What Is This #2: SNES / Geni systems

[goatdan]

All right,

As stated, I have some more things in my WTF series, and this is the next up. I'll admit the pictures of these are small, but they should show as much detail as is needed...

http://www.midwestgamingclassic.com/GEN1.jpg
http://www.midwestgamingclassic.com/SNES1.jpg

So again... WTF Is This? They look sort of like development systems, but the cords look identical all the way down to the ties that bing the things together.

Any ideas?

[goatdan]

Oh, and a couple other notes...

The wires run to the motherboards. The Geni one connects mostly to the 68000. The Geni is a system with the TMSS.

[Kejoriv]

Do they play games fine? When you turn on the systems with no games in them does anything different happen? Those are really weird. Maybe give out to mags to try their games. I am lost on those. No idea.

[goatdan]

I haven't tried them actually because I didn't want to hurt them. Probably a pretty goofy reason, but since they don't look like much of anything...

I'll try the SNES soon and report back :)

[Blackjax]

O_O

I've seen a lot of Genesis systems, including two different proto systems someone sent me pictures of, but never saw that wire.

Please, if you find out more, let us know!

[§ Gideon §]

Hee hee. Your game systems were born with tails.

[goatdan]

Hee hee. Your game systems were born with tails.

Heh, yeah.... They both had the same father -- Atari.

here's some more details about these two systems -- they were from a "development company in the US" but I did not get any more information than that. My only thought could be perhaps these were somehow hacked systems by Accolade or another company that started programming themselves.

Another bit to add about the Geni system -- the system is a standard system with TMSS as far as I can tell. The serial number is 020269831.

The SNES is the same. It seems to be a standard release with the serial number of UN 14095634. The SNES cord is extremely short too. I don't think it could have easily been plugged into something else without an extension to the cord.

[§ Gideon §]

I'm curious: Have you counted the pins on the extension cords?

[goatdan]

34.

It looks like a standard computer ribbon cable connector...

:hmm:

[Sph1nx]

Weird. I hope someone knows because I'm massively curious now.

[Jasoco]

So am I.

[Duncan]

34.

It looks like a standard computer ribbon cable connector...

:hmm:

Well, find yourself a ribbon cable and try to hook it up! Of course...

(Honestly, I'm stumped. Gotta be some kind of interface, but to what?)

[§ Gideon §]

I'm stumped, too.

How did you come upon these systems? More importantly, were they each from the same source? At the same time? I see that you've examined the two ribbon connectors vis a vis. Were the similarities you noted somewhat unlikely? What does the soldering job look like?

Oh, and how reliable is the statement about them both coming from a development company? Perhaps, there is someone in the games industry here in the forums whom could help. If not, do you plan on attending any expos/gatherings? You could consider taking one of those puppies along and asking questions to people whom look like they know what they're talking about.

[slapdash]

Where do the wires go? If they go into the cart ports, and there is extra hardware already in where carts would normally go, I'd guess that they were loader systems -- games would load off of a PC into the stuff in the cart port.

But if there's nothing in the port itself, and the wires just go to some pin, I'm stumped. Maybe defeating lockup chips? Or NTSC vs PAL? Dunno.

[goatdan]

Here's the answers for everything I can answer :)

Both of these systems were from the same source at the same time -- an eBay auction that also included another SNES core, three Geni cores, a Saturn core, N64 Japanese and a bunch of PSX controllers and stuff. The only other oddity that I found amongst it all was a Gravis controller for the Genesis with some weird markings on the back of it. There was one "surprise" game in it, which turned out to be Chrono Trigger :D

The seller explained to me that she was selling them for a friend who worked at a development company and were given these with him or her when they left. I emailed back to ask who it was that they had worked for, and I did not get a response.

The systems all look like they would have been in the same room. They were all numbered on the backs. The SNES is S/N 9, the Geni is S/N 1. I believe the Japanese N64 was S/N 6 and the Saturn was S/N 7 and the other Geni were S/N 2-4. For certain, they are have S/N #'s written on them.

The other systems were all normal as far as I can tell. They did not have "tails" and they do not show any differences when booting / playing regular games. I don't know if this holds for the N64, as I don't have anything to test it with.

The similiarities between the two systems are what really makes me think that they aren't "normal" in any way. The Genesis "tail" has 15 wires running to it. The SNES "tail" has nine. All of the wires seem to be the exact same, as well as the connectors and the zip ties there to keep them all together. The Geni one connects mostly to the 68000 processor, but a few run elsewhere. I didn't disassemble it too much because I don't want to hurt whatever has been done to it before I know what that is. I don't have the SNES bit on me to open that system, but I am positive that it does not connect directly to the cartridge port.

Another interesting point is that the SNES cable is about three inches long, while the Geni one is about a foot long. I can't figure out why there is such a difference, but who knows.

From the pictures of development systems that I have seen, neither of these would qualify as a development system... but it it obvious that they are something...

[§ Gideon §]

Thanks for the info! This has become quite a mystery...

Another interesting point is that the SNES cable is about three inches long, while the Geni one is about a foot long. I can't figure out why there is such a difference, but who knows.
I was thinking that maybe, since they both came from the same source, somebody sliced a cable in half, used one for each machine, and the SNES one just came out shorter... I dunno. But, since you mentioned that the wire counts are different, this is an irrelevant point.

You're going to hang on to the systems, right? I would...

[goatdan]

Oh, I'm planning on holding onto them at least until I find out what they are :) I'm not really that big into holding onto stuff that is ultra rare because I would rather give it to someone else that would enjoy it more, but in the case of these things... since it seems no one has any idea what they are, until I can figure that out I'll just keep them around.

If anyone is going to the Midwest Gaming Classic, I'll probably "drag" them both along but won't have them on display.

[goatdan]

Oops, sorry. Double post.

[Castelak]

Wisconsin huh? I'm in Minnesota... I might have to go to this! :D