8kB RAM Adapter
From Sega Retro
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| 8kB RAM Adapter | ||||||||||
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| Made for: SG-1000 | ||||||||||
| Manufacturer: Aaronix, Dahjee, Jumbo | ||||||||||
| Type: Add-on | ||||||||||
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8kB RAM Adapter, for lack of a better name, is an adapter for SG-1000-compatible systems, released by third party manufacturers in Taiwan. It adds 8kB of RAM to the SG-1000, bringing it more in-line with the MSX standard, and thus allowing for easier MSX-to-SG-1000 game conversions. No variants of this hardware have ever been found in other countries.
There are two types of adapter known to exist, one which is only compatible with the SG-1000, and another which will also function with the Sega Master System. It is presumed that games built to take advantage of one type are incompatible with the other, but this is purely speculation due to the lack of documentation surrounding Taiwanese games, systems and accessories. Games which take advantage of these peripherals share the same shells as regular SG-1000 cartridges - official MSX-shaped game cartridges will not fit.
Adapters such as these were fairly common in Taiwan, and allowed for popular MSX games (usually developed by Konami) to be brought to the console. In South Korea MSX games have also been known to be brought to Sega hardware in shady circumstances, however in this case, games were altered to work directly with Sega Master System hardware, bypassing the need for external adapters.
Weak copyright laws in regards to video games allowed such devices to exist in the 1980s and early 1990s in Asian countries such as these. It is unknown whether Sega approved for these adapters, or whether MSX developers approved for their games to be re-released in this way.