do the baord names as described in the unif file format correspond to one of the mappers as in the ines format? or do multiple broard names make up one mapper. is one board = one mapper = one of the ines mappers
matt
Usually, a mapper is a group of different boards containing similar mapping hardware.
For example MMC1 is one mapper, but many boards (SAROM, SLROM, SKROM, SNROM, SOROM, SUROM, etc...)
Some mappers cover multiple boards depending on ROM capacity. Mapper 0 is NROM128 and NROM256; mapper 2 is UNROM and UOROM; mapper 7 is ANROM and AOROM; mapper 66 is both GNROM and NES-MH.
Some mappers cover multiple boards depending on installed options, such as CHR ROM vs. RAM or no SRAM vs. SRAM vs. battery SRAM. Mapper 1 covers a lot of S*ROM boards, and mapper 4 covers a lot of T*ROM boards.
Here is a list of NES cart boards. If you're attempting to write an iNES to UNIF converter, you may want to use a database similar to that of GoodNES, cross-referenced against
this list of North American NES titles and their boards.
can a game have more than one board ?
am i right in understanding that the old mapper number can be made of several different boards, but a game will only have one board ?
example,. i see that
Super Mario Brothers |Nintendo |F |NROM
is nrom, is that all i need to know? whidh is
NROM: No mapper, PRG-ROM, CHR-ROM
i am asking because i am working on a beta nes emulator and trying to write the mapper code, or at least start it with mapper 0, and work on it later. but didnt want to change too much code later when i work on more mappers. and to load the cart into memory.
matt
Each game for a given region will have only one board, except for cosmetic differences (such as Konami making functionally identical clones of UNROM during production shortages).
But the same game in different regions might have different boards. Star Force was NROM in Japan but CNROM with improved graphics in North America. The Legend of Zelda was FDS in Japan but SNROM in North America. Contra was UNROM in North America but a version with cut-scenes in some other region used MMC3 if I remember correctly (turns out I didn't). Castlevania 3 was ELROM in North America but used some Konami board with a VRC on it in Japan.
And games with the same name will often have different boards. Tengen Tetяis (U) is a CNROM clone but Nintendo Tetris (U) is SEROM.
Contra (j) used one of them vrc boards, not mmc3.