Atari Jaguar List of Games with EEPROM / Save Support

[Sonaru]

Does anyone have a list somewhere of Jaguar games that have on-cartridge save support and the EEPROM save file sizes for each game?

[Zerosquare]

EEPROM size is 128 bytes for all official games. Homebrew games use either 128 bytes or 2 kilobytes.

[Sonaru]

Thank you for the info! Not all Jaguar games support saving (i.e. Cybermorph doesn't save), so I was wondering where o could find a list of games that have a save feature? It's nice to have these sort of things documented. 

[Sonaru]

Also 128 bytes is tiny! That would save only basic level or stage progress. I wonder if the towers game used a higher save capacity? 

[Gedalya]

On 2/1/2022 at 7:23 PM, Sonaru said:

Also 128 bytes is tiny! That would save only basic level or stage progress. I wonder if the towers game used a higher save capacity? 

I am actually wondering the same thing. In fact, here is an interesting quote from the Towers II game manual:

Quote

Because of the limited size of the Jaguar's EEPROM, there are two types of save games.

My own reading suggests there are larger EEPROMs that are compatible; but that doesn't mean they were used for Towers II.

[+slx]

On 2/2/2022 at 1:23 AM, Sonaru said:

Also 128 bytes is tiny! 

It's enough for most VCS games

[Sonaru]

[I will update this list as I find more games that have a save feature]

Here is the current list of Jaguar games that have 128 byte EEPROM saves:

Alien Vs Predator
Atari Karts

Cannon Fodder

Doom
Pinball fantasies

NBA Jam

Power Drive
Rayman

Towers II (may actually use more than 128 bytes of EEPROM)

[Gedalya]

1 hour ago, Sonaru said:

[I will update this list as I find more games that have a save feature]

Here is the current list of Jaguar games that have 128 byte EEPROM saves:

Alien Vs Predator
Atari Karts

Cannon Fodder

Doom
Pinball fantasies

NBA Jam

Power Drive
Rayman

Towers II (may actually use more than 128 bytes of EEPROM)

Anyone up for opening their Towers II cart to find out which EEPROM It uses? 

[+CyranoJ]

15 minutes ago, Gedalya said:

Anyone up for opening their Towers II cart to find out which EEPROM It uses? 

I don't see any need for this thread unless someone is planning on making bootlegs.

[Gedalya]

8 minutes ago, CyranoJ said:

I don't see any need for this thread unless someone is planning on making bootlegs.

Actually just a point of curiosity given the explicit reference in the Towers II manual; however your feedback is appreciated. 

[Sonaru]

25 minutes ago, CyranoJ said:

I don't see any need for this thread unless someone is planning on making bootlegs.

The purpose of this thread is for documentation only (not sure where you got the idea that I would be making bootlegs).

 

Also it's interesting to make a note of which games did not included any form of on-cart saving like Cybermorphs. If the EEPROM was cheap to include, why was it absent in some games?

Edited February 4, 2022 by Sonaru

[Gedalya]

42 minutes ago, Sonaru said:

If the EEPROM was cheap to include, why was it absent in some games?

I have only seen passing references that some did not have an EEPROM; nothing concrete. Was this actually the case though? If so what would be an example?

[Sonaru]

38 minutes ago, Gedalya said:

I have only seen passing references that some did not have an EEPROM; nothing concrete. Was this actually the case though? If so what would be an example?

The only game I know for sure that did not have it is Cybermorph. Some fighting game also did not have it. 

[Gedalya]

41 minutes ago, Sonaru said:

The only game I know for sure that did not have it is Cybermorph. Some fighting game also did not have it. 

Ok now I'm intrigued; I have 3 copies of Cybermorph and now I'm itching to open one.

[CD-i]

Of course cybermorph has a save eeprom. It saves scores. Just not level progression.

The only cart game I know and have which doesn't save is Worms, you can't save your edit teams there. Every other game I played saves at least scores.

[Sonaru]

I wonder why they didn't let you save level progression in that game? Probably not enough space in the EEPROM to save both high scores and level progression. 

 

Another game besides Towers II with a larger than normal EEPROM (as far as I can tell) is the Theme Park game. There is no way only 128 bytes would have been sufficient to save everything. 

[+cubanismo]

4 hours ago, Sonaru said:

There is no way only 128 bytes would have been sufficient to save everything. 

Yeah, so it doesn't. I think the game-by-game podcast covers this.

[doctorclu]

Wolfenstein 3D has three save states.

 

Bubsy and Joust saves scores.

[phoboz]

On 2/1/2022 at 9:42 PM, Zerosquare said:

EEPROM size is 128 bytes for all official games. Homebrew games use either 128 bytes or 2 kilobytes.

When using a larger EEPROM will the default (128 bytes) driver work for it?

(as it is a serial EEPROM, e.g. there are no additional address lines to consider as for a paralell addressing interface)

 

For example the driver I use have 2 functions:

void eewrite(uint16_t address, uint16_t data);
uint16_t eeread(uint16_t address);

With the default 128 byte ship (which is actually 64 16-bit words) I can send an address up to 63. If I use a larger chip (of 2 kilobytes). Does this mean that I can give addresses up to 1023 without making any changes to the actual driver code?

 

I am talking about a switch to the 93C86 chip here.

 

Do the emulators also emulate the larger EEPROM chips properly?

 

PS. It was quite a challange to squeeze all data for the 3 save slots of Asteroite into the default 128 byte chip. So I think I need to expand for future games.

Edited February 5, 2022 by phoboz

[+cubanismo]

The commands are different because as you say there are more address bits. Very similar though. See here for example:

 

https://github.com/cubanismo/e2pmgr/blob/master/eeprom.s

 

Thanks again to @Songbirdfor the 2k EEPROM sample code in that file.

[PFG 9000]

On 2/4/2022 at 6:10 PM, Sonaru said:

I wonder why they didn't let you save level progression in that game? Probably not enough space in the EEPROM to save both high scores and level progression. 

 

Another game besides Towers II with a larger than normal EEPROM (as far as I can tell) is the Theme Park game. There is no way only 128 bytes would have been sufficient to save everything. 

Theme Park doesn't save your park, which of course is defeating in a game whose entire purpose is to design a park.  No, you have to build a park, earn a profit, and then sell your park at which time you can save your $$$ balance.  Then you get to do it all over again, assuming you ever get over what a monumental waste of time that first session was.

[PeterG]

On 2/5/2022 at 1:10 AM, Sonaru said:

I wonder why they didn't let you save level progression in that game? Probably not enough space in the EEPROM to save both high scores and level progression. 

 

Another game besides Towers II with a larger than normal EEPROM (as far as I can tell) is the Theme Park game. There is no way only 128 bytes would have been sufficient to save everything. 

Also Towers II has a normal EEPROM, there is an interview Clay did with the coder of the game, you can find it in the Jaguar Explorer Online Volume 1, Issue 1 1997:
 

"[JEO] How big is the save-game EEPROM?

 

[VV] The EEPROM is 128 bytes. As long as the Jaguar is on, you get two full 
saves to RAM. Once you turn off the Jaguar and turn it back on again, then 
the cartridge save will reconstruct the save game from EEPROM. All inventory 
and stats, locked and unlocked doors, full and empty wands and quivers, 
groups of dead monsters, and automap reconstruction, fit into the EEPROM. 
Don't ask me how I fit it all, I still don't know."