I was cut off. My site, other than Conjurer's is going to be among the oldest standing [emulation] pages...

MindRape

No prob.

Typhoon Z

I'm kind of disappointed that dC should die though... Node 99 is going too I think BTW. Marat's page ... Thats that... dC was to be one of the longest standing pages in the scene... why not clear out all the console shit. Let me take all the console [stuff]. Drop everyone else... All the affiliations. Don't have affiliated emulators.

MindRape

True... just drop everyone

Typhoon Z

Then >YOU< work on some substantial Grey Area. We only need 1 page on Video Games. Video Games is trivial BS anyway, right? =)

MindRape

take the console stuff, will you have enuf space or you panning on keeping it at f1? i have no probs giving you the space, just let me know so i can keep paying for it

Hrmm... I can see Y0SHi finding Futureone more comfortable.

MindRape

let me know wot you decide, so i can pay for the account in advance, because i'm quitting futureone

Typhoon Z

Really?! Where are you going?

MindRape

to another company developing medical software and starting DC as a business

Typhoon Z

Hrmm

MindRape

well i'm to think about it, i'm closing DC down for a while, i'll sort things out... i'll just mirror dc on my linux box and work on it there

Typhoon Z

Thats a good idea. I'll relaunch AR independant. Just lemme get all ma shit. I lost my entire D:\FILES... I need to finish getting all my emulators back =)

MindRape

your not mad are you?

Typhoon Z

About D:\FILES, no.
About NESticle, no.
About the scene, no, frusterated.
I'm just kinda lost...
It's also 3am =)

MindRape

no closing dc down for a while?

Typhoon Z

No, its a good idea. dC isn't fit to be up right now anyway... I think dC should review new hardware, feature things like over clocking processors etc. It doesn't do anything that it should.

MindRape

no prob... good i'm glad you are taking this well, that the both of us are taking this well... perhaps we can hook up again in the future, once i get my shit straigthend out

Typhoon Z

Yeah... DC has been hurting... Console Consortium fell apart, as is everything else right now. Everything is falling apart IMHO.

MindRape

yea i know. AR isn't going down BTW.

It was the gradual decline of the scene and Damaged Cybernetics.

In my humble opinion, the majority of the people in the scene are too bone idle to contribute anything. Even many Damaged Cybernetics members were like this. The Brain, author of VSMC, was somewhat light headed when it came to communication, but his page helped. Jeremy Koot did everything he needed to, and wanted to. He maintained a worthwhile emulator. Rowan also did a great job with Console Horizon. The Australian site, maintained by DiskDude was completely irrelevant in my humble opinion. I'm not ragging on John, but I felt that it was extra baggage. John was a great member of dC... he's made quite a few useful utilities that I still use. He's a great guy... Synthetic Escape was extra baggage too... it should have just been a distribution site. The SNES Trainers section was also extra baggage...

The following log is from a chat with Y0SHi. Most of it has been removed due to request by Y0SHi.

Typhoon Z

Should I quit dC? I really don't like what it is supposed to stand for. Its not doing ANYTHING that it was supposed to in MR's plan. In fact, its a contridiction most of the time.

Y0SHi

Chris. What do you say, we both quit.

Typhoon Z

I'm for it... but you'd have to help me...

Y0SHi

You can put AR on parodius if you want.

Typhoon Z

I have nowhere to put Arf... Nevermind =)

Y0SHi

So don't worry about giving it a home.

Truthfully, what did you think of DC in the past few months...

Y0SHi

Hold on, gimme about 45 secondsI'm talking to fear4d4 about girls ;-) hehe

Okay...

Typhoon Z

Would you be interested in helping me run AR... maybe carrying console stuff now? MR doesn't update his page ... N64, PSX, and Saturn 'hacking' utils are out there... I liked dC, but with its leader being MindRape -... No one is perfect... I know that... MindRape envisioned something good... dC wouldn't work though from the beginning though... its supposed to be hacking... its not hacking...

Y0SHi

Almost done :-) One sec, we'll talk in a sec. Don't go anywhere

Y0SHi

It all boils down to MR forgetting things... MR believes in the distribution of information.

Typhoon Z

Marat once was irritated by my [having the] interNES v0.5 Crack [on Archaic Ruins] (Takes off the words 'Demo'), and MR threatened him by stating that he knows all about it.

Y0SHi

I do as well, but there is a line I stop at, and that's destroying someone's right to choose... Kronk did not want the source stolen. He did not choose that. Also, FYI, MR tried to break in to my system via the same method (samba). I have logs of him trying the same exploit

Typhoon Z

?

Y0SHi

'course he failed. No one can break in here... I think he was either: Just testing my security or wanted the qNES source (which FYI, is not anywhere -- Riff has it on a floppy, I have it on a floppy)

=)

Typhoon Z

I had a call come through. I'm working on rewording my site, taking out dC from copyrights etc..

Y0SHi

Don't worry about it... Networks suck sometimes ;-) You can move it to your account on parodius.com if you want, I'll give you enough disk for it.

Typhoon Z

Could it be under archaic-ruins? And could I have an FTP on there to store my files?

Y0SHi

Sure... I can do the counter for you too if you want. Yeah, we can do that...

Typhoon Z

Yeah, I was going to ask about the counter =)... I don't want to lose all my hits =) I've rephrased the opening paragraph. I have a serious question for you though. Why did you put a INTERNES DEMO message remover on your site a while back?

Y0SHi

'cuz I wanted people to try iNES without the annoying message

You tell me how many counts is on the counter and I can set up the data file to use that. Yeah, we can setup FTP for you too Just look on my page =) I'll tell you when I'm ready =)

Typhoon Z

But... I don't understand. Wouldn't it be bad to say that you are supporting Marat Fayzullin, and then give out a crack on your site?

Y0SHi

The crack isn't there. I apologized to marat for having it on there.

Typhoon Z

I'm asking you this, because I have done the same thing. On Archaic Ruins @ Parodius, it won't be there. I'm going to do the same thing.

Y0SHi

Geesh! Hmmm... Is there some other place you can put the FTP files? Or the files like the cracks & shit?

Typhoon Z

I'm not going to put up cracks. Hacks, not cracks.

Y0SHi

Well I mean like the... hmm... Here, do this: don't put the iNES one up, and that should be enough :-) Link it to some other site which has it. Hehe

Typhoon Z

Archaic Ruins = Emulation Scene. Damaged Cybernetics = Grey Area.
I'm not going to do anything to derail someone else's project (and are we lagged?)

Y0SHi

I dunno, are we? 1 second ping time... Well, you can upload it all, just put it all in your WWW dir and you should be fine.

Typhoon Z

I guess I'm not =)... Your answers seemed delayed. I wanted to have FTP access for non browsing ppl. I have a small amount of users who do use the FTP primarily. Is there anyway to have an FTP?

Y0SHi

Sure. They can just FTP to parodius.com, and go into /pub/ar And they can look around in there. You'll have complete control of that dir

Typhoon Z

Cooliez. Well, I'm going to work on the page a bit... Change some statements etc.

Y0SHi

Okay, the FTP is setup. Lemme setup the site.

Typhoon Z

Just tell me where to login to =)

Y0SHi

parodius.com. Use the same l/p as your POP account :-)

Typhoon Z

BTW, thanks for all you are doing for the Ruins... my entire life right now is relying on others. I don't live with my parents anymore, as I think you know, and it seems that I can't do anything without the help of others anymore.

Y0SHi

Don't worry about it, Chris. We all need help sometimes. Even I do. My mom paid my rent last month 'cuz my fucking workplace didn't wanna pay me 'til 3 weeks later =) ... life is about relying on others I guess... people who want to do things by themselves just don't make it.

Y0SHi

After reading Chris's above explanation, I felt compelled to write some- thing of my own. Not because I felt inferior or because I felt I "had" to, but because I wanted to. I feel I have some valid statements to make, much like in my resignation letter from the emulation scene. I already said what I said in my aforementioned resignation letter, but there are things which have happened since then which need to be addressed as well. Chris has covered most of them; past and present. However, the future is still untold. One step at a time, though.

As you can see from Chris and I's conversation, we both basically left Damaged Cybernetics at the same time. I didn't have a chance to give MindRapemy goodbye, because he closed Damaged Cybernetics before I had the chance. Damaged Cybernetics was a good group, and will never be for- gotten. Those who forget really never cared at all; the past should be remembered as something which has brought everyone here today, and should never be forgotten. It's an important part of everyone's life, just as it is an important part of the emulation scene (if not *THE* emulation it- self!). I left D.C. on my own free will, not because anyone forced me or coerced me. No incidents which occurred made me choose to leave D.C. either, nor made me chose to leave the emulation scene, like a large sum of people seem to still think. Let me expand on this a little more:

I received nearly 200 pieces of EMail after my resignation; the mail still rolls into my mailbox to this day. I received about 98% positive support from people. Some messages long, some short. Some personal, some informal. No matter how long or what content, I read them all, and each one meant something different to me. Sure, I'll be the first to admit after getting that much support, I felt like I should go back to the emulation scene. But I won't. It's almost to the point where I *CAN'T*.

Why? It's pretty simple. I don't expect to let everyone agree with me, but the small 2% who mailed me in disagreement were *TRULY* lame about their method of approach. The mail which took the cake was one from a person who said (paraphrased) "qNES sucks; it sucked and it always will suck. You couldn't handle the heat because NESticle rules! You ran away with your tail between legs. You left 'cuz you were jealousy and scared!"

I'm not going to name names, since that'd bring me down to their level, but the point here is that with lameness like that, there's no way ANY scene will become something useful.

"Where does all of the lameness come?" you may ask? By god, it comes from people who're unintelligent, who're close-minded, and who have no real bearing on anything in any scene, besides for their own personal benefit.

Scene's aren't about groups; they're not cliques. They're not about who can release the most files. They're not about who has the best software or who can get it the fastest.

Scene's are about teamwork. I'm an old-school son-of-a-bitch, who comes from the days before ACiD was even into ANSI/ASCII art, before the days where digital switches were a standard. The H/P/A scenes back then were about teamwork: we all worked together. We helped one another out. We strived to be a TEAM. But most importantly, we kept our word to one another. The term "narq" never hit our terminals: and if it did, it was gone in an instant, the person who fucked up removed due to their own inability to work together.

The scenes today have lost this; I think Damaged Cybernetics lost this ability too, but not to due lameness. D.C. lost it due to time and due to personal issues; MindRape -'s divorce, my career forcing me to move around a lot, etc.. I'll leave each ex-D.C. member speak for themself.

Despite D.C. splitting, I feel we all still consider ourselves a team; we all had a bond which couldn't be broken. A bond between technology and emotion. A bond between loyalty and trust. A bond between members, all working towards one goal: let the truth be known, let information flow free.

I had an interview with Skiddo77, someone I had never heard before. No matter, I did the interview because I felt someone wanted to learn about me and my views. Self-education is the best education there is. So, I did the interview, and in the process, I was asked what my view was about MindRapeusing samba to obtain the source-code to NESticle, Kronk's own flesh-and-blood (IMHO). I told Skiddo77 the truth, which is that MindRape - approached me the night before he released it, and asked me what he thought he should do with it. I told him to keep it, and also declined his offer to hand me a copy. For the record, to this day, I have never looked at the source to NESticle, and I never will. If anything, give Kronk respect: let NESticle R.I.P.. Anyways, I later found out that MR had tried the same samba exploit against my system (which failed, due to decent security on my part). I really wasn't flattered, but I figured he was just testing my security rather than trying to get, say, the qNES source code or some of my own personal files.

MindRapeand I disagree on the reasoning behind what he did; I under- stand his point of view, and despite me not agreeing with it, I still respect him, and he is still one of my greatest friends. I think he feels the same way. Even though we may not agree on something, it doesn't mean our bond has to be broken.

This is called teamwork. This is called loyalty. This *IS* what a scene is about. Not about who's got the best .NFO file, not about who can get the latest-and-greatest copy of iNES. Hell, it's not even about emulation anymore. It's about the true aura and soul of being a team, which implies helping one another out.

I'll be as bold as to say there are no groups left (from the ones I have seen) today which contain this aura and teamwork aspect. None. Not one. They're all consisting of 13-18 year olds running around worrying about who's got the newest emulator and who's got a copy of that really "elite krad" ROM image called "Magical Bean Bungee Attack" or whatever. It's about status, it's about self-amusement (so-called "fun"). It's about true inequality and true lameness.

Today, I watch comp.emulators.misc, and find posts of true stupidity and lameness from not one side, but BOTH sides! Not just from the people USING the emulators, but from the authors THEMSELVES! Have a look.

--- BEGIN USENET ARTICLE --- From: marat@Glue.umd.edu (Marat Fayzullin) Newsgroups: comp.emulators.misc Subject: Re: who's to blame? ? huh ?? Date: 8 Apr 1997 03:17:08 GMT Organization: University of Maryland, College Park Lines: 11 Message-ID: <5icdbk$bjt$1@hecate.umd.edu> References: <3349ABEC.6A68@worldnet.att.net> NNTP-Posting-Host: analog.eng.umd.edu X-Newsreader: TIN [version 1.2 PL2] Keatah (Keatah@worldnet.att.net) wrote: : I was just thinking on this, who REALLY is to blame? I would : say not the person who stole the source. The fault lies with the : author for allowing it to happen. :-) And now he blames it on : someone else?!?! Phargh! Yes, definitely, I completely agree with you, it is *authors* who are guilty of everything. No authors->no emulators->no assholes stealing emulators/ROMs/whatever. Well, Mr. Keatah, it looks like you are just going to get your wish come true... Marat --- END USENET ARTICLE --- I find both of these attitudes revolting. First, whoever "Keatah" is, who is blaming Kronk for the insecurity of his own system. I agree with this point more-so than Marat's counterattack (and that IS what it is, an attack, not a response), since due to my profession, if someone breaks into MY system, *I* feel *I* should take the blame for it, not the cul- prit. But, I find "Keatah"'s point also very invalid; possibly Kronk does not care for security because he believes in what I originally be- lieved in: the trust/honour system. Why install shadow passwords? Is it because you can't "risk someone getting the crypt()'d passwords?" No, it's because you can't trust your own users. I doubt Kronk considered the fact that someone would steal his code without asking.

However, I find Marat's point even more insinuating. His response is plain rude, and shows obvious signs of condescension. There's no fair- ness in his reply, it's all one-sided, "You're wrong, I'm right." Talk about making a generalization beyond generalizations. Marat, pull your head out... Sumashedsiy Russki! Saying something like this doesn't make you look any better than he does. Keep in mind Marat, your own system was violated due to your inability to secure your own machine, and you would like to blame THEM for that, and not yourself. Part of being a good person, and ESPECIALLY a good system administrator, is to admit faults when they are yours. You're being a Martyr, and it makes you look as lame as him.

Will it ever end, folks? Will the battle of "Fuck you; No, fuck *YOU!*" ever end? Will there ever be peace in the emulation scene, or any scene for that matter? Will the *TRUE* nostalgic values of decent teamwork and goals be brought back into today's society, computer-oriented or not?

My answer? I doubt it. The "lamers" will never truly understand the enjoyment there is in writing a piece of software which runs something; a creation of your own, a child you can hold and nurse. The "authors" will never truly understand the concept of togetherness: everyone's too afraid someone will steal their ideas, or turn them due to efficiency reasons or disagreement, or possibly even anger, as shown above.

I leave you now with a quote from my own home page, one which I agree with and will *ALWAYS* agree with until the day I pass on. Read it and open your mind; read it and educate.

You can't change the world But you can change the facts And when you change the facts You change points of view If you change points of view You may change a vote And when you change a vote You may change the world. Copyright 1986 -- Depeche Mode

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