PAL cart dimensions & pins

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jeffythedragonslayer
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PAL cart dimensions & pins

Post by jeffythedragonslayer »

What are the dimensions of a PAL cartridge? How many pins do they have?
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rainwarrior
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Re: PAL cart dimensions & pins

Post by rainwarrior »

PAL and NTSC cartridges have the same pins (62) and card edge connection.

The only shape difference is the plastic cart shell surrounding it, which prevents insertion of the cart in the other region. I believe carts for Japan and Europe use the same cart shell shape?

I don't know the exact dimensions of the PCB or the shells, though. Maybe someone else has a reference for that.
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TmEE
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Re: PAL cart dimensions & pins

Post by TmEE »

Japanese and european cartridges are identical in shape and what is inside on mechanical level. PCBs should be same in all regions while plastic is the only major difference. USA has cart shape that makes them not fit JP/EU machine, I'm not sure if JP/EU carts fit an USA machine, but I imagine not.
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rainwarrior
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Re: PAL cart dimensions & pins

Post by rainwarrior »

TmEE wrote: Thu May 19, 2022 9:23 pmI'm not sure if JP/EU carts fit an USA machine, but I imagine not.
The USA slot is larger, but they put two plastic tabs inside near the connector that fit into spaces in the wider USA cart shape.

So, for USA you can break the tabs off and then JP carts will fit.

Alternatively there's widely available extender adapters that don't require any mod, they just plug in and have a raised cart connector above, and usually a second connector for a local-region cart to provide the lockout.

More recently people make "universal" shells that are basically JP shape but with notches where the tabs would go, so they fit in USA SNES as well.
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jeffythedragonslayer
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Re: PAL cart dimensions & pins

Post by jeffythedragonslayer »

Thanks, my Seiken Densetsu 3 superfamicom cart is:

129mm length
20mm width (at the widest point in the middle)
87mm height

So PAL carts are the same as this.
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rainwarrior
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Re: PAL cart dimensions & pins

Post by rainwarrior »

Since I'm next to my SNES and some calipers, here's a US type cart for comparison:

Cart width: 135.4mm
Middle section width: 92.2mm

Side section depth: 17.0mm
Middle section depth: 19.9mm

Side section height: 84.2mm
Middle section height: 87.5mm

On both sides of the rear, there is a notch for the plastic tabs mentioned above.
The notch outer edge is 10.0mm from the side of the cart, is 4.9mm wide, 12.1mm high.

Front slot begins 28.9mm from bottom, and extends for 5.0mm wide above that.
Front slot is 83.6mm wide with rounded edges
Front slot is 5.4mm deep in the middle, 3.9mm deep in the centre
Centre trench is 24.8mm wide

Card edge hole is 97.5mm wide, 10.9mm deep
Card edge is 59.9mm wide 1.27mm thick
Card edge pins are 2.5mm from centre to centre (the pins are about 1.6mm wide each, the two on the ends are slightly wide)

Extended card edge is 89.9mm wide
Each of the extended card edge tabs is 12.55mm
Gaps between the tab and normal card edge is 2.2mm


My measurements are a little rough, 59.9 + 2 * (2.2 + 12.55) doesn't quite add up to 89.9. Pin pitch etc. are probably not as precise as the numbers i'm giving, but I assume if you're going to build an actual PCB you'd make better measurements of your own. I'm sure someone's already documented the official dimensions somewhere, but these will give a ballpark if you need it.

If you can find pictures of a USA cart it should hopefully be clear what all these points are. The front slot is a little groove that I think only early SNES models had a locking tab push into, tied to the sliding power switch, which prevented you from ejecting the cart while the power was on. Not all models of SNES have the locking tab, so it might not seem to serve a purpose if you don't have one of those. (Dunno if these similarly got removed in JP/EU models, though the carts do have a similar front slot.)
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Re: PAL cart dimensions & pins

Post by Pokun »

All Japanese and PAL models has the cartridge lock as far as I know. I've never seen one without it and my Japanese 1CHIP does have it so it's probably safe to assume all model 1 systems has it. I'm not sure about the Jr (which doesn't exist as PAL).

Most JPN/PAL cartridges has a grove that prevents it from being pulled out when the lock is engaged, but a few special cartridges such as the JPN/PAL Super Game Boy shell has a ramp instead which pushes the cartridge lock thing and therefore the power switch into the OFF position if you pull the cartridge out while power is ON.
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