INES Mapper 185

iNES Mapper 185 is used for games that use the CNROM board with weak copy protection measures.

Overview

• PRG ROM size: 16 KiB or 32 KiB
• PRG ROM bank size: Not bankswitched
• PRG RAM: None
• CHR capacity: 8 KiB ROM (copy protected)
• Nametable mirroring: Solder pads select vertical or horizontal mirroring
• Subject to bus conflicts: Yes

Banks

• PPU $0000-$1FFF: 8 KB switchable CHR ROM bank

Registers

Bank select ($8000-$FFFF)

7  bit  0
---- ----
..CC ..CC
  ||   ||
  ++---++- Used for CHR copy protection.

These games only have 8k of CHR, and they attempt to disable CHR by writing a specific value to the CHR Reg, then VERIFY that garbage is read back, then they swap back to the actual CHR. If they don't get the expected garbage, they lock up.

Each game has their own value that enables/disables CHR. However, a simple heuristic obviates the need to detect each game individually:

• if C AND $0F is nonzero, and if C does not equal $13: CHR is enabled
• otherwise CHR is disabled

When CHR is disabled, the pattern tables are open bus. Theoretically, this should return the LSB of the address read, but real-world behavior varies.

Seicross (v2) does not work with this heuristic.

All of these games test for the bad value first, and the correct value (if at all) second; returning garbage for the first two reads from the PPU after reboot should also work.

This table has been assembled from nocash and the sources of MESS, Nestopia, and FCEUX; the specific tests were traced from dumps in GoodNES.

	bank	PPU addr	test	bank	PPU addr	test
Game	Incorrect bank			Must work
Bird Week	$F0	$1FF0	≠ $0C	$0F	$1FF0	= $0C
B-Wings	$00	$0000	≠ $3C	$33	$0000	= $3C
Mighty Bomb Jack (J)	$00	$0000	≠ $00	$11	untested
Mighty Bomb Jack (U), (E)	$00	$0001	≠ $3C	$11	untested
Sansuu 1 Nen	$20	$000C	≠ $BC	$22	$000C	= $BC
Sansuu 2 Nen	$20	$0003	≠ $42	$22	$0003	= $42
Othello	$20	$0006	≠ $3F	$22	$0006	= $3F
Sansuu 3 Nen	$00	$0006	≠ $34	$2A	$0006	= $34
Spy vs Spy	$13	$1F20	≠ $55	$21	untested
Seicross (v2)	$21	$0700…$0707	≠ $20,$60,$70,$70,$70,$40,$08,$38	$20	untested

References

• Disch's Mapper Notes