Equalizer Hacked

Introduction

It is one thing to use a cheat code cartridge to make codes for a game but what about hacking the cheat code cartridge itself? That's exactly what you will find on this page both exploring the hardware and software that makes the Equalizer work. Before delving into that, however, let's briefly talk about the Equalizer. The Equalizer is a cheat code cartridge for the N64 which was made by Datel and is based on the Action Replay as well as being similar to the Gameshark in terms of look, code compatibility and menu system.

Introduction

Hardware

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Hardware

The Equalizer has striking resemblance to both the Action replay and Gameshark for the N64 with the big difference being that instead of having a parallel port style connector on the back it has an odd card like slot (which some Gameshark pro cartridges have). If you go to the following link and read the section What is a SmartCard/Port you will see there were at least plans for a smart card for the Equalizer:

http://www.geocities.ws/n64koder/equalizer.txt

You can read about another cheat code cartridge for the N64 which made use of smart cards and gives an idea of how they may have been used on the Equalizer:

http://www.nesworld.com/article.php?system=n64&data=n64-gamekiller

Note that there is no mention of the smart card connector in the Equalizer manual.

Here is a photo of the Equalizer circuit board:

There is the usual slot connector for plugging into the N64 as well as one for receiving an N64 cartridge. A switch on the front can be pressed to access the Equalizer's in-game cheat menu (if enabled) or to activate one-time codes. A 7-segment LED display does a 5 second count down when the system is booting. Oddly, seemingly random figures will appear on the display when a game is being played.

Just four screws keep the Equalizer together which uses a single, double-sided circuit board which is imprinted with 'DATEL REF1220'. Going by dates on the chips the Equalizer became available in 1998. There are four chips which are:

X2 SST 29LE010 1Mb EEPROM

These 8-bit re-programmable memory chips hold the code and firmware for the Equalizer. Because the N64 uses a 16-bit data bus two 29LE010 chips were used, one for the odd addresses and the other for the even addresses. A 29LE010 operates on 3V, can be programmed 100,000 times and can retain data for 100 years. You can view the datasheet here at:

http://pdf.dzsc.com/88889/252.pdf

X1 LZ9FC17 DATEL GAL ACTION REPLAY

A GAL is a Generic Array Logic chip which allows for complex logic circuits and most likely handles interfacing between the N64 cartridge and the N64 as well as the EEPROM chips. Note that the chip has 'ACTION REPLAY' written on it.

X1 74HC164

The 74HC164 is an 8-bit serial in, parallel out shift register which is used to display numbers on the 7-segment display. A copy of the datasheet can be found at:

http://www.nxp.com/documents/data_sheet/74HC_HCT164.pdf

My Action replay for the N64 has the same circuit board with the same components but different dates on the chips.

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