Can a bootleg/flash cart prematurely age or damage your console?!?!?

We'll take a look at the reasoning why some armchair engineers claim 3.3v flash will destroy your console.
If you try drive 5v logic into a 3.3v supply you can cause damage, however no bootleg cart does this. Whether it be Chinese bootlegs, Everdrives, ElCheapo's or high quality reproductions, careful consideration has gone into their design despite what some may say.
If you know HOW it works, and WHY it was designed this way, you will understand why this isn't an issue at all. Perhaps it was an oversight of the original author who made the claims, perhaps he has an agenda, or maybe he isn't(or shouldn't be?) qualified to make such claims. In any case, enjoy the video and let me know what you think!

[@Jarod_Schultz]

I came to this video because I thought about getting some repro carts of the rare NES games like Little Samson and Flintstones. I had some concerns that repro's and multicarts might cause damage to the console, but after watching this I think I can be confident that this is not a problem.

[@SockyNoob]

It's old bootlegs you'd have to worry about. Nowadays everything is well known and standardized sizes and whatnot

[@antoniobanderas3870]

same. i want lufia II and flinstones for snes. im just still a little paranoid ill get one of the bad ones since theres so many different affordable multicarts

[@joaopereira6625]

Although not being any technician or Engineer at all, I do know some basics and that's why I tend not to accept this bootleg cartridges bashing trend. The only thing I'd like to know - for a better understanding - is how you were able to measure the current using a multimeter since it had to be serial - from what I learned at the technical high school - to the circuit itself. Does the arrangement you made allow that reading to be taken? If so, how could I procede to try readings as such on my own cartridges? Thanks in advance, and I loved the video.

[@andrewpaulakis7202]

Thanks for the info, man!

[@TruthSword7]

I think what would be helpful would be a video showing an example of what kinds of board setups ARE potentially damaging, just so people can identify them.

[@droiduseruserdroid1731]

Find a single example of a bootleg cart damaging a console and get back to us.

[@TruthSword7]

@@droiduseruserdroid1731 I've been using Aliexpress carts for years now. No damage yet that I know of.

[@SockyNoob]

Old Sega Saturn memory cards. The new Action Replay you can still buy off Amazon actually fit the slot better than even Sega's own memory cards!

[@shanomacdaddy]

What about the chinese flashdrive/everdrive clones that use sd cards from aliexpress?

[@leighdappa]

They contain C😷ronaVirus

[@shanomacdaddy]

@@leighdappa lol.

[@adultmoshifan87]

I hope my Fix it Felix Jr. repro won't harm my console! I bought it in 2016 and I don't know how to check it's the right voltage. It plays fine.

[@VeritasKonig]

Thank you kindly for your detailed explanation

[@TheNintendochannel64]

My theory is that Krikzz is against chinese everdrives because they are way cheaper than theirs makes him lose sales

[@slugmilk4063]

cool but that has absolutely nothing to do with this video

[@ButcherGrindslam]

Chinese knock-offs are just garbage.

[@Piero78able]

Are the aliexpress single game repro safe too? Can I use them quietly? Thank you

[@bennvennelectronics]

Piero Spanò are you referring to GBC/GBA carts? Then yes

[@Piero78able]

Megadrive/genesis cart. I bought mega turrican a month ago. I refer to single game cartridges for megadrive and snes

[@bennvennelectronics]

Piero Spanò I haven't looked at that cart in particular. You are welcome to send a pic of the PCB and we should be able to tell quite easily

[@gallinadeyeso9638]

Hi, can i ask about the Snes 100 in 1 cartridge? imgur.com/a/Oi7lf and the 112 in 1 for Sega Genesis cartridge? imgur.com/a/RtaOv

[@TruthSword7]

@@bennvennelectronics Is there anything in particular that we should be on the lookout for when it comes to bootleg carts being potentially dangerous? I also have ordered some from AliExpress. I'll be happy to share images once they arrive.

[@Lu1sGu1llerm0]

Thanks for the info bro! You know what about EZ Flash Omega?

[@AvoidantTS]

Great video! Thank you very much for this!

[@Roshenbo]

I came here because, after playing a bootleg cart I purchased from AliExpress on my Original SNES last night, my console stopped working altogether. It was getting power, but would not display ANYTHING on the screen afterwards. I even swapped to an original SNES game cart, and still the same problem. Is it possible to damage the wall wart (Power supply) but not the console itself? I left it unhooked over night and tried playing an original SNES title tonight and it worked fine. (Thank God, cause Id have traveled to ali baba land and went Rambo on em) So I'm wondering, is it possible the repro/bootleg game could have done SOMETHING to the power supply? Btw, The game in question is a ROM hack put on a cart. (Super Mario World: Return to Dinosaur land) Any info would be GREATLY appreciated!!!

[@bennvennelectronics]

Sounds like your 5v reg in the SNES could have overheated. Possibly a short in the bootleg. When the CPU fails, it doesn't usually come back alive the next day but a reg that has shut down thermally will

[@scramblesthedeathdealer]

I don't know. I bought a bootleg/homebrew version of Sonic the Lost Worlds. When I put it in my Sega Genesis and turned it on, the "Produced by or licensed by SEGA....." intro screen came on just fine, then, instead of going to the big SEGA logo screen, the screen turned red and had glitches. Afterwards, I tried all of my other games on that Sega, either the screen is just black, or the "Produced by or licensed by SEGA....." screen appears, then everything goes black anyway. I think the hacked cartridge killed my console. It was working just fine right up until I tried playing it. Now I have my original model 1 Sega Genesis (that I got as a kid when it came with Sonic 2) that basically just powers on but not much else. I don't know whether it can be cheaply/easily fixed, or if I should just pitch it. I already got a model 2 Sega for less than $20 to use in the meantime, but it's also rather fussy (probably needs cleaned), so it would be nice to get my original working again. As much as I want to play the hack, I can't risk frying another system.

I believe you. The 100 in one killed my NES, and it's the same one he shows in the video. Several game had glitches, but when I tried to use Kirby the console glitched and now all games I try to play appear with scrambled graphics. Some guy who checked it told me it was the Vram chip what got damaged. I prefer emulators. They're safer I guess.

[@Roshenbo]

Did your Sega Genesis from your childhood work after letting it sit for awhile? Because I experienced this same effect with my childhood SNES last night with a ROM hack put on a cart. But I left it unplugged overnight and now it's working fine. But I was scared a.f. last night!

[@thewandererguitar]

Please explain where you get the value 4.4V being a safe operating condition for these ICs. In the video I can see a Macronix MX29LV640 which is rated for 4.0V absolute maximum (which still doesn't imply you should operate it at that voltage). Also, diodes don't just magically drop 0.6V - they are non-linear and the voltage drop is highly dependent on the current through them. Making the simple assumption of 0.6V drop, especially in a digital system where the instantaneous current is always changing, is a common mistake and not good design practise.

[@bennvennelectronics]

db Electronics completely agree, 4.4v into a 4v max part is not good for the flash but poses no risk to the console, which is the entire point of this video...

[@bennvennelectronics]

Oh and regarding the diodes, correct again. Take a look at the 1n4148 datasheet, the diode they use. at 35ma which is the standard read current of the Flash cart (Dynamic measurement testing while in operation) the voltage drop is a touch over 0.8v, almost 0.85 volts. During Flashing where the voltage is most critical current consumption triples which leads to a little over a volt drop. Right in the sweet spot for the MX29LV640. It's almost as if they were designed with this in mind!

[@CPS2]

db Electronics TOLD!

[@TruthSword7]

@@CPS2 Do you have experience using chinese repros? I'm interested.

[@GeorgiaRidgerunner]

I won't claim to be an electronics guru but I will say the first time I heard bootlegs carts damage your system I laughed ...these bootleg carts have been around for years never heard of any causing damage... Then I heard DB electronics wrote an article about this... Then I knew the damage article was nothing more than a ploy...DB electronics sells portable DVD players with a built in nes emulator the roms are on a disc...oh we'll just a sign of the times I guess...(business owners fabricate storys to steer customers to there product...)

[@droiduseruserdroid1731]

The bootleg multi-carts have been around for over 30 years. Literally. First ones popped up in Taiwan around 1989.

[@TruthSword7]

@@droiduseruserdroid1731 Yes, but to play devil's advocate, the argument is about the 3.3v chips, which I understand would not have been around in 1989. Still, though, with the amount of these 3.3v bootlegs in use over the past years, I would expect there would be plenty of reports if they really did damage. It seems like there is no way to really test his claim since he claims it is 'long-term' damage. Convenient. (other than to do what BennVenn has done here, that is). I'd like to see this test done with some other bootlegs besides just gameboy.

[@gabrieleriva651]

From what I understand, they are ACTUALLY damagin your systems... but ina not-very-perceptible way.

[@richyroa]

Pretty unlikely, but in worst case scenario the cart's chips should get fried before the console. Even then, only decaying Capacitors might get damaged or die altogether (they can be replaced). The only area where you should not use bootleg parts is the AC adaptors.

[@Der_Kleine_Mann]

@@richyroa I ordered a new replacement power supply for my Super Nintendo. The original one with the heavy block thing is still working, but the block gets pretty warm when its not disconnected. The new one hasn't got this heavy block, but it has the same output values, so my question is can I use it safely or is it better to let the original one check? Maybe it's something wrong with it, cause I didn't notice it getting that warm back in the 90's.

[@skins4thewin]

Bob over at RetroRGB needs to watch this as he is constantly talking about this topic and is one of the people who believes that it can in fact cause damage, mainly because the head dude over at DB Electronics said so.

[@skins4thewin]

@lenneth3 From what I understand yes they are friends. I suppose that's why he defends his word so strongly.

[@delta-3856]

Does this apply to the GBA Everdrive x5?

[@Imaminimonstertruck]

Looking through some KZbin videos and I have not come across someone buying a Repro sticking it to there official console and somehow blew up. Other than that I'm very skeptical it seems like this is some kind of tactic to convince people to buy official cart to justify the insane price big win for scalpers and profiteers.

[@antoniobanderas3870]

yeah man... some of the games i want are like 150 bucks

[@KuraIthys]

I honestly don't have enough experience to know one way or another what the answer should be here. However, I do know enough about electronics to think if a 3.3 volt flash cartridge can damage a console designed to operate at 5 volts, there must be some fairly complex non-obvious effects going on. More straightforward electronics logic suggests feeding 5 volts into a 3.3 volt device is... Bad.. ... For the 3.3 volt device. But that's not the concern here is it? Since that would be the flash cart that takes damage from this, if anything. That's why this issue confuses me, because I know just enough about electronics to know what I would expect to go wrong here, but not enough to know if there's any less obvious effects that could damage the high voltage side (aka. The console) of this arrangement. Damaging a flash cart isn't ideal, but that's neither here nor there. The consoles are vintage hardware that cannot be replaced. And while there are many millions of such consoles, especially for some of them (a SNES destroyed is less of a loss than a virtual boy, to take a random example), they are still ultimately limited in number... And that's going to get worse as these systems age... Ultimately, what can a 3.3 volt device do to a 5 volt system either directly, indirectly, or through some peculiar failure mode? That is the question here... Alas, I don't know who to trust, and I'm not well versed enough in this stuff to know. But off the top of my head I can't honestly think of a failure mode that would risk the console. (many that would risk the flash cart, but again, that's less relevant.)

[@droiduseruserdroid1731]

There is not a single example of a bootleg cart damaging an NES in over 30 years. The first bootleg multicarts were available as early as 1991.

[@franciscoalejandro7567]

What a relief, I just got a multicart for my snes.

[@droiduseruserdroid1731]

The lurking variable you overlooked is that specific "3.3 volt" chips have different voltage tolerance levels.

[@rafaelluengo5214]

how i can buy some of your flash cards ?

[@bennvennelectronics]

Rafael Luengo BennVenn.com

[@osga21]

Lmao, the dbelectronoics guys is really butthurt with this video. Also slightly too convenient that he sells his own flashcarts, really makes you think hmmmmmm

[@somecunt777]

Yeah, what a Muppet.

[@AH-et7hi]

Battery powered hand held is nothing compared to mains powered consoles

[@Gustavo-ye1ko]

I'm a software Engineer and I can honestly say that I don't know what side I believe in... I know very little about electronic stuff and I know this can't be explained in 10 words but... can somebody explain or give me a hint of why I should (or shoudn't) buy those "150 in 1 NES" cartridges? (I bought 1 in aliexpress but I canceled the order soon enough, just in case). Sorry for the bad English.

[@cunawarit]

I'm a computer scientist and the same. My electronics knowledge is poor so I have opted to only use the 150 in 1 cart with a clone console and not use it with my NES. Better safe than sorry...

[@skins4thewin]

They are perfectly fine. Buy one if you want, it isn't going to hurt anything.

[@frenchpet]

Just haters hating on krikzz. Pathetic. What Krikzz has done for retro gaming collectors is phenomenal. Could you imagine being at the mercy of scumbag ebay re-sellers? Honestly the hate Krikzz gets is pathetic. Just people envious of his talent, and much deserved love for adding value to peoples lives. He made a name for himself doing something great. Others are trying to make a name for themselves by trying to bring down someone. ANYWAY great, video thanks for clearing things up.

[@skins4thewin]

It has nothing to do with ppl hating on Krikzz. There are people that genuinely believe that it will do harm. This isn't even about Krikzz products anyway, its more about cheap multicarts, repros and things of that nature. Most of Krikzz Everdrives actually use the proper voltage components anyway.

[@TB-nf6bs]

Bennvenn? Are you in a coma or something are you hurt? Does anyone know? 🤔😂 waiting to hear news about the drop in lcd for the game gear it's been a long time without updates. Thanks for your work though great stuff I have to add.

[@emmettturner9452]

Rene (dbElectronics) demonstrably puts his engineering concerns into real-world products so I think it’s disingenuous to refer to him as a “armchair engineer.” As opposed to being some otherwise-uninvolved person like “armchair engineer” implies, Rene practices what he preaches within the retro gaming products scene. Whether he is right or wrong about the level of concern justified here, can you see how that might be an unproductive and rude way to refer to him?

[@slugmilk4063]

rene is sugandese

[@bleemnet]

Yup, tiny diode will do the job, but the propaganda and rumors released by these companies have been proven to be very profitable. You could see they landed a couple of high end project with the Iam8bit capcom releases and the Limited Run Games recent NES release. It is all a big campaign to land more jobs. Good for them. We'll work hard to educate Retro Gamers to make educated decisions.

[@gabrieleriva651]

Limited Run Games made Nes cartridges?? When?

[@thewandererguitar]

Also, really cute that you tried to measure an AC problem with a DC multimeter, good job!

[@bennvennelectronics]

db Electronics there's AC currents flowing in a flash cart operating on DC in a static condition!?!? I take it you are the author of the original article? Happy to have an adult discussion about this, or you can try pick at a video, aimed at those that aren't familiar with electronics to somehow make yourself feel better?

[@bennvennelectronics]

I guess I'll address these comments. An AC problem. No. A flash cart operates on DC. It is a logic device which operates on Low and High logic levels, 0 and 5v, or 3.3v as the case may be. What you may be referring to is capacitive loading due to the high bus frequency (1mhz in DMG mode, 2mhz in Color mode) into an IC. This has nothing to do with the carts voltage at these kinds of frequencies, and does not pose a risk to the console. The pico farads of gate capacitance in negligible. Or is there an 'AC problem' that I'm not aware of?

[@Voultar]

To clear any confusion; Who's the author of this article that you've failed to properly cite? If you're referring to dB Electronics, calling him an "Armchair Engineer" is far from being *adult* language.

[@thewandererguitar]

Adult, lol, I stopped thinking of you as such when you used the term "armchair engineer" to refer to people like me.

[@bennvennelectronics]

I was implying armchair engineer to the many trolls on krikzz's twitter and forums that are attacking him. I'm not sure of dB's credentials and from the 2 comments he just made, I am under the impression that he doesn't fully grasp the concepts that are being discussed. Or he's just trying to find holes in a video aimed at the inexperienced. Either way, I'm always happy to discuss this stuff privately, or publicly.

[@thewandererguitar]

5V on one side of the diode and 0V on the other, nevermind the cloud of smoke this condition will create...

[@bennvennelectronics]

db Electronics The example is to show what conditions a diode conducts or doesn't conduct, the forward voltage required for current to flow. You get that right?

[@CPS2]

db Electronics TOLD!

[@skins4thewin]

So YOU'RE the guy that started this rumor to begin with.... you should set Bob over at RetroRGB straight about this because he still believes your article about this as well as many others.

[@ssj3meister]

@@skins4thewin I think he took down the article but the damage is already done.