Questions and Answers

Hi,
I really like your cart scans. I was looking at the bomberman the second attack.
It states that there are 4 resistors and 1 capacitor. I belive that this is incorrect. the markings on the pc board clearlly indicate that there are 5 capacitors and no resistors. also there would be very little reason to place resistors between the power connection. (usually the wider traces on a pc.) where it is commond to have capacitors between the power connects to reduce electical noise to the chips.
I have worked in the electronics repair field for a long time and in my experiance the markings on the pc board are almost 99% of the time correct.
I only point this out so that the technical information is as correct as possible. this mistake is probably on other cart scans.

First off, this comes from the same guy who commented on the unknown sram chip (the top e-mail). Pretty good question, see, I usually go by the lettering on the boards as well. But they sure do look like resistors ;p Although, all resistors on a board having the same rating would be unlikely. Mind you, I haven't done any electronics work in ages. Maybe it should be noted that WT came up with the Other: section (hehe). Anyone else have any opinions on this?

Hi,
I was checking out your cart scan repository. It is very nice.
I have a thought about the little chip on the zelda cart. I think that its purpose is to prevent writes to the SRAM when the Nintendo is powering up or down. you need this type of protection to prevent the SRAM from becoming corrupt. I have designed commercial video game boards and know how many problems SRAM give you on power up and downs.
also it would be nice if you could post a chart showing what the signal names for the card pins are.

SRAM requires power to retain it's memory. That is why you see a battery with all the SRAM boards. The "unknown" chip you see next to the battery is a battery backup chip. It selects the power going to the SRAM between the battery and system power. It keeps the SRAM from being "zapped" when the cart is plugged into a system and the power hits it.
This is an eductated guess only. I've used similar chips in projects that I have designed using a battery backed SRAM.

Well, two different e-mails, from two different people, spaced quite a bit apart in time. So, I'm guessing they are both right. It would make sense, other than that, I don't really have anything to say about it ;p As for the signal names, I wouldn't have a clue about such things (me being Nintense), perhaps somebody else does and would like to clue me in?

I like to see projects like this and I might be able to be of help on the ? small square chip in the RE64 cart. According to Nintendo the game supposedly had a small chip inside for running the MPEGs heavily compressed onto the cart. I assume that is the primary function of it, as well as a security lockout as well. I'm told the game doesn't work in a copier so that would make sense as Capcom is known for pulling stuff like that on the SNES with the C4 chip in MMX2 and 3, and the SDD1 for SFAlpha2. Just a thought, I'm either right, wrong, or partial right, but it might be worth looking into if you can find someone who can fiddle around better with it.

Hrmm, a special mpeg chip, highly doubtful, but I suppose it's possible, anyone else know anything about it. It has nothing to do with security though, as the game has been dumped for a very long time (wonder who did it ;p). The reason most people can't play it on their backup units is because the game is 512Mbits, and the only unit tha supports that is the V64Jr.

I've had a terrible time finding the 3.8mm bit. I finally found it at MCM Electronics through your link. The part # is:
22-1145
They cost $3.59 for 1, $3.09 for 10+, and $2.79 for 25+. That information may be of some benefit to your readers.

Not really a question, but I thought I should especially point it out here. The link he refers to is http://www.mcmelectronics.com. They seem to be in a restructuring period right now, so there may be some bugs still. You can actually buy entire security bit sets, pretty nice. I think you want the Service Aids section of the product catalog, there should be a tool section in there. See, I usually just look through their printed catalog, that I receive ocassionally, at least I did, wonder what happened to that.

Hello nintense,
Sorry to be acting like a lamer, but what can you use n64 cart scans for? Is it for computer emulation software, is it for electronic enginerrs to make their own or something else? you should put a reason on the web site on what their for

Well, I thought it was described pretty well on the main page: This will help everybody understand what hardware N64 carts have, what security and what save chips are used. As well as discovering unknown features of cartridges. Guess not. The scans probably aren't extremely helpful for the emu scene, but they can't hurt. They're most beneficial to people who make utilities and programs for the N64. For backup machines and the like. The scans are also helpful for backup users, as they help identify what CIC chips and save chips various games use, helping to get games running properly. But...they're also just interesting to see ;)