Family Computer cartridge variations

While most companies manufactured their cartridges through Nintendo, some larger publishers manufactured their own. These variations gave their games a personality and brand unique to the publisher. Manufacturing away from Nintendo also gave these companies greater freedom in the content they could include on packaging, while smaller companies had to follow Nintendo's stricter content guidelines. Later in the Famicom's life, taller cartridges were introduced to fit more powerful co-processors and larger ROMs. Nintendo also pushed for a switch over to OEM manufacturing for more control over content being released, and contracts were changed to reflect this. Once the Super Famicom arrived, all cartridges were manufactured by Nintendo and standardized, with some having a port at the top for Satellaview functionality.

The below list is incomplete, you can help by expanding it.

Nintendo

Cartridge Name	Description	Image
Standard	Standard cartridge used by Nintendo and third parties. Has 2 small, square holes at the top. Same dimensions as a cassette case.
Tall	Tall cartridge used by Nintendo and third parties. Meant to resemble NES Game Paks. All Koei games used this form factor.
Family BASIC	Used for Family BASIC and Family BASIC V3.
RAM Adapter	Contains RAM for the Famicom Disk System to communicate with the main unit, as well as some extra sound hardware. Required for the use of the Disk System.

Bandai

Cartridge Name	Description	Image
Ridged	A standard-height cartridge with ridges on the sides. The top corners are rounded, and the Bandai wordmark is molded on the top edge. The back of the cartridge has the Bandai logo, the year of manufacture, and MADE IN JAPAN in a small box at the bottom. The majority of these cartridges have labels on the top.
Family Trainer	Tall cartridges denoting games that use Bandai's Family Trainer accessory. These carts have "Family Trainer" stamped above the label and Bandai's logo stamped into the bottom right of the cart.
Famicom Jump	Identical to the Family Trainer cartridges but with "Famicom Jump" stamped above the label instead. Used for Famicom Jump: Hero Retsuden and Famicom Jump II: Saikyou no 7 Nin.
Datach	Smaller carts designed to fit into the Datach Joint ROM System. They have long indents below the not-quite-rectangular label. They are more square in shape than normal Famicom cartridges.	File:Dragon Ball Z Gekitou Tenkaichi Budokai Datach Cartridge.jpg

Irem

Cartridge Name	Description	Image
Standard	Regular dimensions, small Irem logo stamped into the top.
LED	Earlier Irem cartridges include a power led at the top of the cartridge, below an Irem logo stamp. These carts also have a square hole on the left and are the same cream color as the original Famicom console.

Jaleco

Cartridge Name	Description	Image
Standard	Regular dimensions, Jaleco logo stamped into the top left.
Tall	Tall cartridges used for later releases, the stamped logo is much prominent on the top left and is the only Famicom cartridge variant to come with cartridge covers.

Konami

Cartridge Name	Description	Image
Standard	Regular height with a large end label. Ridges towards the top of the cartridge. Features a small hole on the left side with an unknown purpose.
Tall	Tall cartridges used for later releases. Features a frame around the box art with an imprinted Konami logo	File:Lagrange Point FC Cartridge.jpg
Q-Ta Adapter	Cartridge adapter for special Konami Q-Ta cartridges.	File:Konami Q-Ta Adapter FC Cartridge.jpg
Q-Ta Cartridge	Smaller cartridges for Konami's Q-Ta adapter. These are primarily edutainment games not targeted for a general market. The adapter provides common hardware for kanji support and a VRC5 mapper chip, a mapper unique to the Q-Ta adapter.

Namco

Later Namco releases and re-releases were in plastic clamshell cases as opposed to the cardboard boxes of earlier releases.

Cartridge Name	Description	Image
Standard	Standard cartridge used for early Namco releases. They have an end label with art specific to each game.	File:Pac-Man FC Cartridge.jpg
Tall Navy Blue	Tall cartridges used for later Namco releases.	File:Splatterhouse Wanpaku Graffiti FC Cartridge.jpg

Sunsoft

Cartridge Name	Description	Image
Standard	White cartridge with regular dimensions with the Sunsoft logo stamped prominently at the top of the cartridge. Features 2 small holes at the top like Nintendo's standard cartridges.
Black	Later releases were made with black plastic instead of white.
Tall	Tall round cartridge used for Nantettatte!! Baseball.	File:Nantettatte!! Baseball FC Cartridge.jpg

Taito

Cartridge Name	Description	Image
Standard	Standard height with ridges at the top. Features the old logo stamped into the top right. Used until 1988.
New	Used the new logo introduced in 1988. The bottom right of the label is taken out to place a stamped logo into the cartridge.
Arched	Taller variation with an arched top. Only used for 3 very late releases in 1993 which include Captain Saver, Bubble Bobble 2, and The Jetsons: Cogswell's Caper!. The design of the cartridge looks similar to what would be later used for the Nintendo 64.