You know those systems that are like, double systems?

[+GoldenWheels]

Recently I became aware of the Dina two-in-one console, which can play both SG-1000 games and Colecovision games. Sadly, it is priced above my desire level but man I am kind of fascinated by this thing. It even has two cartridge slots (yes, that impresses me a lot somehow).

 

That kind of got me thinking about older, single systems that had the ability to play multiple systems games, WEIRD two-in-ones like the Dina in particular. I don't mean like with new systems, running emulation of older systems (duh), and I certainly don't mean systems that had previous gen games converted up onto them on a newer format. I also don't mean systems that play two types of media (card/cart/CD/whatever), assuming both types were made FOR that system, or systems that play multiple REGIONS of games (sorry to my NEC boys).

 

I mean systems that play the actual physical media of a completely different system, let's say no older than 2001. I didn't come up with a lot just thinking, and my thoughts ended up in different "classes" even. I figured if I list them here, you guys will be able to pile in with ones I am unaware of. I'd appreciate it.

 

No peripheral needed:

 

1. I have to put the Dina at the very top, the best example of what I am talking about. Two systems (SG-1000 and Coleco) and TWO cartridge slots. Goddamn.

2. My beloved Atari 7800. Obviously, it can play 2600 and 7800 games. Only one cart slot needed and thus that is all there is.
3. Supergrafx. Plays the 5 Supergrafx games & all PC Engine hu-card games.
4. Older model Wiis which can play Gamecube games

 

Peripheral needed (no particular order):

 

5. Colecovision with the Atari 2600 Expansion model (plays...duh...2600 games too).
6. Sega Genesis with the Power Base Converter (Plays SMS games too).
7. Sega Game Gear with the Master Converter (plays SMS games too).
8. Nintendo Gamecube with GBA Adapter.
9. SNES with GBA Player.
10. Atari 5200 with VCS Player

11. Intellivsion System Changer (plays 2600 games)
12. Mark III/Japanese SMS (plays SG-1000 games)

13. Pioneer LaserActive w/ NEC PC-Engine PAC OR Sega Genesis PAC
 

 

Vaporware (never manufactured/released):

 

14. VIC-20 with Cardapter (would have played 2600 games)

 

I'm unfamiliar with the Game Boy world but I think there is compatibility between GBC and GB and GBA...somehow. Sometimes. Not sure. I also don't know where, say, a backwards compatible PS3 falls--is it emulation?--and I don't ACTUALLY care so that is why I drew the line at 2001 (I realize stuff like the GBA player may actually be emulation too, I was not sure).

 

I'd be most interested to hear about systems which DON'T need an extra peripheral but I'd love to hear about any other vintage 2-in-1s of any kind I haven't mentioned.

 

EDIT adds in italics.

 

 

[fiddlepaddle]

I think there was a 2600 adapter for the Intellivision. Also, there was an adapter allowing you to play gameboy games on a Nintendo 64; I think it's an emulator, but it doesn't work very well. And most people know about the adapter that allows you to play GB and GBC (but not GB Advance) games on the SNES.

[+GoldenWheels]

13 hours ago, fiddlepaddle said:

I think there was a 2600 adapter for the Intellivision. Also, there was an adapter allowing you to play gameboy games on a Nintendo 64; I think it's an emulator, but it doesn't work very well. And most people know about the adapter that allows you to play GB and GBC (but not GB Advance) games on the SNES.

Ah, I should have checked for this knowing about the Coleco. Nice!

[Steven Pendleton]

Mark III and (Japanese) Master System run SG-1000 games natively. The colors will be messed up due to the Mark III and Master System having a different something from the SG-1000 (yeah, I forgot what it is, but it's some component) and the Japanese Master System is more expensive than even the SuperGrafx, but it does work, and the SG-1000 is RF-only while the Mark III and Master System have RGB.

 

Speaking of the SuperGrafx, if you want to consider the SuperGrafx to be a different system from the regular non-super PC Engine, there you go, but probably not what you are looking for.

 

Probably also not what you are looking for, but the Sega Neptune exists... barely.

[youxia]

I seem to recall there was some add on for MSX that would let you play SMS or SG-1000 games? Or maybe it was a hack?

 

Or maybe I just dreamed it up

 

Ah, yes, a modern loader: https://www.msx.org/wiki/Sega_SG-1000#Run_SG-1000_software_on_MSX

Edited October 27, 2022 by youxia

[CatPix]

18 hours ago, GoldenWheels said:

I'm unfamiliar with the Game Boy world but I think there is compatibility between GBC and GB and GBA...somehow. Sometimes. Not sure.

Blame Nintendo for the confusion.

For GB/GBC/GBA games, you have 4 types of games (yes)

- Original DMG Game Boy games. Those will work on all the named consoles.

- "Improved" GBC"compatible" games. Those games can run on the original GB but when inserted in a GBC (or GBA I guess) they can have improvement varying from having a defined colour palette to displaying more colours and more sprites.

- True GBC games. Those games won't work at all on a GB, only on a GBC and GBA. And finally...

- GBA games : those will work only on a GBA.

You can tell the games form the cart shells :

 

regular GB games (works on all consoles in general) :

GB "Colour improved" games usually come in the same cart shell, but in black :

 

GB Colour-only games :

Transparent, and more rounded.

 

It makes me realize that technically, the GBA is a triple-compatible system!

 

In the same vein, in Europe, the Videopac+ console is backward compatible with the Videopac :

 

And much like the GB/GBC affair, all but two games for the Videopac+ series are backward compatible with the original Videopac.

 

Edited October 27, 2022 by CatPix

[Tanooki]

Then to break off that great break down in the last post more gameboy drama.

 

Gameboy MICRO only plays GBA games, they manually removed the toggle for it to do GB/GBC games I guess so it doesn't stick out huge.

 

Then there's GBA the sequel...backwards compatibility with the Nintendo DS and DS Lite (NOT DSi.)  The DS and DS Lite play all the nice GBA games, you choose which LCD to disable, game plays on the other in a clean nice clear crisp screen.  Slot also on DS doubles for an arkanoid spinner, rumble pack, and memory expansion for the crusty web browser they had for it too.

 

And to keep the party going, the Nintendo 3DS/2DS/"New" of both they all run the DS library in the slot, so it's backwards compatible with that.

 

 

The PS3 that came up, that's emulation.  The original model took to playing PS1 and PS2 discs via the slot, then they decided to cut out the support early, so then only PS2 games worked as paid again digital downloads and ran digital memory cards instead of having the slots the original model had to run both(PS1 and PS2 memory cards.)  So earliest PS3s ran the PS1/PS2 back library on disc, largely, with some having problems since it was emulating/simulating the environment as the original chipsets are not in there, then most PS3 models dropped PS2 support to save money and just ran PS1 discs only, and simulated PS1/PS2 memory cards as a save chunk in the system itself as a digital memory card.

[Steven Pendleton]

On the PS2: apparently the PS1 GPU is emulated in software in all PS2 models. Later PS2 models (the tiny ones, basically) and all PS3s run PS1 games entirely through emulation.

[+GoldenWheels]

Sooooooooooooooooooo Facebook for sure be stalking me because at lunch I got fed a rando post on the never released VIC-20 Cardapter. As it is of the right era, I'm gonna include stuff like this in the list.

 

[+GoldenWheels]

1 hour ago, CatPix said:

 

In the same vein, in Europe, the Videopac+ console is backward compatible with the Videopac :

 

And much like the GB/GBC affair, all but two games for the Videopac+ series are backward compatible with the original Videopac.

 

So....seeing the first part, I said, this belongs on the list, it's the same situation as the 7800.  But reading the last part (new games work on the older version of system), I am guessing the Videopac+ wasn't truly a new system but was really an upgraded Videopac where most programmers didn't even bother using the extra stuff. If most games really work BOTH ways, well....*brain struggles to categorize it*....I think that's another topic! XD

 

Still, an interesting addition that I appreciate. Thanks Cat.

[Steven Pendleton]

It's kind of 100% completely not related, but I don't really have anywhere else to mention it; the SG-1000 is the only console that I can think of that needs a converter/adaptor for its own games: the Card Catcher. Maybe there is something else, but I don't know about it. I think the PC Engine IFU has a little tiny amount of RAM in the IFU, so while it's somewhat similar, as the CD-ROM² is little more than a disc reader, it adds nothing else to the PC Engine's capability other than giving it UNLIMITED STORAGE!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!! or whatever.

Edited October 27, 2022 by Steven Pendleton

[CatPix]

42 minutes ago, Steven Pendleton said:

It's kind of 100% completely not related, but I don't really have anywhere else to mention it; the SG-1000 is the only console that I can think of that needs a converter/adaptor for its own games: the Card Catcher. Maybe there is something else, but I don't know about it. I think the PC Engine IFU has a little tiny amount of RAM in the IFU, so while it's somewhat similar, as the CD-ROM² is little more than a disc reader, it adds nothing else to the PC Engine's capability other than giving it UNLIMITED STORAGE!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!! or whatever.

The IFU-30 doesn't add RAM (well it add RAM but AFAIK it's used as buffer for the CD player). The System Card 3 and Arcade Cards do add RAM. I'm not sure you can count those as different systems tho.

 

The Videopac+ is a different system, but it includes a Videopac 1 inside of it.

Games are backward compatible in that most Videopac+ are in fact Videopac games that when inserted into a Videopac+, detect the extra hardware and add better-looking background graphics.

Think about it as a kind of PS1 game that when inserted in a PS2 would add extra visuals. (tho not sure it would be possible).

It was still a weird and confusing idea that didn't help marketign the system. Tho at that point I think Philips wanted to focus on the MSX so it's possible they did that to gently and quietly kill the Videopac market.

[Mikebloke]

The 1292 line is a franchised 70s console which had the same rom file games but marketed in different ways through box and manual. There is three main cartridge sizes as they didn't all use the same and if you have the right cartridge with the right cartridge slot you can mix and match. 

 

However, when Database made their system with their own size, they also produced an adapter so the mainline acetronic systems could play database games, including some unique games produced only for database. 

 

So it's a strange peripheral, in the sense that it is literally converting the pins to a new layout, for what is technically the same roms and the same systems, just a different cartridge slot size - not unlike sega mega drive region locking. 

[carlsson]

On 10/27/2022 at 2:15 PM, youxia said:

I seem to recall there was some add on for MSX that would let you play SMS or SG-1000 games?

For that matter, the Arabian brand(s) Sakhr/Al Alamiah had a number of models. Some models from 1992 that are particularly interesting:

 

AX-330: Combined MSX1 and Famicom, with dual cartridge slots. It exists with both MSX1 and MSX2 VDP chips.

AX-660: Combined MSX1 and Sega Genesis. It has MSX2 VDP chip but apparently not enough RAM + VRAM to be MSX2 compatible.

AX-990: Same specs as AX-660

 

Also since we're dragging in home computers among the consoles, let's not forget the Spartan which was super delayed but added Apple II compatibility to the C64. I wonder if things like the C128 counts here as it has dual CPUs and boots both its own BASIC and CP/M. The same goes for any Apple II computer with a Z80 Softcard which also enables CP/M. I realize that is bringing the discussion out of hand as there are a lot more examples of computers with multiple CPUs or converters that lets it run a different operating system than intended.

[carlsson]

On 10/27/2022 at 7:06 PM, CatPix said:

Think about it as a kind of PS1 game that when inserted in a PS2 would add extra visuals.

A few Konami games on the MSX work like this. The cartridges are runnable on MSX1, but if you play it on MSX2 you get additional colours and enhanced graphics. I seem to remember that Nemesis 2 is one of those.

[Punisher5.0]

I have to ask......is the title of this thread a Simpsons reference?

[+GoldenWheels]

On 10/28/2022 at 8:00 PM, Punisher5.0 said:

I have to ask......is the title of this thread a Simpsons reference?

That is a perfectly cromulent question.

[+jgkspsx]

The Super Game Boy and Game Boy Player are not adapters - they are Game Boy hardware that uses the system’s video for output. I imagine the various Atari 2600 “adapters” are the same.

[Tanooki]

On 11/1/2022 at 10:18 AM, GoldenWheels said:

That is a perfectly cromulent question.

I think we need to go to arbitration on this, let's get Super Nintendo Chalmers opinion on it.

 

[Lord Innit]

Some versions of the Wii can play Gamecube games

[CatPix]

All version of the first model, inclusing those lacking the controller ports. Compatibility was removed with the redesign versions.

Edited November 4, 2022 by CatPix

[Zap1982]

Sega Multimega (CDX) plays both Megadrive/Genesis and Mega/Sega CD games as standard. It can take a 32x (even though the manual says it can't) I am unsure if it plays Master System via the convertor or not but I can confirm it won't play them via Everdrive - mine doesn't anyway.

 

Edited November 4, 2022 by Zap1982

[Tanooki]

Well then in that case throw in the JVC X-Eye, that one is a single unit more genesis1 dimension in sized all in one Genesis+SCD unit, and it was built so a 32X would have no problem attaching.

[Steven Pendleton]

How the hell has nobody mentioned the Pioneer LaserActive yet?

[Zap1982]

10 hours ago, Steven Pendleton said:

How the hell has nobody mentioned the Pioneer LaserActive yet?

Never heard of it until now - I looked it up and see we didn't get it in Europe but thats an impressive machine.