Another SnS Theory, Here we go again...

[PaintGamma]

Alright, so this is my simple, but long theory. Before I begin, we must go back to the jolly years of the Genesis and the Sonic and Knuckles age. The game Sonic and Knuckles was the first of it's kind. It had a special lock-on feature that would allow you to hook up Sonic 2 and 3 with the cartridge and create a whole new game, adding levels and unlocking features. There were many people out there who thought: "Hey! I wonder what would happen if you hooked another game to S&K!" Many people tried, but all they got was this:
S&K Picture
When they tried to lock on with something other than Sonic 2 or 3, they got that error screen. So now let's foward to the days of the N64 and the BK ages. We all know that the N64 had a "30 second memory" object that would let you shut the game off and the data would go through. Now we all know that BK was planned to be linked with DK64 and BT, but many people say that the reason they canned it was because the memory thing would cause problems. The thing is, couldn't Rare create some kind of "No Way" screen like in S&K if they put the wrong game in. Rare could have created a certain code that would only unblock the "No Way" screen from BT and DK64. Even though nothing is locked on, the memory should have a way of actavating a "No Way" or if it is DK64 or BT, then it would accept it. That's my two cents on the memory situation. And please, I'm not incredible with theorys, but please try to minimize the flamming.

[Hakey Wake]

Huh...that "No Way" screen is in colour, so it must have been connected to Sonic 1?

Infact, the link even says that, well anyway, if I remember Sonic 1 unlocked lot's of those 3D puzzles (With the spheres and all) that you had to complete in S&K to get Super (And later on Hyper) Sonic.

[PaintGamma]

Yes, that's true, but I bet Rare could have done the same for SnS when you tried to hook it up to SM64 or something they could have easily made a "No Way" kind of thing without damaging the N64 or SM64.

[slaphappy]

It's an interesting idea, but all carts, not just Rare's, would have to check for the extraneous data. If BT wrote to a special memory area, SM64 would not know to check it, so a 'No Way' screen wouldn't be possible.

It would be possible for all Rare games to work that way, but it doesn't appear that's what they planned to do. Rare talked about handling invalid or corrupt data in their data swapping patent. It seems there would not have been a notification screen, the new program would just execute as if no data were there at all.

[excerpt]
Upon retrieval of the identified information, another test is made to determine the validity of the retrieved information. Primarily, the second program is checking to specifically determine that the data is of the correct type; that it is whole and complete within itself; that there is no corruption in whole or in part; and that the data is suitable for use by and is acceptable to the second program.

If the retrieved information is not valid, processing returns and the second program is implemented without any supplemental data.
[end excerpt]

It would be cool though to get some item in BT, put in CBFD and get a screen saying, 'You dumb arse, this isn't Banjo Kazooie!'.