Nintendo's ReWriteable Flash Modules for GB/GBC
Status:  Only in the land of the rising sun

 
 

Preface:

Nintendo likes making money, and hates losing it.  When Bung was producing the GBX and Flashcards for GBC, Nintendo had to get rid of them.  Their own developers were using them as they were much simpler than the Nintendo-made carts, and much less expensive.  While Bung may be gone, Nintendo is cashing in on the concept with their own legal cartridge writing system.
 

Background:

Okay, so what we have here is a cartridge writing system available at Japanese convenience store chain "lawson's".  Much in the way that cell phones are being sold at 7-11's in Canada and elsewhere, GBC software is being sold in these stores.  However, instead of buying standard GBC cartridges, you buy blank rewriteable cartridges, with a capacity of 8Mbit game storage and 256Kbit saveram.  You then plug the cartridge into the writing machine in the store, plug in your money, select the game (or games) you want programmed into your cartridge and walk away with some cool games that you can't buy in stores.  Special titles available through the service are Super Mario Bros DX.  (which I don't think was ever released on cartridge in Japan), and Balloon Kid DX- a full-color remake of the old GB title from 1990.  Other current titles and a slew of classics are also available for download.
 

What's in the box:

The cartridge package contains instruction on how to use the lawson's service as well as the 8 meg cartridge.  When you purchase the software from the writing terminal, you are also given a printed manual and stickers to place on the cartridge to identify the games on the cartridge.  A very slick system.
 

Quality of design/components:

Nintendo has high quality standards, and I'd assume that this system would be no different from any other Nintendo software or hardware.
 

Ease of use:

If you can read Japanese I don't think it would be too hard to figure it out.
 

Features:

Cartridge has full MBC1 MBC2 and MBC5 compatability, which means pretty much every GB game ever made would run on this cartridge if it were uploaded.  However, you can't use the cartridge with a GBX or other cartridge writers so it's very secure.

SRAM support ensures compatiblity with games that use saves.
 
 

The last word:

With Bung gone, Nintendo is free to experiment around safely without a major threat to their intellectual property (for a while at least), so I think that if nothing else, that this system is an interesting experiment in software sales.