Multi-memory controllers or memory management controllers (MMC) are different kinds of special

chips ''CHiPs'' is an American crime drama television series created by Rick Rosner and originally aired on NBC from September 15, 1977, to May 1, 1983. It follows the lives of two motorcycle officers of the California Highway Patrol (CHP). The seri ...

video game developer A video game developer is a broad term for a software developer specializing in video game development – the process and related disciplines of creating video games. A game developer can range from one person who undertakes all tasks to a larg ...

s for use in

Nintendo Entertainment System The Nintendo Entertainment System (NES) is an 8-bit third-generation home video game console produced by Nintendo. It was first released in Japan in 1983 as the commonly known as the The NES, a redesigned version, was released in American ...

(NES) cartridges. These chips extend the capabilities of the original console and make it possible to create NES games with features the original console cannot offer alone. The basic NES hardware supports only 40KB of ROM total, up to 32KB PRG and 8KB CHR, thus only a single tile and sprite table are possible. This limit was rapidly reached within the Famicom's first two years on the market and game developers began requesting a way to expand the console's capabilities. In the emulation community these chips are also known as ''mappers''.

List of MMC chips

CNROM

* Manufacturer: Nintendo * Games: ''

Gradius is a series of shooter video games, introduced in 1985, developed and published by Konami for a variety of portable, console and arcade platforms. In many games in the series, the player controls a ship known as the Vic Viper. Games *'' Sc ...

'', ''

Ghostbusters ''Ghostbusters'' is a 1984 American supernatural comedy film directed and produced by Ivan Reitman, and written by Dan Aykroyd and Harold Ramis. It stars Bill Murray, Aykroyd, and Ramis as Peter Venkman, Ray Stantz, and Egon Spengler, ...

'', ''

Gyruss is an arcade shoot 'em up game designed by Yoshiki Okamoto and released by Konami in 1983. ''Gyruss'' was initially licensed to Centuri in the United States for dedicated machines, before Konami released their own self-distributed conversion k ...

'', ''

Arkanoid is a 1986 block breaker arcade game developed and published by Taito. In North America, it was published by Romstar. Controlling a paddle-like craft known as the Vaus, the player is tasked with clearing a formation of colorful blocks by defl ...

'' CNROM is the earliest banking hardware introduced on the Famicom, appearing in early 1986. It consists of a single 7400 series discrete logic chip. CNROM supports a single fixed PRG bank and up to eight CHR banks for 96KB total ROM. Some third party variations supported additional capabilities. Many CNROM games store the game level data in the CHR ROM and blank the screen while reading it.

UNROM

* Manufacturer: Nintendo * Games: ''

Pro Wrestling Professional wrestling is a form of theater that revolves around staged wrestling matches. The mock combat is performed in a ring similar to the kind used in boxing, and the dramatic aspects of pro wrestling may be performed both in the ring or ...

'', ''

Ikari Warriors ''Ikari Warriors'', known as in Japan, is a Vertically scrolling video game, vertically-scrolling, run-and-gun shooter arcade video game released by SNK in 1986. It was published in North America by Tradewest. The game was released at the time w ...

'', ''

Mega Man ''Mega Man'', known as in Japan, is a Japanese science fiction video game franchise created by Capcom, starring a series of robot characters each known by the moniker "Mega Man (character), Mega Man". Mega Man (video game), The original game w ...

'', '' Contra'', ''

Castlevania ''Castlevania'' (), known in Japan as is a gothic horror action-adventure video game series and media franchise about Dracula (Castlevania), Dracula, created and developed by Konami. It has been released on various platforms, from early system ...

'' Early NES mappers are composed of

7400 series The 7400 series of integrated circuits (ICs) are a popular logic family of transistor–transistor logic (TTL) logic chips. In 1964, Texas Instruments introduced the SN5400 series of logic chips, in a ceramic semiconductor package. A low- ...

discrete logic chips. UNROM appeared in late 1986. It supports a single fixed 16KB PRG bank, the rest of the PRG being switchable. Instead of a dedicated ROM chip to hold graphics data (called CHR by Nintendo), games using UNROM store graphics data on the program ROM and copy it to a RAM on the cartridge at run time.

MMC1

* Manufacturer: Nintendo * Games: ''

The Legend of Zelda ''The Legend of Zelda'' is an action-adventure game franchise created by the Japanese game designers Shigeru Miyamoto and Takashi Tezuka. It is primarily developed and published by Nintendo, although some portable installments and re-releas ...

'', ''

Mega Man 2 ''Mega Man 2'' is an action game developed and published by Capcom for the Nintendo Entertainment System. It was released in Japan in 1988 and in North America and PAL regions the following years. ''Mega Man 2'' continues Mega Man's battle agai ...

'', '' Metroid'', '' Godzilla: Monster of Monsters'', ''

Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles ''Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles'' is an American media franchise created by the comic book artists Kevin Eastman and Peter Laird. It follows Leonardo (Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles), Leonardo, Michelangelo (Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles), Miche ...

'', and more. The MMC1 is Nintendo's first custom MMC integrated circuit to incorporate support for saved games and multi-directional scrolling configurations. The chip comes in at least five different versions: ''MMC1A'', ''MMC1B1'', ''MMC1B2'', ''MMC1B3'' and ''MMC1C''. The differences between the different versions are slight, mostly owing to savegame memory protection behavior. The MMC1 chip allows for switching of different memory banks. Program ROM can be selected in 16KB or 32KB chunks, and character

ROM Rom, or ROM may refer to: Biomechanics and medicine * Risk of mortality, a medical classification to estimate the likelihood of death for a patient * Rupture of membranes, a term used during pregnancy to describe a rupture of the amniotic sac * ...

can be selected in 4KB or 8KB chunks. An unusual feature of this memory controller is that its input is serial, rather than

parallel Parallel is a geometric term of location which may refer to: Computing * Parallel algorithm * Parallel computing * Parallel metaheuristic * Parallel (software), a UNIX utility for running programs in parallel * Parallel Sysplex, a cluster of I ...

, so 5 sequential writes (with

bit shifting In computer programming, a bitwise operation operates on a bit string, a bit array or a binary numeral (considered as a bit string) at the level of its individual bits. It is a fast and simple action, basic to the higher-level arithmetic operat ...

) are needed to send a command to the

circuit Circuit may refer to: Science and technology Electrical engineering * Electrical circuit, a complete electrical network with a closed-loop giving a return path for current ** Analog circuit, uses continuous signal levels ** Balanced circu ...

MMC2

* Manufacturer: Nintendo * Games: ''

Mike Tyson's Punch-Out!! originally titled is a 1987 boxing video game developed and published by Nintendo for the Nintendo Entertainment System (NES). Part of the ''Punch-Out!!'' series, it is an adaptation of the arcade video games ''Punch-Out!!'' (1984) and '' Supe ...

'' The MMC2 is only used in ''Mike Tyson's Punch-Out!!'' and the later rerelease which replaced

Mike Tyson Michael Gerard Tyson (born June 30, 1966) is an American former professional boxer who competed from 1985 to 2005. Nicknamed "Iron Mike" and "Kid Dynamite" in his early career, and later known as "The Baddest Man on the Planet", Tyson is con ...

. A single 8KB bank of program ROM can be selected (with the remaining 24KB locked) and character ROM can be selected in ''two pairs'' of 4KB banks, which would be automatically switched when the video hardware attempts to load particular graphic tiles from memory, thus allowing a larger amount of graphics to be used on the screen without the need for the game itself to manually switch them.

MMC3

* Manufacturer: Nintendo * Games: '' Mega Man 3'', '' 4'', '' 5'', '' 6'', '' Super Mario Bros. 2''^NA/EU, '' Super Mario Bros. 3'', ''

Kirby's Adventure ''Kirby's Adventure'' is a 1993 platform game developed by HAL Laboratory and published by Nintendo for the Nintendo Entertainment System (NES). It is the second game in the ''Kirby'' series after ''Kirby's Dream Land'' (1992) on the Game Boy ...

'', and more. The MMC3 was introduced in 1988. It adds an IRQ timer to allow split screen scrolling without the sacrifice of sprite 0, along with two selectable 8KB program ROM banks and two 2KB+four 1KB selectable character ROM banks, which allows easy instant swapping of sprite and tile data. 8KB of save game RAM is supported.

MMC4

* Manufacturer: Nintendo * Games: ''

Fire Emblem is a fantasy tactical role-playing game franchise developed by Intelligent Systems and published by Nintendo. First produced and published for the Nintendo Entertainment System, Famicom in 1990, the series currently consists of sixteen core e ...

'', ''

Fire Emblem Gaiden is a tactical role-playing game developed by Intelligent Systems and published by Nintendo for the Famicom. Released in March 1992, it is the second installment in the ''Fire Emblem'' series and the last to be developed for the Famicom. It bui ...

'', and ''

Famicom Wars is a wargame developed by Nintendo and Intelligent Systems and published by Nintendo for the Famicom. It was released on August 12, 1988 in Japan. It was later re-released on Virtual Console. It is the first game in the ''Wars'' series. Gamepl ...

'' This chip is only used in three games, all of which were released only for the

Famicom The Nintendo Entertainment System (NES) is an 8-bit third-generation home video game console produced by Nintendo. It was first released in Japan in 1983 as the commonly known as the The NES, a redesigned version, was released in American ...

in Japan, and were developed by

Intelligent Systems is a Japanese video game developer best known for developing games with Nintendo and the ''Fire Emblem'', ''Paper Mario'', ''WarioWare'', and ''Wars'' video game series. Originally, the company was headquartered at the Nintendo Kyoto Research ...

. Functionally, it is nearly identical to the MMC2, with the only difference being that the MMC4 switches program ROM in 16KB banks instead of 8KB banks and has support for a battery-backed SRAM to save game data.

MMC5

* Manufacturer: Nintendo * Games: '' Castlevania III: Dracula's Curse''^NA/EU, ''

Just Breed is a tactical role-playing game published by Enix for the Famicom. It was released exclusively in Japan in 1992. Although it is somewhat obscure and was overlooked due to its late release, it is notable for its long development and as one of t ...

'', ''

Metal Slader Glory ''Metal Slader Glory'' is an adventure game developed and published by HAL Laboratory for the Famicom in 1991. The game is set in 2062 after humans have colonized the Moon and established several space stations. Earth-based mechanic Tadashi and ...

'', '' Laser Invasion'', ''Uchuu Keibitai SDF'', ''Nobunaga's Ambition II'', ''Nobunaga no Yabou - Sengoku Gunyuu Den'', ''

Bandit Kings of Ancient China ''Bandit Kings of Ancient China'', also known as in Japan, is a turn-based strategy video game developed and published by Koei, and released in 1989 for MSX, MS-DOS, Amiga, and Macintosh and in 1990 for the Nintendo Entertainment System. In 199 ...

'', ''

Romance of the Three Kingdoms II is the second in the '' Romance of the Three Kingdoms'' series of turn-based strategy games produced by Koei and based on the historical novel '' Romance of the Three Kingdoms''. Gameplay Upon starting the game, players choose from one of six s ...

'', ''

Uncharted Waters ''Uncharted Waters'' (originally released as , "Great Age of Sailing") is a Japanese video game series produced by Koei under its " Rekoeition" brand. It is a simulation and role-playing video game series dealing with sailing and trading, themed a ...

'', '' Genghis Khan II: Clan of the Gray Wolf'', '' Gemfire'', '' L'Empereur'', ''Ishin no Arashi'', ''Shin 4 Nin Uchi Mahjong - Yakuman Tengoku'', ''Rockman 4 Minus Infinity'' The MMC5 is Nintendo's most advanced MMC. It was originally also the most expensive. Only

Koei Koei Co., Ltd. was a Japanese video game publisher, developer, and distributor founded in 1978. The company is known for its ''Dynasty Warriors'' games based on the novel ''Romance of the Three Kingdoms'', as well as simulation games based on ...

used this chip regularly. It is similar to Konami's VRC6, but interrupt handling works differently. The chip has 1KB of extra

RAM Ram, ram, or RAM may refer to: Animals * A male sheep * Ram cichlid, a freshwater tropical fish People * Ram (given name) * Ram (surname) * Ram (director) (Ramsubramaniam), an Indian Tamil film director * RAM (musician) (born 1974), Dutch ...

, two extra

square wave A square wave is a non-sinusoidal periodic waveform in which the amplitude alternates at a steady frequency between fixed minimum and maximum values, with the same duration at minimum and maximum. In an ideal square wave, the transitions b ...

sound channels, one extra PCM sound channel, support for vertical split screen scrolling, improved graphics capabilities (making 16,384 different tiles available per screen rather than only 256, and allowing each individual 8x8-pixel background tile to have its own color assignment instead of being restricted to one color set per 2x2 tile group), highly configurable program ROM and character ROM bank switching, and a scanline-based IRQ counter. The MMC5 supports up to 2MB total ROM, however no commercially released game exceeded 1MB.

MMC6

* Manufacturer: Nintendo * Games: '' StarTropics'', '' Zoda's Revenge: StarTropics II'' The MMC6 is similar to the MMC3, with an additional 1 KB of RAM which can be saved with battery backup.

Famicom Disk System

* Manufacturer: Nintendo * Games: '' Akumajo Dracula'', '' Arumana no Kiseki'', ''

Ai Senshi Nicol is a 1987 action-adventure game by Konami for the Family Computer Disk System. It was only released in Japan Japan ( ja, 日本, or , and formally , ''Nihonkoku'') is an island country in East Asia. It is situated in the northwest P ...

'', ''Big Challenge! Dogfight Spirit'', '' Bio Miracle Bokutte Upa'', '' Crackout''^JP, ''

Double Dribble In basketball, an illegal dribble (colloquially called a double dribble or dribbling violation) occurs when a player ends their dribble by catching or causing the ball to come to rest in one or both hands and then dribbles it again with one hand ...

''^JP, '' Dracula II'', '' Falsion'', '' Famicom Tantei Club Part II: Ushiro ni Tatsu Shōjo'', ''

Kid Icarus ''Kid Icarus'' is a platform video game developed and published by Nintendo for the Family Computer Disk System in Japan and the Nintendo Entertainment System in Europe and North America. It was released in Japan in December 1986, in Europe in Feb ...

''^JP, '' KiKi KaiKai'', '' Meikyuu Jiin Dababa'', '' Metroid''^JP, ''

''^JP, ''Relics - Ankoku Yousai'', '' Risa no Yōsei Densetsu'', ''

Shin Onigashima , often simply referred to as ''Shin Onigashima'', is an adventure game developed by Nintendo R&D4 and Pax Softnica and published by Nintendo. It was first released on two disk cards for the Family Computer Disk System. The first disk was release ...

'', '' Super Mario Bros. 2''^JP, ''

'' (FDS release), '' The Mysterious Murasame Castle'', ''Vs. Excitebike'', ''

Yūyūki , often simply titled as , is a text-based adventure video game title developed by Nintendo and Pax Softnica and published by Nintendo exclusively in Japan for the Family Computer Disk System. It is the second of the ''Famicom Mukashibanashi'' ...

'', '' Zelda II: The Adventure of Link''^JP, and more. The

Famicom Disk System The commonly shortened to the Famicom Disk System or just Disk System, is a peripheral for Nintendo's Family Computer home video game console, released only in Japan on February 21, 1986. It uses proprietary floppy disks called "Disk Cards" for ...

ASIC An application-specific integrated circuit (ASIC ) is an integrated circuit (IC) chip customized for a particular use, rather than intended for general-purpose use, such as a chip designed to run in a digital voice recorder or a high-effici ...

is an extended audio chip, which supports one channel of single-cycle (6-bit × 64 step) wavetable-lookup synthesis with a built in phase modulator (PM) for sound generation similar to

frequency modulation synthesis Frequency modulation synthesis (or FM synthesis) is a form of sound synthesis whereby the frequency of a waveform is changed by modulating its frequency with a modulator. The frequency of an oscillator is altered "in accordance with the amplitud ...

. Some cartridge conversions of Disk System games have MMCs to replace the audio channel.

AOROM

* Manufacturer: Nintendo * Games: ''

Battletoads ''Battletoads'' is a video game media franchise by Rare that began with the original beat 'em up game '' Battletoads'' in 1991. Starring three anthropomorphic toads named after skin conditions, Rash, Zitz, and Pimple, the series was created t ...

'', ''

Wizards & Warriors ''Wizards & Warriors'', titled ' in Japan, is an action platform video game developed by Rare and published by Acclaim Entertainment and Jaleco for the Nintendo Entertainment System. It was released in North America in December 1987, and in Eur ...

'', ''

Cobra Triangle ''Cobra Triangle'' is a 1989 racing video game developed by Rare and published by Nintendo for the Nintendo Entertainment System. The player controls a weapon-equipped speedboat through 25 levels. Objectives include winning races, saving swim ...

'', ''

Jeopardy! ''Jeopardy!'' is an American game show created by Merv Griffin. The show is a quiz competition that reverses the traditional question-and-answer format of many quiz shows. Rather than being given questions, contestants are instead given ge ...

'' The A*ROM MMC, named after the AMROM, ANROM, and AOROM cartridge boards that use it, was developed by

Chris Stamper Brothers Tim and Chris Stamper are British entrepreneurs who founded the video game companies Ultimate Play the Game and Rare. They first worked together on arcade conversion kits, which were licensed to companies, but later became developer ...

of Rare, and manufactured by Nintendo. It is found in games developed by Rare for Nintendo, Tradewest, GameTek, Acclaim, and Milton Bradley. It allows the PRG ROM to be switched in a single 32KB piece and uses CHR RAM for up to 256KB total ROM. Unlike other chips, it uses one screen mirroring.

Third-party chips

Nintendo maintained tight control over internationally-released cartridge hardware and did not allow third parties to use their own PCBs and mappers. This remained the case until late in the NES's commercial lifespan when Nintendo eased up the restrictions. As a result most third party mappers will only be found in Famicom or unlicensed cartridges.

VRC1

* Manufacturer: Konami, Jaleco (SS8805) * Games: ''Exciting Boxing'', ''Ganbare Goemon! Karakuri Douchuu'', ''Jajamaru Ninpouchou'', ''King Kong 2: Ikari no Megaton Punch, Moero!!'', ''Junior Basket: Two on Two'', ''Tetsuwan Atom''

VRC2

* Manufacturer: Konami * Games: '' Contra''^JP, ''

Tiny Toon Adventures ''Tiny Toon Adventures'' is an American animated comedy television series that was broadcast from September 14, 1990, to December 6, 1992. It was the first collaborative effort of Steven Spielberg's Amblin Television and Warner Bros. Animation ...

''^JP, '' Akumajō Special: Boku Dracula-kun'' The VRC2 is a chip from Konami that allows program ROM to be switched in 8KB banks, and character ROM to be switched in 1KB banks. This MMC has two known revisions: VRC2a and VRC2b.

VRC3

* Manufacturer:

Konami , is a Japanese multinational video game and entertainment company headquartered in Chūō, Tokyo, it also produces and distributes trading cards, anime, tokusatsu, pachinko machines, slot machines, and arcade cabinets. Konami has casi ...

* Games: ''

Salamander Salamanders are a group of amphibians typically characterized by their lizard-like appearance, with slender bodies, blunt snouts, short limbs projecting at right angles to the body, and the presence of a tail in both larvae and adults. All ten ...

''^JP Exclusively used in the Japanese version of ''Salamander''.

VRC4

* Manufacturer:

* Games: '' Gradius II''^JP, '' Crisis Force'', ''Bio Miracle:Boku tte Upa'', ''Ganbare Goemon Gaiden 2'', ''WaiWai World'', ''WaiWai World 2'', ''Twinbee 3'' The VRC4 Chip is similar to the VRC2 chip, other than the VRC4 allowing for 512KB CHR capacity, 2 8KB PRG ROM banking modes and 1 screen mirroring.

VRC5

* Manufacturer:

* Games: ''Space School''^JP Exclusively used in the QTa adapter in Konami's ''Space School'' series of educational games.

VRC6

* Manufacturer:

* Games: '' Akumajō Densetsu'', ''Mōryō Senki MADARA'', '' Esper Dream II'' The VRC6 (Virtual Rom Controller) is an advanced MMC chip from Konami, supporting bank switching for both program code and graphics as well as a CPU cycle–based IRQ counter, which can also act as a scanline counter. The chip also contains support for three extra sound channels (two

s of eight

duty cycle A duty cycle or power cycle is the fraction of one period in which a signal or system is active. Duty cycle is commonly expressed as a percentage or a ratio. A period is the time it takes for a signal to complete an on-and-off cycle. As a formu ...

s each, and one

sawtooth wave The sawtooth wave (or saw wave) is a kind of non-sinusoidal waveform. It is so named based on its resemblance to the teeth of a plain-toothed saw with a zero rake angle. A single sawtooth, or an intermittently triggered sawtooth, is called a ...

). It is used in ''Akumajō Densetsu'' (the Japanese version of '' Castlevania III: Dracula's Curse''), while the Western version uses the MMC5 from Nintendo. Since the

does not allow cartridges to add additional sound channels, the Famicom version's soundtrack was reworked to follow those specifications; thus the soundtrack on the Western version is implemented by the five sound channels built into the stock NES.

VRC7

* Manufacturer:

Yamaha Yamaha may refer to: * Yamaha Corporation, a Japanese company with a wide range of products and services, established in 1887. The company is the largest shareholder of Yamaha Motor Company (below). ** Yamaha Music Foundation, an organization estab ...

* Games: ''

Lagrange Point In celestial mechanics, the Lagrange points (; also Lagrangian points or libration points) are points of equilibrium for small-mass objects under the influence of two massive orbiting bodies. Mathematically, this involves the solution of t ...

'', '' Tiny Toon Adventures 2: Trouble in Wackyland'' The VRC7 is an advanced MMC chip from Konami, supporting bank switching and IRQ counting equivalent to the VRC6, and containing a

YM2413 The YM2413, a.k.a. OPLL, is a cost-reduced FM synthesis sound chip manufactured by Yamaha Corporation and based on their YM3812 (OPL2). To make the chip cheaper to manufacture, many of the internal registers were removed. The result of this is th ...

derivative providing 6 channels of

FM Synthesis Frequency modulation synthesis (or FM synthesis) is a form of sound synthesis whereby the frequency of a waveform is changed by modulating its frequency with a modulator. The frequency of an oscillator is altered "in accordance with the amplitud ...

audio. This advanced audio is used only in the Famicom game ''Lagrange Point''. The Japanese version of ''Tiny Toon Adventures 2'' uses the VRC7 but not the extended audio.

Namco 163

* Manufacturer:

Namco was a Japanese multinational corporation, multinational video game and entertainment company, headquartered in Ōta, Tokyo. It held several international branches, including Namco America in Santa Clara, California, Namco Europe in London, Na ...

* Games: ''

Erika to Satoru no Yume Bōken is a 1988 Japan-exclusive adventure video game for the Family Computer. The setting of this game is 20th century Japan. Two-player adventure games were seen as very rare at the time of the game's release; even in Japan. However, only one pe ...

'', ''

Final Lap is a 1987 racing simulation video game developed and published by Namco. Atari Games published the game in the United States in 1988. It was the first game to run on Namco's then-new System 2 hardware and is a direct successor to Namco's ''Pol ...

'', '' King of Kings'', '' Mappy Kids'', '' Digital Devil Story: Megami Tensei II'', ''Namco Classic II'', ''

Romance of the Three Kingdoms ''Romance of the Three Kingdoms'' () is a 14th-century historical novel attributed to Luo Guanzhong. It is set in the turbulent years towards the end of the Han dynasty and the Three Kingdoms period in Chinese history, starting in 184 AD an ...

'', ''

Yokai Dochuki is a 1987 platform game, platform arcade game developed and released by Namco in Japan and other parts of Asia. The player controls a young boy named Tarosuke as he must make his way through Jigoku, the Japanese concept of Hell, to reach Gautama ...

'', '' Rolling Thunder''^JP, ''Top Striker'' The 163 has been only used in games exclusive to Japan. Its capabilities were a little better than Nintendo's MMC3. A variant contained extra sound hardware that plays 4-bit wave samples. It supports 1 to 8 extra sound channels, but audible

aliasing In signal processing and related disciplines, aliasing is an effect that causes different signals to become indistinguishable (or ''aliases'' of one another) when sampled. It also often refers to the distortion or artifact that results when ...

appears when a sufficiently large number of channels are enabled.

FME-7

* Manufacturer:

Sunsoft , stylized as SUNSOFT, is a Japanese video game developer and publisher. Sunsoft is the video games division of Japanese electronics manufacturer Sun Corporation. Its U.S. subsidiary operated under the name Sun Corporation of America, though, ...

* Games: '' Batman: Return of the Joker'', ''

Hebereke is a video game series developed by Sunsoft that was released primarily in Japan, with a few releases in Europe and one release in North America. It was one of the company's main franchises during the 1990s. Hebe, the main character of the se ...

'', and more. The FME-7 is a memory mapping circuit developed by Sunsoft for use in NES and Famicom cartridges. It switches program ROM in 8KB banks and switches the character ROM 1KB banks. It also contains hardware to generate IRQ signals after a specified number of CPU

clock cycle In electronics and especially synchronous digital circuits, a clock signal (historically also known as ''logic beat'') oscillates between a high and a low state and is used like a metronome to coordinate actions of digital circuits. A clock signa ...

s, thus achieving split-screen effects with minimal use of processing power.

SUNSOFT-4

* Manufacturer:

SUNSOFT 5B

* Manufacturer:

* Games: ''

Gimmick! , released in Scandinavia as ''Mr. Gimmick'', is a platform video game developed and published by Sunsoft, and originally released in Japan for the Family Computer in 1992. The story follows a small green '' yōkai'' named Yumetaro who was ...

'' This version of the FME-7 contains a version of the widely used

Yamaha YM2149 The AY-3-8910 is a 3-voice programmable sound generator (PSG) designed by General Instrument in 1978, initially for use with their 16-bit CP1610 or one of the PIC1650 series of 8-bit microcomputers. The AY-3-8910 and its variants were used i ...

Unlicensed MMCs

Some individual (

homebrew Homebrewing mainly refers to small-scale, non-commercial manufacture of a drink, typically beer. Homebrew or home brew may also refer to: Computing * Homebrew Computer Club * Homebrew (package manager), for macOS and Linux * Homebrew (video game ...

) and unlicensed developers have made custom MMCs for the NES, most of which simply expand the available memory.

228

* Manufacturer:

Active Enterprises Active may refer to: Music * ''Active'' (album), a 1992 album by Casiopea * Active Records, a record label Ships * ''Active'' (ship), several commercial ships by that name * HMS ''Active'', the name of various ships of the British Royal ...

* Games: ''

Action 52 ''Action 52'' is an unlicensed, multicart video game compilation developed by Active Enterprises for the Nintendo Entertainment System, and by FarSight Studios, FarSight Technologies for the Sega Genesis. The NES version was released in 1991, fol ...

'', ''

Cheetahmen II ''The Cheetahmen'' is a video game series created by Active Enterprises featuring three anthropomorphic cheetahs. It was introduced in 1991, as part of the '' Action 52'' multi-game cartridge for the NES. It is notable for its main theme, as it wa ...

'' 228 is a simple bank switching MMC developed for use in the games ''Action 52'' and ''Cheetahmen II''. It does not have a nametable control bit. In the ''Action 52'' multicart, it also contains a small 16-bit register area that contains the old menu selection when exiting a game.

GTROM

* Manufacturer: Membler Industries GTROM or Cheapocadabra is a self-flashable MMC developed in 2015 for the homebrew market. The board contains 512K of PRG ROM, 16K of CHR ROM, and two LEDs. While the GTROM does not contain PRG RAM, saved games are possible due to PRG ROM being flashable by NES software.

References

{{reflist Integrated circuits Memory management

List of MMC chips

CNROM

UNROM

MMC1

MMC2

MMC3

MMC4

MMC5

MMC6

Famicom Disk System

AOROM

Third-party chips

VRC1

VRC2

VRC3

VRC4

VRC5

VRC6

VRC7

Namco 163

FME-7

SUNSOFT-4

SUNSOFT 5B

Unlicensed MMCs

228

GTROM

See also

References