Custom Cart for N64, NES, SNES, etc

[Chezwik]

Now, i know that this obviously has places it could fit in, i couldn't figure out which one to put it in, so i figured misc. would probably do the best. I had an idea. People are always working on portable versions of awesome systems, and while they almost always turn out awesome, there is usually some complaining about thickness. 90% of the thickness problems i have observed have come from the cartridge being to thick, often times adding an extra 2-3 cm. Then I had the idea. Its obviously easy to take apart cartridges to replace the battery (on games that need them obviously) or whatnot, so why don't we take them apart and put it in a thinner cartridge case. its not like we are going to go out and buy a bunch of new n64 games or whatever, so it would only have to be a limited number of them, but i think that this would defiantly help in the saving of at least a little space. What do you all think?

[jdmlight]

Well I know at least a few portable users have them to try out used games at game stores/conventions, so that wouldn't help in those cases.

I think this was discussed before, and iirc the main reason why this isn't done is that it destroys the collectability of the games.

[Chezwik]

What i mean is, when i take apart my version of Podracer for N64, i notice that while it isn't the smallest board in the world, it is definatly smaller then the case shows. podracer is only about half of the height of the plastic cartridge, and of course it is thinner. as long as a new case didn't touch any of the componants and nothing had to be removed, it shouldn't lose any features. The reason i used podracer as an example is because that is the only one i have around and i am not exactly sure if another chip wouldn't be bigger do to larger game sizes, etc

[jdmlight]

What i mean is, when i take apart my version of Podracer for N64, i notice that while it isn't the smallest board in the world, it is definatly smaller then the case shows. podracer is only about half of the height of the plastic cartridge, and of course it is thinner. as long as a new case didn't touch any of the componants and nothing had to be removed, it shouldn't lose any features. The reason i used podracer as an example is because that is the only one i have around and i am not exactly sure if another chip wouldn't be bigger do to larger game sizes, etc

Oh yes, you could absolutely put the board inside the cartridge into a smaller case. Most games are like the Podracer cartridge you mentioned with a lot of empty space inside. As far as playing the game is concerned, there would be no difference. But modifying the cartridge at all decreases the game's resale value to near-zero.

[tom61]

Another problem is that not all carts have the same board size. Most carts are the same internally, but there a few for each system you mentioned that have extra hardware. This idea has been brought up a fair number of times, but no one has really done it that I'm aware of.

[Snow_Cat]

I am certain that I came across such a thing while I was researching the Game Gear cartridge, unforunately I did not book mark the page describing it as it did not relate to my subject.

My recollection is faulty but I seem to rembember the author describing the revisions he(she?) burnt through before arriving at a four system (four edged) PCB that could be targeted as needed (NES/SNES/SMS/Genesis). Because the software was (mostly) incompatible between consoles it was programmed/configured to service only one console/mapper/rom -- and there were remarks about other passthrough adaptors to fit it to older consoles including the GameBoy, Atari and Intellivision.

The main problem with it (as I seem to recall) was it's tendancy to blow up by being

1. plugged in backwards
2. plugged in to the wrong port
3. plugged in with the wrong hardware configuration
4. plugged in with the correct hardware configuration but incorrect ROM image then (a, b, c or d) during troubleshooting

edit:grammatical error

Did a Google search:
~msmcdoug members.iinet.net.auPUCE
Similar in concept (NES/SNES/N64)- but lacks the Sega connection I am certain the one I found the last time had.

[tom61]

That's pretty interesting Snow_Cat. However, it wasn't what Chezwik was talking about (though the title implies what you are talking about), he meant physically custom carts to reduce size of each commercially made cart.

[Snow_Cat]

My appologies; I seem to be blurring threads together when I read them, only glancing at the title when I reply. I will work on not doing that now that I am aware.

The main problem I forsee with your suggestion is that it would break compatibility with the larger software collection if the portable can only accept these low-fat cartridges; it might require an additional adapter, similar to the GameGear converter.

[Chezwik]

you could make some sort of converter fairly easy using a burnt n64 and an unwanted cartridge, and use it until you can create another case for said game

[Tibia]

JJHammerstein experimented with it. His thread on Mod Retro He made a reduced cart slot by dremeling down an original. Palmertech talked about doing it, but I can't find the thread to see how far he went with it.

[Chezwik]

JJHammerstein experimented with it. His thread on Mod Retro He made a reduced cart slot by dremeling down an original. Palmertech talked about doing it, but I can't find the thread to see how far he went with it.

Thank you for the link. its good to see that i am not the only one thinking this way. I don't ever get on modretro since i only found out about it today (for some strange reason). there really wasn't much information on it in the link, but since i am starting a portable N64 project, I might as well incorporate it into my design