PS1 Official Memory Cards - Complete collection of 72 models and info
32Welcome,
This is a retro gaming hardware video, in which I present my collection of 72 models/variants of official PlayStation 1 memory cards (a device that allows you to save your progress in games), and where I provide a multitude of information I gathered on the device.
Summary of the video's content:
I. Introduction
* Context/history at 00:11
* What a memory card contains 06:27
II. PCBs and shells
* PCBs overview at 08:19
* Detailed slideshow of PCBs/shells at 12:55
* How to distinguish PCBs through clear shells at 13:53
* Miscellaneous PCBs specificities at 19:52
* Performance (reading latency) comparison of the NOLETTER PCBs at 21:20
* Discrepency between quarter codes and dates on chips at 38:49
* Dates inside the shells at 39:10
* What is a shell's molding patterns at 40:33
* NOLETTER molding patterns at 45:23
* S molding patterns at 51:19
* R molding patterns at 1:20:13
* H0 and H1 molding pattern at 1:30:24
* H2 molding patterns at 1:32:48
* Overall molding pattern engravings comparisons at 1:38:19
* Legit molding patterns matchings at 1:44:35
* Painted logo font on the front shells at 1:48:36
III. Database/criteria for collecting
* The 20 shells colors (rows of the "Table of Models") at 1:55:58
* PCB/shell categories (columns of the "Table of Models") at 2:03:23
* Models cells in the "Table of Models" at 2:10:18
* Possible arguments to expand the collection at 2:15:47
* Conditions of keeping a memory card in the collection at 2:23:43
IV. Collection's display by (group of) color(s)
* Overview of the entire collection at 2:27:17
* Gray at 2:35:32
* Crystal at 2:46:19
* Candy Orange at 2:53:43
* See-through Red, See-through Green, See-through White, Silver, See-through Yellow and Grayish White at 3:01:31
* Emerald memory cards at 3:07:09
* Island Blue at 3:14:56
* Lemon Yellow at 3:18:05
* Cherry Red at 3:19:40
* White at 3:23:20
* Black at 3:25:26
* Smoke Gray at 3:26:32
* Red at 3:28:42
* Light Gray at 3:29:37
* Slate Gray and Crimson Red at 3:33:44
V. Miscellaneous
* Japanese and Western stickers' codes at 3:35:20
* The Access Card and the debug model at 3:50:05
Annex/follow up links:
* The "Table of Models" (V1) Excel file:
https://www.mediafire.com/file/tyuxrkzlrdvmt5v
* "Part 2" video; contains info on packages, sticker color schemes, counterfeits models/packages, unformatting proccess, and a maintenance utility (cleaning the contacts of PCB, front label/sticker removal, and yellowing removal):
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=SJGzSpi0HtY
* Video in which I test the operability of each of the 72 memory cards in a PS1 console, while showing that some specificities of their PCBs and shells are "legit"
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=WFw82LBHI0A
* Video in which I display the collection by PCB/shell category instead of by color:
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=VUOUSkTgl_Q
* Relatively short video in which I show how you a can use the info on the PCBs and the molding patterns of the shells to reassemble memory cards:
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=dU4xL8H1gtw
Handy/inspirational links:
* Video of a collection of mint and rare PS1 memory card released in North America:
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=S0Zraj00jSg
* Pages covering PS1 memory cards from two great sites, "strefapsx" and "elotrolado" (sites in which you can also find valuable info on the other ps1 hardware):
https://strefapsx.pl/karta-pamieci-scph-1020/
https://www.elotrolado.net/wiki/PlayStation_-_Tarjetas_de_memoria_de_colores
Background music credit:
* Used in all sections apart when I display the collection: Final Fantasy IX - Return of the Evil Mist by Nobuo Uematsu. This is one of my favorite themes; it evokes the Disc 4 of FF9, in which I generally sink dozens and dozens of hours in various grindings, to draw a parallel of all the time swallowed up in growing the collection and gathering info on PS1 memory cards.
* Used when I display the collection: medley created by the user "Thiago Quirino Ventura" of themes/leitmotives (by an unknown composer of the Konami staff) from the PS1 game Pro Evolution Soccer and the PS2 game Winning Eleven 5 - Final Evolution. This is just a theme that I really like, from a popular PS1 football game back in the days in Algeria, which I played a lot. Medley's link:
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=YiX7goP5ldc
Complementary info/updates section:
* Keep in mind that almost all the information comes from my observation, and even if I tried to be rigorous, it is very likely that there is a lot of erroneous information, because almost nothing is officially documented.
* Do not ask me anything about the electronic field, I know nothing about it (I just know that the PS1 memory card has a capacity of 128k).
* At 3:01:24 : The memory card cannot be a Cherry Red (that was only released in Japan) because it has a western sticker (the "N1158" mention at the back sticker appears through the front shell).
* At 3:31:08 : I meant S2 instead of S1.
* The last known quarter of the S3 is 02-03 instead of 02-02.
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