Empty cart shells

Discussion of development of software for any "obsolete" computer or video game system. See the WSdev wiki and ObscureDev wiki for more information on certain platforms.

which system would you like to get empty cart shells for?

NES
13
33%
SNES
12
31%
Genesis
9
23%
N64
3
8%
Other (Comment)
2
5%
 
Total votes: 39

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Super-Hampster
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Empty cart shells

Post by Super-Hampster »

What systems have the biggest demand for empty cart shells and what would be a fair price for them to you?
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Myask
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Re: Empty cart shells

Post by Myask »

I'd go in roughly the following order of preference
1. NES (obvious reasons)
2. Game Boy (don't forget the cutout portion!)
1b: Famicom?
3. SNES
4. GBA
5. (distantly) N64
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tokumaru
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Re: Empty cart shells

Post by tokumaru »

This is so subjective... People will simply vote for the ones they'd like to have.
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Drew Sebastino
Formerly Espozo
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Re: Empty cart shells

Post by Drew Sebastino »

tokumaru wrote:This is so subjective... People will simply vote for the ones they'd like to have.
Isn't that the goal of this thread?
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Super-Hampster
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Re: Empty cart shells

Post by Super-Hampster »

Right. I'm determining the demand. Me and a buddy are thinking about having some 3D printed.
Pokun
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Re: Empty cart shells

Post by Pokun »

Famicom shells! Preferebly Everdrive compatible, I think a Takahashi Meijin no Boukenjima shell was used as a template for the Everdrive (http://bootgod.dyndns.org:7777/profile.php?id=1501). NES shells is already available.

Gameboy shells

HuCard shells (though I've seen there are some people selling 3D printed PC Engine Everdrive shells already).
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Bregalad
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Re: Empty cart shells

Post by Bregalad »

I was also asking, why not Famicom shells ? This solves the problem of a CIC. It's more cost (and time) effective to have only a single CIC in a FC->NES adapter rather than wasefully using a lockout chip in all cartridges you'd want to produce, increasing the time it takes to design the PCB, and the time to program the CIClones as well as soldering them and testing them.
tepples
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Re: Empty cart shells

Post by tepples »

Perhaps someone seeking to buy only one game doesn't want to have to pay for both the game and the adapter. Or perhaps you might want to sell the game on eBay, where adapters are expressly forbidden.
Sik
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Re: Empty cart shells

Post by Sik »

I think the problem is that nearly everybody who would want to buy a homebrew-made cartridge would have a NES (I don't think there's much of a demand from countries with Famicoms/Famiclones), and using an adapter also kinds of defeats the point (may as well just use a flashcart instead).

Ironically, Famicom shells should be easier to get since bootleg copies of games are made for Famiclones.
Pokun
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Re: Empty cart shells

Post by Pokun »

At Famicom world there are lots of people that are disappointed that no Famicom version of sold homebrew.

The problem with Famicom carts is that there's not one standard mold, companies made their own carts, which is why I suggest to make it Everdrive compatible as not to invent even more standards.

Many pirate shells have very bad quality plastic.

I'm also still hoping for a Famicom version of the INL-ROM repro boards.
Sik
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Re: Empty cart shells

Post by Sik »

Is there really no standard for Famicom shells? I swear every Famicom cartridge I ever saw looked the same, the only real difference is the color of the cartridge (but that doesn't matter for functionality).

I honestly would be happy with cartridges that looked like this:

Image

(yes, I know that pic is a mock-up, point stands)
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rainwarrior
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Re: Empty cart shells

Post by rainwarrior »

Carts with a bigger board, especially if they had a battery backed save, had to have a larger shell. Just Breed and Lagrange Point are two examples.
Pokun
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Re: Empty cart shells

Post by Pokun »

Yeah and there are tall cartridges that, much like many NES carts, doesn't even seem to use the extra space http://bootgod.dyndns.org:7777/profile.php?id=1738.
I guess all MMC5 games use the same cart standard (they are quite similar to NES carts as you can see on the Just Breed cart), so that would also be an idea to use as a standard for tall repro carts.

If you open Famicom carts you will see that the PCB holes are different for different companies' games, and won't fit in other shells.
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tokumaru
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Re: Empty cart shells

Post by tokumaru »

New boards can be pretty small though... look at all the functionality the Everdrive N8 packs without needing a large board.
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Myask
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Re: Empty cart shells

Post by Myask »

Pokun wrote:Yeah and there are tall cartridges that, much like many NES carts, doesn't even seem to use the extra space http://bootgod.dyndns.org:7777/profile.php?id=1738.
I guess all MMC5 games use the same cart standard (they are quite similar to NES carts as you can see on the Just Breed cart), so that would also be an idea to use as a standard for tall repro carts.

If you open Famicom carts you will see that the PCB holes are different for different companies' games, and won't fit in other shells.
I expect one can blame Family Trainer 3 and its sound chip for the rest of the series having that larger case.

And even if one can cram a lot of functionality into a small space, making it manually reparable/configurable(/swappable) is contrary to that goal.

You know what'd be really nice? A cart with a door for socketed ROMs.
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