Game

Third-Party Loaders

Multi-carts, etc.

Overview

A third-party loader is a piece of hardware or software which is used to load a game or application onto a platform through a loading mechanism other than those which the original hardware provided.

Typical categories of loaders are multi-carts, digital tape replacements and also modified software.

There is a healthy discussion thread on the Atari Age forums regarding the general subject and latest developments: http://atariage.com/forums/topic/127...t-all-systems/

For Submissions

Twin Galaxies has a significant history of permitting performances with third-party devices which replace the original media for platforms. Some historical attempts were made to document specifically permitted devices for submissions and the last of these can be found on the forums at https://www.twingalaxies.com/showthr...ti-Flash-Carts .

Over the years, more and more such devices and mechanisms (software exploits which require no additional hardware, for example) come to light. With the advent of TGSAP, a wider and wider use of various copy-protection avoidance and piracy mechanisms have been used with submissions. There is no guarantee that the use of a third-party loader will be accepted. The below list is intended only as reference. The listing of a device below has no bearing on the adjudication process and should not be interpreted as acceptable in a submission.

Legal

Commercially released games and many homebrew games are expected to be protected by copyright in most countries. Such third-party devices often sit in a legal grey area for many countries where the device itself is not illegal but using the device for commercially released games is often against local copyright law. There are countries where such devices are banned entirely and other countries which simply do not recognise copyright. The operator is expected to make certain of their own legal position wherever they use such a device.

Generic Hardware

Acorn

Acorn Electron

Ramptop Retro's ElkSD range: http://ramtop-retro.uk/ (sold via drbombcrater on ebay.co.uk: https://www.ebay.co.uk/usr/drbombcrater )

Amstrad

Amstrad CPC

C4CPC: http://www.cpcwiki.eu/index.php/C4CPC

Atari

Atari 2600

Harmony Cart http://harmony.atariage.com
Starpath Supercharger: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Starpath_Supercharger
Robin Edward's UnoCart-2600: https://github.com/robinhedwards/UnoCart-2600 - also see below.
Cuttle Cart
Sean Kelly's 2600 Multicart

UnoCart-2600 derivatives:

Dirty Harry's UnoCart-2600: https://github.com/DirtyHairy/UnoCart-2600
The Atari 2600 PlusCart(+): https://pluscart.firmaplus.de/pico/ - based on DirtyHarry's forked version of the UnoCart-2600.
Dablio Games' PlusCart (a PlusCart(+) based product). See notes on Dablio Games' version: https://www.twingalaxies.com/scott-s...ey-are-pirates first (link to seller in that thread if you seek it).

Atari 5200

Atarimax Atari 5200 128-in-1 Flash Cart http://atarimax.com/usb5200/documentation
Sean Kelly's 5200 Multicart v1 & v2
Unknown 5200 Multicart

Atari 7800

Cuttle Cart 2

Atari 8-bit

Atarimax Maxflash Programmer http://atarimax.com/flashcart/documentation

Atari Lynx

BennVenn ElCheapoSD - Lynx Rev2 https://bennvenn.myshopify.com/colle...lynx-pre-order

Bally

Astrocade

Ward Shrake's Bally Astrocade Multicart: http://amigan.1emu.net/digarch/multifaq.htm

ColecoVision

ColecoVision / ADAM

Atarimax Colecovision 128-in-1 Flash Cart http://atarimax.com/usbcoleco/documentation
Atarimax Ultimate SD http://atarimax.com/colecosd/documentation

Commodore

Generic Commodore

SD2IEC: https://www.thefuturewas8bit.com/sd2iec-info
Pi1541: https://cbm-pi1541.firebaseapp.com/
DC2N: https://www.luigidifraia.com/c64/dc2n/

Commodore 64

1541 Ultimate-II http://1541ultimate.net - Reputable disc images: GB64.com, C64.com, C64G.com.
EasyFlash: http://skoe.de/easyflash/doku.php?id=start
Tapuino: http://sweetlilmre.blogspot.com/2014...-emulator.html
Cassadapt: http://c8d.cbm8bit.com/cassadapt.php
Kung-Fu Flash: https://github.com/KimJorgensen/KungFuFlash

Emerson

Arcadia 2001

Arcadia 2001 Multicart: http://atariage.com/forums/topic/189...-any-interest/
Ward Shrake's Emerson Arcadia 2001 Multicart: http://amigan.1emu.net/digarch/multifaq.htm

General Consumer Electronics

Vectrex

Richard Hutchinson's VecFlash
Richard Hutchinson's VecMulti
Sean Kelly's Vectrex Multicart
Andrew Coleman's Vectrex Multicart http://vectrex.playntradeonline.com/shop.html