ROM cartridges were popularized by early
home computers which featured a special bus port for the insertion of cartridges containing software in
ROM. In most cases, the designs were fairly crude, with the entire
address and
data buses exposed by the port and attached via an
edge connector; the cartridge was
memory mapped directly into the system's
address space such that the CPU could
execute the program in place without having to first copy it into expensive RAM. The Texas Instruments
TI-59 family of programmable scientific calculators used interchangeable ROM cartridges that could be installed into a slot at the back of the calculator. The calculator came with a module that provides several standard mathematical functions including the solution of simultaneous equations. Other modules were specialized for financial calculations, or other subject areas, and even a "games" module. Modules for these devices are not user-programmable. The Hewlett-Packard
HP-41C also had expansion slots which could hold ROM memory as well as I/O expansion ports; modules for these devices are more versatile than those of the TI-59 calculators. Computers using cartridges in addition to magnetic media are the
VIC-20 and
Commodore 64,
MSX,
Atari 8-bit computers, was the first video game console to feature games on interchangeable ROM cartridges. A precursor to modern game cartridges of
second generation video consoles was introduced with the
first generation video game console Magnavox Odyssey in 1972, using
jumper cards to turn on and off certain electronics inside the console. A modern take on game cartridges was invented by Wallace Kirschner, Lawrence Haskel of Alpex Computer Corporation as well as
Jerry Lawson at Fairchild Semiconductor, for use with the
Fairchild Channel F home console in 1976. Cartridges were also used for their handheld consoles, which are known as
Game Paks in the Game Boy family of handhelds and as
Game Cards in the DS/3DS line of handhelds. These cartridges are much smaller and thinner than previous cartridges. In the case of Game Cards,
flash memory is used to store the game data in lieu of dedicated ROM chips used in most previous game cartridges. Sony's
PlayStation Vita handheld also used a similar cartridge design known as the PlayStation Vita Game Card, which uses flash memory technology much like Nintendo's Game Cards. game cards. Reverse side of
The Binding of Isaac: Afterbirth+ shown on right. In recent years, Nintendo has moved away from utilizing their own
proprietary optical disc-based media after producing the last few first-party games for the
Wii U in 2017 with the launch of the
Nintendo Switch that year, which featured small cartridges instead of optical discs. These cartridges are known as Game Cards, similar to previous Nintendo handhelds since the DS, and are much smaller and thinner than previous cartridges for consoles as well as Nintendo's own Game Cards for their DS/3DS handhelds. They used a form of flash memory technology similar to that of
SD cards with larger storage space. The final games made for Nintendo's optical disc media (specifically the
Wii and Wii U) were released in 2020, three years after the release of the Nintendo Switch. Nintendo's approach of using cartridge-like Game Cards continued on with the release of the
Nintendo Switch 2 in 2025. Today, Nintendo is the only major company to exclusively use cartridge-based media for their consoles and handhelds as others such as
Sony and
Microsoft continue to use
optical disc-based media for their consoles. In
1976, 310,000 home video game cartridges were sold in the United States. Between 1983 and 2013, a total of software cartridges had been sold for
Nintendo consoles. == Use in hardware enhancements ==