game boy Work In Progress: Complete List of NA(US) Game Boy Cartridge Variants

[DK | 260]

Since we're on the topic of Super Mario Land - have you ever seen this HKG variant?

[JVOSS | 1,762]

18 minutes ago, phart010 said:

Since all have MANI pcbs, would you think that these are all manufactured by the same company?

no they have to different manufacturing codes  HS and CS. 

[JVOSS | 1,762]

12 minutes ago, DK said:

Since we're on the topic of Super Mario Land - have you ever seen this HKG variant?

yes.  just traded one last month.

[JVOSS | 1,762]

[samsamsamsmasmasma | 16]

On 1/14/2022 at 6:29 PM, JVOSS said:

YES

Hey would you mind sharing a picture of the new dr. Mario variant? I am still confused to what new was discovered.

[JVOSS | 1,762]

4 hours ago, samsamsamsmasmasma said:

Hey would you mind sharing a picture of the new dr. Mario variant? I am still confused to what new was discovered.

Original data:

First Release  1990   3 line link  and 2 line link (both with out ROM A and with in the same PCB date IC is the same)
Second Release 1991 2 line link ROM A
Third Release 1993 2 line link ROM A
Fourth Release 1994 2 line link ROM A
Fifth Release 1996 2 line link ROM A
Sixth Release 1997  Million seller ROM A (cart has R For DR. Mario)
Seventh Release 1998  best buy ROM A  Only one time frame for pcb and IC (Cart has R For Dr. Mario)

Revised data: 

First Release  1990   3 line link (with out ROM A and with in the same PCB date IC is the same)
*First Release  1990   2 line link (with out ROM A and with in the same PCB date IC is the same)
Second Release 1991 2 line link ROM A
Third Release 1993 2 line link ROM A
Fourth Release 1994 2 line link ROM A
Fifth Release 1996 2 line link ROM A
Sixth Release 1997  Million seller ROM A (cart has R For DR. Mario)
**Seventh Release 1998  best buy ROM A  Only one time frame for pcb and IC (Cart has R For Dr. Mario)

this is the data to try and match the box to a cart.  the highlighted is the data for the "New" finds.
*is a label variant.  this is a 2 line game boy link label and it will have no "rom A" on the label.

** is not a label variant how ever it is the only run that is in the manufacturing date range and can only be identified by the pcb.   the PCB will have 98 on the back and will be a 10 in the pcb code.

 

[samsamsamsmasmasma | 16]

16 hours ago, JVOSS said:

Original data:

First Release  1990   3 line link  and 2 line link (both with out ROM A and with in the same PCB date IC is the same)
Second Release 1991 2 line link ROM A
Third Release 1993 2 line link ROM A
Fourth Release 1994 2 line link ROM A
Fifth Release 1996 2 line link ROM A
Sixth Release 1997  Million seller ROM A (cart has R For DR. Mario)
Seventh Release 1998  best buy ROM A  Only one time frame for pcb and IC (Cart has R For Dr. Mario)

Revised data: 

First Release  1990   3 line link (with out ROM A and with in the same PCB date IC is the same)
*First Release  1990   2 line link (with out ROM A and with in the same PCB date IC is the same)
Second Release 1991 2 line link ROM A
Third Release 1993 2 line link ROM A
Fourth Release 1994 2 line link ROM A
Fifth Release 1996 2 line link ROM A
Sixth Release 1997  Million seller ROM A (cart has R For DR. Mario)
**Seventh Release 1998  best buy ROM A  Only one time frame for pcb and IC (Cart has R For Dr. Mario)

this is the data to try and match the box to a cart.  the highlighted is the data for the "New" finds.
*is a label variant.  this is a 2 line game boy link label and it will have no "rom A" on the label.

** is not a label variant how ever it is the only run that is in the manufacturing date range and can only be identified by the pcb.   the PCB will have 98 on the back and will be a 10 in the pcb code.

 

What is "rom A"?

[JVOSS | 1,762]

34 minutes ago, samsamsamsmasmasma said:

What is "rom A"?

Read Only Memory Version A or(1).  Rom Variant are were the games code is altered to do one or more of the following.  Fix miner bug, Fix major bug, changer owner ship, add new content, or just to clean up code.  Nintendo world we call them "rom A", "rom B" or "rom C" because of the way the rom changes are indicated. the letter that is next to the number that is embossed on the front of game labels.

they are also indicated by the code that is located on the chip on the pcb.  usually it will look like DMG-FFE-1, or DMG-FFE-2.  (this is just an example code and may or may not be real). One of the most familiar ROM A code is Tetris.  if you know of the “Minuet” version?  the “Minuet” is original game code for Tetris.  at some time Nintendo removed the “Minuet” version and replaced it with the more familiar "A-Type" version you now here.

most rom updates are not noticeable. so very little people follow or know about them.  GB more specifically the US DMG has 38 Rom variants.

 

[samsamsamsmasmasma | 16]

6 hours ago, JVOSS said:

Read Only Memory Version A or(1).  Rom Variant are were the games code is altered to do one or more of the following.  Fix miner bug, Fix major bug, changer owner ship, add new content, or just to clean up code.  Nintendo world we call them "rom A", "rom B" or "rom C" because of the way the rom changes are indicated. the letter that is next to the number that is embossed on the front of game labels.

they are also indicated by the code that is located on the chip on the pcb.  usually it will look like DMG-FFE-1, or DMG-FFE-2.  (this is just an example code and may or may not be real). One of the most familiar ROM A code is Tetris.  if you know of the “Minuet” version?  the “Minuet” is original game code for Tetris.  at some time Nintendo removed the “Minuet” version and replaced it with the more familiar "A-Type" version you now here.

most rom updates are not noticeable. so very little people follow or know about them.  GB more specifically the US DMG has 38 Rom variants.

 

I guess I just don't see how any of that counts as a label variant. Are you talking about the little number letter indentations on the front label? Like the 22A? The four I have are the four on the list. Are we adding another? Are you counting 6 label variants?

[bowser | 598]

39 minutes ago, samsamsamsmasmasma said:

I guess I just don't see how any of that counts as a label variant. Are you talking about the little number letter indentations on the front label? Like the 22A? The four I have are the four on the list. Are we adding another? Are you counting 6 label variants?

From what I understand there are now 5 label variants:

1) 3-line Game Link logo

2) 2-line Game Link logo with no letter A in stamped code

3) 2-line Game Link logo with letter A in stamped code

4) Player's Choice

5) Best Buy rated E

 

I think the 2nd one is the newly discovered variant.

Edited June 10, 2022 by bowser

[samsamsamsmasmasma | 16]

14 minutes ago, bowser said:

From what I understand there are now 5 label variants:

1) 3-line Game Link logo

2) 2-line Game Link logo with no letter A in stamped code

3) 2-line Game Link logo with letter A in stamped code

4) Player's Choice

5) Best Buy rated E

 

I think the 2nd one is the newly discovered variant.

Oh okay. Thanks for clearing that up. I didn't realize we were counting the stamp differences now.

[JVOSS | 1,762]

26 minutes ago, samsamsamsmasmasma said:

Oh okay. Thanks for clearing that up. I didn't realize we were counting the stamp differences now.

@samsamsamsmasmasmafor @RH's thread no. how ever for the "ROM Variants" it's located here  Work In Progress: Complete List of NA(US) Game Boy DMG Cartridge ROM Variants  .  were i talked all about the "rom variants and some of the ones that have a rom variant and not a base cart.  currently the count is at 3 for this issue but rom variants are at 35+

you have to be very very careful how you say "Stamp", for the simple reason there are over 10 different "stamps" for most cart not counting the variants. i like to keep the terminology to be kept to the "Rom version". ether way this is not what this thread is about. here we are focused on just the -1,-2 variants with a splash of "rom" variants talk. 

[JVOSS | 1,762]

1 hour ago, samsamsamsmasmasma said:

Are you counting 6 label variants?

no we was trying to identify box variants to cart variants.  and where the 3 line logo was chained to 2 line logo.  that is when we found the 2 line logo non rom a variant.  the question was asked do we include this to the list?  this is a deep rabbit hole and should be talked about before any additions to the list.

i'm in the camp that a rom variant should be.  for reasons: it helps document what/if there was a major changes before a -1 , -2 label update occurred. So far there has be an major update before the new label ie -1,-2, or -3 update.

for example  SML has 4 variants (IMHO) you have:
DMG-ML-USA
DMG-ML-USA-a (w/Rom update A)
DMG-ML-USA-1 (w/Rom Update A)
DMG-ML-USA-2 (w/Rom Update A)

or  Zelda's 6 cart variants (IMHO) you have:

DMG-ZL-USA
DMG-ZL-USA-A (w/Rom Update A)
DMG-ZL-USA-B (w/Rom Update B)
DMG-ZL-USA-1b (w/Rom Update B)
DMG-ZL-USA-2b (w/Rom Update B)
DMG-ZL-USA-3b (w/Rom Update B)

and there are more covered over at the ROM Variant tracking.

 

[creepsthething | 9]

Do yall see this? https://www.ebay.com/itm/255754605788?epid=56211474&hash=item3b8c2994dc:g:jXkAAOSwpbFjOH-P&amdata=enc%3AAQAHAAAA8AyUnZ1wt802vbbDfShkAH2iPK%2F5xF7nmKRC4SbD8qRov%2FPrKpIHVM8HVFQ8O%2B1FCmFdCxcD7DWwBNSBEkpJVewAcpva3NDSTiiaSClq7m9CKUkBOM%2BfnXqrNXwSmdNixbd1Gs1UYkIaFXs1oUKbo%2FNplzrmBvbf4OCe1rgU5x8a%2FzKCdTCN4FlKRrw8N6rqQFLvSmiRsicjHEZ%2Bo0ng1kogXFhXLPx39Q3QjW5OY1evtEL4RxvKxomEldmkrGyoPM5QDVsCF4Ap0R9ZpbxYRflyCUnEhlUuA5hyqnuRjD%2FL%2Bz%2FB7p%2FaqEPh7H4rS2gGLA%3D%3D|tkp%3ABk9SR_jv0PbyYA

 

KA SML1 (DMG-ML-USA-1) but with a BEAN-20 board and a ROM chip date of 9936...?

[RH | 4,903]

18 hours ago, creepsthething said:

Do yall see this? https://www.ebay.com/itm/255754605788?epid=56211474&hash=item3b8c2994dc:g:jXkAAOSwpbFjOH-P&amdata=enc%3AAQAHAAAA8AyUnZ1wt802vbbDfShkAH2iPK%2F5xF7nmKRC4SbD8qRov%2FPrKpIHVM8HVFQ8O%2B1FCmFdCxcD7DWwBNSBEkpJVewAcpva3NDSTiiaSClq7m9CKUkBOM%2BfnXqrNXwSmdNixbd1Gs1UYkIaFXs1oUKbo%2FNplzrmBvbf4OCe1rgU5x8a%2FzKCdTCN4FlKRrw8N6rqQFLvSmiRsicjHEZ%2Bo0ng1kogXFhXLPx39Q3QjW5OY1evtEL4RxvKxomEldmkrGyoPM5QDVsCF4Ap0R9ZpbxYRflyCUnEhlUuA5hyqnuRjD%2FL%2Bz%2FB7p%2FaqEPh7H4rS2gGLA%3D%3D|tkp%3ABk9SR_jv0PbyYA

 

KA SML1 (DMG-ML-USA-1) but with a BEAN-20 board and a ROM chip date of 9936...?

That’s really odd.  I can’t imagine who would hack this together.  Maybe when the were making the final release they still had half a reel of old -1 they used up before they used the new -2s.  I really can’t explain this.

[creepsthething | 9]

21 hours ago, creepsthething said:

Do yall see this? https://www.ebay.com/itm/255754605788?epid=56211474&hash=item3b8c2994dc:g:jXkAAOSwpbFjOH-P&amdata=enc%3AAQAHAAAA8AyUnZ1wt802vbbDfShkAH2iPK%2F5xF7nmKRC4SbD8qRov%2FPrKpIHVM8HVFQ8O%2B1FCmFdCxcD7DWwBNSBEkpJVewAcpva3NDSTiiaSClq7m9CKUkBOM%2BfnXqrNXwSmdNixbd1Gs1UYkIaFXs1oUKbo%2FNplzrmBvbf4OCe1rgU5x8a%2FzKCdTCN4FlKRrw8N6rqQFLvSmiRsicjHEZ%2Bo0ng1kogXFhXLPx39Q3QjW5OY1evtEL4RxvKxomEldmkrGyoPM5QDVsCF4Ap0R9ZpbxYRflyCUnEhlUuA5hyqnuRjD%2FL%2Bz%2FB7p%2FaqEPh7H4rS2gGLA%3D%3D|tkp%3ABk9SR_jv0PbyYA

 

KA SML1 (DMG-ML-USA-1) but with a BEAN-20 board and a ROM chip date of 9936...?

There were actually two more of these I spotted last night. Another 9936 and then a 9935. Not to mention the KA SML2 I found as well with a date of 9924...

Edited October 3, 2022 by creepsthething

[JVOSS | 1,762]

21 hours ago, creepsthething said:

Do yall see this? https://www.ebay.com/itm/255754605788?epid=56211474&hash=item3b8c2994dc:g:jXkAAOSwpbFjOH-P&amdata=enc%3AAQAHAAAA8AyUnZ1wt802vbbDfShkAH2iPK%2F5xF7nmKRC4SbD8qRov%2FPrKpIHVM8HVFQ8O%2B1FCmFdCxcD7DWwBNSBEkpJVewAcpva3NDSTiiaSClq7m9CKUkBOM%2BfnXqrNXwSmdNixbd1Gs1UYkIaFXs1oUKbo%2FNplzrmBvbf4OCe1rgU5x8a%2FzKCdTCN4FlKRrw8N6rqQFLvSmiRsicjHEZ%2Bo0ng1kogXFhXLPx39Q3QjW5OY1evtEL4RxvKxomEldmkrGyoPM5QDVsCF4Ap0R9ZpbxYRflyCUnEhlUuA5hyqnuRjD%2FL%2Bz%2FB7p%2FaqEPh7H4rS2gGLA%3D%3D|tkp%3ABk9SR_jv0PbyYA

 

KA SML1 (DMG-ML-USA-1) but with a BEAN-20 board and a ROM chip date of 9936...?

this is a original.. the SML-2 changed in 9945 the run for sml-1 was from 9803 to 9940ish.  the sml 2 was for a 5-8 week run.  i think the last sml-2 i saw was 9950.  giving that a 5 week run..

[JVOSS | 1,762]

3 hours ago, RH said:

That’s really odd.  I can’t imagine who would hack this together.  Maybe when the were making the final release they still had half a reel of old -1 they used up before they used the new -2s.  I really can’t explain this.

It's not a hack just a mis-understanding of the data.

data.  pcb.  in 1989 the starting pcb was BBA-01, then changed to BEAN-02 and lasted until 98 where it moved to the lighter and less voltage requirements of the -10 and then 99 they was changed to the -20.

the label is easier.  there is only  4 US versions.
non-rom-non-rev  example  22  89-90   PCB  BBA-01
rom-non-rev   example 22a  90-98   PCB BEAN-02
rom-rav    example  22a-1  98-99   PCB  BEAN-10
rom-rav    example  22b-1 99  PCB BEAN-20

hope this clears the air..

[JVOSS | 1,762]

On 6/2/2022 at 9:53 AM, DK said:

Since we're on the topic of Super Mario Land - have you ever seen this HKG variant?

and old post but something to address here... more sml-hkg have started to surface and the data is very clear.  all have the same code for the chip so be aware of this as you go looking for them.

[creepsthething | 9]

18 hours ago, JVOSS said:

...then changed to BEAN-02 and lasted until 98 where it moved to the lighter and less voltage requirements of the -10 and then 99 they was changed to the -20.

Actually the -10 revisions started in very late 1996 (November). Likewise, my copy of SML1 (-1, KA) has a BEAN-10 from January 1997. 

[creepsthething | 9]

Haven't told you guys this yet, but last week I had ordered a DMG-ZL-USA-3. It's here now and here are the pictures. (Pic of the cart got rotated, but oh well.)

 

ROM chipdate is 9834, but PCB manufacture date is strangely October 1997...

Edited October 6, 2022 by creepsthething

[JVOSS | 1,762]

22 hours ago, creepsthething said:

Haven't told you guys this yet, but last week I had ordered a DMG-ZL-USA-3. It's here now and here are the pictures. (Pic of the cart got rotated, but oh well.)

 

ROM chipdate is 9834, but PCB manufacture date is strangely October 1997...

Nice. it looks like it's a 99?

 

Edited October 7, 2022 by JVOSS

[creepsthething | 9]

5 hours ago, JVOSS said:

Nice. it looks like it's a 99?

 

Nope, it definitely is 9834. 

[creepsthething | 9]

Just curious, does anybody have any dates for the Majesco Sales version of Tom & Jerry (DMG-JY-USA-1)? 

[JVOSS | 1,762]

10 hours ago, creepsthething said:

Just curious, does anybody have any dates for the Majesco Sales version of Tom & Jerry (DMG-JY-USA-1)? 

98-99 i have a 9842  Bean-10 pcb,  knowing the Bean-10/ Bean{k}-10 pcb was used from 9651 to 2000 early and the -1 labels ran from 96 late to 99 late this gives a 3 year window.  as i know the data shows the -1 reissues was from 97-98 for about 8 weeks.  as to what weeks or dates it up in the air the data is just not there yet.