A game backup device, informally called a copier, is a device for backing up

ROM Rom, or ROM may refer to: Biomechanics and medicine * Risk of mortality, a medical classification to estimate the likelihood of death for a patient * Rupture of membranes, a term used during pregnancy to describe a rupture of the amniotic sac * ...

data from a

video game A video game or computer game is an electronic game that involves interaction with a user interface or input device (such as a joystick, game controller, controller, computer keyboard, keyboard, or motion sensing device) to generate visual fe ...

cartridge to a computer file called a

ROM image A ROM image, or ROM file, is a computer file which contains a copy of the data from a read-only memory Computer chip, chip, often from a ROM cartridge, video game cartridge, or used to contain a computer's firmware, or from an arcade game's arc ...

and playing them back on the official hardware. Recently flash cartridges, especially on the

Game Boy Advance The (GBA) is a 32-bit handheld game console, manufactured by Nintendo, which was released in Japan on March 21, 2001, and to international markets that June. It was later released in mainland China in 2004, under the name iQue Game Boy Advanc ...

and

Nintendo DS The is a foldable handheld game console produced by Nintendo, released globally across 2004 and 2005. The DS, an initialism for "Developers' System" or "Dual Screen", introduced distinctive new features to handheld games: two LCD screens worki ...

platforms, only support the latter function; they cannot be used for backing up ROM data. Game backup devices also make it possible to develop homebrew software on video game systems. Game backup devices differ from

modchip A modchip (short for modification chip) is a small electronic device used to alter or disable artificial restrictions of computers or entertainment devices. Modchips are mainly used in video game consoles, but also in some DVD or Blu-ray players ...

s in that modchips are used in conjunction with systems that use generally available media such as CDs and DVDs, whereas game backup devices are used with systems that use cartridges. Video game companies consider these devices as a tool for

reverse engineering Reverse engineering (also known as backwards engineering or back engineering) is a process or method through which one attempts to understand through deductive reasoning how a previously made device, process, system, or piece of software accompl ...

to facilitate

copyright infringement Copyright infringement (at times referred to as piracy) is the use of Copyright#Scope, works protected by copyright without permission for a usage where such permission is required, thereby infringing certain exclusive rights granted to the c ...

. Most of the devices are made in China, but they are available globally. Recently, legal action has been taken by companies such as

Nintendo is a Japanese Multinational corporation, multinational video game company headquartered in Kyoto. It develops, publishes, and releases both video games and video game consoles. The history of Nintendo began when craftsman Fusajiro Yamauchi ...

to remove these devices from the marketplace, but the easy dissemination of information and selling of products over the Internet has made it difficult to eradicate this problem. Hobbyists argue that these devices are legal and shouldn't be illegal because they fulfill the need to back up games in case the original is illegally sold or lost; and because they permit the private development of new software on the device. In Japan, these devices are known as , an umbrella term for any device that enables backups on game consoles.

History

The spiritual forefather of copier devices can be traced back to the

Famicom Disk System The commonly shortened to the Famicom Disk System, is a peripheral for Nintendo's Family Computer (Famicom) home video game console, released in Japan on February 21, 1986. The system uses proprietary floppy disks called "Disk Cards" for more ...

, an official add-on device for the Japanese version of the

Nintendo Entertainment System The Nintendo Entertainment System (NES) is an 8-bit home video game console developed and marketed by Nintendo. It was first released in Japan on 15 July 1983 as the and was later released as the redesigned NES in several test markets in the ...

. Users quickly discovered ways to copy these disks with ordinary home computers of the time and transmit the copied data to others using the emerging electronic

bulletin board system A bulletin board system (BBS), also called a computer bulletin board service (CBBS), is a computer server running list of BBS software, software that allows users to connect to the system using a terminal program. Once logged in, the user perfor ...

s. Nintendo attempted to counter piracy by slightly modifying the hardware in newer revisions, but they were unable to stop the unauthorized copying. Later, the Famicom Disk System was discontinued, supposedly because cartridge technology had caught up in capacity, but the influence of rampant piracy cannot be discounted. When the

Super Nintendo Entertainment System The Super Nintendo Entertainment System, commonly shortened to Super Nintendo, Super NES or SNES, is a Fourth generation of video game consoles, 16-bit home video game console developed by Nintendo that was released in 1990 in Japan, 1991 in No ...

was released,

Hong Kong Hong Kong)., Legally Hong Kong, China in international treaties and organizations. is a special administrative region of China. With 7.5 million residents in a territory, Hong Kong is the fourth most densely populated region in the wor ...

based companies developed products with similar functionality. They produced cartridges that fit in the video game console's cartridge slot but were interfaced with a

floppy disk A floppy disk or floppy diskette (casually referred to as a floppy, a diskette, or a disk) is a type of disk storage composed of a thin and flexible disk of a magnetic storage medium in a square or nearly square plastic enclosure lined with a ...

drive through a connecting cable. The copier, as they were called, also had a passthrough slot into which a real game could be inserted. The device, once powered up, could be used to copy the cartridge's ROM data into files on ordinary MS-DOS formatted 3.5" floppy disks and thereafter to play the game from the same disks, without having to rely on the original cartridge being present. When these devices were introduced to the

United States The United States of America (USA), also known as the United States (U.S.) or America, is a country primarily located in North America. It is a federal republic of 50 U.S. state, states and a federal capital district, Washington, D.C. The 48 ...

and

Europe Europe is a continent located entirely in the Northern Hemisphere and mostly in the Eastern Hemisphere. It is bordered by the Arctic Ocean to the north, the Atlantic Ocean to the west, the Mediterranean Sea to the south, and Asia to the east ...

, video game enthusiasts quickly started swapping the copied games over

s. Release groups formed to cater to the need of fresh games, and also to crack the

protection Protection is any measure taken to guard something against damage caused by outside forces. Protection can be provided to physical objects, including organisms, to systems, and to intangible things like civil and political rights. Although ...

that was employed to thwart copying in several games released after copiers became available. Release groups would also add their own intros to games, to advertise their BBSes and new releases, and sometimes include a trainer to optionally start on later stages or with more lives. The copier devices and dissemination of hardware information through BBSes made it possible to start developing software on the video game consoles. The software evolved from crack intros to

demos Demos may refer to: Computing * DEMOS, a Soviet Unix-like operating system * DEMOS (ISP), the first internet service provider in the USSR * Demos Commander, an Orthodox File Manager for Unix-like systems * Plural for Demo (computer programming ...

, and finally to home-made games. The homebrew software development scene is still active on multiple contemporary platforms. The availability of such ROM binary dumps also allowed the birth of

video game console emulator A video game console emulator is a type of emulator that allows a computing device to emulate a video game console's hardware and play its games on the emulating platform. More often than not, emulators carry additional features that surpass ...

Legality

Similar to

modchips A modchip (short for modification chip) is a small electronic device used to alter or disable artificial restrictions of computers or entertainment devices. Modchips are mainly used in video game consoles, but also in some DVD player, DVD or Blu- ...

, the legality of these methods is disputed. While they are often advertised for their ability to make legal backups and to be used to play legal homebrew software and are considered a cheap method of development compared to purchasing official development kits, a backup device's potential for

software piracy Online piracy or software piracy is the practice of downloading and distributing copyrighted works digitally without permission, such as music, movies or software. History Nathan Fisk traces the origins of modern online piracy back to similar ...

is a major concern to hardware and software manufacturers. Companies such as Nintendo have fought long legal battles against companies like Bung Enterprises and the makers of the R4DS on the grounds that their products are used primarily for piracy and qualify as

theft Theft (, cognate to ) is the act of taking another person's property or services without that person's permission or consent with the intent to deprive the rightful owner of it. The word ''theft'' is also used as a synonym or informal shor ...

Backup devices for consoles

Super Nintendo Entertainment System

16 bit game backup devices using

s or

USB Universal Serial Bus (USB) is an industry standard, developed by USB Implementers Forum (USB-IF), for digital data transmission and power delivery between many types of electronics. It specifies the architecture, in particular the physical ...

. * Super Magicom (8 or 16

Megabits The bit is the most basic unit of information in computing and digital communication. The name is a portmanteau of binary digit. The bit represents a logical state with one of two possible values. These values are most commonly represented as ...

) – by Front Fareast Industrial, model MS-3201. Included an external 3.5" floppy drive and integrated

parallel port In computing, a parallel port is a type of interface found on early computers ( personal and otherwise) for connecting peripherals. The name refers to the way the data is sent; parallel ports send multiple bits of data at once (paralle ...

. File format is *.SMC; for multi-disk images, *.SMC followed by *.001, *.002, .... The device that started the trend of calling game backup devices magicoms in Japan. * Super Wild Card series – by Front Fareast Industrial. File format extension is *.SMC or *.SWC; for multi-disk images, *.SMC followed by *.001, *.002, .... Available in several variations, all of which include an integrated 3.5" floppy drive for IBM-PC formatted disks, as well as

: ** Super Wild Card DX 32 (32

) (a.k.a. SWC DX/32 or SWC DX32), model number SWC3201DX ** Super Wild Card DX2 (32 or 64

) (a.k.a. SWC DX2), model number SWC3201DX2. Expandable to 96

and supports alternate media such as a

CD-ROM A CD-ROM (, compact disc read-only memory) is a type of read-only memory consisting of a pre-pressed optical compact disc that contains computer data storage, data computers can read, but not write or erase. Some CDs, called enhanced CDs, hold b ...

or Zip 100 MB drive via

IEEE 1284 IEEE 1284, also known as the Centronics port, is a standard that defines bi-directional parallel communications between computers and other devices. It was originally developed in the 1970s by Centronics before its IEEE standardization. Hi ...

interface. This model of unit is known to have several hardware or firmware bugs. * Super UFO Series – by UFO Enterprise. Available from 16 to 32

. Compatible with Pro Fighter and Game Doctor file formats. File format extension is *.1GM, *.2GM, ..., *.8GM. * Game Doctor Series – by Bung Enterprise. Available up to 64

(and upgradable to 128

) with optional

Digital Signal Processor A digital signal processor (DSP) is a specialized microprocessor chip, with its architecture optimized for the operational needs of digital signal processing. DSPs are fabricated on metal–oxide–semiconductor (MOS) integrated circuit chips. ...

cartridge to run games like Pilot Wings, Super Mario Kart, and many others. File format extension is *.078. * Multi Game Hunter (MGH) by Venus Corp. A dual solution game copier for both

Sega Genesis The Sega Genesis, known as the outside North America, is a 16-bit Fourth generation of video game consoles, fourth generation home video game console developed and sold by Sega. It was Sega's third console and the successor to the Master Sys ...

and

SNES The Super Nintendo Entertainment System, commonly shortened to Super Nintendo, Super NES or SNES, is a 16-bit home video game console developed by Nintendo that was released in 1990 in Japan, 1991 in North America, 1992 in Europe and Oceania an ...

. * Double Pro Fighter by China Coach Limited is a dual solution game copier for both

and

. * Retrode by Retrode UG is a USB interface for both

and

cartridges and controllers. It can be extended via so-called plug-in adapters to accommodate games for other systems as well. It is important to note that no commercially produced Backup Device for Super NES can play back games which use additional processing hardware in the cartridge, with the sole exception of DSP-1. This is due in part to the way in which these processors operate. It may be possible with some copiers to manage to back up a game using an extra coprocessor chip though. A relatively small number of games fall into this category, but there are notable games included, for example '' Mega Man X2'', '' Mega Man X3'', ''

Star Fox ''Star Fox'' is a rail shooter, space flight simulator, and third person action-adventure video game series created by Shigeru Miyamoto and developed and published by Nintendo. The games follow the Star Fox combat team of anthropomorphic a ...

'', '' Kirby's Dream Land 3'', ''

Super Mario RPG ''Super Mario RPG: Legend of the Seven Stars'' is a 1996 role-playing video game developed by Square (video game company), Square and published by Nintendo for the Super Nintendo Entertainment System (SNES). It was the final ''Mario (franchise) ...

'', and '' Super Mario World 2: Yoshi's Island''.

Nintendo 64

There are two devices for the

Nintendo 64 The (N64) is a home video game console developed and marketed by Nintendo. It was released in Japan on June 23, 1996, in North America on September 29, 1996, and in Europe and Australia on March 1, 1997. As the successor to the Super Nintendo E ...

that plug into the extension port on the bottom of the system, initially intended for the 64DD: the Doctor V64 and the CD64. In addition to playing backups from a CD, they can both be used to create them by copying the information from a cartridge that is plugged into the Nintendo 64. They store the ROM image in internal memory and can be transferred to a

computer A computer is a machine that can be Computer programming, programmed to automatically Execution (computing), carry out sequences of arithmetic or logical operations (''computation''). Modern digital electronic computers can perform generic set ...

via a

for distribution elsewhere. The Z64 uses the cartridge slot on the top of the N64 and has a cartridge slot itself for booting backups as well as making backups. It reads from and stores backups on zip diskettes. The NEO N64 Myth Cart was released in December 2009, long after the Nintendo 64 had been discontinued, and is marketed for retro gamers. The NEO N64 Myth Cart connects to a PC using USB, and ROM images are stored in

flash memory Flash memory is an Integrated circuit, electronic Non-volatile memory, non-volatile computer memory storage medium that can be electrically erased and reprogrammed. The two main types of flash memory, NOR flash and NAND flash, are named for t ...

. Schematics, PCB designs and source code for a cartridge emulator known as "PVBackup" were released by Valery Pudov. Modern day devices include the Everdrive 64 and the 64drive. The Everdrive loads ROM images from either USB or from an

SD card Secure Digital (SD) is a proprietary, non-volatile, flash memory card format developed by the SD Association (SDA). Owing to their compact size, SD cards have been widely adopted in a variety of portable consumer electronics, including dig ...

inserted into the top of the cartridge. The 64Drive also uses USB but can also load games from either SD card or CompactFlash card. Both units require a CIC chip soldering into the board and the plastic casing from a donor cartridge. Neither unit has the ability to backup cartridges. Users can however backup cartridges using a device called Retrode, a USB powered device that installs itself as a

mass storage device In computing, mass storage refers to the Data storage, storage of large amounts of data in a persistence (computer science), persisting and machine-readable data, machine-readable fashion. In general, the term ''mass'' in ''mass storage'' is use ...

in Windows, allowing the cartridge information to be backed up.

Backup devices for handhelds

Game Boy

For the original

Game Boy The is a handheld game console developed by Nintendo, launched in the Japanese home market on April 21, 1989, followed by North America later that year and other territories from 1990 onwards. Following the success of the Game & Watch single-ga ...

and its color successor there are numerous external copiers, such as GB Xchanger, which can back up an inserted Game Boy or Game Boy Color cartridge. The GB Xchanger plugs into a computer in order to copy the games, which can later transfer the game(s) back through the copier to a blank flash cartridge.

Game Boy Advance

Early copiers for the

Game Boy Advance SP The Game Boy Advance SP (SP stands for "Special") is a 32-bit handheld game console made by Nintendo. It was released in Japan on February 14, 2003, and to international markets in March. This model is an upgraded version of the Game Boy Advance ...

, and

Game Boy Micro The Game Boy Micro is a 32-bit handheld game console made by Nintendo. It was released in Japan on September 13, 2005, and to international markets later that year. It is a miniaturized version of the Game Boy Advance. The console was the last in ...

, like the Flash Advance Xtreme are similar to those used for the original Game Boy, as they are external copiers that use parallel ports to communicate with personal computers. The copiers eventually made use of

with products like first generation XG-Flash carts, which also used external copiers, but benefited from faster write speeds than its parallel port predecessors. This technology evolved into onboard external copiers like the EZFlash Advance that used the Game Boy Advance itself as a copier. These USB cables would plug into the GBA's proprietary port used for

Game Link Cable The also known as ''Video Link'' in early versions, is an accessory for the Game Boy line of handheld consoles. Introduced in 1989 alongside the original Game Boy, it was revised over four generations with varying degrees of backward compatibil ...

s or accessories like the

e-Reader An e-reader, also called an e reader or e device, is a Mobile computing, mobile electronic device that is designed primarily for the purpose of reading digital e-books and Periodical literature, periodicals. Any device that can display text on ...

and when booted while holding Start and Select, would connect to a PC. These versions are not compatible with the Game Boy Micro because it uses a different port than the GBA and GBA SP.

Nintendo DS and 3DS

There are not any commercial backup devices for the

and

Nintendo 3DS The is a foldable dual-screen handheld game console produced by Nintendo. Announced in March 2010 as the successor to the Nintendo DS, the console was released originally on February 26, 2011 and went through various revisions in its lifetime, ...

that are widely available, yet many devices exist to play backups on a DS or 3DS. These flashcarts are capable of using specific software to backup both DS and 3DS or Game Boy Advance games. There is the possibility to create backups using a 3DS with custom firmware (with DS and 3DS).

Other handhelds

Bung released a copier for the Neo Geo Pocket and the

Neo Geo Pocket Color The Neo Geo Pocket series is a line of handheld game consoles developed and manufactured by SNK between 1998 and 2001. It began with the monochrome released in Japan on October 28, 1998 as SNK's first handheld system and a direct competitor to N ...

. It resembled their GB Xchanger and it served the same function. A copier for the Japan-only handheld, the Wonderswan, as well as the Wonderswan Color and to a lesser extent, the SwanCrystal, was released called the WonderMagic. It uses a parallel port for communication with a PC.

References

External links

www.textfiles.comwww.gamecopywizard.com
* http://www.roms-isos.com/r {{DEFAULTSORT:Game Backup Device Unlicensed Nintendo hardware Video game storage media 1990s neologisms Video game console add-ons