Notice: Piko Interactive's Quest Forge Game Carts Won't Damage NES Consoles

[Nz17]

Originally named, "Warning: Piko Interactive's Quest Forge Game Carts Might Damage NES Consoles"

Quest Forge from Piko Interactive could cause damage to NES consoles. See http://forums.nesdev.com/viewtopic.php?f=9&t=15240 for the how and the why of the situation. The short story: cheap Chinese circuit boards can cause damage to the NES's circuitry. Supposedly Piko Interactive will be addressing the problem, but I know no more than this.

Perhaps someone with a technical inclination toward NES hardware can summarize things for us less technical types?

Thanks to Gradual Games for the notice.

[Az]

Thanks to that thread I see that these officially licensed Retrobit multi carts are the same exact PCBs used in cheap bootlegs.

I didn't think they could top them not even fitting into a real NES, but they managed to.

[Aussie2B]

Well, I guess that's another reason for me to skip N64 40 Winks, which is also from Piko Interactive.

[jb143]

Well, I guess that's another reason for me to skip N64 40 Winks, which is also from Piko Interactive.

N64 is 3.3V. So using a modern flash chip shouldn't be any problem here.

[sancoa]

About a year ago I bought a Genesis 112-in-1 multicart, Eliminate Down, and SNES Pocky & Rocky. I also have 3 bootleg carts from back in the day that I found locally, and I also bought the Retrobit Jaleco Brawler's Pack for SNES.

So using these carts will damage my SNES and Genesis consoles? I thought that since cartridges are just ROMs, they couldn't affect the system in this way.

I guess I could just play these carts in the Retrobit Retro Trio that I bought. I had basically put that thing away, since the NES cartridge slot is shot. The metal in the slot was so cheap, a bunch of the pins pulled out along with one of my cartridges after about 30 uses. I only have a few NES carts which I bought after getting the Retro Trio so it was too late to return it.

[Az]

So using these carts will damage my SNES and Genesis consoles? I thought that since cartridges are just ROMs, they couldn't affect the system in this way.

I'd say it's less that they will and more that they might. Some people act like it's no big deal at all, others act like its the worst idea ever. I'd say it's somewhere in the middle.

You're console is basically feeding 5v into a cartridge with a ROM chip designed to run on 3v. The extra voltage has to go somewhere so there's a potential to both fry the cartridge and have the system fry itself if the voltage is backfed into it from a fried cart.

These carts just started popping up within the past 10 years or so and are mainly marketed in places with out-of-spec clone systems so there's not a lot of concrete evidence to go on for long term use or damage. I've yet to read a definitive story that a system that had died due to 100% the fault of these cheap carts.

To be honest I think more people should be worried about these cheap ass switching power supplies for retro consoles that are way out of spec from the originals.

[jb143]

Perhaps someone with a technical inclination toward NES hardware can summarize things for us less technical types?

Basically, from what I gathered, there are 5V components and 3.3V components(the flash chip). To get the 3.3V they use a very shoddy voltage regulator design that's prone to failure. When it fails, it tries to pull too much current from the NES chips that they weren't designed to provide, causing them to get too toasty and die.

[Edmond Dantes]

I was reading an article about this the other night:

https://db-electronics.ca/2017/07/05...etro-consoles/

But I noticed in the comments there were some disputes over these claims (admittedly, mostly from cart manufacturers) but one guy pointed out something I'm wondering too: It just sounds like it's more likely the cart itself will die than the console.

(Also, these dangers vary from console to console. Some don't have any problem whatsoever and you can stick any old crap in them)

[Niku-Sama]

this is why every one should have 26 NES backup systems like I do and then you could at least make it through the game.

that is if it does pull current to fry the system. I imagine other less vital components will go before the main chips after some of the things I've seen/done to NESs

[Edmond Dantes]

Yeah, NESes are pretty durable, and its worth pointing out that there have so far been *very few* cases of an actual damaged console, and I seem to recall those were from people who were using things like Everdrives and these multicarts almost nonstop.

This problem has existed as long as repros and flash carts have been a thing, yet its only now we're hearing of problems. That's not to downplay the potential issues, just to point out that you don't need to be paranoid that one game is gonna break your NES.

EDIT: Additionally, I'd have to doublecheck but I think the article *I* linked to mentioned that some *officially licensed* cartridges from back in the day had the same kind of problem (I think he specifically called out Atari/Tengen, though I think he also specifically mentioned their Genesis games)

[megasdkirby]

Ouch.

Well, if the ROM is available online, we can try repros.

[Gameguy]

EDIT: Additionally, I'd have to doublecheck but I think the article *I* linked to mentioned that some *officially licensed* cartridges from back in the day had the same kind of problem (I think he specifically called out Atari/Tengen, though I think he also specifically mentioned their Genesis games)

With the Genesis releases it seemed some of the Tengen games had problems with the traces on the circuit board rusting up. I'm going by memory so I may be wrong about it. You can fix these by swapping the ROM chip onto another compatible board.

I can't remember anything like that killing consoles though.