<story><title>Inside the Super Nintendo cartridges</title><url>https://fabiensanglard.net/snes_carts/index.html</url></story><parent_chain><item><author>MenhirMike</author><text>I do really like how cartridges on the old systems were essentially equivalent to a PCI Expansion Card in a PC. It was directly connected to the Bus and could do essentially anything. Sadly, that practice ended after the GameBoy Advance, and everything since the Nintendo DS has been purely data storage.&lt;p&gt;This leads to crazy modern enhancements like a Raytracing chip[1], or the MSU1 enhancement chip that is AFAIK not available as an actual physical chip, but only in software emulators. But it would be theoretically possible to manufacture, so you could have an actual physical SNES Cartridge of Road Blaster[2].&lt;p&gt;On the article itself, I noticed that his list has &amp;quot;Street Fighter Zero 2&amp;quot; as a USA ROM - that should be incorrect, since Street Fighter Zero is what Street Fighter Alpha was called in Japan. So Zero 2 should just be the Japanese version of Alpha 2. (Also, thanks for linking to the MVG video that debunks the myth that the delay before each round is caused by decompression)&lt;p&gt;[1] &lt;a href=&quot;https:&amp;#x2F;&amp;#x2F;www.youtube.com&amp;#x2F;watch?v=2jee4tlakqo&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow&quot;&gt;https:&amp;#x2F;&amp;#x2F;www.youtube.com&amp;#x2F;watch?v=2jee4tlakqo&lt;/a&gt;&lt;p&gt;[2] &lt;a href=&quot;https:&amp;#x2F;&amp;#x2F;www.youtube.com&amp;#x2F;watch?v=BvIXUOr4yxU&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow&quot;&gt;https:&amp;#x2F;&amp;#x2F;www.youtube.com&amp;#x2F;watch?v=BvIXUOr4yxU&lt;/a&gt;</text></item></parent_chain><comment><author>tetha</author><text>There is also this entirely crazy &amp;quot;NES reverse emulation&amp;quot;[1] Here someone replaces the cartridge with a modern computer and then... weird things start happening. Such as using a NES to present effectively a powerpoint presentation about humor.&lt;p&gt;1: &lt;a href=&quot;https:&amp;#x2F;&amp;#x2F;www.youtube.com&amp;#x2F;watch?v=ar9WRwCiSr0&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow&quot;&gt;https:&amp;#x2F;&amp;#x2F;www.youtube.com&amp;#x2F;watch?v=ar9WRwCiSr0&lt;/a&gt;</text></comment>
<story><title>Inside the Super Nintendo cartridges</title><url>https://fabiensanglard.net/snes_carts/index.html</url></story><parent_chain><item><author>MenhirMike</author><text>I do really like how cartridges on the old systems were essentially equivalent to a PCI Expansion Card in a PC. It was directly connected to the Bus and could do essentially anything. Sadly, that practice ended after the GameBoy Advance, and everything since the Nintendo DS has been purely data storage.&lt;p&gt;This leads to crazy modern enhancements like a Raytracing chip[1], or the MSU1 enhancement chip that is AFAIK not available as an actual physical chip, but only in software emulators. But it would be theoretically possible to manufacture, so you could have an actual physical SNES Cartridge of Road Blaster[2].&lt;p&gt;On the article itself, I noticed that his list has &amp;quot;Street Fighter Zero 2&amp;quot; as a USA ROM - that should be incorrect, since Street Fighter Zero is what Street Fighter Alpha was called in Japan. So Zero 2 should just be the Japanese version of Alpha 2. (Also, thanks for linking to the MVG video that debunks the myth that the delay before each round is caused by decompression)&lt;p&gt;[1] &lt;a href=&quot;https:&amp;#x2F;&amp;#x2F;www.youtube.com&amp;#x2F;watch?v=2jee4tlakqo&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow&quot;&gt;https:&amp;#x2F;&amp;#x2F;www.youtube.com&amp;#x2F;watch?v=2jee4tlakqo&lt;/a&gt;&lt;p&gt;[2] &lt;a href=&quot;https:&amp;#x2F;&amp;#x2F;www.youtube.com&amp;#x2F;watch?v=BvIXUOr4yxU&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow&quot;&gt;https:&amp;#x2F;&amp;#x2F;www.youtube.com&amp;#x2F;watch?v=BvIXUOr4yxU&lt;/a&gt;</text></item></parent_chain><comment><author>hollow-moe</author><text>Now I am curious to know how some games could have an IR transmsmitter inside the cartridge like Pokemon Soulsilver, did they plan this specific usecase or a whole channel for limited cartridge expansion components ?</text></comment>