Aladdin Deck Enhancer

Aladdin Deck Enhancer

Aladdin Deck Enhancer, with Dizzy the Adventurer, cartridge for the NES by Camerica
Developer	Codemasters, Camerica
Type	Hardware accessory
Release date	1992
Platform	Nintendo Entertainment System

The Aladdin Deck Enhancer, produced by Camerica, and developed by Codemasters, is a cartridge based system that allows software on Compact Cartridges to be played on the Nintendo Entertainment System. 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.

Invented by Richard Darling, the Aladdin Deck Enhancer contains a bypass Security Circuit Chip, a Memory Control Chip, and a Graphics Chip, which would work with the lock-out chip and other features inside the Nintendo Entertainment System. First the Compact Cartridge would be inserted into the Aladdin Deck Enhancer, which is shaped the same as a standard NES cartridge, and then this would be 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, much like 24.7% of all other NES games released in the U.S.

The idea behind the Aladdin Deck Enhancer was to provide 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. Camerica was one of the major purveyors of unlicensed NES games, so the Deck Enhancer was a logical creation for them. Also, since the slot for the actual game was much smaller, less material was needed to produce a cartridge. 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 amount of game systems produced, which in turn made it a valuable collectible to many collectors that can be sold for a good price.