Since the NES is so well documented and relatively simple, I hope people can get these consoles repaired easily.
@misk Did I finally wake up? Is it still the eighties and there’s some hope left?
What year is it?!
This is a retro gaming community, what do you expect?
Anyway, logic level shifters are cheap and the NES is very well documented. The hardware supplier should have done their homework.
(Seems like the voltage is being reduced from 5V to 3.3V to power the cartridge chip but there is no level shifting on the data lines, causing excessive current to be supplied from the NES chips’ data pins. It us sunk into protection diodes in the cartridge’s chip as they are trying to pull the voltage to a little over 3.3 volts, raising its supply voltage. The NES works on a relatively low clock speed so maybe the issue can be mitigated by simply adding a resistor network to limit the current but at this point, a proper level shifter costs way less than the rework labor.)
Right?? The NES is so well-understood that producing cartridges inexpensively that are still well-designed should be easy!
