ROM-Reader for Super Nintendo / Super Famicom Game Cartridges

Do you use an USB Port from your PC to power the Cart Reader for SA1? If yes try using a 5V/1A USB charger like those from mobile phones.

Hi guys, I'm new here (although I know a little about skaman. He and I have had conversations on the Retrode forum; it's thanks to him I came here). I've been seriously thinking of purchasing an Arduino cart reader, specifically with a SNES slot and N64 slot (but also including the clock generator so that it would work with SA-1 SNES cartridges since I have a Super Mario RPG cartridge here) as I already have other ways to read and write data from/to my Sega Genesis, Game Boy, Game Boy Color, and Game Boy Advance cartridges that have the ability to save to them (including a Retrode2, GBx plugin, Nintendo DS Lite, and a DSTwo flashcard), so slots for the other systems won't be necessary. Before I make a decision about making a purchase, I have a bunch of questions I'd like to ask, please.

First and foremost, being as I'm not comfortable with soldering the parts if I directly order all the parts I need (my hands tend to sometimes shake uncontrollably when I do something that requires precision, so I just don't think soldering something myself would work that well), when I feel the time is right, is it totally fine for me to ask for someone else with soldering experience to order the parts I need and build the cart reader to my specifications, and pay that person either via Paypal or EMT to have them ship it to me directly when it's ready? I might want to negotiate the price a little in hopes it can be reasonable for me (I'm Canadian BTW).

Second, will my laptop's USB ports be powerful enough to dump Super Mario RPG or any other SA-1 SNES game, and read/write data from/to the cartridge? My laptop is an Alienware M14XR2, which is basically a gaming lapptop.

Third, can the cart reader be designed to also work with NES and/or Sega 32X cartridges?

Lastly, can a cart reader be customized so that it requires being plugged into a wall socket?

Thanks in advance.

From my experience a PC's USB port does not provide enough power to reliably dump SA1 games with my cart reader. I always use one of those:

sanni:
From my experience a PC's USB port does not provide enough power to reliably dump SA1 games with my cart reader. I always use one of those:

This worked! Unfortunately, it only worked with Super Mario RPG. I think my copy of Kirby's Dream Land 3 is shot: I can't even get it to work on my SNES, even after thorough cleaning. Maybe I'll just have to get another copy...

Try replacing the battery, I had SNES games not start because of corrupted SRAM before.

sanni, I'm curious to ask if you're planning to order some PCBs sooner or later (or have lately)? If you haven't ordered any lately, will you please let me know via PM when you get them? skaman let me know about the need of PCBs for each batch of cart readers.

Also, can you give me a price estimate in USD or CAD of how much one of these cart readers will cost if it's fully assembled (presuming the only consoles it was designed to work with are SNES (including SA-1 games) and Nintendo 64), please? If there is a time when you can reserve one of these cart readers, I'd really appreciate it.

I don't have any leftover Cart Readers right now. Maybe someone else in this thread can help you out. 8)

I still have about 2 of the older revision left. They just need an sd card with the latest from Sanni GitHub.

If anyone wants a PCE/TG16 Plugin PCB, send me a PM.

The plugin was developed for the Retrode but it is compatible with the Arduino reader.

Pictures here and here.

You'll need to supply your own HuCard slot. You can buy one from gamedoctorhk.com.

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Is there a relatively easy way to read/write the eeprom from an n64 cart? I just want to be able to backup and restore my saves :3. I'm okay buying a connector (or making a simple one). In pinout.xls, I only see 3 pins needed, do I just need to hookup those 3 pins (one with a 1k pullup resistor, I'm assuming on 3.3v?), or what else is required?

You buy the following items:
https://www.aliexpress.com/item/Mega-2560-CH340G-ATmega2560-16AU-Compatible-for-Arduino-Mega-2560/32517341214.html
https://www.ebay.com/itm/Micro-SD-Storage-Board-Mciro-SD-TF-Card-Memory-Shield-Module-SPI-For-Arduino-/261720518170
https://www.aliexpress.com/item/High-quality-50-Pin-Connector-Game-Cartridge-Slot-for-Nintendo-64-for-N64-Console/32829907088.html

And then wire them up according to the pinout.xls. It's relatively easy and once finished it will work just like my Cart Reader 64: Home · sanni/cartreader Wiki · GitHub

Okay so I already have the Mega and a bunch of pro minis, so I'll just go ahead and order those other parts! It looks very easy with the way you wrote it, I just wasn't sure if I was looking at it wrong because it almost looks too easy to me lol (If I knew what pins were what I suppose, which leads to my final questions).

My only questions left I suppose are it says for EEP to "DATA (1K Pullup)" to D7, "CLK" to D16 and "Reset" to D17, but I'm not sure where to find DATA, CLK, and Reset. The data sheet I found is here, but it doesn't list those pins. I also just noticed for ROM that, WR, RD, Reset under ROM also aren't on this sheet, should I be looking at a different one?

Sorry if I've missed something obvious! Cheers ^-^.

DATA is "S_DAT", CLK is "1.6Mhz", Reset is "/COLD_RESET", WR is "/write" and RD is "/read".
You can also have a look at my schematics here in addition to the pinouts.xls and the N64 cart slot pinout you linked.

It will be even easier once I get the pcb done. :wink:

Okay guys, I managed to find a guy in my home province who I am confident will be able to make me an Arduino cart reader if he purchases the required parts for the cart reader to have just SNES and Nintendo 64 support (this guy is Chinese; he runs this small store which specializes in products involving the use of the Raspberry Pi, and he has expertise in electrical engineering so I'm sure he can help me).

Now, I better ask a few questions so I can get back to this guy with the information he'll want to know.

First of all, what parts will he need to order to make the cart reader (including the clock generator for giving it compatibility with SA-1 SNES games)?

Second, can I have a guide to give him for this specific setup, please?

And third, if he is successful in building one of these cart readers someday, should I let him borrow my Super Mario RPG cartridge and one of my Nintendo 64 cartridges so that he can test it?

Thanks in advance.

Go here for the parts list:

And here on how to build it:

Is there any reason to use the micro SD slot in the part list over the regular one? I saw an issue in the GitHub about it, but don't really understand it. Something about the logic level? I'm using the parts from the old version linked a few pages back. That issue appears to be closed now, so I'm quite confused as to which SD slot to use, and I'm almost ready to start building.

I think for the MicroSD you had to remove the 3.3v voltage regulator(and bridge some of the pins) since it will already be receiving 3.3v. If I recall that was the issue.

The best sd module is the custom design uploaded here, which uses the same schematics as the microSD module but offers a full-size sd slot.

It uses the parts of the microSD module and this sd slot (MMC/SD long variant).

The old sd module works too but there were concerns about the missing voltage level converter chip, so I designed the custom pcb.
You can also use the microSD module, however on almost all cart reader pcb revisions but the currently unreleased design you need to desolder the AMS1117 and bridge its input/output pads on the module's pcb.

I'm still waiting for some Arduinos I initially ordered in February and reordered in April, so that's why the project is a little bit behind schedule right now.

Alright, thanks theodor613.

Now, I have a couple more questions, one, under "Electronic components" the downloadable excel file appears to be broken (I recall seeing something about this), what do I do here, presuming that a working version of that file can be uploaded to lcsc.com via the given URL?

Second, what's the difference between the various PCBs? Seeing that the Cart Reader PCB is the only one that isn't optional, I'm basically curious to ask what the Flashadapter PCB and PSOP44 to DIP44 adapter each do?

Third, what's the difference between the N64 slot and N64 plug?

Finally, if the guy I mentioned purchases only the SNES slot and N64 slot in addition to the other important parts, would steps 3, 4, and 7 in the build guide change accordingly (so that step 3 would not mention the GBA slot, step 4 would not mention the Genesis/Mega Drive slot, and step 7 would be basically omitted)?

The excel file for the parts should download just fine. After you download it you can upload it to lcsc and order the parts, currently two parts are out of stock but they're pretty common parts so I guess if you order them anyway they'll just send it once they get them back in stock.

The flash adapter pcb let's you program 29F032 and similar flashroms. The PSOP44 to DIP44 adapter is needed for 29L3211 flash roms. If you don't know what those are then you don't need it. It has nothing to do with backing up games.

The N64 slot is where you put the N64 cartridge in. The N64 controller plug is where you put the N64 controller in so you can read Controller Paks or test the controllers analog stick and buttons.

Yes you can just leave out whatever slot you don't need. You can even leave out the buttons and the oled screen if you're okay with using your PC for input/output over the Arduino serial monitor.