Carts that Matter

[cicada88]

(mod edit - snipped lots)

Carts that Matter:

FAMICOM | NES:

-Namco Mapper Games (special sound expansion). There are a handful of these including the Rolling Thunder port on Famicom.

-MMC5 Games. Again, some use these for graphics or advanced sound effects & music. Examples include Castelvania III for NES, Just Breed for Famicom, Gunsight for Famicom and Metal Slader Glory for Famicom.

-FME-7. A Sunsoft exclusive mapper. The elusive Famicom game Gimmick! uses this chip for expanded audio.

-VRC6. A Konami chip most notably used in Akumajou Densetsu. Also used for sound in Esper Dream 2 and Madara.

-VRC7. A Konami chip only used in Lagrange Point. Allows for FM Synthesis on the Famicom.

-Famicom Disk System games with Expanded Audio. This is implemented but not perfect on flashcarts. There are around 75 games that use this expanded audio including Metroid, Zelda II among others. Also, of note that although it doesn't really affect play, using a flash cart doesn't allow viewing of the FDS loading screens or side flipping as one normally would on OG hardware. Hopefully, settings for this will be implemented in the future.


GAME BOY | GAME BOY COLOR | GAME BOY ADVANCE:

Many Game Boy games used special hardware built in that isn't present on flash cart versions.

-Gameboy Camera
-Kirby Tilt 'N' Rumble - includes a gyroscope and rumble pack in the actual cartridge
-12 GBC Games (maybe more with Japanese releases?) have built in rumble packs. Notables include Pokemon Pinball and Top Gear Pocket.
-Games with built in Real Time Clocks (RTC). These include Pokemon Gold, Pokemon Silver, Pokemon Crystal, and Harvest Moon GB.
-Konami's Boktai trilogy of games all include Light sensors (Japan only?).
-Drill Dozer for the GBA has a built in rumble pack.
-Waroware Twisted has a built in gyroscope and rumble pack.
-Yoshi: Topsy Turvy has a built in gyroscope

SUPER FAMICOM | SUPER NINTENDO

There are a variety of special chips used on various games that are not completely compatible with flash carts. One of the more popular of these chips, DSP-1 can actually be added to a Super Everdrive in order for complete compatibility and therefore aren't included.

Notable Games with special chips

Jikkyou Oshaberi Parodius
Kirby Super Star
Kirby's Dream Land 3
Marvelous
Metal COmbat: Falcon's Revenge
Rockman X2
Rockman X3
Star Fox
Star Ocean
Stunt Race FX
Super Mario RPG
Super Mario World 2 Yoshi's Island
Top Gear 3000
Vortex

MEGA DRIVE / GENESIS:

J-Cart Games. These games released by Codemasters have 2 extra controller ports built into the cartridge in order to allow 3+ players without additional hardware. I have heard that these do actually support a multi tap too, but I included all of them anyway. Micro Machines series and Pete Sampras Tennis.

Sonic & Knuckles Lock-on cartridge. You can download special ROM-Hacks to actually allow the add on functionality of the past sonic games. I am not sure how much this differs from using the actual cartridge. The 3 games compatible with the lock-on feature are Sonic the Hedgehog, Sonic the Hedgehog 2, and Sonic the Hedgehog 3.

SG1000 /MARK III/MASTER SYSTEM:

Some of these games won't work unless an actual Master System (or SG1000/MKIII ??) controller is detected, but there are patched ROMs that allow them to be used with a Mega Drive / Genesis pad.

[system11]

Nice. Endorsing flash carts for the purpose of piracy. Against the rules. Topic locked.