PowerPak: Difference between revisions
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PowerPak | The PowerPak is a flash cartridge made by [[RetroUSB]]. It uses an [[FPGA]] to emulate a wide variety of [[mappers]], allowing the user to store a large collection of NES ROMs on a single Compact Flash card and run them on an NES. It is widely used by NES software developers to test their homebrew software. | ||
Product page: [http://www.retrousb.com/product_info.php?products_id=34 http://www.retrousb.com/product_info.php?products_id=34] | |||
__TOC__ | __TOC__ | ||
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Loopy released a set of revised PowerPak mappers in 2011, adding fixes and additional support for a several mappers: | Loopy released a set of revised PowerPak mappers in 2011, adding fixes and additional support for a several mappers: | ||
Download:[https://home.comcast.net/~olimar/NES/powerpak_loopy.zip https://home.comcast.net/~olimar/NES/powerpak_loopy.zip] | Download: [https://home.comcast.net/~olimar/NES/powerpak_loopy.zip https://home.comcast.net/~olimar/NES/powerpak_loopy.zip] | ||
* [[CNROM]] ([[iNES Mapper 003|3]]) | * [[CNROM]] ([[iNES Mapper 003|3]]) | ||
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Known problems: | Known problems: | ||
* MMC3 support is insufficient for ''Low G Man'', as the mapper 4 implementation is Startropics-compatible instead of MMC3 accurate. See [[MMC3#iNES Mapper 004 and MMC6|mapper 4 and MMC6]]. | * MMC3 support is insufficient for ''Low G Man'', as the mapper 4 implementation is Startropics-compatible instead of MMC3 accurate. See [[MMC3#iNES Mapper 004 and MMC6|mapper 4 and MMC6]]. | ||
== Development limitations == | |||
Aside from mapper incompatibility, there are minor differences between running NES programs on the PowerPak versus a traditional single-game cartridge. | |||
* The PowerPak does not accurately simulate power-on state. Because power-on always boots the PowerPak menu, RAM and various registers will be initialized to a consistent state before any NES ROM is chosen to run. (Reset state, howevere, is not affected by this problem.) | |||
* [[Open bus behavior]] may be different in several memory regions that are used by the PowerPak, but would not be connected on a regular cartridge. | |||
Revision as of 07:28, 29 July 2015
The PowerPak is a flash cartridge made by RetroUSB. It uses an FPGA to emulate a wide variety of mappers, allowing the user to store a large collection of NES ROMs on a single Compact Flash card and run them on an NES. It is widely used by NES software developers to test their homebrew software.
Product page: http://www.retrousb.com/product_info.php?products_id=34
Mapper Compatibility
The PowerPak mappers have undergone several revisions, gradually improving compatibility. After official development ceased in 2010, Loopy and TheFox have each created a supplemental set of PowerPak mappers to improve its capabilities.
Power Mappers
TheFox created a set of revised PowerPak mappers to supplement or augment the existing ones, most notably adding a savestate feature.
Download: http://kkfos.aspekt.fi/projects/nes/powerpak/powermappers/
- NROM (0)
- AxROM (7)
- BxROM (34)
- CxROM (3)
- GxROM (66)
- UxROM (2)
- MMC1 (1)
- MMC2 (9)
- MMC3 (4)
- MMC3/TxSROM (118)
- MMC3/TQROM (119)
- MMC4 (10)
- FME-7 (69, no sound)
- Codemasters (71)
- ColorDreams (11)
Known problems:
- MMC3 IRQ can cause shaky status bars and similar problems on some systems.
Loopy's Mappers
Loopy released a set of revised PowerPak mappers in 2011, adding fixes and additional support for a several mappers:
Download: https://home.comcast.net/~olimar/NES/powerpak_loopy.zip
- CNROM (3)
- MMC3 (4)
- FDS
- NSF
- VRC4 (21, 23, 25)
- VRC6 (24, 26)
- N163 (19)
- Sunsoft-5B (69)
- BxROM (34)
- Codemasters (71)
- JY Company (90, partial)
- MMC5 (5, no sound)
Offical Mappers V1.34
The last official release of mappers was in 2010. It supports a wide variety of popular mappers.
Download: http://www.retrousb.com/product_info.php?products_id=34
TODO: list of supported mappers.
Known problems:
- MMC3 support is insufficient for Low G Man, as the mapper 4 implementation is Startropics-compatible instead of MMC3 accurate. See mapper 4 and MMC6.
Development limitations
Aside from mapper incompatibility, there are minor differences between running NES programs on the PowerPak versus a traditional single-game cartridge.
- The PowerPak does not accurately simulate power-on state. Because power-on always boots the PowerPak menu, RAM and various registers will be initialized to a consistent state before any NES ROM is chosen to run. (Reset state, howevere, is not affected by this problem.)
- Open bus behavior may be different in several memory regions that are used by the PowerPak, but would not be connected on a regular cartridge.
