Devices with Wifi:
- Fenrir Sega Saturn ODE (Features in development)
- 64Drive N64 Flash Cart
Devices with Wifi potential:
- X-Station PS1 ODE (Uses a processor with built-in Wifi, no word or update on whether the feature is to be developed)
Some will see this and think that there's no real reason to add this feature, so let me outline what this could enable in the future, should any cart maker implement it.
The main reason this concept excites me is the capability to locally map a remote folder hosted on a home PC, a home server, or on a Network-Attached Storage (NAS). This way, the backups of my media (ROMS, images, etc) are the same as the working copies. With a NAS, I'd likely have built-in redundancy, so if a drive fails, I don't lose any data. Having to skip the process of buying new storage once one fails, and having to transfer everything back to a new card isn't just annoying, if there are savestates on a corrupted SD or any other data (playtime? not sure what all gets logged with newer, cooler flash carts), I would inevitably lose all such data unless it is ritualistically backed up manually.
Another benefit of having one remote location host all files for a console is that any folder/hierarchy manipulation or adding new hacks/translations would be done once, and from your PC. Having a MODE and installing a 2tb platter drive into my Dreamcast right before the Atomiswave dumps was incredibly frustrating. Basically each time I wanted to try a new game or a new translation, I'd be pulling apart the chassis to plug a hard drive into my PC. There are ways to make this less painful (like using SD cards, etc) but nothing would cut this annoyance more than the process being replaced by just tossing new things into a network share and having them automatically "arrive" on my Dreamcast.
Netplay. This is likely a very complicated feature to implement, but there are already plans for NES games, utilizing Wifi, that have multiplay over the internet. Having the Wifi embedded into the cart could allow for future netplay possibilities should someone dedicate the time to work on something like that.
Automatic flash cart firmware updates (or semi-automatic). Much like how when you attempt to launch a game from the Switch or PS4, a popup can prompt a cart update?
Online-server-hosted game catalog. This is a weird one, but with small files I can imagine having an internet-hosted cache of games with which someone could potentially connect, and pre-load. Again, just a future possibility enabled by Wifi, not something I'd envision for the base feature set, and of marginal use, depending on the system, but a cool and interesting thought.
Implementation thoughts:
There are two ways I could see having network storage accessed by a cart. The first, and I think the most useful, would be to map the network folder as storage, meaning any ROM or file selected would load straight from storage into the buffer/RAM. Additionally, any savestates, save data, or metrics get written straight to the share and are automatically backed up. Second would be having network access to request transfer to local media. This might be optimal for systems with larger ROMs, ISOs, or homes with outdated/slower Wifi implementations.
I personally would still have methods of local storage (SD cards, HDD, USB) so that if the console is removed from the environment it can still have a load of files ready to go. It also allows people to use carts like they always have.
Pre-caching network folders. Much like some ODEs, there's a function that could cut down on pulls from the network, which is just manually scanning and caching the folder structure to cut down on load times. Again, marginally useful because home wifi networks are very fast, but anything to cut down on loading times would be beneficial.
Final stuff
I really think this is the way forward for new ODE and Flash cart devices. Aside from making them faster and more compatible, I can't see a reason to upgrade an old SD2SNES for something new, for example. Even if Wifi enabled something very lame like quick-dumping to a flash cart's SD card from a PC, I think it would be really well received. Look at the MemCard Pro! A memory card is probably one of the weirdest things to put Wifi into, but it's so useful and helpful.
Thanks! Really looking forward to discussion on this.
Edit: Fenrir ODE is implementing loading via WiFi. I think it will be very cool to watch this, see how it functions, how it's implemented, and how it can be improved!