Flashcart and Multicart List - All systems

[+wood_jl]

They sold out in 15 minutes. I will have more up for back order in the next few hours.

Holy moly! How many sold out? (Although I understand if you do not wish to disclose this trade secret)

[Mark Wolfe]

@PsychedelicShaman : I think it's time for an update/overhaul of the first post, in fact I'd like to see this topic stickied along with a thread detailing A/V mods for all the various classic consoles. I'd be happy to help put it together. we'd just need a moderator to assist.

 

Well, I'm a retrogaming enthusiast who loves flash carts and multicarts. So I thought I'd compile a list of the ones I know of so that you guys don't have to google every single system. Maybe you'll see something you haven't seen before, and maybe I'll find a new cart for my collection. You can pretty much treat this like a wiki, just reply if you have something to add or change and I'll go back and update the thread. My apologies if I have misrepresented someone or something.

 

I'm not going to include any multicarts that only contain a small number of games, like the pirate famicom multicarts for example. Even if a system doesn't have a current flash/multi cart, I tried to include the discontinued items if you really need a solution for that system.

Please don't turn this into a piracy/anti-piracy discussion; there's a time and place for that discussion, and this is neither of them.

 

I'll start off with the two largest companies which offer a wide selection of flash carts mostly from the 16-bit era:

 

Tototek:

• Tototek provides flash carts for the Sega Master System, Sega Genesis, SNES, Turbografx 16, and Game Gear. Very nice products, although a little out-dated (small flash size, parallel connection, etc.).

NeoFlash:

• Neoflash is a promising company that currently has a 32mb Genesis flash cart and a 64mb/128mb turbografx 16 cart. If you check out their projects in the forums they appear to be working on an all-in-one Genesis flash cart, SNES, N64, and NES flash carts, but some of these projects appear dead/on hold. These products should be more current (flash media, usb) if they are ever made available.

Odyssey 2:

• John Dondzila has a 128-in-1 multicart that is a non-writeable, dip-switch cart. Contains the entire library (if not the entire library, very close to it) and some homebrews including Amok! Compatible with the Voice and Plus games for the g7400. $52 shipped.
• Sören Gust has a RAMcart which is a writable DIY cart. He also has a Flashcart in the works, and a Megacart which seems to be a DIY multicart.

Atari 2600:

• DISCONTINUED: Chad Schell had the cuttle cart which was a multicart for the 2600. The user needs an audio source like a CD player or computer (think Supercharger).
• DISCONTINUED - Armin Vogl just had another production run of the Krokodile Cart. It is a writable multicart that will play most 2600 games without the need for an audio source. ~$100

Atari 5200:

• DISCONTINUED: Atarimax and Sean Kelly had a couple dip-switch multicarts.
• Atarimax has a USB flash cart that will hold 128 games. Very easy to use; I believe it loads any game besides Bounty Bob Strikes Back. $130
• 8bitdomain has a non-writeable, dip-switch flash cart that has most of the 5200 library on it; I believe this one has Bounty Bob on it. $100

Colecovision:

• Atarimax has a USB flash cart that will hold 128 games. Very easy to use, believe it works with any game. If you need a colecovision multicart, this is the one to get! You can use this cart with the Coleco Adam as well. $130

Vectrex:

• There is some random cheap ones on Ebay, but these are the ones to get:
• Richard Hutchinson's Vecflash is a flash cart that holds up to 31 games (+menu) at one time. The USB version is now available. $80
• Sean Kelly's multicart v2.0 is available for $75 shipped on ebay whenever he gets a new batch completed, otherwise the price on ebay is usually double from resellers. This has every released cart on it(besides Animaction), plus a good many homebrews.
• There is a recently released vectrex 72 in 1 multicart from Andy(?). It has more games than sean kelly's multicart. You can get it here for 50 pounds.
• I hear that there's also a 108 game multicart in the works...

Atari 7800:

• DISCONTINUED: Ah, the Cuttle Cart 2, hopefully another production run will be done of these to drive down the ebay prices. An excellent mmc-based flash cart.

Intellivision:

• DISCONTINUED: Chad Schell's Intellicart, games had to be loaded from your pc via a serial cable one-by-one.
• Luckily Chad Schell created a micro sd-based flash cart in the same vein as the cuttle cart 2 for the intellivision. The Cuttle Cart 3 is another excellent creation for your intellivision needs. You can still order this one from his website for $150 + shipping, and I would strongly suggest doing so before they are sold out and the price inflation begins.

Creativision:

• It's nice to see enthusiasm for a system that has a relatively small library. Luca Antignano and Giovanni Ortu have created the Creativision Multicart, a non-writeable dip switch cart. It can be ordered from the Creativemu website for 43 Euros, but hurry only 2 left as of 6/22/2008!

NES:

• The Powerpak made by BunnyBoy (widely known member of the nesdev boards) is a compact flash-based cart which allows most games to be played (I believe it was 95-98%?). Certain mappers do not work correctly, but the mapper files are stored on the flash card for easy upgrades. $135.

Virtual Boy:

• Richard Hutchinson recently finished his FlashBoy which is a usb-compatible flash cart. It holds one game at a time. It does not support saves, but there are only a few games that allow you to save anyway. 80 Euros shipped.

Channel F:

• There are instructions on how to make your own Channel F Multicart.

Atari Lynx:

• IN PROGRESS: A member of atariage (Lynxman) is currently working on an atari Lynx flashcart. It is usb-compatible, holds one game at a time but it can load all different game sizes with the top size being 512 kb. You can follow the thread here.

Atari Jaguar:

• DISCONTINUED: There exists a jaguar flash cart that was used by devs back in the jaguar days. Apparently the software is a little poor since it's not a commercial release. They can hold one game at a time and can be a little pricey.
• IN PROGRESS: The JagCF from jagware is both a flash cart and an expansion hardware for the Atari Jaguar. There have been many heated debates between homebrew devs, jagware, and "pirates" about whether or not to include the ability to play commercial games on the JagCF.

NGPC:

• DISCONTINUED: Bung Flash cart, various sizes with 32mb being the highest. Parallel interface. Info is here.

Wonderswan:

• DISCONTINUED: WonderWitch was a development kit meant for amateur devs. Some homebrews that were created using the WonderWitch will only work with the WonderWitch.
• DISCONTINUED: Wonder Magic is more of a general purpose flash cart.

N64:

• DISCONTINUED: No flash cart available. You just have to look for the Z64,V64,CD64, or V64 Jr.

Game Boy:

• DISCONTINUED: Various flash carts are available with the most famous being Bung's GB Xchanger. You can also use the Flash2Advance cards with GB Bridge.

Bally Astrocade:

• DISCONTINUED: Ward Shrake's Astrocade multicart.
• 8-bit domain has a non-writeable, dip switch multicart.

Arcadia 2001:

• DISCONTINUED: Ward Shrake's Arcadia 2001 multicart

GBA and DS:

• There are dozens of flash carts for the GBA and DS. A good starting place for information on these is available here.

[Chilly Willy]

Wow - a LOT of that is really outdated. The NeoFlash part is really outdated, and an Everdrive section needs to be added.

[psquare75]

Every cart I clicked is either unavailable, sold out, or the website doesn't even exist!

[Mark Wolfe]

Every cart I clicked is either unavailable, sold out, or the website doesn't even exist!

 

 

 

anyone know where PsychedelicShaman is lately?

 

 

[PsychedelicShaman]

Working today, will post tomorrow (not with a new list though, sorry)

[Mark Wolfe]

Working today, will post tomorrow (not with a new list though, sorry)

 

absolutely no rush, if I redo the list, will you edit your first post with it? can you also ask a moderator to sticky it?

[PsychedelicShaman]

Working today, will post tomorrow (not with a new list though, sorry)

 

absolutely no rush, if I redo the list, will you edit your first post with it? can you also ask a moderator to sticky it?

 

Please check your pms.

[Mark Wolfe]

Working today, will post tomorrow (not with a new list though, sorry)

 

absolutely no rush, if I redo the list, will you edit your first post with it? can you also ask a moderator to sticky it?

 

Please check your pms.

 

done! and thank you!! can't wait to see what you come up with.

 

stay tuned folks!

[StoneAgeGamer]

[PsychedelicShaman]

So I've been working on a wiki site for flash carts and multicarts whenever the time has presented itself. I was very close to releasing it, but there are some server-side performance issues that godaddy is seemingly unwilling to help with. The performance issues are basically typing up a page to go on the wiki, clicking save, and it timing out causing you to lose all of your work. So, I will have to move the site to a different location. Hopefully in a week or two, I will be able to release it, thanks!

[KRIKzz]

Also before someone asks "Why not just put FlashRAM on PCB?" Well I asked him the same question once and he said that it would raise the price significantly and at this time he doesn't think the feature is worth the higher price. So he is still working on a way to get it working without it.

 

The issue isn't FRAM versus SRAM, it's the WAY the FRAM is ACCESSED. Nintendo used a pretty silly method of accessing FRAM compared to SRAM (FRAM chips are designed to drop in to SRAM designs, so the way FRAM is accessed on the N64 is Nintendo's fault and not due to the FRAM itself). Even if he used real FRAM, he'd still have to add that crazy access interface to the firmware; if it has trouble with SRAM, it would have the SAME trouble with FRAM. The MAIN difference between FRAM and SRAM is the SRAM requires battery backed power while the FRAM doesn't. As mentioned above, FRAM generally comes in standard SRAM packages and pinouts to be a drop-in replacement without the need for batteries.

 

do you know how flashram access works in actual games? currently my flashram implementation work just file if i use N64FlashRAM.c functions for access, but does not work in game. why need to repeat each write operation twice? also weird thing with last block in each slot, only 64byte, but what should happen if try to read/write all 128byte in last block?

[TheGameCollector]

I found a pretty good one for the original Game Boy & Game Boy Color games. It's not that big though and if you want to play games with zero erros and full compatibility, you only want to load 1 game on page 1 of the card at a time. Throw your multiple less cared about quick play games that don't save data on page 2. (You only get to use the save battery for 1 game at a time, but you can back the save up to your computer and re-download it to the cart later)

 

It's called GB USB Smart Card 64M

 

There are also flash cards out there for GBA and Nintendo DS, but I would say don't use the one they already have for 3DS because your system can get bricked if you connect it online. I would say the 3DS is a little too new to even be pirating games for anyway. If there are that few games out yet I would just buy the games.

[Chilly Willy]

Also before someone asks "Why not just put FlashRAM on PCB?" Well I asked him the same question once and he said that it would raise the price significantly and at this time he doesn't think the feature is worth the higher price. So he is still working on a way to get it working without it.

 

The issue isn't FRAM versus SRAM, it's the WAY the FRAM is ACCESSED. Nintendo used a pretty silly method of accessing FRAM compared to SRAM (FRAM chips are designed to drop in to SRAM designs, so the way FRAM is accessed on the N64 is Nintendo's fault and not due to the FRAM itself). Even if he used real FRAM, he'd still have to add that crazy access interface to the firmware; if it has trouble with SRAM, it would have the SAME trouble with FRAM. The MAIN difference between FRAM and SRAM is the SRAM requires battery backed power while the FRAM doesn't. As mentioned above, FRAM generally comes in standard SRAM packages and pinouts to be a drop-in replacement without the need for batteries.

 

do you know how flashram access works in actual games? currently my flashram implementation work just file if i use N64FlashRAM.c functions for access, but does not work in game. why need to repeat each write operation twice? also weird thing with last block in each slot, only 64byte, but what should happen if try to read/write all 128byte in last block?

 

I don't know how games handle it - I went by what was in the latest libn64-alt used by scummvm.

 

http://pastebin.com/4HzCFkSN

 

It's a little different from yours... maybe you were working from an older version.

 

EDIT: Sorry, it's the same. I wasn't looking at it close enough. What concerns me about this code is that last shortened block, giving 960 bytes instead of 1024. The N64 Myth just goes ahead and does a full 1024 bytes - there's no shortened block.

Edited July 23, 2011 by Chilly Willy

[KRIKzz]

EDIT: Sorry, it's the same. I wasn't looking at it close enough. What concerns me about this code is that last shortened block, giving 960 bytes instead of 1024. The N64 Myth just goes ahead and does a full 1024 bytes - there's no shortened block.

 

funny thing, but i also make full block in my fpga design, BUT (!) today i detected that each last block really have only 64byte by some reason - first 64 byte usable, other 64 bytes it just a mirror of next block, so probably it is some n64 specific thing.

[Chilly Willy]

EDIT: Sorry, it's the same. I wasn't looking at it close enough. What concerns me about this code is that last shortened block, giving 960 bytes instead of 1024. The N64 Myth just goes ahead and does a full 1024 bytes - there's no shortened block.

 

funny thing, but i also make full block in my fpga design, BUT (!) today i detected that each last block really have only 64byte by some reason - first 64 byte usable, other 64 bytes it just a mirror of next block, so probably it is some n64 specific thing.

 

Weird, but about par for the course with Nintendo. Everything looks good, then they toss in something weird just to keep you on your toes.

[KRIKzz]

other weird thing about flashram: i connected original flashram chip to ed64 via t-connector for check how is it work. i can save flashram games, saves works fine but if i try to copy save data to n64 ram, then erase flashram chip, then copy all data back and... game can't see save data anymore until game not rewrite new save data. damn' what is going on!? complete save copy does not work in original flashram chip! if i make save in zelda mm, then save data always have not same data inside, differents only in one 16bit word, but why?

 

edit: looks like bugy fram read routine was a source of mine problems. so stupid (:

Edited August 2, 2011 by KRIKzz

[TheGameCollector]

other weird thing about flashram: i connected original flashram chip to ed64 via t-connector for check how is it work. i can save flashram games, saves works fine but if i try to copy save data to n64 ram, then erase flashram chip, then copy all data back and... game can't see save data anymore until game not rewrite new save data. damn' what is going on!? complete save copy does not work in original flashram chip! if i make save in zelda mm, then save data always have not same data inside, differents only in one 16bit word, but why?

 

edit: looks like bugy fram read routine was a source of mine problems. so stupid (:

 

Wait, what do you mean? Are you saying that some games don't work properly with their save functions (the games that usually save directly to the cartridge)?

 

Or are you talking about storing Memory Card saves onto the everdrive and copying them back?

[StoneAgeGamer]

other weird thing about flashram: i connected original flashram chip to ed64 via t-connector for check how is it work. i can save flashram games, saves works fine but if i try to copy save data to n64 ram, then erase flashram chip, then copy all data back and... game can't see save data anymore until game not rewrite new save data. damn' what is going on!? complete save copy does not work in original flashram chip! if i make save in zelda mm, then save data always have not same data inside, differents only in one 16bit word, but why?

 

edit: looks like bugy fram read routine was a source of mine problems. so stupid (:

 

Wait, what do you mean? Are you saying that some games don't work properly with their save functions (the games that usually save directly to the cartridge)?

 

Or are you talking about storing Memory Card saves onto the everdrive and copying them back?

 

There are games that save internally and games that save externally (Memory Card). There are 4 types of internal saving: EEPROK4K, EEPROM16K, SRAM, and FlashRAM. Currently the ED64 does not support FlashRAM games. He is working on a firmware update to correct this issue.

[the.golden.ax]

other weird thing about flashram: i connected original flashram chip to ed64 via t-connector for check how is it work. i can save flashram games, saves works fine but if i try to copy save data to n64 ram, then erase flashram chip, then copy all data back and... game can't see save data anymore until game not rewrite new save data. damn' what is going on!? complete save copy does not work in original flashram chip! if i make save in zelda mm, then save data always have not same data inside, differents only in one 16bit word, but why?

 

edit: looks like bugy fram read routine was a source of mine problems. so stupid (:

 

Wait, what do you mean? Are you saying that some games don't work properly with their save functions (the games that usually save directly to the cartridge)?

 

Or are you talking about storing Memory Card saves onto the everdrive and copying them back?

 

There are games that save internally and games that save externally (Memory Card). There are 4 types of internal saving: EEPROK4K, EEPROM16K, SRAM, and FlashRAM. Currently the ED64 does not support FlashRAM games. He is working on a firmware update to correct this issue.

 

 

Any chance you could list those titles that have flash ram or link to a site that does? I have no doubt he will figure it out. Igor is a master at these things.

 

AX

[+remowilliams]

Any chance you could list those titles that have flash ram or link to a site that does? I have no doubt he will figure it out. Igor is a master at these things.

 

You can check the type of save method used by individual cartridges at this mirror.

[StoneAgeGamer]

Igor just announced on Assembler forums that he got FlashRAM saving to work for the first time last night. He has only tested a handful of games so far and needs to test all and do some more testing before firmware release.

[TheGameCollector]

Igor just announced on Assembler forums that he got FlashRAM saving to work for the first time last night. He has only tested a handful of games so far and needs to test all and do some more testing before firmware release.

 

Is firmware upgrade something we can do ourselves over the internet or do we have to send the cartridge back?

[+remowilliams]

Is firmware upgrade something we can do ourselves over the internet or do we have to send the cartridge back?

 

Firmware updates require a Byte Blaster that can do Active Serial, along with the Quartus programmer software.

[TheGameCollector]

Is firmware upgrade something we can do ourselves over the internet or do we have to send the cartridge back?

 

Firmware updates require a Byte Blaster that can do Active Serial, along with the Quartus programmer software.

 

Great. So you mean to say that they just sent out my package TWO DAYS BEFORE fixing this issue. So I have to send back my Everdrive 64 as soon as it gets here, pay for shipping there and pay for shipping back????? What a pain in the *$%*. How much does this weird cable and software cost and where can I get it?

 

I would still like to see a list of N64 roms that use FRAM to see whether its even worth getting heated over or not.

Edited August 6, 2011 by TheGameCollector