Buy an original GameBoy cartridge with RAM, ROM, MBC1 and Battery. Possible games are Another Bible, Donkey Kong Land 95, Dungeonland, Kirby 2, Super Marioland II, Super Marioland III, Mario´s Picross, Metroid 2, Zelda, Donkey Kong, Lucle, Kirby Blockball, Kirby Dreamland II, World Cup USA 94 ...
Replace the original ROM (max. size 512Kbyte, SMD Part) with an AM29F040-150JC (512Kbyte, PLCC Part) like I did or try to get an AM29F040-150SO (SMD Part). You can also use the AM29F040B version of that chip.
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| original ROM inside Super Marioland II | AM29F040-150JC Flash chip |
Pin 1 of the ROM is not used. Connect Pin 1 (A18) from AM29F040 to Pin 31 of the ROM and Pin 31 (WE) from AM29F040 to Pin 31 of the GameBoy connector (Audio IN). Connect a Pullup Resistor of 47kOhm between Pin 32 (VCC) and Pin 31 (WE) of the AM29F040. The Resistor is necessary to disable the WE Pin of the Flash chip in normal operation mode. All other Pins can be directly connected. The left side of the PLCC chip can be directly connected to pins 5-13 of the old ROM pads.
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Original Super Marioland II GameBoy
cartridge with battery (right upper side), replaced ROM (right lower
side), MBC1 (left middle side) and RAM (left lower
side). |
You can also
replace the original ROM (max. size 512Kbyte, SMD Part) with an
AM29F016B-90SC or –120SC (2Mbyte, SO-44 Part). In this case you can store
up to three games inside one cartridge. With my software startup.gb
(explained later) you can select 1 out of 3 games.
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| original ROM inside Super Marioland II | AM29F016B-90SC SO-44 Flash chip |
Remove the old ROM chip and solder wire-wrap wires to Pin 2-15, 17 and 22-32 of the ROM pads. Bend all pins of the AM29F016B up (except 22, 24, 25, 26 and 27) and connect this 5 pins directly to the pads 16, 18, 19, 20 and 21 of the original ROM chip. Connect pin 2 (Reset #) to VCC. Connect pin 35 (A19) to pin 6 (EA0) of MBC1. Connect pin 32 (A20) to pin 7 (EA1) of MBC1. Connect pin 30 (WE#) to pin 22 (WR) of MBC1. Pin 28 (RY/BY#) and pin 1, 11, 12, 31, 33, 34 of AM29F016B are not used. Don't forget to connect pin 21 to pin 22 (VSS = GND) and pin 23, 44 to VCC. All other pins are connected to the appropriate pads. Try not to cross any wires over the flash ROM, there is not enough place for doing that.
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Picture of my 16Mbit cartridge based on Super Marioland II. You need about 2-3 hours for building
such a modified cartridge.
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