Aladdin Deck Enhancer

The Aladdin Deck Enhancer is a system-enhancing adaptor to use Compact Cartridges on the Nintendo Entertainment System. It was produced by Camerica and developed by Codemasters but not licensed by Nintendo. It is similar to the Datach system for the Famicom, but without the Barcode feature. It was released in November 1992, with its planned library to reach a total 24 games by the end of 1993. However, only seven games were actually released. Hardware Invented by Richard Darling, the Aladdin Deck Enhancer contains a bypass Security Circuit Chip, a Memory Control Chip, and a Graphics Chip, which work with the lock-out chip and other features inside the Nintendo Entertainment System. First, the Compact Cartridge is inserted into the Aladdin Deck Enhancer, which is shaped the same as a standard NES cartridge, and then this is inserted into the Control Deck. Inside the slot where the Compact Cartridge is placed is a recessed switch, which changes the Security/Region settings from position A to position B. The device contains 8 kilobytes of RAM for graphics use. The device provides a cheaper means with which to make the game cartridges mainly because each cartridge requires its own 10NES lock-out chip, RAM, and extra circuitry. However, by the time the product was released the Super NES and Mega Drive/Genesis were already released and the product never had a sizable installed base to warrant a large amount of software. Camerica never recovered from the release and shortly after was forced to close down. This led to a small number of game systems produced, which in turn made it a valuable collectible.