River Raid w/chip on exposed part of ROM

[Lifeguard]

I just found a River Raid cartridge today, and it's different than the other Activision cartridges I have. It's a normal looking cartridge, with a normal looking label (with the exception of little actiplaque), but the Rom that is exposed has a 14-pin chip sticking through it towards the back part.

 

I looked at all of my other River Raid & Activision cartridges and they don't have this thing on it.

 

It took some extra tries to get it working but it does work ok.

 

What's the story with this exposed chip? Is this at all common?

[CPUWIZ]

You have found an EPROM cartridge, the exposed chip is a 74LS04 inverter chip. Do you want to sell it ?

[Lifeguard]

Thanks for the info.

 

That's a telltale grin!

 

What's the going rate for a 74LS04 inverter chip on a River Raid cartridge? I paid $1 for it today at the flea market. Could I get $2 for it?

I'd double my money!

[CPUWIZ]

I dunno, I'd trade for it too, is there anything in peticular you are looking for ? Please don't say Quadrun.

[Lifeguard]

Since I already have a nice looking River Raid cartridge I could trade this one. But before I'd do that I'd like to know more about how rare this thing is so I can ascertain its trading value.

[MaxSpeed]

Since I already have a nice looking River Raid cartridge I could trade this one. But before I'd do that I'd like to know more about how rare this thing is so I can ascertain its trading value.

 

I beleive that whis would be rare, but in my humble opinion a bit of a wild card as far as collectability. Probably only the most die hard collectors who are also into electronics (maybe a EE, HAM, or technician) would take a special interest. "CPUWIZ" given his handle probably fits into one of these catagories.

 

[Lifeguard]

Thanks for your humble opinion Maxspeed!

 

I don't have the technical knowledge to truly appreciate this find. I'm just a casual collector who gets lucky once in a while.

 

I should definately trade it away. Maybe CPUWIZ or someone else can make me a fair offer.

 

I'll try to get a photo of it posted soon. I can take a picture of the open end and have a mirror show the label.

 

I'm curious as to why Activision used an eprom for this game then. A shortage of regular rom cards? An early production version? I wish to be enlightened. Where can I read up on Eprom usage for 2600 carts?

[CPUWIZ]

It's not really something rare, this kind of thing happens all the time, I have many manufacturers carts that contain EPROM's. It's more of an oddity, that's why I am interested.

 

Like I said before, is there something you've been after and haven't found yet ? I might just have it.

[King Atari]

If you mean the chip that you can see by looking in the slot, right above the conacts, then I have a 2600 Double Dragon just like this. Is it worth anything? Why is it on an eprom? Some kind of wacky test cart?

[Brian R.]

I've got a Double Dragon like this, too.

[MattG/Snyper2099]

I have a copy of Enduro with this inverter chip. The case doesn't have a label though... There is a little sticker with a date on the eprom though. I found this at a flea market in Panama City Beach. I honestly think the one that I have was a preview copy since there is no reisdue on the cart where a label may have once been. These things are certainly weird! I wish I knew more technical details about them but I don't.

 

I think that all 2600 copies of double dragon have the invertor, mine does as well...

 

MattG.

[Albert]

I have a copy of Enduro with this inverter chip.  The case doesn't have a label though...  There is a little sticker with a date on the eprom though.

 

Sounds like you have a legitimate prototype. Is the date on the eprom hand written? Have you had the cart dumped to see if the binary matches the released version of the game?

 

..Al

[MattG/Snyper2099]

I haven't had the cart dumped nor do I know how to do such a thing. It appears to be identical to the released version but I'm not certain on that. The date is type out (not written by hand). If I brought it to Philly could someone be able to dump it? I have always wondered if my 7800 prototype of ballblazer was the same as the released version too???

 

MattG.

[Albert]

I haven't had the cart dumped nor do I know how to do such a thing.  It appears to be identical to the released version but I'm not certain on that.  The date is type out (not written by hand).  If I brought it to Philly could someone be able to dump it?  I have always wondered if my 7800 prototype of ballblazer was the same as the released version too???

 

I've seen many Activision protos with typed labels on the cart (usually on the end), so a typed sticker on EPROM wouldn't be too surprising. If you bring the cart with you to PhillyClassic we can dump it at our booth. We can also dump the Ballblazer cart if you'd like to bring that as well.

 

..Al

[King Atari]

All Double Dragon carts have the inverter chip? Very weird, wonder why Activision would so that.

[CincYnoTi]

i've always wondered about that exposed rom on some activision carts. i'll have to see if i have any boxed ones or blue labeled ones. is it more likely these are

 

1) the earliest release of a title (first ones were eproms, before the production runs got started) or

 

2) more likely a very late release when it was cheaper to make some with eproms rather than another run of production roms?

 

anyone dumped both rom & eprom versions to see if there is a difference?

 

a couple of the K-Tel carts i have also have this inverter chip exposed...and a couple do not have the inverter chip.

[King Atari]

There doesn't seem to be an differences in Double Dragon roms.

[Lifeguard]

Thanks for that info Cincynoti. That helps to explain why these kind of carts are out there.

[Lifeguard]

Perhaps the Al's can somehow add "EPROM" to the glossary. I only see it mentioned in the "Bit-Rot" definition, but it doesn't explain what an Eprom is. The "ROM" definition doesn't mention it either.

[RucasRiot]

An EPROM is basically a reprogrammable ROM chip used for prototyping or homebrewing. EPROM stands for Erasable Programmable Read Only Memory. Standard EPROMS have a quartz window on the top of them which allows them to be erased. Hope that helps.

[Lifeguard]

Here's the photo of the cartridge.

 

 

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