Can I use KoF95 ram cart for games requiring 1MB or only KOF

[earthwormgrim]

Just wondering if i need to buy KOF95 ram cart ( i know this has assets specific to KOF95 to play it) AND 1MB, or if the KOF95 can double as a 1MB ram cart for games like Samurai Shodown IV that have graphical glitches

sorry if been asked but cant get clarity from a quick google search

[zyrobs]

KOF95 and that one Ultraman game requires ROM carts. They have game-specific data on them, they are not generic expansions. So no, they do not work with any other games, only with those they are intended to.

It was after those games that Sega decided to make generic RAM expansion carts, which later games used. For the later SNK games, you need a generic 1MB RAM cart, they have a code bug in them that makes them read the wrong memory address, which is why they only work with 1MB carts. It only affects 3 or 4 titles, Satakore.com should have a list. For everything else the 4MB cart works as well as the 1MB ones.

[earthwormgrim]

Feb 23, 2020 4:27:27 GMT zyrobs said:

KOF95 and that one Ultraman game requires ROM carts. They have game-specific data on them, they are not generic expansions. So no, they do not work with any other games, only with those they are intended to.

It was after those games that Sega decided to make generic RAM expansion carts, which later games used. For the later SNK games, you need a generic 1MB RAM cart, they have a code bug in them that makes them read the wrong memory address, which is why they only work with 1MB carts. It only affects 3 or 4 titles, Satakore.com should have a list. For everything else the 4MB cart works as well as the 1MB ones.

Thanks

Can you clarify if Metal Slug has less slowdown w 1mb or not?

Seems like mixed views on that

Also if I can live with that and graphical glitches on kof96 and samurai showdown 4 , not worth getting 1mb? They’re just in game glitches that won’t adversely affect hardware right?

1mb cart isn’t much cost wise just wonder if it’s worth adding to my swap rotation with my 4mb and official memory cart.


And any views on if kof95 is worth its own cart? Or would you skip?

[zyrobs]

I wouldn't know if the SNK fighting games are worth getting or not, the only one I actually enjoyed was Garou MOTW. But if Metal Slug is any indication, then there's a chance that they are still missing animation despite the RAM cart.

Metal Slug has slowdown no matter the console or the cart. I don't know where that retarded rumour started. I tested it with multiple machines from launch unit to skeleton Saturn, with 1mb, 4mb, and action replay carts, it runs like shit on all combinations. In fact it runs worse than the Neogeo original. It's also missing a lot of the animation - the RAM cart wasn't enough for a faithful port.

The SNK games that bug out on 4mb carts, they do this because they read a wrong RAM address, this is due to how memory mapping works. The most significant bit of the address, that tells the system whether it is reading the 1mb or 2mb or 3mb spot, has no meaning since the memory is physically only 1mb max. So when the cpu reads an area above the first megabyte, it will get data from the first megabyte only. In other words, the 1 megabyte of memory content repeats itself. This is what those SNK games rely on - they read a higher memory address, which still has the data from the lower one. It's like the Y2K bug where systems only stored the last 2 numbers of the date, and rolled over from 1999 to 1900.

However when you have a 4mb cart, the data is not mirrored since it now physically exists, and it is empty (or has random garbage) since the game never writes to it. So when the game reads from that part, expecting mirrored data from the 1mb portion, it gets garbage instead. Hence the graphical glitches.

The games could be potentially patched to read from the correct address, but I don't know how complex would that be (could be anything from a single action reply code to patching tons of hardcoded addresses in the game code).

tl;dr: it does not damage the console in any way.

[earthwormgrim]

Thanks again!

always knowledgable!

[privateye]

Thanks for the explanation zyrobs . These 1MB games have corrupt graphics when using the 4MB RAM cart:

• King of Fighters '96
• Real Bout Fatal Fury (not the special edition)
• Samurai Shodown IV

Interestingly, some Action Replay carts work fine with these games (but some don't, and if you buy one there is no way of knowing ahead of time if it will work correctly or not).

[zyrobs]

Some older action replays only had 1mb ram on them, so they should work.

[privateye]

I was actually referring to the Action Replay carts with 4MB RAM that are still being sold on places like Amazon and Play-Asia. I have a newer cart (the model without the comms link port) that works fine with all three games that I mentioned.