FAQs - Frequently Asked Questions

If I get asked the same question repeatedly, or I'm pre-empting a question from the general audience, I'll put an answer up here, so please check this section before you ask me something.

Quick Links:

How do I link to the Domain from my website?
Can I use [Character] for a sprite comic/fanfic/game/etc?
Can I get my name coloured on the site?
Who are the official Nintendo characters?
Hey, how did you make that thing on the CY page?
I think someone on your site stole material...
What is Emulation? What are ROMs? Where can I get them?
Do you really know Japanese?

Question:
How do I link to the Lair from my website?

Answer:
Easy. Use the following image to do it:

If you don't know the HTML for that, copy and paste the following:

For a little more snazz, or if you want something bigger, you can try the supersize DL banner:

The code for that one is:

Or, if you want to just do DMBN, try this one for size:

And the code for this one, linking to the first DMBN page, is:

And that's that! If you only want to use a text link, just link to http://darkut.free.fr/index.htm.

Please do not link directly to these banners. Instead save the banner and upload it on your website, then alter the URL inside the IMG tag.

Question:
Can I use <Character> for a sprite comic/fanfic/game/etc?

Answer:
If it's one of my characters, please ask via e-mail, a forum post, or instant messaging. I'll almost always let you use them, sometimes permenantly, but please ask me first. It won't hurt!

If it's not one of my characters, ask the creator via e-mail or instant messaging. Just because their character is on my site doesn't mean I can give out the rights of use to anyone who asks.

Question:
Hey! <Person> has their name colored on the site. Why don't I?

Answer:
Simple. You didn't ask, or I didn't assume a color (your avatar didn't have a Yoshi in it). If you know the Hexadecimal* code for the color you want, that's preferred, or you can ask for a color by name (Dark green, light blue, brown, etc). Note that if this makes the text hard to read on the Domain's background, I'll be forced to either lighten the color or reject your request.

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Question:
Who do you consider to be the official Nintendo characters?

Answer:
As far as this site is concerned, the official Nintendo characters are characters created by Nintendo who are mascots of Nintendo. The official characters are:

Mario, Luigi, Yoshi, Birdo, Princess Peach, Bowser, Wario, and the others from the Mario games.
Link, Zelda, Malon, Ganon, and the others from the Legend of Zelda games.
Kirby, King Dedede, and the others from the Kirby games.
Samus Aran and anyone (or indeed, anything) from the Metroid games.
Donkey Kong, Diddy Kong, and the others from the Donkey Kong games.
Captain Olimar, Pikmin, and the others from the Pikmin games.
Captain Falcon and the others from the F-Zero games.

Examples of characters NOT considered official are the following:

Pokemon. They're not a Nintendo creation, even though they occasionally appear in Nintendo games (Super Smash Brothers, SSB Melee).
Sonic, Tails, Knuckles, and the others from the Sonic games. Although Sega now makes games exclusively for Nintendo, these aren't Nintendo characters.
Megaman 'and crew', including the cast of Megaman, Megaman X, and Megaman Battle Network. Megaman has long been on Nintendo consoles, and still is to this day, but Capcom owns him, not Nintendo.
Ness, Paula, and the others from the EarthBound/MOTHER games.
Bomberman and the others from the (numerous) Bomberman games. Hudson Soft are responsible.
Roy, Marth, and the others from the Fire Emblem games. They're the product of Intelligent Systems (ditto for the Advance Wars cast).

If you want to ask about any other creations, send me an instant message, or e-mail me at darkmark@fsmail.net with a clear subject line. The answer will be e-mailed back to you, and appended to the above list.

However, this is a Yoshi fansite, so it is preferred that submissions contain Yoshi, Yoshies, or characters from the Mario games.

Question:
Oooh, shiny! *Points to the banner for Cursed Yoshi*

Answer:
That's called a Raytracing. It was made with Persistence Of Vision for Windows, otherwise known as POV-Ray Win. It's a freeware raytracer available from The POV-Ray Team's Home Page, but its use requires code. If you don't like working in code, then don't use it, but if you don't mind code, then get a copy; it comes with a help file detailing the whole language used.

Question:
Hey, I think you or one of your members stole some material from my site/a friend's site/some other site!

Answer:
Whoa, whoa, whoa! Steady on, now.

Firstly make sure to check above, below, and on the image/material for any credit given to the person you think was robbed.
I don't like to hear slander against the members of my site, so you'd better have some freaking concrete evidence before you go making an accusation.
If you're accusing me, I have this one statement to make: Unless otherwise stated, I owe credit only to Nintendo. I come up with my ideas and characters through thought and consideration, planning, and sometimes on-the-spot. I don't knowingly steal sprites, pictures, stories or other material from sites, forums, or other places. Yes, I rip* graphics from the games themselves, but I don't claim credit for them. I'm not a thief, just an honest webmaster.
If you're accusing one of my members, please try to be diplomatic first. Send them a POLITE e-mail (if they've witheld their details, then ask me and I'll talk to them) to inform them of your suspicions or their mistake. If they won't be reasonable, then talk to me, and show your proof. If you can prove that theft or plagarisation has taken place, I will take appropriate action which may contain removal of said material, limited user access to the site, and deletion of membership.
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Question:
What is Emulation? What are ROMs? Where can I get them?

Answer:
ROMs are 'dumped' versions of video game cartidges. Cartridges contain all of the parts of the game (Graphics, text, programming code, and so on) in one huge block of binary code. This can be transferred to a computer in the form of a ROM.

An Emulator is a file that interprets the ROM and allows you to play it. It 'knows' how to separate graphics, code, and so on, because it works in a very similar way to the software on the console itself.

Emulators are legal software. They are written by their creators from scratch and contain no copyrighted content.

ROMs, however, are pseudo-illegal. Cartridges (for home consoles) have not been used for a long time, and although Emulation is technically illegal, it remains largely unchecked and unnoticed. Emulation of more recent games (GameBoy Advance in particular - DS Emulation does not, and probably will not, exist due to the touch screen) IS definately illegal.

ISOs work in exactly the same way, except that these are taken from CDs, like PlayStation, XBox, and GameCube disks. Needless to say, this sort of emulation is very illegal (and so the ISOs are very hard to come across, not to mention huge. Current-generation ISO emulation is practically nonexistant).

Almost all emulators run in Windows and are user-friendly; just set the controls, open a ROM, and play the game.

The best GameBoy/GB Colour/GB Advance emulator is VisualBoy Advance.
The best SNES emulator is probably ZSNESW (ZSNES for Windows), though SNES9x is also very good for certain ROMs that ZSNES won't run (they tend to have 3D engines or other things like that).
The best NES emulator is called FCE Ultra.
The best N64 emulator is Project 64 - or PJ64 for short.
For the Genesis, I recommend Gens.

I'm not telling you where to get ROMs, however - you'll need to find that for yourself. Be wary of places like FreeRoms that only trap you - they make you endlessly click voting links, but never actually give you a ROM. If the site you're on is being annoying, give up, do another search, and try again.

ROM stands for Read Only Memory, which stems from the fact that the majority of the cartridge is indeed read-only, and this is what is 'dumped' to a ROM file. When you run an emulator it has to create new files for the saved games because the ROM is read-only. Cartridges have writable parts for this, but CDs are read-only which is why you have to buy memory cards for them.

Question:
Do you really know Japanese?

Short Answer:
No.

Slightly Longer Answer:
Not yet. I'd like to.

Long Answer:
I taught myself what I currently know. I had to learn Hiragana (one of the Japanese alphabets) as a prerequisite to go on a Summer course in Japanese that was actually in Japan, but I didn't make the cut. I taught myself that and Katakana (another alphabet) anyway, but that's about all I currently know.

I used the lessons on The Japanese Page to teach myself - I'd post a link but at the time of writing the site is about to move and might change domains. It's currently here but it might not work, so take care. There are links at the top to take you to various parts of the page.

I translated the recipes by copying the game's text into a Japanese text editor (NJStar), and then used its dictionary and the game's visuals to piece together enough information to know what was going on.

I've had to put off learning Japanese in University, but I'll try again some day in the distant future if I can.

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