WDL
WDL (Presumably "Wei Dei Li") is a manufacturer of several clone chips for numerous clones of various game consoles. Very little is known about the company, however their clone chip manufacturing can be traced as early as 1990 and as late as 2001. Very distinctive features of their clones are that they are simply die mask clones, not reverse-engineered designs. As a result, their clones tend to have little to no compatibility issues compared to the legitimate chips running the same software. One other major defining feature is the inclusion of 50/60Hz region switching and compatibility where possible.
As a result of the UMC v. Nintendo lawsuit in both Australia and the United States, WDL cautiously started distancing themselves from they produced, by giving them odd aliases and ID numbers. However, they can still very easily be traced back to WDL thanks to their unified date format or re-use of specific aliases.
Manufactured chips
"WDL" Line
This line encompasses chips WDL released under their own company name. Only three clone chips are currently known to have been released under this name, exclusively for the Famicom.
| WDL Part Number | System | Clone of | Notes |
|---|---|---|---|
| WDL 6528 | Famicom | RP2C02G-0 | Slightly broken color output? In Mega Man 1/Rockman, Cut Man's stage appears blue.
Otherwise functionally identical to TA-02N despite the UMC part number. Not paired with a WDL 6527, but rather the oddly named "XYZ-6783" CPU clone. |
| UM02 | Famicom | RP2A03G (modified) | Same 50/60 switch as TA-02NP models.
Otherwise functionally identical to TA-02NP series despite the UMC part number. |
| UM03 | Famicom | RP2C02G-0 (modified) | CPU clone to play NTSC games in PAL regions. Contains a different clock divider due to the different region's colorburst crystal.
Otherwise functionally identical to TA-03NP series despite the UMC part number. |
"2" Line
This line encompasses chips WDL "released" as early iterations of their clones. As a result, they are often less accurate and buggier than their later "perfected" die mask clones, despite also being die mask clones.
| WDL Part Number | System | Clone of | Notes |
|---|---|---|---|
| 215 | PC-Engine | HuC?? | Always paired with the other two "matching" chips. All consoles with this chipset use an external custom 50/60Hz converter ASIC (NK5060), a clone of the original MK5060 in the PC-Engine. |
| 216 | PC-Engine | HuC?? | " |
| 217 | PC-Engine | HuC?? | " |
| 2010 | Famicom | RP2C02E | Video output is too saturated, similar to UA6528. |
| 2011 | Famicom | RP2A03E | Some models lack APU Tonal noise. DMC has a slight DC offset. |
| 22C309NH | Game Boy | DMG-CPU-?? | Present in the Game Fighter clone. Later resold under the TA name and others. Was also later cloned by other manufacturers. |
| 22C650 | Super Famicom | ?? | WDL datecode present. Commonly seen on SFC clones as well as a SNES-based bootleg Killer Instinct arcade board. Ditto to below. |
| 22C727 | Super Famicom | ?? | Contains WDL datecode. |
| 22C728-N | Super Famicom | ?? | Contains WDL datecode. N marking may denote NTSC, similar to their TA line. Not present in all clones. |
| 22C730 | Super Famicom | ?? | Contains WDL datecode. |
| 22C731 | Super Famicom | ?? | Contains WDL datecode. |
| 22C733 | Super Famicom | ?? | Contains WDL datecode. |
"TA" Line
This line is most notable for its prominence in Famiclones, and Mega Drive clones. However it has seen niche appearances outside of these.
| TA Series Number | System | Clone of | Notes |
|---|---|---|---|
| TA-01 | Atari 2600 | TIA/Custom 2600 SoC? | Presumed to exist. Evidence currently scant. |
| TA-02N | Famicom | RP2C02G-0 | NTSC PPU |
| TA-02NP | Famicom | RP2C02G-0 (modified) | PPU for playing NTSC games in PAL regions. Repurposes EXT pins for 50/60Hz conversion |
| TA-02NP1 | Famicom | RP2C02G-0 (modified) | Ditto. Revision 1(?) |
| TA-02NP2 | Famicom | RP2C02G-0 (modified) | Ditto. Revision 2(?) |
| TA-02NPB | Famicom | RP2C02G-0 (modified) | Ditto, but outputs exclusively PAL-B video. |
| TA-02NPN | Famicom | RP2C02G-0 (modified) | Ditto, but for PAL-N. |
| TA-03N | Famicom | RP2A03G | NTSC CPU clone. Later versions come with a 6527 "equivalent part" marking. |
| TA-03NP | Famicom | RP2A03G (modified) | CPU clone to play NTSC games in PAL regions. Contains a different clock divider due to the different region's colorburst crystal. |
| TA-03NP1 | Famicom | RP2A03G (modified) | Ditto. Revision 1(?) |
| TA-03NP2 | Famicom | RP2A03G (modified) | Ditto. Revision 2(?) |
| TA-04 | Mega Drive | 315-5308 | |
| TA-05 | Mega Drive | 315-5309 | |
| TA-06 | Mega Drive | 315-5313 | |
| TA-07 | MD/General Purpose | YM2612 | |
| TA-475 | Mega Drive (Model 2) | ? | Seems to integrate most functions except 68000 CPU and TA-04 functionality into a single ASIC. |
| TA0201 | Game Boy | DMG-CPU-?? | Has WDL datecode |