HoshiChiri Posted March 13, 2016 Share Posted March 13, 2016 Something I was thinking about the other day... what exactly is the difference between a game cartridge and a game card? I know how they look: But is there something notable in their construction that makes them different in a non-cosmetic way? My first thought was cards have exposed contacts and carts have a plastic 'lip' covering them... but then again, PS1/PS2 memory cards have the lip. Or am I just reading too much into this and it's all pure semantics with no functional difference between the two? Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
carlsson Posted March 13, 2016 Share Posted March 13, 2016 I'd think traditional cartridges to a higher degree contain DIP chips, of a ROM or EPROM variety, while the card based ones likely are logic blobs due to their slimmer size. However I know a fair amount of older cartridges have those blobs too. For similar reasons, a cartridge could do more/other things than just hold a ROM content, while the cards as far as I know only do that. Well, memory cards hold some storage function, but no other custom helper chips as far as I'm aware. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
CatPix Posted March 13, 2016 Share Posted March 13, 2016 Technically, there isn't any difference between a card and a cart. They are just a support that hold a ROM. Now, the main difference is that usually, cards hold fewer ROM space because they need to use smaller components, and usually lack save feature because of the lack of space for SRAM and battery (at the time, today with flash mamory, both memory space and save space are no longer relevant) Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
+Black_Tiger Posted March 14, 2016 Share Posted March 14, 2016 Cards can do anything carts can, because they're literally thin carts. Instead of having the pcb and misc jiggling around inside of 2+ shell pieces, cards are stuck together solid, but most of their volume is unused and just plastic to hold onto while inserting. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Flojomojo Posted March 14, 2016 Share Posted March 14, 2016 Remember how impressed you were when you saw your first came card? I think it was the Atari Lynx for me. So slim and sexy! 1 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Osgeld Posted March 14, 2016 Share Posted March 14, 2016 there's no functional difference. The difference is time, technology and price back in the day big fat chips to store software on was the more economical and often the only way. As technology marched on you could put the guts of those same chips directly on a board without the plastic and metal holders, though cost and technology limited them. Nowdays you could put the entire NES library on a SD card that contains super thin rom chips on a board and access them basically the same way Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
mbd30 Posted March 14, 2016 Share Posted March 14, 2016 Carts are bulkier. Could you accommodate special chips such as the Super FX on a card? Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Chocobro Posted March 14, 2016 Share Posted March 14, 2016 It depends on the type of "card" we're talking about. Cards like TG hu cards, etc are just carts in a vert thin form factor. "Cards" like the ones in Nintendo DS cards and newer are different in that they use flash memory as opposed to traditional EEPROMs and such. They could hypothetically support special chips like super FX if they can fit in the cards form factor, but in terms of storage, flash is a lot different because it degrades with use. So a cart can work 300yrs from now, but at some point all original DS games will be dead(possibly within our lifetime). That's really the only major difference, and older cards don't use flash. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
krslam Posted March 14, 2016 Share Posted March 14, 2016 Sega Master System used both carts and cards, and I think the card games had lower-storage capacity ROMs and were cheaper to produce. The cart slot doubled as an interface port for the 3D glasses which was a nice bonus use of the extra connector. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Skippy B. Coyote Posted March 14, 2016 Share Posted March 14, 2016 Something I was thinking about the other day... what exactly is the difference between a game cartridge and a game card? But three of those games on the left side of the picture aren't cartridges... they're Game Paks. *runs* 2 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
HoshiChiri Posted March 14, 2016 Author Share Posted March 14, 2016 (edited) But three of those games on the left side of the picture aren't cartridges... they're Game Paks. *runs* You know, I've only ever seen that term used in one context: They could hypothetically support special chips like super FX if they can fit in the cards form factor, but in terms of storage, flash is a lot different because it degrades with use. So a cart can work 300yrs from now, but at some point all original DS games will be dead(possibly within our lifetime). That's honestly a genuinely disturbing thought to me. Good thing people bootlegged the CRAP out of the DS so we'll still have the games. Edited March 14, 2016 by HoshiChiri Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Schizophretard Posted March 14, 2016 Share Posted March 14, 2016 You know, I've only ever seen that term used in one context: That is what Nintendo called all their cartridges. They also called their consoles control decks. 2 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
carlsson Posted March 14, 2016 Share Posted March 14, 2016 I'm not entirely convinced that the transistors in a regular ROM will last that long neither. The oldest integrated circuits should be about 45 years old by now, and I don't know if they are painless to read. Is there a such thing as homebrew cards, or is the technology with its custom blobs rather limited to professional factories? Cartridges with surface mount components perhaps is as far as you can get. Those would get a little thicker than most of the cards, but far slimmer than traditional cartridges with through hole components. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Osgeld Posted March 14, 2016 Share Posted March 14, 2016 cob epoxy blobs requires running wires from the chip to the pcb, which are extreamly tiny, and usually welded, BUT modern rom chip packages are extremely thin Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
+Black_Tiger Posted March 14, 2016 Share Posted March 14, 2016 Carts are bulkier. Could you accommodate special chips such as the Super FX on a card? Some pirate PC Engine HuCards have a large box on them and the Turbo Everdrive is much more advanced than the SFX chip, but still doesn't take yp a lot of space. The key feature of most game cards is that you have to push and pull them, which leaves a good amount of exposed soace fir protrusions. You can still fit practically anything inside of a standard slim card, but the smaller you make things, the more expensive it is. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Skippy B. Coyote Posted March 14, 2016 Share Posted March 14, 2016 (edited) So a cart can work 300yrs from now, but at some point all original DS games will be dead(possibly within our lifetime). Feel free to correct me if I'm wrong here, but isn't the lifespan of the type of flash memory used in DS cards dependent on the number of times data is written to it? From what I understand flash memory will generally retain save data for 10 to 20 years, but that 10 to 20 year clock resets every time save data is written to it; and DS cards support several thousand saves before the memory begins to degrade. So, in theory at least, as long as you pop the game card in a system once every decade or so and re-save your game on it then the memory should last thousands of years. Edited March 14, 2016 by Jin 1 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Osgeld Posted March 14, 2016 Share Posted March 14, 2016 10-20 years if you stick it in a safe and never touch it, pretty sure whenever its used the clock resets but im not an expert with flash Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Schizophretard Posted March 14, 2016 Share Posted March 14, 2016 Feel free to correct me if I'm wrong here, but isn't the lifespan of the type of flash memory used in DS cards dependent on the number of times data is written to it? From what I understand flash memory will generally retain save data for 10 to 20 years, but that 10 to 20 year clock resets every time save data is written to it; and DS cards support several thousand saves before the memory begins to degrade. So, in theory at least, as long as you pop the game card in a system once every decade or so and re-save your game on it then the memory should last thousands of years. Does the actual game itself have a clock and a way to reset it? Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
HoshiChiri Posted March 14, 2016 Author Share Posted March 14, 2016 That is what Nintendo called all their cartridges. They also called their consoles control decks. Oh yeah... it's been a long time since I read any Nintendo paperwork. (I've been working on collecting for other systems.) Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
ST Suman Posted December 20, 2019 Share Posted December 20, 2019 Trytee Battletoads And Double Dragon The Ultimate Team 16 Bit Md Game Card For Sega Mega Drive For Genesis, can I play this on Genesis? My Genesis can hold catridge not card. But i want to buy this game. Help me ...https://www.google.com/url?sa=i&source=images&cd=&ved=2ahUKEwjxkPrEpsPmAhVHAp0JHcL2Bd4QjRx6BAgBEAQ&url=https%3A%2F%2Fwww.amazon.com%2FBattletoads-Double-Dragon-Ultimate-Genesis%2Fdp%2FB07RCWN8PG&psig=AOvVaw2-Jjn2gwEqIaC255Rdnj0N&ust=1576899497074334 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Recommended Posts
Join the conversation
You can post now and register later. If you have an account, sign in now to post with your account.
Note: Your post will require moderator approval before it will be visible.