Hello, and welcome to another episode of the
8-Bit Guy. In previous episodes we have discussed floppy
disks and tape games. And today, we’re going to talk about cartridge
games! The very first games were distributed on cartridge
format for the Fairchild Channel-F, and soon after on the Atari 2600. ROM cartridges were used in all kinds of systems,
such as the Speak and Spell, musical keyboards, and even game systems as new as the Nintendo
64. I have also invited the Obsolete Geek to come
over and show you some of his collection. [OG] So, I am a huge fan of cartridges and cartridge
based systems. Couple of my favorites, obviously the Neo
Geo, an arcade based platform, which has absolutely massive cartridges. Which could be a little tricky to plug in. Also, another one of my favorites, the turboGrafx,
also known as the PC Engine in Japan, which has these really cool credit card-shaped cartridges. Also very unique. [8BG] As a kid with my Commodore VIC-20, I was obsessed with trying to copy a game cartridge to tape. You see, I believed that the game was somehow
loaded into the computer's memory much like a game would be from disk. And I had noticed that if I pulled out the
cartridge game while the computer was on, most of the time it would lock up. [buzzing] I noticed that every now and then when I'd
pull the cartridge out, the computer would return to a READY prompt. And so then I would attempt to save the game
to a tape. Of course, it never worked. And the main reason it didn't work is due
to my complete mis-understanding of how these games worked. So the 6502 processor could only access 64k
of memory. So, for these examples I'm going to be talking
mostly about the Commodore VIC-20, because it has a simple memory map that's really
easy to understand. So you might imagine the memory map looking
something like this. Keep in mind there are two types of computer
memory: RAM known as Random Access Memory, and of course, ROM, known as Read Only Memory. So, the VIC-20 only had 5K of RAM, and thus
the memory map looked more similar to this. So the Kernel and BASIC ROM were at the top
of the memory map and the 5K RAM was at the bottom. There was a lot of empty space where if the
processor tried to read and write to that area, there was simply nothing there. So when you insert a cartridge, it literally
adds this additional memory into the main memory map of the computer, adding to the
total amount of memory in the system. In this case an 8K game cartridge is adding
read-only-memory, but you can also add an 8K memory expansion cartridge which will add
RAM to the machine instead. Some cartridges even had 16K of ROM or RAM. But once the cartridge is removed, the information
is no longer visible to the CPU, hence why I was never able to save those pesky game
cartridges to a tape or disk as a kid. Now on a modern computer, most of us are familiar
with what it looks like to add some RAM expansion. But, aside from the BIOS chip, modern computers
really don't have any ROM chips or ROM sockets, because they pretty much expect all software
to be loaded from either disk or USB or something like that. So even though the VIC-20 has 5K of RAM,
it really can only use about 3.5K because the rest of that memory is used for screen
memory and some other kernel functions. So if you load a game from tape or disk, the
maximum size of that game will be limited to about 3.5K. And these sort of games loaded
into the VIC were usually extremely primitive games. But a cartridge game can be as much as 16K. And so the games can be considerably more
complex, with more graphics, etc. So in the case of the VIC-20, cartridge games
were usually better. [Ms. Pacman music playing] So that’s the Commodore VIC 20, but a few
years later the Commodore 64 came out with 64K of RAM and this changed things up a bit. You see, a cartridge in the C64 is still limited
to 16K. And the games that were on these cartridges
weren't neccessarily bad, but they were limited mostly to the classic type arcade games. But when you load a game from disk, suddenly
you can use almost all of the machine's 64K which means the games become even more rich
and complex. The original Atari computers tell a similar
story. The 400 and 800 both shipped with 8K of RAM,
so the vast majority of games were released on cartridge. These systems were designed with the slot on
top much like a game console, which suggests they expected most games would be on cartridge. So interestingly enough, the Atari 800 actually
has two cartridge slots, one of them is labeled left cartridge and the other is labeled right
cartridge. Now, all of the cartridges I have are are
actually- they say “left cartridge” right on the ROM cartridge. Now, I don’t think that the right cartridge
was ever really used for much, in fact they got rid of it on all of the later models of
Atari. But, I think the idea was, back at this time
the machines had 16K of RAM and so I think they were thinking that you could load like
a primary cartridge in one socket and the other socket could be used as some kind of
addition. Let’s say for example you had some kind
of music or art program or something, you could put it in here, and then if you had
actual pieces of music or artwork or something, it might be on a secondary cartridge that
would go along with that. Maybe. I’m not entirely sure what they were thinking. Most all of the early classic games are available
on cartridge, but by the time the later systems came out
with 64K, most all software was being distributed on floppy disk, however the cartridge slot
was still prominently displayed on top of the machine, except for the 130XE which was
more similar to a Commodore. Interestingly enough, Atari took one last
shot at cartridges with the release of the XE game system, which was fully compatible
with all previous Atari computers, but seemed to emphasize the game console aspect since
it could be used with or without the keyboard attached, and the games were expected to be
loaded by cartridge. However, very few new games were released
for it on cartridge. So, it was technically possible to put more
than 16K in a game cartridge for these systems. But since the memory window given to these
cartridges was only 16k wide, the only way to accomplish that was to add additional hardware
into the cartridge that would allow bank switching so that only 16K is visible to the computer,
and the game software can switch around which sections need to be used at different parts
during the game. Many Nintendo cartridges did this, with many
games including as much as 1 MB of ROM, which was a substantial amount of data for the time. However, this technique was rarely used on
cartridges for computer systems, because ultimately, it was just cheaper to put the software on
a floppy disk. Another interesting note is that not all computer
systems even had ROM sockets. For example, the Apple II series never included
games on ROM cartridges. Although technically speaking it has the equivalent
of 8 ROM sockets inside, which were used for expansion. Technically you could have designed a game
to work in one of these, but in practice it was never done. The same can be said for the IBM PC, although
the PC-Junior did have cartridge sockets. So a common thing to see back in the 1980s
was someone blowing inside of a Nintendo ROM cartridge. Now, honestly, I’ve never actually seen
that that does any good unless there’s visible like dust bunnies or hair or something in
there that you’re trying to blow out. For the most part, It’s just corroded contacts. I think it’s more of a placebo effect to
blow into it. I think what’s really helping is just the
removal of the cartridge and putting it back in, which is helping to scrape a little bit
of the corrosion off of the copper contacts. But honestly, once a game gets old you really
need to give the contacts a proper cleaning. The internet is full of solutions to this,
but my preferred solution is to let the contacts sit in vinegar for a few hours to eat away
the corrosion. However, sometimes I've had luck using baking
soda since it acts like an abrasive. So, cartridge games were a lot more difficult
to pirate, but on the bright side at least there wasn’t all that much need to make
backup copies, because these darned things were practically indestructible. So, cartridges have two advantages over other
types of media such as floppy disk or even CDROM. The first is, of course, they’re instant
on. There’s no wait time in order to load the
information. But the second thing, and this is
something a lot of people don’t realize is that cartridges can contain other things
besides just information. They can actually contain extra hardware to
make the console more capable. I’m going to let The Obsolete Geek explain
it further. [OG] Pitfall II, which was released on the Atari
2600 was revolutionary for the console. The game play was considerably more complex
than other games, as well as it included a sound track that played throughout the game,
a first for the platform. It achieved this by adding a specialized chip
known as a DSP chip inside of the game cartridge that gave the system more capabilities than
the Atari 2600 was ever designed to do. This practice was also used in other systems. The Nintendo, for example, contains 2 KB of
onboard RAM, but a game cartridge may contain additional RAM to increase this amount if
needed. This is the Japanese version of the Nintendo
Entertainment System, also known as the Famicom in Japan. While the electrical components are very similar
to the NES, and the cartridges in Japan are a little bit smaller, there was one key difference
that some games such as Castlevania 3 had. In which case, this game has an additional
sound chip which adds a couple of extra voices to the NES’s original sound chip. You can clearly hear the differences between
the two. In fact, while the cartridges might be shaped
differently, you can buy an adapter, which will allow you to plug this into an NES, although
because of the way the console is wired, you will not get the additional sound without
a couple of easy modifications. The Super Nintendo was actually designed to
take advantage of additional hardware in the cartridges as needed. So, let’s take a look at these two games,
for example. Stunt Race FX contains a co-processor called
the Super FX, which assists the SNES with 3D polygon rendering. Have you ever played the original StarFox? It also uses the Super FX chip. Super Mario RPG used a chip called the SA-1,
which actually contains a CPU core similar to the one that’s in the Super Nintendo
but is operating at a much faster speed. Hardware addons were very common in Super
Nintendo games. So the Atari 7800 was considerably more advanced
than the 2600, but they kept the same primitive 2-voice sound hardware from the 2600. However, some games actually added the POKEY
sound chip from the Atari computer line into the actual game cartridges. This is one example, Ballblazer. You can hear that it actually has a far more
sophisticated soundtrack than most 7800 games. [8BG] So, one interesting thing about cartridges
is that each manufacturer had their own design or particular appearance to their cartridges. All that mattered is that it could fit into
the machine, but they were free to shape the rest of it however they wanted. So, take a look at all of these cartridges
for the Atari 8-bit computer line. All of the Atari branded ones have this same
design. Admittedly, I sort of like the appearance
and especially the metal plate covering the back and top. But Activision, for example, used an entirely
different shape to their cartridges on the same platform. However, the story is not always the same
from one platform to the next. For example, all Nintendo cartridges look
more or less exactly the same, no matter what company made them. Well guys, I hope you enjoyed this and I’ll
see you next time!
If you've never watched his other videos, I'd definitely recommend them. His videos on how older computers processed colour are fantastic.
It glosses over a lot. I wish he went into more detail about memory addresses, and there's the weird implication that every cartridge on every computer was 16K (were they?).
These old rom chips are so simple to interface with that you can read/write them with an arduino.
I made a thing to read nes cartridges and another that can read snes carts but also save to the save ram. I cut up a game genie so you can just plug in the cartridge instead of desoldering the chips. I hid some files on a "filesystem" in the 32k save ram of mario paint. Wanted to back up my save on simcity but by the time I got it working I'd already erased the damn thing somehow. Oh well.
One cool thing is that 99.9% of snes games have a header at the top of the rom chip that tells you what kind of cart it is, if it has save ram, and what size. Everything you need to dump the whole thing.
This guy is so good at making things interesting and easy to understand!
(The "blowing in the cartridge doesn't do anything" bit was worth the entire video as something to show my friends who swore by the voodoo magic to getting their breath all over the contacts.)
Love his videos. For a couple other videos for something similar, I recommend these on the original gameboy:
https://youtu.be/RZUDEaLa5Nw https://youtu.be/ecTQVa42sJc
The music/sound effects are one of the biggest losses when playing old games on emulators and stuff. The default sound drivers simply do not do it justice.
Here is one of the best articles I've read on the history of sound cards and their effect on computer gaming.
The difference between two sound cards was absolutely phenomenal, and the industry was as advanced and as lucrative as video cards still are today.
One of my favourite examples of SoundFont emulation is with Raptor: Call of Shadows:
Wave 1 Music with General MIDI emulation
Wave 1 Music with what you'd generally hear on a default Windows PC
Nintendo cartridges were an odd note to end on, for two reasons. All licensed titles were contractually required to buy carts directly from Nintendo. That's the tip of the iceberg for Nintendo's strong-arm tactics, which is why Tengen made their own unlicensed carts from scratch.
A better comparison would've been the SNES, where aside from piracy, there's basically only one unlicensed release, and it's a weird pass-through. Super Noah's Ark 3D is a Wolfenstein 3D clone that uses any other game to pass the DRM check.
Anyone know what game is at 5:40?
Looks exactly like Super Mario Bros. Which came first?
I love the in-game soundtracks for Ballblazer. It feel so recognizable that it still hold up to this day.