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It's a production test suite, designed for use with a custom jig that plugs into all the various ports to fully test everything, not just the cartridge. The cus
by mips_r4300i 3y ago
It's a production test suite, designed for use with a custom jig that plugs into all the various ports to fully test everything, not just the cartridge. The custom test jig named 'zaru' which if I recall is Japanese for a rice strainer (appropriate for go/no-go tests) can be detected by the test suite and unlocks all the tests. It even controls the operator pass/fail lights on the jig from this software.
Also, authorized Nintendo service centers got the carts as a way to diagnose customer issues, but obviously without the factory jig.
The funny part is that the stress tests parts actually render all sorts of interesting 3d models that engineers inside SGI grabbed at random. The Utah teapot, a rocking chair, a cow, a VW beetle, the SGI logo itself. All rendered into an off screen framebuffer and checksummed.