[charlie_ps2]

Originally posted by Spicules
Ok, i think ive got it, I used to do PSX mods, but I havent looked at the PS2 until now. But if not , can someone help set things straight?

Here goes:

The chipless mods are unreliable and may cause damage to a PS2...
The chipless mod, to me, is shoving a knife into the disk tray, twiting it in the PS2's guts and hoping the tray will open for a swap. So you are correct.

The Messiah is the chip that plays all imports/backups without a swap or gameshark correct?
Correct. But it will boot a Gameshark backup directly!The very best chip if you have a v4 NTSC PS2 or any PAL PS2.

And the Origa (or one of its clones) plays imports/backups with the usage of a gameshark, right?
Correct. Origa does everything but backups need a Gameshark single swap. A very good chip.

So my question is, what is a descent price for these chips? Ive seen some mods as low as $15 (for a origa clone i think) or as high as $89 (for the messiah). Where is a good place to go that accepts $US and will ship to the US?
The proper Origa costs around $30; the Messiah costs around $100 and they are both equally hard to install. Origa is available from www.origachip.com; Messiah is available from me would you believe via the e-mail at my profile. Of course I'm not the only Messiah supplier.

Also, can one use a backup of the gameshark? Or does it need to be an original? Ive never used one before, but ive heard you might need some type of memory card to use in conjunction with?
With Messiah, no Gameshark is required, but if you wanted to use codes, you could use a backup copy provided you have the dongle (special memory type card). In all other cases it needs to be an original.

And lastly, I pretty much am interested in the mod for specifically Tekken4. Are there any specific concerns for a backup of this game?
The original of the game would be cheaper than the cost of any mod and installing it plus hassle factor!

Any help for a newbie greatly appreciated!