DAT-o-MATIC

Back to: Nintendo - Satellaview

SNES vs. Satellaview

This is an open ticket.
Category: Generic
Reference: 3962

C. V. Reynolds » 2025-12-10 06:59:53

Why was this moved without any consultation? A little warning would've been nice. A sudden move is drastic.

Anyway, the BS-X cartridge (which is what this is and it is NOT a BIOS) plugs into the Super Famicom and runs on the Super Famicom. It isn't a Satellaview cart or program.

Also if the BS-X cart is considered to be its own system, this also means the Sega CD BIOS needs to be removed from the Genesis dat, as it then belongs to the Sega CD attachment rather than the Genesis itself.

relax » 2025-12-10 08:39:06

My reasons for moving it to the Satellaview dat are:

It's obvoiusly made for the Satellaview, even if it plugs in the Super Famicom. All the Satellaview mempacks also plug into the Super Famicom.

It's needed for Satellaview emulation, therefore I think it's useful to have in the Satellaview dat.

It can be discussed if it's a BIOS or not. https://project.satellaview.org/downloads.htm calls it the "BS-X BIOS ROM. Also most emulators requires the file in the BIOS-folder.

Sorry for not consulting beforehand, I didn't think the move was controversial. If the majority thinks it belongs in the SNES dat, I have no problems with that.

C. V. Reynolds » 2025-12-11 08:31:44

1: The Satellaview mempacks plug into the BS-X cartridge itself, rather than the Super Famicom. It can be debated how important that distinction is.

2: It's definitely more useful to have in the Satellaview dat, yes. This alone could be a good reason for a move if one feels technicalities don't get in the way. I remember a long time ago when I was on board for the move of Pokemon - Yellow Version to the Game Boy dat from GBC, simply because the box was a Game Boy box. But the ROM itself is coded as a Game Boy Color ROM. So sometimes I wonder if that was the right thing now. It'd be more useful to have it in the GBC dat, after all.

3: The BS-X cartridge itself contains a playable ROM which runs live event data and serves as an interface to Satellaview activities, including the loading of games. It's no simple BIOS. I'm aware that people often call anything that's required to run games BIOS, but should a common misnomer take precedence in naming?

I similarly have no problem if the majority thinks this should go in the Satellaview dat. I've actually really warmed up to the idea. Though then you still have the problem of the Sega CD/Mega CD BIOS being in the Genesis dat. At the same time, I'm aware that No-Intro doesn't have a dat for Sega CD, of course. I'm not in favor of deleting those BIOS.

relax » 2025-12-12 08:23:25

1) True of course. I could have written "indirectly". My point was that it's not necessarily where it plugs in that should determine which dat it goes into. The BS-X cartridge was part of the Satellaview modem box.

2) Yes, people will easier find it if it's in the Satellaview dat.

3) The ROM could stay in the Satellaview dat with or without the BIOS-tag. An argument in favor of the tag is again that it will be easier to find. What speaks against the tag is that it's not very precise naming, as the ROM as more advanced than a Basic Input/Output System.

We could make a poll in the forum, perhaps with two choices, First SNES vs Satellaview, then BIOS -tag or no BIOS-tag.

I don't mind the Sega CD/Mega CD BIOS being in the Genesis dat, as we don't have Sega CD-dat (the goal with the non-redump dat is to get to 0 entries).