NES 2.0 submappers/Proposals

This page collects proposals for NES 2.0 submappers that are not yet ready for implementation.

1. Explain what game or ROM is incompatible with existing submappers.
2. Explain how the proposed submapper should be implemented.
3. Allow one or more other members of the community to independently verify that both 1 and 2 are correct. (We'll perform peer review, commentary, and possible revision/iteration here.)
4. Allocate and document the new submapper, listing the relevant game/ROM.

When allocating new submappers, please consult kevtris' original proposal before choosing a number. If it is something he already assigned that we have just not adopted yet, use his existing assignment: submappers.txt

If there is no existing game or ROM that requires a submapper, it should not yet be allocated. There is no end to possible variations of hardware, and there is no need to speculate on the future. If you want to work on a project that will require a new mapper, engage the community and/or seek help from others. Do not pre-emptively add a new mapper to the spec until there is something we can run with it. The spec will still be here when you're finished your project.

005: MMC5

Status: Wishlist

Vertical split mode:
0: SL (all known hardware)
1: CL

If only one kind (battery or non-battery) of PRG-RAM present:
0: PRG-RAM is contiguous (EKROM, EWROM)
2: PRG-RAM is not contiguous; is split in half across two chips

If both kinds of PRG-RAM present:
0: Chip 0 is battery-backed (ETROM (note: verify this))
2: Chip 1 is battery-backed

Pulse waves volume:
0: R1 is 6.8kΩ (as in all games that use expansion audio)
4: R1 is 15kΩ (the nominal value of this resistor)

It is safe to leave the submapper number at 0 for all known games.

070: Bandai UNROM/GNROM hybrid

Status: Problem outline

There is a report of a pirate copy of a game that seems to want mapper 70 without bus conflicts, even though Bandai's original hardware should have them.

Tentatively, we could use the same submappers as those standardized for mappers 2, 3, & 7.

083: Cony

There's actually three different versions of the hardware, all assigned to the same mapper.

Unfortunately, we have no idea which is which.

Here's Kevtris's assignments:

083: 0

"Bog-standard Cony mapper. 1K CHR ROM banks, no WRAM."

083: 1

"Same, but with 2K CHR ROM banks instead."

083: 2

"This is the standard Cony mapper with the following changes:

1. 1K CHR ROM banks (like 83.0)

1. a 4 bit 256K CHR/PRG bank select register:
   • B000h: bits 6 and 7 select the 256K superbank

1. 1 byte of RAM at 5103h (stores the last game played) Game will not start without this RAM byte.

1. WRAM at 6000-7FFFh. WRAM is banked with the PRG/CHR superbank. This gives a total of 32K. It is battery backed.

086: Jaleco JF-13

There is a bootleg variant that uses a UM5100 (DPCM) instead of µPD7756C (ADPCM).

086: 0

Uses µPD7756C (Standard).

086: 1

Uses UM5100 (Bootleg).

091: Super Fighter III

The later-discovered original version of the board needs to be disambiguated from J.Y. Company's clone board discovered a long time ago. Differences are in address masks, mirroring, IRQ counter (PA12 vs. M2-based) and the absence/presence of an outer bank register.

• Submapper 0: YY830624C/JY830848C (J.Y. Company clone board)
• Submapper 1: EJ-006-1 (original Super Fighter III board).

268: Coolboy/Mindkids

Coolboy's outer bank registers respond at $6000-$6003, overlaying WRAM, while Mindkids' extra registers respond at $5000-$5003. The hitherto successful earlier implementation of just responding at both address ranges has now been foiled by the discovery of a Chinese RPG (楚留香新传) using the Mindkids board with registers at $5000-$5003 and battery-backed SRAM at $6000-$7FFF driven in GNROM mode, where the "Lock" bit does not apply, and responding at both address ranges therefore causes inadvertent bank switches whenever SRAM is written to.

• Submapper 0: Coolboy (outer bank registers at $6000-$6003)
• Submapper 1: Mindkids (outer bank registers $5000-$5003)

References

• Atari Age forum post - Kevtris' Analogue NT Mini firmware notes including a slightly updated submapper list.