Batsly Adams
Offline
Brooklyn, NY

Finally finished the new NES project I've been working on. A RAM replacement for the console that allows you read/write any memory location live via serial. You use your actual games in the console, they don't require any modification to run. The board also provides additional features like a remote reset / frame stepping for debugging.







Here is an example of the stuff you can do with it - pulling live data from Blades of Steel to create a scoreboard / trigger a relay on a goal.
https://vine.co/v/M6WzFBXeX1e
https://vine.co/v/M6WZlFjdJ69

http://www.batslyadams.com for technical details / more examples.

Also : yes it would make a great interface for a synth because of the bandwidth involved, it just wouldn't be very practical since you need to make a pretty major modification to the console. Having a cart is still the best way to go.

TylerBarnes
Offline
Dallas, Texas

Damn. You've done it again! This is seriously excellent work.

MaxDolensky
Offline
Alabama

You could sell a ton of these if someone wrote some code to make this friendly for speedrunners!!!

kineticturtle
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Matthew Joseph Payne

The possibilities are more or less endless. Batsly, you're a monster! Is this going to see general availability in any form?

Batsly Adams
Offline
Brooklyn, NY

Thanks guys! Really appreciated.

I think I'm going to do a second run with a proper soldermask. The board is functional but can use a few updates, mainly some pullups on the control lines of the AVR side of the RAM and a "write-protect" jumper for those who want to be certain that the games aren't being modified in a competitive setting.

I'll have to gauge demand but it's kind of intensive (need to desolder a DIP package without ripping up any pads), which probably isn't for everybody.   Not sure if I'd be up to coding support for more than a few games so I'd have to release a pretty good manual on how to develop for it, also dual port RAM is expensive ($12 for that chip!).