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one of the proudest accomplishments I've done is that over the years I've managed to collect all of SNES PAL games, what is considered a full set. (I augmented

one of the proudest accomplishments I've done is that over the years I've managed to collect all of SNES PAL games, what is considered a full set. (I augmented it with some select NTSC and SFC games as well). What's interesting is the world in those cartridges and how they extend the main console. We don't get to see that in gaming hardware anymore.

sunnybeetroot 3y ago
That is impressive, any chance you’ve documented your journey and collection anywhere? I’d love to learn more.
- masklinn 3y ago
  I believe it was also done for higan (bsnes) in order to support enhancement chipped games: the enhancement chips had to be collected, decapped, and decoded in order to correctly (= fully accurately, rather than approximately via hacks to try and fit observations) run the game dumps. I think at least part of the process was documented at the time. I don't know if all the enhancement chips were collected and decoded, as IIRC a pair of them are literally used for a single japanese-only game. Although for IP reasons the enhancement chip firmwares can't be distributed with higan, so you have to "dump them yourself".
  - thristian 3y ago
    bsnes' creator collected all the NTSC cartridges, I believe (USA and Japan, even the rare ones that were Japan-only special editions) but I don't think they managed to get a full PAL set. All the enhancement chips used in officially licensed games were collected, decapped, and dumped via an electron microscope. Yes, even the ones only used by a single Shougi game each. :)
    - Keyframe 3y ago
      bsnes' creator... I still can't get over the tragedy of what happened to them. That shouldn't have happened under any circumstance.
      - ThrowawayTestr 3y ago
        If it makes you feel better, Byuu faked his death at least once before and there's still no hard evidence he's dead.
        Y_Y 3y ago
        > Wayne Beckett, founder of Hong-Kong-based Datapower Development, said Near, whose full name was David Kirk Ginder, was an employee and confirmed Ginder's death to USA TODAY. from https://eu.usatoday.com/story/tech/2021/07/23/how-toxic-online-cultures-trolling-and-bullying-contribute-suicide/8042846002/ https://eu.usatoday.com/story/tech/2021/07/23/how-toxic-onli... That's hard enough for me to think it's legit, though I'd agree that it's not conclusive.
        ranger_danger 3y ago
        there are so many holes in even THAT story it's not even funny.
        Y_Y 3y ago
        I'd love to learn more if you had a reference
        Keyframe 3y ago
        I sincerely hope there's hope for it. Even so, such behavior towards an individual who brought nothing but joy to a common shared passion of many is beyond sad and evil.
        ThrowawayTestr 3y ago
        Byuu tried to extort the owner of kiwifarms and "killed" himself when the owner refused. I encourage you to read Byuu's thread yourself instead of news articles that drastically misrepresent what happened.
    - bdw5204 3y ago
      One of those shogi chips was actually a 32 bit ARM processor: https://snescentral.com/chips.php?chiptype=ST018 https://snescentral.com/chips.php?chiptype=ST018
- Keyframe 3y ago
  not documentation you'd like.. I can only had a sheet, at first excel and then google sheets, which I made to make it easy for me to track it all. I did travel a lot due to business etc and over time it all fell into place. Here's what they look like stored now, waiting for a move soon and for a more permanent setting: https://twitter.com/Keyframe/status/1550975562742644736?t=0NHtJPXSHarn1MfspyLojA&s=19 https://twitter.com/Keyframe/status/1550975562742644736?t=0N... I'm also close to finishing N64 and maybe halfway there for NES (which I have no illusions on completing ever).
  - sunnybeetroot 3y ago
    That’s amazing! Thank you for sharing it, good luck on completing the other collections.
bena 3y ago
That was the neat thing about cartridge based game consoles, each game was essentially a new piece of hardware. I think the Game Boy Advance was the last mainstream PCB cartridge game console. The GameCube had moved to discs, Sony and Microsoft never made a cartridge based system, and Sega was on their third such system with the Dreamcast. But I don't think the GBA or N64 really did things like the SNES or NES did with regards to cartridge hardware. I think by that time, the core hardware was way more powerful than anything that could be attached.
- Keyframe 3y ago
  what we have today on switch is essentially memory card, before it was an interface to the bus. You could do anything. It doesn't even have to be performance oriented (or features like sound chips). One example is Boktai for GBA which had a light sensor on it so that actual daylight played into the gameplay, etc. I know hardware homogeneity across platforms brought peace upon gamedevs who are stressed out as-is, but I think we lost something major along the way.
- philistine 3y ago
  Neat fact about GBA cartridges. At its start, cartridges used watch batteries to keep save games, but by the end of the console, they had moved to Flash memory.
  - mmaniac 3y ago
    GBA cartridges used a mix of save chips for the duration of the console's life. Super Mario Advance and Konami Krazy Racers were both launch titles. Super Mario Advance used EEPROM with no battery while Konami Krazy Racers used static RAM with a battery. Some games even got multiple releases with different save chips. Metroid Fusion originally released with static RAM and a battery, but later cartridges feature ferroelectric RAM and no battery. As far as the software is concerned, these two function the same.
    - philistine 3y ago
      I didn't know that, I thought it changed during the span of its life. Thank you!

sunnybeetroot 3y ago

That is impressive, any chance you’ve documented your journey and collection anywhere? I’d love to learn more.

masklinn 3y ago
I believe it was also done for higan (bsnes) in order to support enhancement chipped games: the enhancement chips had to be collected, decapped, and decoded in order to correctly (= fully accurately, rather than approximately via hacks to try and fit observations) run the game dumps. I think at least part of the process was documented at the time. I don't know if all the enhancement chips were collected and decoded, as IIRC a pair of them are literally used for a single japanese-only game. Although for IP reasons the enhancement chip firmwares can't be distributed with higan, so you have to "dump them yourself".
- thristian 3y ago
  bsnes' creator collected all the NTSC cartridges, I believe (USA and Japan, even the rare ones that were Japan-only special editions) but I don't think they managed to get a full PAL set. All the enhancement chips used in officially licensed games were collected, decapped, and dumped via an electron microscope. Yes, even the ones only used by a single Shougi game each. :)
  - Keyframe 3y ago
    bsnes' creator... I still can't get over the tragedy of what happened to them. That shouldn't have happened under any circumstance.
    - ThrowawayTestr 3y ago
      If it makes you feel better, Byuu faked his death at least once before and there's still no hard evidence he's dead.
      - Y_Y 3y ago
        > Wayne Beckett, founder of Hong-Kong-based Datapower Development, said Near, whose full name was David Kirk Ginder, was an employee and confirmed Ginder's death to USA TODAY. from https://eu.usatoday.com/story/tech/2021/07/23/how-toxic-online-cultures-trolling-and-bullying-contribute-suicide/8042846002/ https://eu.usatoday.com/story/tech/2021/07/23/how-toxic-onli... That's hard enough for me to think it's legit, though I'd agree that it's not conclusive.
        ranger_danger 3y ago
        there are so many holes in even THAT story it's not even funny.
        Y_Y 3y ago
        I'd love to learn more if you had a reference
      - Keyframe 3y ago
        I sincerely hope there's hope for it. Even so, such behavior towards an individual who brought nothing but joy to a common shared passion of many is beyond sad and evil.
        ThrowawayTestr 3y ago
        Byuu tried to extort the owner of kiwifarms and "killed" himself when the owner refused. I encourage you to read Byuu's thread yourself instead of news articles that drastically misrepresent what happened.
  - bdw5204 3y ago
    One of those shogi chips was actually a 32 bit ARM processor: https://snescentral.com/chips.php?chiptype=ST018 https://snescentral.com/chips.php?chiptype=ST018
Keyframe 3y ago
not documentation you'd like.. I can only had a sheet, at first excel and then google sheets, which I made to make it easy for me to track it all. I did travel a lot due to business etc and over time it all fell into place. Here's what they look like stored now, waiting for a move soon and for a more permanent setting: https://twitter.com/Keyframe/status/1550975562742644736?t=0NHtJPXSHarn1MfspyLojA&s=19 https://twitter.com/Keyframe/status/1550975562742644736?t=0N... I'm also close to finishing N64 and maybe halfway there for NES (which I have no illusions on completing ever).
- sunnybeetroot 3y ago
  That’s amazing! Thank you for sharing it, good luck on completing the other collections.

bena 3y ago

That was the neat thing about cartridge based game consoles, each game was essentially a new piece of hardware. I think the Game Boy Advance was the last mainstream PCB cartridge game console. The GameCube had moved to discs, Sony and Microsoft never made a cartridge based system, and Sega was on their third such system with the Dreamcast. But I don't think the GBA or N64 really did things like the SNES or NES did with regards to cartridge hardware. I think by that time, the core hardware was way more powerful than anything that could be attached.

Keyframe 3y ago
what we have today on switch is essentially memory card, before it was an interface to the bus. You could do anything. It doesn't even have to be performance oriented (or features like sound chips). One example is Boktai for GBA which had a light sensor on it so that actual daylight played into the gameplay, etc. I know hardware homogeneity across platforms brought peace upon gamedevs who are stressed out as-is, but I think we lost something major along the way.
philistine 3y ago
Neat fact about GBA cartridges. At its start, cartridges used watch batteries to keep save games, but by the end of the console, they had moved to Flash memory.
- mmaniac 3y ago
  GBA cartridges used a mix of save chips for the duration of the console's life. Super Mario Advance and Konami Krazy Racers were both launch titles. Super Mario Advance used EEPROM with no battery while Konami Krazy Racers used static RAM with a battery. Some games even got multiple releases with different save chips. Metroid Fusion originally released with static RAM and a battery, but later cartridges feature ferroelectric RAM and no battery. As far as the software is concerned, these two function the same.
  - philistine 3y ago
    I didn't know that, I thought it changed during the span of its life. Thank you!