Neo Geo Rom Size

  

SRAM memory card, showing the SRAM chip and voltage detection circuit. Picture by HPMAN
NEO-IC8, original SNK card. Picture by ArcadeTV

Neo Geo Complete Roms

NEO-IC8, back of original SNK card. Picture by ArcadeTV

The NeoGeo home console and some MVS cabs can use JEIDA V3 memory cards to store game saves and/or high scores, allowing players to save their progress and continue on any system running the same game.

  • Neo Geo Mini is a dedicated miniature home arcade console developed by SNK as part of the company's 40th Anniversary celebration, released on July 24, 2018. The new hardware is packed with 40 built-in Neo Geo titles and was made to thank all the fans that have supported SNK series such as The King of Fighters, Fatal Fury, Samurai Shodown, Metal Slug, and more.
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Even if the memory card address space can be freely used, games should only perform memory card operations through the CARD system ROM call to avoid data corruption.

  • 4Data format

The SP-S2 system ROM (and probably all the others) can handle 8 memory card sizes from 2KiB up to 16KiB, in 2KiB steps:

  • 2KiB
  • 4KiB
  • 6KiB
  • 8KiB
  • 10KiB
  • 14KiB
  • 16KiB

And 4 different card types:

  • 8 bits wide (only the low byte is used)
  • 16 bits wide
  • 16 bits wide 'doubled'
  • 'SNK ROM' cards

The original SNK-branded memory card was a battery-backed 8-bit wide 2KiB card using a LH5116 SRAM chip and voltage switching circuitry.

Since it uses a battery, it may be prone to data loss if the voltage drops below 2V. Unlike the MVS backup RAM battery, the memory card one isn't rechargeable.

There are at least 2 known versions of the original SNK Memory Card, each with its individual design and circuit-board:

The first version has the C10075-X2-2 while the later one hase the EZ866 board.

Autocad 2018 mojave. A 'virtual' memory card is embedded in CD systems as a 8KiB battery-backed SRAM chip.

Rom

All cards use the same format regardless of capacity, only regions sizes differ. Charles bukowski poems pdf. Since the JEIDA data bus is 16-bits wide, make sure to double the address for 8-bit cards if you choose to access their memory directly.

The data is referred to as 'blocks', one block being 64 bytes. The header always occupies the first block. Eg. A 2KiB card can hold (2048/64)-1 = 31 blocks.

The data is split into 5 regions:

Header

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Always 64 bytes.

AddressNameSizeDescription
$0~$910 bytesZeros or 'SNK ROM ' (development unit ?)

For 16 bits 'doubled' cards, $6 is set to $0001

$ACARD_SIZEwordAddress space used by the memory card. Eg. A 2KiB 8-bit card is $1000.
$Cbyte0
$DCARD_FAT_1_CHKSUMbyteChecksum of FAT 1
$ECARD_FAT_2_CHKSUMbyteChecksum of FAT 2
$FCARD_USERNAME_AVAILABLEbyte0 : Username unavailable, !0 : Username available
$10CARD_USERNAME16 bytesCard holder's username
$20CARD_MAGIC16 bytes$4E $XX $45 $XX $4F $XX $2D $XX $47 $XX $45 $XX $4F $XX $80 $XX ('NEO-GEO', $80)
$30CARD_REGIONbyteRegion of the system that formated the card, 0 = Japan, 1 = USA, 2 = Europe

Directory

List of saves of 32, 64, 96, 128, 160, 192, 224 or 256 entries. The size depends on the card's capacity.

Rom

Note that since the header occupies the first block, there will always be at least one unused directory entry.

Each entry is 4 bytes, with the following format:

AddressSizeDescription
$0byteSave sub-number (CARD_SUB), 0 to 15. $FF if entry is free.
$1wordGame's NGH number
$3byteFAT entry index (see below)

FAT 1

List of used blocks of 64, 128, 192, or 256 entries. The size depends on the card's capacity.

  • $02 is a block reserved by the system ROM
  • $01 is a block used by a game
  • $00 is a free block

FAT 2

FAT 2 is simply a mirror of FAT 1.

If any of the FAT tables checksum is bad, the correct table is written over the other one. If both checksums are bad, the system ROM displays an error.

Game Data

Many games use only one block, but some may use more.

The first 20 bytes contain the data title (usually the game and stage name).

  • Write is enabled if REG_CRDUNLOCK1 and REG_CRDUNLOCK2 are written to
  • The WP (Write Protect) pin is read through bit 6 of REG_STATUS_B
  • CD1 (Card Detect 1) is read through bit 4 of REG_STATUS_B
  • CD2 (Card Detect 2) is read through bit 5 of REG_STATUS_B
    • Both must be 0 if the card is inserted correctly
  • Attribute memory is selected if REG_CRDREGSEL is written to, never used ?

See Memory card pinout.

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