A question about the JP version of Kirby 64 compatibility

Hello.
For some time I wanted to get this game to play with my kids.
Now I finally found an original cartridge that fits in my pocket, but it's Japanese.
AFAIK, the only difference between a JP and US N64 is the connector's tabs, is it correct?

I'm asking because the vendor is asking me if I'm sure that I'll stay with the cartridge, because it was returned due to incompatibility problems before.
Should I worry about it and give up?
Thanks in advance.

Edit: Changed the thread's title for clarification.

Minor nitpick here: you meant "a question", not "a doubt". I'm only bringing this up because it's a common mistake brazilians make and it sounds really weird. About the topic in question I don't know, sorry Carry on.

Thanks!
I changed the title to try to make it more clear.
I'm searching a bit and getting really mixed results.
The sure no-go is the Gradiente's version of N64.

I did read some stories about the game simply showing a black screen on US consoles.
Others just say it runs fine. Maybe there are some different revisions.
Or many people just got dirty connectors...

Yes, the only difference between US and Japanese N64s is the physical tabs. Now if you had a Brazilian N64, that would have compatibility problems.

Why do you think that?

AFAIK Gradiente did some modifications on the PIF to make the color encoding compatible with the PAL-M system.
This certainly made some incompatibilities, the ones I know of happens on Killer Instinct and on Star Soldier, probably there are more.
Unfourtunatelly I can't do new tests, since the Gradiente N64 I have suffered a sudden death.

About my original question, I'm being lead to think that most people who had a bad experience with this Kirby game had some sort of bad contact on the connector or used a game with the wrong CIC on the adapter.
I have one of these adapters. You plug an original cartridge back and other from a different region or a pirate on the top.
The CIC of both games must be the same or regionally equivalent for the other to work.

Am I correct in this assumption?
Can someone please do some tests and share the results?
Thanks in advance.

Something similar to this was posted on a FB group I'm in.

For JAP <-> US N64 all you need to do is remove the plastic bit inside, seems you can open the machine and remove the light grey plastic bit that has the "flap" and they "just work". Although it best to keep a cart in the machine at all times as you no longer have a "dust cover"

Ok.
I'm asking the seller to send anyway.
I'll post the results, but I'm pretty sure the game will work fine after the plastic tabs mod.
Thanks for confirming the information I had twice.

A new fact.
I asked the vendor if he could take a picture of the screen.
So he did:

Does someone have an idea of what this means?
Thanks in advance.

I think that's saying no controllers have been plugged in, and please remove power, plug one in, and turn the N64 back on.

LOL!!
Thanks Lidnariq!
I tried to "copy" the message on Google translator and got something like this:
"Controller is not connected
After listening to the real thing
Please set the controller"

Could the error message the vendor is worried about caused by an error on the testing before sending the product?
I asked him if he could re do the test in an US N64 with a controller plugged in on port 1.
AFAIK he's trying to sell this game for about 3 years without success.
Let's see what will happen...

Because the serial EEPROM inside the cartridge uses the same protocol as the controllers, some N64 games give a controller error when the EEPROM is broken.

He did the tests again with the controller plugged in and got the same results.
I asked if he could do the tests in other console with other controller.
Luckly he had a friend on the neighborhood (Spiderman?) who offered to help.

They tested on his friend`s console with his controller and got the error again.
Them they re did the test with his friend`s controller and all worked fine.
It ended up that his old "trusty" controller was in fact broken.

That's interesting and possibly is part of the explanation of all the trouble this vendor had.
I have a pirate Wave Race I`ve got as a gift that has no EEPROM.
According to this list it should have a 4k EEPROM.
Any idea if it`s possible to afford these EEPROM chips?

Apple Desktop Bus (Apple IIGS and Macintosh SE through early Power Mac G3), Dallas Semiconductor's 1-Wire, and Nintendo 64/GameCube JOYBUS all use pulse width modulation on an open drain bus, where falling edges carry clock and the timing of the following rising edge carries the data. In all three of these, a short low pulse is 1, and a long low pulse is 0.

If N64 games' save EEPROM indeed uses JOYBUS, it's either 1-Wire (good) or a custom part (unfortunate). Are there photos of the markings on these EEPROMs?

AFAIK the EEPROM part number is BU9850.
I`ve found a package with 10 for sale on Aliexpress.
Strangely I found a PCB picture of Wave Race wich has no EEPROM.
This may mean that the list has some mistakes.
Some pictures of Goldeneye 007, wich has a 4K EEPROM can be seem here.

Every time I clicked anywhere on the linked page on tcsr2001.tripod.com, it instead opened a full-screen pop-up window.

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Is this expected?

That`s strange, for me it is working normally:

I`m uploading the pictures of the Goldeneye`s PCB:

JOYBUS is a proprietary protocol, not 1-wire. Unlike 1-wire, the falling edge is sent by whatever's talking, not the host. And it's faster.

There are four serial EEPROMs used in the N64:
BU9850, BK4K - both 4kibit
BK16DH, BK16DF - both 16kibit
The two on the left behave the same subtly different way from the two on the right. Normal games don't care. I'm told that at least one ROM hack has used the difference as a kind of DRM.

Those are used part pulls, if you care.

Just to record, the cartridge arrived today and it's working pretty fine, thanks guys!


Damm! Certainly taken from other N64 cartridges.