In your opinion, what is the best looking cartridge format? For me, I think it's probably the Super Famicom cartridge. It's so perfectly rounded and smooth, and I like the little ridges on the back. I'm also fond of the warning label that goes on the back, which is in all Japanese. It's certainly a lot cooler looking than the American SNES carts, which have a similar design to the ugly American SNES. Another one I like a lot is the Japanese Mega Drive cart. Very futuristic and cool, and again it has a cool warning label on the back. Not sure why I like those so much. I also love N64 carts. Cartridges are cool for many reasons, such as short loading times, durability (they can't be scratched like CDs), and the potential for additional hardware (i.e. Super FX or Sega SVP). Mainly I just like the idea of plonking a big plastic digital hunk of stuff into my videogame console. They're like tapes, in a way, except that they don't move - as someone said in an earlier thread, they sometimes called cartridges "cassettes" in Japan.
I was thinking the super famicom as well. I actually think the super nintendo carts are on the ugly side, like the console.
Another vote for Hu Cards as they're quite cool looking. I suppose I'd really go for AES carts; they're huge and you actually feel like you've somewhat got your money's worth.
The Atari Jaguar carts were pretty awesome as well when inserted (strangely the top part of the cart reminded me of a structure from a Japanese building) shame none of the games were up to scratch! Oh as for handhelds erm I'd say the Atari Lynx!
Hu-cards are pretty cool, but I'm not sure if you'd call them "cartridges" per se. They're more like game cards. You wouldn't call a DS card a "cartridge," you'd call it a game card or something like that. I dunno, it comes down to semantics I guess. I've never actually held an AES cart; I think I may have seen one behind a store shelf. I have a couple MVS carts and they are indeed massive. Not really that big, though, if you consider how big many arcade rom boards are; some are almost large as the systems themselves. Their design isn't all that inspiring though, and they rattle a bit when you hold them, so they feel rather cheap. Quite an awesome system, though.
Anything flat enough to be stacked or shelved. And unfortunately Super nintendo carts are quite frustrating in that regard, I find they don't sit well against each other unlike MD or N64 carts. II have a special affection for NES carts, jumbo sized and almost like VHS tapes! Practicality would be MD carts though, nice and small.
Nothing can touch Famicom cartridges, due to the various different shapes and sizes, plus the rainbow of colours that they came in.
I took apart an American SNES cart the other day (Donkey Kong Country) and found that the board itself only took up about 1/3rd of the case. The rest is just plastic. It could have easily fit in a Genesis case.
I'm a big Sega fan, so I want to say Mega drive or 32X, but I have to say, I'm fond of the N64 carts. IDK, I think its the perfect weight! slightly heavy for the size, so it feels like its packed with high end technology Then again, I really love the massiveness of the Neo Geo AES carts too!
See I prefer Famicom carts that were black or gray. I don't like looking at my shelf of about 50 Famicom games and it looking like a rainbow. And the sizes and shapes are inconsistent. But that CLASSIC Famicom style I really like. Also NES and SNES.
NES, NTSC-US SNES and Master system, they all stack so nicely. UK SNES, N64 and Genesis carts all had a shit rounding to them that took up more space and didnt stack properly.
I don't understand why they made that horrible blocky design for the american SNES, they should have used the same japanese case as we got in europe.
