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Game cartridges are pretty cool. Unlike a modern game download, the cartridges could extend the functionality of the base system, allowing console manufacturer

Game cartridges are pretty cool. Unlike a modern game download, the cartridges could extend the functionality of the base system, allowing console manufacturers to extend the life of their consoles. My favorite example is Star Fox for Super Nintendo, a cartridge that came with a GPU, allowing 3D graphics. https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Super_FX https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Super_FX This was in 1993, five years before GPUs became mainstream on PCs.

markchristian 8y ago
Definitely. Cartridges really were amazing; I think that's ultimately going to end up being the organic thesis of my web site. Something I discovered while researching this post: Sega had their own Super FX-y thing with the Sega Virtua Processor. It was only used in one game (https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Virtua_Racing https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Virtua_Racing), but the thing I find most fascinating about it is that Sega contemplated releasing just the Virtua Processor itself—you guessed it, as a lock-on cartridge. (Unfortunately, this fact didn't really fit in anywhere, so I'm just dropping it here.)
- eropple 8y ago
  Not a GPU, but that reminds me a bit of the Camerica Deck Enhancer. Talk about weird stuff...
  - markchristian 8y ago
    Yeah! That's on deck (no pun intended) for my April blog post. (I'm trying to do one of these each month for 2019.)
    - pinewurst 8y ago
      Don’t forget Catapult Entertainment’s X-BAND - a lock-on modem cartridge for Genesis and (later) SNES that added remote multiplayer to games by patching them on-the-fly.
- toast0 8y ago
  Sega did release the 32x which was basically a newer console that was inserted into an existing Genesis / Mega Drive. There were a handful of games released for it, including a better version of virtua racing. Also one or two games required the 32x and the CD attachment.
- deleted 8y ago
  [deleted]
thaumasiotes 8y ago
> Unlike a modern game download, the cartridges could extend the functionality of the base system, allowing console manufacturers to extend the life of their consoles. This... sounds strictly worse than the modern game download. If I have an SNES and everyone has moved to making cartridges with included GPUs, then to play three new games I have to buy three games and three GPUs. If I have a computer and everyone has moved to making games that require a new GPU, then to play three games I need to buy three games and one GPU.
- samcheng 8y ago
  I agree with you. Remember that this was a time of rapid improvement in computing hardware, and these were devices marketed to kids in family rooms. That hardware cost inefficiency is a big reason cartridges lost to discs. (and, later, downloads) Interestingly, modern GPUs are also sold bundled with the games that run best on them! https://www.amd.com/en/gaming/raise-the-game https://www.amd.com/en/gaming/raise-the-game https://www.geforce.com/whats-new/articles/destiny-2-geforce-gtx-bundle-last-chance https://www.geforce.com/whats-new/articles/destiny-2-geforce...
  - SmellyGeekBoy 8y ago
    > That hardware cost inefficiency is a big reason cartridges lost to discs. (and, later, downloads) Yet we're still expected to pay the same prices we were paying back then - even more in some cases.
    - phonon 8y ago
      Inflation adjusted you're paying far less. (NES games went for about $50, which is around $120 now).
      - conickal 8y ago
        Something that cost $50 in 1993 would cost $87.74 now, according to the Consumer Price Index inflation calculators.
bitwize 8y ago
The GPU was actually a RISC CPU, making the Super FX graphics, essentially, software rendering. A planned Super FX game, FX Fighter never made it to the SNES but did see a release on PC using BRender, Argonaut's own software rendering engine. There was a hobbyist who developed a port of Wolfenstein 3D to the Game Boy Color that worked the aame way: the cartridge embedded an ARM processor that actually ran the game and copied the graphics into the GBC's tile memory for display.
- monocasa 8y ago
  It wasn't really a RISC. It had single address, accumulator style operands, and really high level instructions like "plot pixel". It looks most like what the parent said, the sort of DSPs in the late 80s and early 90s used as GPUs.
0xcde4c3db 8y ago
In the extreme case, the cartridge could contain an entire other platform that just uses the console for I/O, as with Super Game Boy (Game Boy games could actually run code on SNES through it, but that was rarely used).
sehugg 8y ago
Pitfall II was the first cart I remember having a coprocessor -- the DPC, only used for this game since the 2600 was on the way out: http://atariage.com/forums/topic/144075-how-exactly-does-the-pitfall-2-dpc-work/ http://atariage.com/forums/topic/144075-how-exactly-does-the... NES carts actually have an audio pass-through that can replace/remix the built-in APU sound. Atari 2600 does not, but the DPC gave it three-voice music. How? The CPU has to read from the DPC once per scanline, then manually shove that value into the volume register, generating the audio waveform at a 15.7 kHz sample rate.
- markchristian 8y ago
  Wow, TIL. Thank you!

markchristian 8y ago

Definitely. Cartridges really were amazing; I think that's ultimately going to end up being the organic thesis of my web site. Something I discovered while researching this post: Sega had their own Super FX-y thing with the Sega Virtua Processor. It was only used in one game (https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Virtua_Racing https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Virtua_Racing), but the thing I find most fascinating about it is that Sega contemplated releasing just the Virtua Processor itself—you guessed it, as a lock-on cartridge. (Unfortunately, this fact didn't really fit in anywhere, so I'm just dropping it here.)

eropple 8y ago
Not a GPU, but that reminds me a bit of the Camerica Deck Enhancer. Talk about weird stuff...
- markchristian 8y ago
  Yeah! That's on deck (no pun intended) for my April blog post. (I'm trying to do one of these each month for 2019.)
  - pinewurst 8y ago
    Don’t forget Catapult Entertainment’s X-BAND - a lock-on modem cartridge for Genesis and (later) SNES that added remote multiplayer to games by patching them on-the-fly.
toast0 8y ago
Sega did release the 32x which was basically a newer console that was inserted into an existing Genesis / Mega Drive. There were a handful of games released for it, including a better version of virtua racing. Also one or two games required the 32x and the CD attachment.
deleted 8y ago
[deleted]

thaumasiotes 8y ago

> Unlike a modern game download, the cartridges could extend the functionality of the base system, allowing console manufacturers to extend the life of their consoles. This... sounds strictly worse than the modern game download. If I have an SNES and everyone has moved to making cartridges with included GPUs, then to play three new games I have to buy three games and three GPUs. If I have a computer and everyone has moved to making games that require a new GPU, then to play three games I need to buy three games and one GPU.

samcheng 8y ago
I agree with you. Remember that this was a time of rapid improvement in computing hardware, and these were devices marketed to kids in family rooms. That hardware cost inefficiency is a big reason cartridges lost to discs. (and, later, downloads) Interestingly, modern GPUs are also sold bundled with the games that run best on them! https://www.amd.com/en/gaming/raise-the-game https://www.amd.com/en/gaming/raise-the-game https://www.geforce.com/whats-new/articles/destiny-2-geforce-gtx-bundle-last-chance https://www.geforce.com/whats-new/articles/destiny-2-geforce...
- SmellyGeekBoy 8y ago
  > That hardware cost inefficiency is a big reason cartridges lost to discs. (and, later, downloads) Yet we're still expected to pay the same prices we were paying back then - even more in some cases.
  - phonon 8y ago
    Inflation adjusted you're paying far less. (NES games went for about $50, which is around $120 now).
    - conickal 8y ago
      Something that cost $50 in 1993 would cost $87.74 now, according to the Consumer Price Index inflation calculators.

bitwize 8y ago

The GPU was actually a RISC CPU, making the Super FX graphics, essentially, software rendering. A planned Super FX game, FX Fighter never made it to the SNES but did see a release on PC using BRender, Argonaut's own software rendering engine. There was a hobbyist who developed a port of Wolfenstein 3D to the Game Boy Color that worked the aame way: the cartridge embedded an ARM processor that actually ran the game and copied the graphics into the GBC's tile memory for display.

monocasa 8y ago
It wasn't really a RISC. It had single address, accumulator style operands, and really high level instructions like "plot pixel". It looks most like what the parent said, the sort of DSPs in the late 80s and early 90s used as GPUs.

0xcde4c3db 8y ago

In the extreme case, the cartridge could contain an entire other platform that just uses the console for I/O, as with Super Game Boy (Game Boy games could actually run code on SNES through it, but that was rarely used).

sehugg 8y ago

Pitfall II was the first cart I remember having a coprocessor -- the DPC, only used for this game since the 2600 was on the way out: http://atariage.com/forums/topic/144075-how-exactly-does-the-pitfall-2-dpc-work/ http://atariage.com/forums/topic/144075-how-exactly-does-the... NES carts actually have an audio pass-through that can replace/remix the built-in APU sound. Atari 2600 does not, but the DPC gave it three-voice music. How? The CPU has to read from the DPC once per scanline, then manually shove that value into the volume register, generating the audio waveform at a 15.7 kHz sample rate.

markchristian 8y ago
Wow, TIL. Thank you!