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

[RH | 4,903]

37 minutes ago, JVOSS said:

@RH wait, you do have a SML CIB??   i was under the impression that they were only in bundles...  do you remember where you got??

No, just the SML2 CIB. I own the one pictured. I try to keep my eye out for a SML CIB. How did you hear they were in a set? We've been trying to figure out where these came from for ages, and we wondered if others were out there as well. I envision a rated E Alleyway in my nightmares.

[creepsthething | 9]

On 10/14/2020 at 8:28 PM, RH said:

I envision a rated E Alleyway in my nightmares.

Oh, GOD.

mockups much???

Edited October 16, 2020 by creepsthething

[Splain | 2,569]

3 hours ago, creepsthething said:

Oh, GOD.

mockups much???

Lol nooooooo I don't want these appearing in Google image searches!

[ThePhleo | 2,184]

9 minutes ago, Splain said:

Lol nooooooo I don't want these appearing in Google image searches!

Embrace the chaos.

We have @Mario_Friend1982's epic lists showing up on Google, might as well have fake images too!

[bowser | 598]

I recently came across Revenge of the Gator cart and manual for the Electrobrain variant. How much can I sell them for?

[JVOSS | 1,762]

standard price. 5-10

[RH | 4,903]

15 hours ago, bowser said:

I recently came across Revenge of the Gator cart and manual for the Electrobrain variant. How much can I sell them for?

What JVOSS said.  You have to understand that there really aren't that many of us variant hunters out there, looking for every cart copy with a passion.

I'm spitballing here, but there are probably, maybe 10 of use out there in total looking for every US/NA copy of Game Boy games.  I think there's only 4 to 5 of us hear, and I know I'm not on other communities (other than reddit) but in general, I don't see a lot of attention being given to obscure variants and, some times, even really rare ones will sit on eBay at a cheap price (for any specific cart) and not be bought until one of the few of us notice.

I know there are some really, really rare variants out there.  I think we would probably all generally agree that the ones we might pay "top dollar" for are the first party titles and maybe the last 2-3, super rare variants we want when we are almost done with our sets.

I still have 30+ to go, so I'm not willing to pay much more than a standard price for any of these.  I won't name my exceptions though.  Why should I inflate the price?

[creepsthething | 9]

On 1/14/2020 at 9:52 AM, Splain said:

Finally landed this bugger:

Just a little question about this one specific cart here. What is the ROM chipcode and PCB manufacture date of this specific cart? Just curious.

[JVOSS | 1,762]

36 minutes ago, creepsthething said:

Just a little question about this one specific cart here. What is the ROM chipcode and PCB manufacture date of this specific cart? Just curious.

 

to answer you will need to open the cart.  for the chip code.  for the ram code and the pcb code...  however the stamped code will give an indication as to what chip code you will have.

example  a code of 12 the chip code should be DMG-MLA-0
example  a code of 12A the chip code should be DMG-MLA-1

now a pcb code of DMG-BEAN-01  chip date code around 1989-1991 with a pcb id of 1 to 6
now a pcb code of DMG-BEAN[K]-02 chip date code around 1990-1991 with a pcb id of 1 to 6
now a pcb code of DMG-BEAN-02 chip date code around 1989-1994 and 1996-1997 with a pcb id of 1 to 6
now a pcb code of DMG-BEAN-10 chip date code around 1997-1998/9 with a pcb id of 1 to 6
now the one you have should be a (know one has documented this version yet Solid E)
pcb code of DMG-BEAN-20 chip date code around 1998-1999 with a pcb id of 1 to 6

 

Edited November 11, 2020 by JVOSS

[creepsthething | 9]

18 minutes ago, JVOSS said:

 

to answer you will need to open the cart. 

Sorry for any confusion, but I was asking @Splain about the cartridge's PCB and manufacture dates. I only have 2 copies of the DMG-ML-USA-1 (KA players choice) variant, one from January 1997 (with a ROM chipcode of 9726) and one from February 1998 (with a ROM chipcode of 9810). And also, I was looking on eBay and found a DMG-ML-USA using a DMG-BEAN(K)-02 board from November 1995. I don't know if anyone's interested in it though.

Edited November 11, 2020 by creepsthething

[JVOSS | 1,762]

54 minutes ago, creepsthething said:

Sorry for any confusion, but I was asking @Splain about the cartridge's PCB and manufacture dates. I only have 2 copies of the DMG-ML-USA-1 (KA players choice) variant, one from January 1997 (with a ROM chipcode of 9726) and one from February 1998 (with a ROM chipcode of 9810). And also, I was looking on eBay and found a DMG-ML-USA using a DMG-BEAN(K)-02 board from November 1995. I don't know if anyone's interested in it though.

question i have is where did the Jan 97 and the feb 98 from??  reason the cip codes don't follow the dates...

[Splain | 2,569]

2 hours ago, creepsthething said:

Just a little question about this one specific cart here. What is the ROM chipcode and PCB manufacture date of this specific cart? Just curious.

This exact cart? You'll have to ask @RH as he is now the owner of that cart. But I have one just like it (rated E, DMG-ML-USA-2) if you're interested:

[JVOSS | 1,762]

1 minute ago, Splain said:

This exact cart? You'll have to ask @RH as he is now the owner of that cart. But I have one just like it (rated E, DMG-ML-USA-2) if you're interested:

like suspected a DMG-BEAN-20 board with a DMG-MLA-1 and 9946.  wow 1999 so that puts the production form late 1998 to late 1999 at least.

[Splain | 2,569]

19 minutes ago, JVOSS said:

like suspected a DMG-BEAN-20 board with a DMG-MLA-1 and 9946.  wow 1999 so that puts the production form late 1998 to late 1999 at least.

Yeah, that's crazy late!

[creepsthething | 9]

I was expecting it to have a newer revision or something, but for Nintendo to use the same version of the game for over 10 YEARS really boggles me. What's the PCB manufacture date on the back? I'd like to compare them to these images I took.

[creepsthething | 9]

Also, something off topic here, but my copy of Game & Watch Gallery 1 (sad to say, it isn't a -1 or -2) has a ROM chip date of 9849, uses a DMG-DECN-10 board with a manufacture date of October 1998, and a battery date of 98/11, meaning my copy of the game must of been from (at the very least) December 1998, or even January 1999!

[RpgCollector | 900]

Sunsoft was having original Gameboy games made and selling then in as late as Christmas 2000. The last prints of all 3 Pokémon games red, blue and yellow were in 2002.

[0xDEAFC0DE | 1,277]

13 hours ago, creepsthething said:

I only have 2 copies of the DMG-ML-USA-1 (KA players choice) variant, one from January 1997 (with a ROM chipcode of 9726) and one from February 1998 (with a ROM chipcode of 9810).

The first one would be from June 1997 with a date code of 9726 not January.

11 hours ago, JVOSS said:

like suspected a DMG-BEAN-20 board with a DMG-MLA-1 and 9946.  wow 1999 so that puts the production form late 1998 to late 1999 at least.

This isn't too surprising considering the solid E ESRB logo wasn't introduced until September or October 1999. 9946 is just after that in early November.

[0xDEAFC0DE | 1,277]

8 hours ago, creepsthething said:

Also, something off topic here, but my copy of Game & Watch Gallery 1 (sad to say, it isn't a -1 or -2) has a ROM chip date of 9849, uses a DMG-DECN-10 board with a manufacture date of October 1998, and a battery date of 98/11, meaning my copy of the game must of been from (at the very least) December 1998, or even January 1999!

I checked mine as well. It has a date code of 9823 with a DMG-DECN-10 board as well. The PCB has '98 with a K in a circle. Is the K in a circle a month code? If so, what's the scheme? I would think it would be October (10th letter of the alphabet skipping over I), but you posted a PCB with a Y in a circle which doesn't fit.

I have lots of pictures of Link's Awakening PCBs, so I figured I'd check those out as well. They all use the DMG-DECN-XX boards where XX is 02 for all the DMG-ZL-USA carts and 10 for all the DMG-ZL-USA-1 and up carts. My latest -0 is 9444 and my earliest -1 is 9651. I also opened up my -3 cart (spray paint E) for the hell of it. It has the date code 9834 and a PCB date of '97 with a Y in a circle.

[creepsthething | 9]

56 minutes ago, 0xDEAFC0DE said:

The first one would be from June 1997 with a date code of 9726 not January.

Sorry for any confusion, but I meant the PCB manufacture date. And it's very likely they were manufacturing a Players Choice SML1 around June and used a board made 5 months earlier. It also kind of explains why both the ROM chip and the mapper chip have the exact same chipcode of 9726. 

[creepsthething | 9]

1 hour ago, 0xDEAFC0DE said:

The PCB has '98 with a K in a circle. Is the K in a circle a month code?

This strange box is the month code. 4 boxes with 3 dots each, a total of 12 dots (for every month of the year). With every month of the year, another dot is removed. (e.g. if it was manufactured in May, it would have 5 dots missing. If it were manufactured in December, it would have all 12 dots missing.) In the case of my copy of G&WG1, there's 10 dots missing, meaning October. The Y is to denote the subtype of the DECN board. There are other letters (and letter combinations) sometimes used, like I, K, Ca, or Hs. The letters in the circle are NOT the month code, as I have a copy of Wario Land: Super Mario Land 3 with a Y in the circle (much like my G&WG1), and a PCB manufacture date of April 1997 (not pictured), completely contradicting the statement above. 

Edited November 11, 2020 by creepsthething

[0xDEAFC0DE | 1,277]

1 minute ago, creepsthething said:

THIS IS the month code. 4 boxes with 3 dots each, a total of 12 dots. With every month of the year, another dot is removed. (e.g. if it was manufactured in May, it would have 5 dots missing. If it were manufactured in December, it would have all 12 dots missing.) In the case of my copy of G&WG1, there's 10 dots missing, meaning October. The Y is to denote the subtype of the DECN board. There are other letters (and letter combinations) sometimes used, like I, K, Ca, or Hs. 

Oh, duh that makes sense. I was just assuming that was some kind of pin layout marker. Anyway, my G&WG1 PCB is March '98.

[0xDEAFC0DE | 1,277]

15 hours ago, JVOSS said:

now a pcb code of DMG-BEAN-01  chip date code around 1989-1991 with a pcb id of 1 to 6
now a pcb code of DMG-BEAN[K]-02 chip date code around 1990-1991 with a pcb id of 1 to 6
now a pcb code of DMG-BEAN-02 chip date code around 1989-1994 and 1996-1997 with a pcb id of 1 to 6
now a pcb code of DMG-BEAN-10 chip date code around 1997-1998/9 with a pcb id of 1 to 6
now the one you have should be a (know one has documented this version yet Solid E)
pcb code of DMG-BEAN-20 chip date code around 1998-1999 with a pcb id of 1 to 6

This is probably common knowledge, but I just figured out what the pcb ids mean. It seems like the PCBs are manufactured in sheets of 6. The number from 1 to 6 indicates which position in the sheet the PCB is from. The pattern is as shown in the picture below.

As you can see there are little bits of the board that connect the sheet together. These bits get snapped to separate the boards. However, you can still see remnants of the bits on the final PCBs. For example, a PCB with id 3 will have bits on the top and left side.

[creepsthething | 9]

Ah, now I get the point of the numbers. I looked at some of mine, and it checks out, too.

[Splain | 2,569]

Oh great, now I need one of each PCB ID??