MBC6

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Overview

MBC6 (Memory Bank Controller 6) is an unusual MBC that contains two separately switchable ROM banks ($4000 and $6000) and RAM banks ($A000 and $B000), SRAM and an 8 Mbit Macronix MX29F008TC-14 flash memory chip. It is only used in one game, Net de Get: Minigame @ 100, which uses the Mobile Adapter to connect to the web to download minigames onto the local flash. Both ROM banks and both RAM banks are views into the same ROM and RAM, but with separately adjustable offsets. Since the banked regions are smaller the effective number of banks is twice what it usually would be; 8 kB ROM banks instead of 16 kB and 4 kB RAM banks instead of 8 kB.

0000-3FFF - ROM Bank 00 (Read Only)

Read-only access to ROM bank 0.

4000-5FFF - ROM/Flash Bank A 00-7F (Read/Write for flash, Read Only for ROM)

Read-only access to ROM and flash banks 00-7F, switchable independently from ROM/Flash Bank B.

6000-7FFF - ROM/Flash Bank B 00-7F (Read/Write for flash, Read Only for ROM)

Read-only access to ROM and flash banks 00-7F, switchable independently from ROM/Flash Bank A.

A000-AFFF - RAM Bank A 00-07 (Read/Write)

Read/write access to RAM banks 00-07, switchable independently from RAM Bank B.

B000-BFFF - RAM Bank B 00-07 (Read/Write)

Read/write access to RAM banks 00-07, switchable independently from RAM Bank A.

0000-03FF - RAM Enable (Write Only)

Mostly the same as for MBC1, a value of 0Ah will enable reading and writing to external RAM. A value of 00h will disable it.

0400-07FF - RAM Bank A Number (Write Only)

Select the active RAM Bank A (A000-AFFF)

0800-0BFF - RAM Bank B Number (Write Only)

Select the active RAM Bank B (B000-BFFF)

0C00-0FFF - Flash Enable (Write Only)

Enable or disable access to the flash chip. Only the lowest bit (0 for disable, 1 for enable) is used. Flash Write Enable must be active to change this.

1000 - Flash Write Enable (Write Only)

Enable or disable write mode for the flash chip. Only the lowest bit (0 for disable, 1 for enable) is used. Note that this maps to the /WE pin on the flash chip, not whether or not writing to the bus is enabled; some flash commands (e.g. JEDEC ID query) still work with this off so long as Flash Enable is on.

2000-27FF - ROM/Flash Bank A Number (Write Only)

The number for the active bank in ROM/Flash Bank A.

2800-2FFF - ROM/Flash Bank A Select (Write Only)

Selects whether the ROM or the Flash is mapped into ROM/Flash Bank A. A value of 00 selects the ROM and 08 selects the flash.

3000-37FF - ROM/Flash Bank B Number (Write Only)

The number for the active bank in ROM/Flash Bank B.

3800-3FFF - ROM/Flash Bank B Select (Write Only)

Selects whether the ROM or the Flash is mapped into ROM/Flash Bank B. A value of 00 selects the ROM and 08 selects the flash.

Flash Commands

The flash chip is mapped directly into the A or B address space, which means standard flash access commands are used. To issue a command, you must write the value $AA to $5555 then $55 to $2AAA and, which are mapped as 2:5555/1:4AAA for bank A or 2:7555/1:6AAA for bank B followed by the command at either 2:5555/2:7555, or a relevant address, depending on the command.

The commands and access sequences are as follows, were X refers to either 4 or 6 and Y to 5 or 7, depending on the bank region:

2:Y555=$AA	1:XAAA=$55	2:Y555=$80	2:Y555=$AA	1:XAAA=$55	?:X000=$30	Erase sector* (set 8 kB region to $FFs)
2:Y555=$AA	1:XAAA=$55	2:Y555=$80	2:Y555=$AA	1:XAAA=$55	?:Y555=$10	Erase chip* (set entire flash to $FFs)
2:Y555=$AA	1:XAAA=$55	2:Y555=$90				ID mode (reads out JEDEC ID (C2,81) at $X000)
2:Y555=$AA	1:XAAA=$55	2:Y555=$A0				Program mode*
2:Y555=$AA	1:XAAA=$55	2:Y555=$F0				Exit ID/erase chip mode
2:Y555=$AA	1:XAAA=$55	?:X000=$F0				Exit erase sector mode
?:????=$F0						Exit program mode

Commands marked with * require the Write Enable bit to be 1. These will make the flash read out status bytes instead of values. A status of $80 means the operation has finished and you should exit the mode using the appropriate command. A status of $10 indicates a timeout.

Programming must be done by first erasing a sector, activating write mode, writing out 128 bytes (aligned), then writing a 0 to the final address to commit the write, waiting for the status to indicate completion, and writing $F0 to the final address again to exit program mode. If a sector is not erased first programming will not work properly. In some cases it will only allow the stored bytes to be anded instead of replaced; in others it just won't work at all. The only way to set the bits back to 1 is to erase the sector entirely. It is recommended to check the flash to make sure all bytes were written properly and re-write (without erasing) the 128 byte block if some bits didn't get set to 0 properly. After writing all blocks in a sector Flash Write Enable should be set to 0.

Source: [1]