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I'm out of touch with what's going on in the NES Reproduction and homebrew scene. I appreciate the things they do, but rarely if ever engage with any of it. I tend to avoid everything out of caution. Just last year, it was discovered that Limited Run Games was publishing NES games that lacked basic voltage protections. This is a huge publisher figuratively pulling it's own pants down and jumping into a puddle of gasoline while on fire. Eval Kneval wasn't even that crazy. Yet, they pulled this stunt as if it was any other Tuesday. I'd already given up on homebrew and bootlegs by 2025 because of this exact problem and here it was. Again.

If you weren't aware, most modern NES cartridges utilize 3.3 volt components. The Everdrive is a great example. Now, the NES is a 5 Volt device. Obviously, these are two different voltages, so it makes sense that there's going to be some component in there to accomidate that.If you directly drive a 3.3v components with a 5V component, bad things can happen.

These components, called Level Shifters, are important. Proper level shifting eliminates the inherent compatability issue between the 5V NES and the 3.3v components in your average homebrew cartridge. There's no downside to installing one or three. Yet, for whatever reason, there are still homebrew devs that either don't know this or don't care.

I don't want to have a hardline "no" stance on homebrew cartridges I haven't personally made. That sucks, you know? I want to be able to buy a copy of "Glip Glops Gloopy Gloop Game" or whatever wierd NESMaker romp so-and-so put their heart into, but I can't because I don't trust the people manufacturing them and unless I have the cartridge in my hands, there's no way to be sure they made the thing properly. It's sad, because I love these bizarre attempts at creating mascot characters.

Now, I mentioned Everdrive earlier. Yes, it has proper voltage protection so it's fine to use. I've been using mine since 2018 and I've never killed anything with it. The same can't be said for other cartridges. A few years ago, my daughter ~probably~ killed an NES with a Super Games 150-in-1 cartridge. It's my fault, as I wasn't willing to give her my old cartridges. She was five, and I remember what I did to my NES carts back in those days.

After checking the cartridge connector and finding nothing wrong with it when used in other consoles, I checked the CPU and what do you know? It was dead. The VRAM too. I was able to swap them out and get the console running again just fine. I even socketed the CPU because I wasn't sure it wouldn't happen again. I didn't socket the VRAM because those come in two different package sizes and they're easy enough to remove regardless.

When I opened the Super Games 150-in-1, I didn't see voltage protection. I'd already heard about the problem, but figured it was overblown. I was wrong. In fact, looking at the datasheets for one of the ICs showed that it was out of spec with the NES by a rather large degree. That particular IC being wired directly to the NES pin connector.

That bootleg wasn't used often. Still, it was the only cartridge that console had used in over a year by the time it was temporarily killed. Might I also add that the console never did it again after I replaced those components and took that cartridge away. Again, it's been several years since this happened.

Am I equating Homebrew with bootlegs? Yeah, if there's no voltage protection I definitely am. Any company that doesn't implement proper voltage protection into their homebrew cartridge is cutting corners at your expense. That's just how it is. Don't waste your money, and don't destroy your hardware. I would love to support homebrew developers in any way I can. In fact, I feel like making this point is a form of support. Tough love, I guess. If I didn't care, I wouldn't have bothered posting this at all. I'm harsh because I want to be involved but I can't if you're not going to do better.