7800 Pokey built in?

[SoundGammon]

Would it be possible to hack in or build in a pokey chip in the console itself and send the output to where it goes to the cartridge port so you could play all pokey enhanced games without needing the special cartridge?

[Lendorien]

There is the Xboard which was a hack to do exactly that. A fellow named Pontus came up with it a few years ago. He was selling it for about 50 dollars. It came in a Pokey version with Extra RAM and a non-pokey version with extra RAM.

 

The XM essentially uses the addresses of the Xboard to be compatible with the Pokey part of it, even though there's really only one game that was ever made to use it. I don't think any games were ever made to use the extra RAM. I'd say that it'd be doubtful that XM games using the extra ram of the XM would work on the Xboard, but someone like Groovybee would be more knowledgeable about that.

 

I am not sure if the Xboard is still available, but I'd say that the XM is by far the better buy given the value you're getting. The XBoard does not have the High Score Cart functionality and expansion ports of the XM, and the XM requires no hardware modification of your 7800. It also comes in that nifty custom made retro case, in a box and is supported by the major homebrewers in the community.

 

Here's the link to the xboard if you're interested.

Edited December 7, 2011 by Lendorien

[GroovyBee]

The XBOARD RAM scheme and the XM RAM scheme are not compatible.