Mysterious Rareware proto cart on eBay?

Not sure if anyone has seen this, but I was just looking on eBay for Nintendo dev stuff, when this came up:

http://www.ebay.com/itm/N64-DEVELOPMENT-CART-Nintendo-64-N64-Developers-Cart-/380760354092

It's listed as a Nintendo 64 developers cartridge, but when you squint your eyes you can just read "Rare" and see the Rareware logo on the PCB.

It has no label nor any description if the cartridge still has data on it. Is this the same case as with the previous Conker 64 dev cart?

 

Thank god no fuzzy frames on VHS.

 

Very comical. It's just the standard eBay description for the item's condition.
If you happen to know if this could be of any interest, then please do tell.

 

I think it's from that lot, and they're empty.

 

http://www.rarewarecentral.com/?q=rare-n64-dev-carts

 

That's too bad. It would've been neat seeing something surface that's interesting.
EDIT: Has anyone actually tried accessing the chips and doing a full data dump? There might still be some data left on them...?

 

If its Rare' Dev cartridge it would impossible to get any data off of it... Mainly due to the fact they had volatile memory the cartridge itself was hooked to a computer that was feeding the data of the game through it, and once the the console or computer shutoff the data on the cartridge would be gone.

Rare really want to keep their projects under wraps. Pretty much without the computer that feeding the data to the cartridge its worthless.

 

Is it the standar for all electronic products and it only talks about CDs, VHS, scratches or holes? Now, that is seriously misleading.

 

Oh, and don't forget the bit about it coming with a manual ;*)

Sadly, this was only a glorified volatile flashcart. They did also have an eeprom cart, but those used a snazzy dongle to decrypt code, unless I'm gravely mistaken. To be honest it was stunning any of those showed up, but it seems more likely that if any more Rareware code ever gets released it will be in the form of binary.

 

This cart has jumped owner quite alot in this past year.

 

Maybe from now on we should call these "hot potato flash carts"?

 

Can't be called flash cart since it won't retain data without power. Maybe Hot Potato SRAM cart?

 

Looks like DRAM - and has the software used to talk to that cart ever leaked? It would seem to be absolutely useless without it. You also need a CIC dongle in that 9-pin socket to get it to boot, although maybe it can use one off a cart, too.

 

It could be part of the N64 SDK I suppose? I'll check tomorrow.

 

Considering it's Rare, the required software would probably be some propriety thing not included with a standard devkit.

I'm still curious what would happen if someone took one of these carts and spent tons on a data recovery place to look at it. It sounds like it's certain nothing would be saved, but you can't help but be curious.

 

I think it's about as certain as anything is - I can't read the entire part number on the RAM chip, but it seem to start with "KM48V" - which would make it a Samsung Fast Page or EDO DRAM. They have a data retention time measured in milliseconds.

 

So you'll have to be fast! (joke)

 

What happens in Twycross stays in Twycross.

 

if i remember, this is the cartridge i had saw from a youtuber; the cartridge was empty he stated, or something like it wasnt reachable... ( im not sure ).

but there was nothing on it

 

these cartridges were made so data was ereased upon shutting down the console so...nothing in there folks!