3

There were a handful of Konami games on the Famicom that had additional sound chips (VRC6, VRC7, etc.) to enhance the audio of the games they were used in. Considering that the Famicom got many Konami games as well as the MSX did, why wasn't the SCC ever used as a Famicom audio expansion? What would the limiting factors be, or did it just not come to mind when audio expansions were needed?

Improve this question

1 Answer 1

Reset to default
4

There were a handful of Konami games on the Famicom that had additional sound chips (VRC6, VRC7, etc.)

To start with, they weren't sound chips in first place, but mappers. And they where available as their standard version, as well as with additional sound functionality. A mapper handles various aspects of memory access from the console and maps them on ROM/RAM areas of the cartridge.

Considering that the Famicom got many Konami games as well as the MSX did, why wasn't the SCC ever used as a Famicom audio expansion?

SCC (Sound Creative Chip) in contrast is a pure sound chip. Using it in a Famicom game would require a mapper in addition, making two ASICs in one cardrige.

Using a mapper with integrated sound is considerable cheaper than a mapper plus a seperate sound chip - and using one without where possible even cheaper.

That's the reason why there are the basic VRC6/7 for games that need their mapping functionality and in addition VRC6/VRC7 with integrated audio for games that also needed better sound. In fact, they even come in variations depending on the game, like VRC6a/b.

Improve this answer
8
  • Using it in a Famicom game would require a mapper in addition, making two ASICs in one cardrige. Not necessarly, they could use logic chips with a geniune sound chip, although this would have been impractical. In fact, they even come in variations depending on the game, like VRC6a/b. no, the chip is the same, only the PCB wiring differs, they mixed some adress lines to make life difficult for reverse-engineers.
    – Bregalad
    Jan 19, 2019 at 22:28
  • @Bregalad each and every ASIC can as well be realised as a bunch of discretelogic gates - which in turn would make it even more expensive, so even less a point to do so. Interesting Information about VRC6a/b, but if they are identical, why do they have different part numbers?
    – Raffzahn
    Jan 19, 2019 at 22:38
  • They don't ! See pics of the two PCBs using VRC6 here : bootgod.dyndns.org:7777/profile.php?id=4034 bootgod.dyndns.org:7777/profile.php?id=3316 Same chip, different board.
    – Bregalad
    Jan 19, 2019 at 22:52
  • Well, looking on the pics you provide I see two different part numbers: 053328 and 053329. If they are the same chip, why different numbers? That doesn't make sense, as it would increase stock cost. Any explanation available?
    – Raffzahn
    Jan 19, 2019 at 23:02
  • I have no idea, but aren't those some kind of serial number or date code that would be different for every chip ? You can look at other VRC6 shots from the same website. (Bootgod's database)
    – Bregalad
    Jan 19, 2019 at 23:06

You must log in to answer this question.

Not the answer you're looking for? Browse other questions tagged .