Wednesday, March 30, 2016

NES PowerPak and EverDrive N8 Mapper Reference

This blog entry is dedicated to the various mappers files and collections for the NES PowerPak and EverDrive N8.  I have previously discussed each device elsewhere in this blog.  This blog entry will always have the latest compatibility information for these flash carts.

NES PowerPak Mapper Sets

Latest Official Mappers : v1.34, 10-14-2010
Expansion Audio Support : VRC6, FDS, Namco 163, Sunsoft 5B (all by an older version of Loopy's Mappers)
http://www.retrousb.com/product_info.php?cPath=24&products_id=34

Here is the Mapper Support Matrix :







Latest Beta Mappers : v1.35b2, 11-10-2010
Changes to Official Mappers : 1, 3, 4, 79/4F
http://www.retrousb.com/downloads/POWERPAK135b2.zip

Latest Loopy Mappers : No version number, 01-21-2019
Mappers supported : 3, 4, 5, 19/13, 21/15, 23/17, 24/18, 25/19, 26/1A, 34/22, 69/45. 71/47, 90/5A, FDS
Expansion Audio Support : VRC6, FDS, Namco 163, Sunsoft 5B
http://3dscapture.com/NES/powerpak_loopy.zip

Latest Save State Mapper : v1.6, 01-01-2014
Mappers supported : 0, 1, 2, 3, 4, 7, 69/45
Note : No Expansion Audio Support for Mapper 69/45
http://www.mediafire.com/file/8dq23vlpfsoqy3m/save-state-mappers-v16.zip/file

Latest PowerMappers : v2.3, 12-28-2015
Mappers supported : 0, 1, 2, 3, 4, 7, 9, 10, 11, 34/22, 66/42, 69/45, 71/47, 118/76, 119/77
Note : No Expansion Audio Support for Mapper 69/45
https://kkfos.aspekt.fi/downloads/powermappers-v23.zip

Other Noteworthy NES PowerPak Mappers :

UNROM 512 Mapper 30:
http://forums.nesdev.com/viewtopic.php?p=236715#p236715

Used by several homebrew games

GTROM Mapper 111 :

Used by several homebrew games

Nintendo World Championships Official Tournament Time Mapper 105/69 :

The NWC had jumpers to set the time from 5m04s to 9m46s.  The standard mapper only gives 5m04s, but the official tournament time was 6m15s.  This mapper gives you the official tournament time.

Comments : The NES PowerPak uses a MAP.XX file for each mapper.  The iNES mapper number is in hexadecimal for each MAP.XX file.  So iNES Mapper 79 decimal turns into 4F hexadecimal and is supported by the MAP.4F file.

http://nintendoage.com/forum/messageview.cfm?catid=8&threadid=97798

Myask Mapper Package

Adds mapper support for 32, 33, 48, 65, & 107.  All but the last were used by Irem & Taito games for the Famicom.

http://forums.nesdev.com/download/file.php?id=5989

Introfix :

This file fixes a bug where the save file will not load if you start the previous game immediately upon turning the power on.

http://forums.nesdev.com/viewtopic.php?f=2&t=9880

EverDrive N8 Mapper Sets

Latest Official OS : v1.26, 04-04-2021
Expansion Audio Support : VRC6, VRC7, FDS, Namco 163, MMC5, Sunsoft 5B
http://krikzz.com/forum/index.php?topic=7811.0

Here is the Mapper Support Matrix :


Game Issues Common to both the PowerPak and EverDrive N8 :

Action 52 - At 2MB this game is too large for these 1MB flash carts and cannot work.  I managed to split the games up so they can load on the PowerPak and EverDrive. You can download them from here : https://www.mediafire.com/file/hb0y1w2oqgnonk4/Action_52_EverDrive.zip/file

Mapper 64 - Skull and Crossbones has a garbage scanline above status bar when the main action screen has been scrolled down as much as possible.  The Hard Drivin' prototype also exploits this chip in ways not yet supported by flash carts.  This is due a lack of information on how the IRQ counter in the RAMBO-1 chip inside this cartridge works.

Galaxian (J) - This is a Mapper 0 game with only has 8KB of PRG-ROM and 8KB of CHR-ROM, whereas the official iNES 1.0 specification does not allow for less than 16KB of PRG-ROM ad 8KB of CHR-ROM with Mapper 0.  Use an overdumped 24KB combined ROM to get this game to work.

Study Box (J) - This game will never work properly on any Flash Cart because it embeds a cassette deck.

All Japanese games using a speech synthesizer chip, such as the Moero Pro games, will not play the speech samples because the speech data has never been dumped and the speech synthesizer chips have never been emulated.  Most of these games have U.S. counterparts that use the NES's PCM channel to produce speech but not the sound effects.

Mappers 153, 157 and 159 - Games requiring these mapper assignments, instead of the base Mapper 16, will not likely work correctly.  They were almost exclusively used by Bandai's Japanese games. These games use similar hardware but different methods to save (none, S-RAM, 128 byte EEPROM, 256 byte EEPROM).  These mappers also cover the Datach Joint ROM expansion device, which has a barcode reader which most of the games use.

Karaoke Studio, Mapper 188 will never work correctly because the real cartridges use the attached hardware, specifically the microphone.

Like Karaoke Studio, Nantettatte!! Baseball, Mapper 68, used a cartridge lock-on system that allowed an expansion cartridge to be plugged into the top of the base cartridge.  These expansion cartridges, which update team statistics, had a protection IC which the EverDrive and PowerPak do not emulate. The base game plays fine.

Specific Game Issues with EverDrive N8

Cybernoid - This game relies on bus conflicts, which the EverDrive N8 has difficulty with.  Use or permanently patch the US ROM with Game Genie code SXZNZV to get the game to work properly after you change the sound mode from sound effects to music.

Gauntlet - Backgrounds will be incorrect if this game is assigned to Mapper 206 because it uses four-screen mirroring, so assign it's iNES header to Mapper 4.

Money Game, The & Tatakae!! Ramen Man: Sakuretsu Choujin 102 Gei - Appear to work when the mapper is changed from Mapper 155 to Mapper 1

Fudou Myouou Den - Appears to work when the mapper is changed from Mapper 207 to Mapper 80.

Mapper 210 is not supported, most games should work as Mapper 19.

General Game Issues with PowerPak (assuming loopy mappers and PowerMappers are added)

Racermate Challenge II - Uses Mapper 168, which is not supported.  This game also requires a custom and rare peripheral that attaches to a stationary bicycle.

Most MMC5 games are playable, but Uncharted Waters, Uchuu Keibitai SDF and Bandit Kings of Ancient China will show graphics glitches.  No expansion audio support.

Super Mario Bros + Tetris + Nintendo World Cup - A PAL only release, uses Mapper 37 which is not supported by the PowerPak.

Games using MMC3 scanline interrupts will often show jumpy status bars (Super Mario Bros. 3, Crystalis, Mega Man 3) or occasional graphical garbage (Kirby's Adventure, Mickey's Adventures in Numberland).  This issue may vary from PowerPak to PowerPak (my PowerPak is a first batch PowerPak), and is ameliorated with the Save State Mappers and PowerMappers.

Specific Game Issues with PowerPak and PowerMappers :

Asmik-kun Land - Status bar on the bottom of the screen constantly shakes.  This can be fixed by using MAP04.MAP from the Save State Mappers.  You rename the file to something unused like MAP06.MAP and assign the game to Mapper 6 in its header.

Battletoads & Double Dragon - The game may crash when the Level 1 Boss appears.  This is also another open bus issue.  If you encounter it, it can be fixed by creating a Battletoads & Double Dragon.sav 8KB file filled in entirely with hex 00.  Battletoads & Double Dragon does not use S-RAM, but if the game reads these values from where RAM is supposed to be, there will be no glitching or crashing here.

Jackie Chan's Action Kung Fu - Glitchy garbage as the scroll unfurls just before you begin a level.  This can be fixed by using MAP04.MAP from the Save State Mappers.  You rename the file to something unused like MAP06.MAP and assign the game to Mapper 6 in its header.

Jurassic Park - Extra lines in the wavy Ocean logo on the title screen. This can be fixed by using MAP04.MAP from the Save State Mappers.  You rename the file to something unused like MAP06.MAP and assign the game to Mapper 6 in its header.

Low-G-Man - Music for Level 1 Boss is not correct, but it does not crash.  This can be fixed by creating a Low-G-Man.sav 8KB file filled in entirely with hex FF.  Low-G-Man does not use S-RAM but relies on open bus and this workaround allows the game to obtain the right values it needs for the music engine.

Little Ninja Brothers - Shaking in status menus, text boxes and the like, which did not appear in prior mappers.  This can be fixed by using MAP04.MAP from the Save State Mappers.  You rename the file to something unused like MAP06.MAP and assign the game to Mapper 6 in its header.

Metroid FDS - Will load to a black screen or a screen so corrupted Samus cannot move.  Others have been able to get this game to work, but I cannot.

Mickey's Adventure in Numberland - Certain tiles in Mickey's sprite flicker constantly similar to Startropics.  This can be fixed by using MAP04.MAP from the Save State Mappers.  You rename the file to something unused like MAP06.MAP and assign the game to Mapper 6 in its header.

Mickey's Safari in Letterland - Status bar shakes because these games requires the IRQ timing for Acclaim's MMC3 clone, which is different from Nintendo's MMC3.  

Rad Racer 2 - Occasional flickering of yellow/orange lines in the road.  The Save State Mappers do not support the 4-screen mirroring this game uses, so use Loopy's Mapper 4 instead.

Startropics 1 & 2 - Half of Mike's small sprite flickers constantly, as does his inventory in the action sequences.  This can be fixed by using MAP04.MAP from the Save State Mappers.  You rename the file to something unused like MAP06.MAP and assign the game to Mapper 6 in its header.  If you see that the subweapons on the action screen noticeably flicker if you have acquired more than one, then make sure the save state function is turned off in the blue menu before you finish loading the ROM.

Ultima - Exodus - Due to bugs with uninitialized cartridge RAM, you could see shaking text, font corruption and bad audio if you play this game without a corresponding sav file.

Expansion Audio Support

Here is the expansion audio support breakdown for both flash cartridges and the Analogue Nt Mini :

Expansion Sound Type NES PowerPak EverDrive N8 Analogue Nt Mini
Famicom Disk System Supported Supported Supported
Konami VRC6 Supported Supported Supported
Konami VRC7 Not Supported Supported Supported
Sunsoft 5B Supported Supported Supported
Namco 163 Supported Supported Supported
Nintendo MMC5 Not Supported Supported Supported
Jaleco/Bandai Speech Not Supported Not Supported Not Supported

10 comments:

  1. Thank you very much for your useful informations. I finally got a powerpak yesterday but I was reading your blog before to be sure to get everything working. Wow, back in the days it must have been very difficult to have the games working properly. Now thanks to loopy,thefoxx,you and of course bunnyboy, we are definitely in a better situation!
    I want to submit a case study for some games (maybe it is useful in general) :D
    I installed in sequence the following mappers; Latest official, latest beta, latest loopy, latest power mappers. I know that you suggested that less (only official and loopy) is better but I have the same results like this...for what I tried so far.
    Double Dragon 1, Kung Fu, Arch Rivals and Castlevania have severe glitches/flashes. Double dragon 2 has the music slowed down and Battletoads Double Dragon same and when the first stage starts, it freezes.

    Following your suggestion, at this point, I should try to fix the rom mappers manually going to Nes Cart database and getting the right header.

    My questions are: Does an automatic header fixer exists? Where can you find a good "power-pak" compatible collection of roms?

    Thank you again, awesome job.

    Fabio

    ReplyDelete
  2. The fixed No-Intro set is the answer.Now everything works! The power pak is the coolest thing I have bought in many years!

    ReplyDelete
  3. Even the No-Intro set can have ROMs with incorrect headers, the No-Intro organization cares more about getting the ROM dumps correct than accurately identifying the cartridge hardware used by those ROMs. For other systems, this is not essential, but for the NES, it is.

    ReplyDelete
  4. This post is a god-send... nice to see an organized all-in-one post for these problem games on the Powerpak.

    Do you have the old Save State Mappers you can upload? I would like to integrate the "fix" for games like Startropics.

    Thanks

    ReplyDelete
  5. Here is a link to the last version of the Save State mappers : http://www.mediafire.com/file/8dq23vlpfsoqy3m/save-state-mappers-v16.zip

    ReplyDelete
  6. Do note that Myask's implementation of #48 is still buggy.

    ReplyDelete
  7. Really great post! Thanks for your effort. I wish this page was frequently updated..

    ReplyDelete
  8. So I bought from amazon a clone can I still mess around with mappers I obviously not gonna update it is a jack diy but os is defo not up to date 2014 production date. It has a mappers folder ect though 114 supported I think it says lol in bed at mo aha

    ReplyDelete
  9. >Mapper 71 Camerica/Codemasters games should be reassigned to Mapper 2 when used in the EverDrive N8 with the exception of Fire Hawk.

    The Everdrive seemed to play Dizzy the Adventurer fine with no mapper change as well. I only say "seemed" as I haven't got through the full game on the Everdrive yet (hard, them old Dizzy games!), but considering the other Codemasters game I tested (The American version of Fantastic Adventures of Dizzy), which bugged out almost immediately and crashed as soon as I walked right, it seems to me that this game works as well.

    ReplyDelete
  10. Thanks for all the passion you put into this blog. Too bad the Jaleco games dont work on any flash cart. At least I was able to get them to work on VirtuaNES thanks to the samples you shared on another post.

    ReplyDelete