Hacker News new | past | comments | ask | show | jobs | submit login

Fun fact: Macronix used to make chips to defeat the NES lockout system for unlicensed cartridges [1]. I don't know if they made the ROMs or cartridges as well, but it seems plausible. I think their partnership with Nintendo started during the N64 era, with Toshiba and Sharp making most of their ROMs before that.

[1] https://www.google.com/patents/US5004232




Similarly, Argonaut Games, the company that worked with Nintendo to produce StarFox and the SNES SuperFX chip. Their first interaction with Nintendo was when "Argonaut submitted a proof-of-concept method of defeating the Game Boy's copyright protection mechanism."

Another fun fact: Argonaut later evolved the very same SuperFX chip into the https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/ARC_(processor), which is used in, among [many] other things, Intel's infamous Management Engine. You very likely have an Argonaut core in your computer.




Guidelines | FAQ | Lists | API | Security | Legal | Apply to YC | Contact

Search: