NES/Famicom Appreciation and Collecting thread: This is where it all started

[sleepnaught]

Also just learned I have an earlier revision of Castlevania that tends to freeze up frequently near the Grim Reaper. Its done that to me 3 times now *sigh*. Guess I have to grab the Rev. A version so I don't lose my mind every time it freezes up so close to the end. Are there any other NES games like this that I should be careful about which Revision I get?

 

[Morfeo]

Playing through Castlevania I and wow, maybe I'm bad, but I can't for the life of me get past the section before the Grim Reaper. If I'm lucky to lucky enough to make it to the boss, I have two bars of health and die instantly as those blades spawn right on top of me every time.

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This is the hardest part of the game. You need to keep the cross in the air at all time when you run through it, and yeah. Good luck. I did this once in my life and was happy about that.

 

[nicoga3000]

This is the hardest part of the game. You need to keep the cross in the air at all time when you run through it, and yeah. Good luck. I did this once in my life and was happy about that.

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If I remember right, cross for the room leading up, holy water for the fight? Makes it so so so easy.

 

[sleepnaught]

If I remember right, cross for the room leading up, holy water for the fight? Makes it so so so easy.

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Yeah, I've seen the holy water method to beating him, but Ive yet to make it to the boss with holy water, since you only get it at the very beginning of the block

 

[Palazzo]

Yeah, I've seen the holy water method to beating him, but Ive yet to make it to the boss with holy water, since you only get it at the very beginning of the block

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It makes fighting the axe knights a lot easier, since it kills them in one or two hits. As long as you can maintain holy water throughout the level (make sure you grab the meat from the first room with red skeletons) it'll make the final stretch much easier for you.

 

[modoversus]

Hopefuly this is the right thread for this. I know that people have been able to succesfuly get the Super NT to output 240p to a CRT TV trough some zero lag converters. Has anybody been able to achieve this with the Retro USB AVS? As far as I know, it only outputs 720p, and the Super NT can output 480p. It would be a great alternative to be able to use the AVS on a CRT trough component.

 

[KDash]

Picked up Ikari Warriors at the flea market earlier.

 

[Morfeo]

Too bad Micronics fucked up the port, as the arcade-game was pretty decent.

 

[Shadow Hog]

Picked up Ikari Warriors at the flea market earlier.

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My condolences.

 

[KDash]

:/

 

[Deleted member 1162]

i loved ikari warriors,

ABBA ABBA ABBA

 

[Fuzzy]

Guess I should post here also what I picked up on sale yesterday (40% off NES, 30% off SNES, 20% off everything else) at my local game shop.

 

[Morfeo]

Nice! Is it just me, or are prices going down for Nes-games recently?

 

[Radarscope1]

Nice! Is it just me, or are prices going down for Nes-games recently?

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Yes, prices are easing slightly, generally speaking. Varies by game of course, though.

 

[Deleted member 1162]

Zelda made by mattel

 

[Fuzzy]

Zelda made by mattel

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Mattel was the official distributor of the NES in Canada, UK, Ireland, Italy, Australia, and New Zealand. There are even NES consoles that say Mattel Version on the cartridge flap.

 

[Rygar 8Bit]

Those universal game cases are pretty cool, might have to invest into those. Think they would eat up a ton of space for me though, have 334 NES games.


My carts with dust sleeves and manuals. Was going to post groups of games together it would have been 20 photos though.

All my CIB games.

And a few of my rarer games. Have a few more as well like 5 screw cart of Chubby Cherub.

 

[huggers]

Also just learned I have an earlier revision of Castlevania that tends to freeze up frequently near the Grim Reaper. Its done that to me 3 times now *sigh*. Guess I have to grab the Rev. A version so I don't lose my mind every time it freezes up so close to the end. Are there any other NES games like this that I should be careful about which Revision I get?

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Woah is this a thing? My copy has been doing this randomly at this exact point, just assumed the cart was on its way out

 

[Radarscope1]

Also just learned I have an earlier revision of Castlevania that tends to freeze up frequently near the Grim Reaper. Its done that to me 3 times now *sigh*. Guess I have to grab the Rev. A version so I don't lose my mind every time it freezes up so close to the end. Are there any other NES games like this that I should be careful about which Revision I get?

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Any way to distinguish these carts?

 

[sleepnaught]

Any way to distinguish these carts?

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Back of the cart should say "Rev. A" on the sticker. Also, I believe the front should have a golden oval shaped "Official Nintendo Seal of Quality" emblem. The bad cart seal will be black.

 

[Rygar 8Bit]

Any way to distinguish these carts?

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Think you want one that says rev A on the box.

 

[Radarscope1]

Yeah, I fully get the differences between 5-screw and Rev-A carts. Are you all saying all 5-screw version of Castlevania have a game-ending glitch? That .... seems like it would have been super well known by now. It can't possibly be all 5-screw versions. It must only be some of the very earliest print runs. Castlevania was released in fall of 86 and the 5-screw carts didn't start production until late 88/early 89. I have to believe tens of thousands of copies of the game were sold in the first two years. The Rev-A or oval seal versions are probably being cited because they are guaranteed safe since they came out so much later.

 

[Rygar 8Bit]

Early run had a bug with too many sprites on the screen would cause the game to crash.

 

[CursedOctopus]

Huzzah! I installed the hi-def nes kit on the av famicom I just got from ebay and it's working fine despite my very mediocre soldering skills. I have Akumajo Densetsu on its way from Japan, so not sure what to get next. I've considered getting a FDS, but I don't know if I want to go down that rabbit hole.

 

[sixteen-bit]

If you don't want to worry about finicky hardware there's always the FDStick

 

[CursedOctopus]

Yeah, I think I will be buying an FDStick. I originally wanted to buy a Twin Famicom, but didn't cause I found out the hi def kit can't be installed in it.

 

[Glimlocker]

I finally found this thread! I've arrived with a few questions.

What's everyone's experience with opening Famicom carts? Easy or difficult?

Also, can you put an NES controller board inside a Famicom controller shell?

 

[Radarscope1]

Always been too afraid to try to crack open a Famicom cart myself but I know it can be done.

I think the controller boards are swappable but keep in mind the fact that FC controllers are hard wired to the console.

 

[Fuzzy]

I finally found this thread! I've arrived with a few questions.

What's everyone's experience with opening Famicom carts? Easy or difficult?

Also, can you put an NES controller board inside a Famicom controller shell?

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Easiest way I've seen is this.

 

[Glimlocker]

Thank you for the video!

Is that the only way to open it or just the safest?
I'm going to assume this is the same way to open up Mega Drive cartridges, as well.

 

[Fuzzy]

Thank you for the video!

Is that the only way to open it or just the safest?
I'm going to assume this is the same way to open up Mega Drive cartridges, as well.

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You can try to pry the halves apart by inserting something but it's easy to damage the plastic. There's also a way to do it with no tools where you kinda twist one corner of the cart opening in opposite directions then repeat on the other end but it's so much easier to just use a quick grip.

 

[Deleted member 1162]

hey guys,
i finally got my hands on a game that i missed for a long time =)
the box is pretty clean and i got it for decent price.

 

[Morfeo]

Holy shit that is pristine. Congrats!

 

[Deleted member 1162]

Holy shit that is pristine. Congrats!

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thanks morfeo =)

 

[Teh_Lurv]

As a NES collector with too many carts and not enough space, I try and keep an eye out for storage solutions that are compact but still allow for easy access to my games. Awhile back while on a trip to IKEA, I came across the Askvoll 3 & 5 drawer chests:

https://www.ikea.com/us/en/catalog/products/60360396/

https://www.ikea.com/us/en/catalog/products/50318572/

I discovered the interior drawer dimensions are the perfect fit for NES carts. The tall 5 drawer chest will fit 51 carts in each drawer. The caveat is there is only enough wiggle room for the bare carts. NES cart sleeves or aftermarket plastic cart protectors won't fit. The wide 3 drawer chest will fit 85 carts with enough wiggle room for cart sleeves or protectors. Whichever you choose, you can fit about 255 carts in either chest.

 

[Radarscope1]

Interesting. Thanks for the tip. Would you mind posting a pic of one of your drawers?

I use plastic storage drawers myself. Not fancy but they work and keep the carts in an enclosed space. Not a fan of shelves. I prefer drawers.

 

[Deleted member 1162]

i grabbed this today coming home, my favorite shooter for nes

 

[Morfeo]

Gun Nac is my favorite, but Zanac is awesome too!

 

[Glimlocker]

i grabbed this today coming home, my favorite shooter for nes

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That's cool - how long have you owned your current copy?
I get whooped by the difficulty in this one, I'm afraid.

 

[Deleted member 1162]

Gun Nac is my favorite, but Zanac is awesome too!

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thanks Morfeo. gun nac too high in price.

That's cool - how long have you owned your current copy?
I get whooped by the difficulty in this one, I'm afraid.

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this is my second copy,
i got it on a whim at a retro store bc the box was nice and it was a 5 screw but i overpaid by 15 bucks.

i can 1cc it pretty easy bc i played it so many times from my childhood =)

 

[Glimlocker]

this is my second copy,
i got it on a whim at a retro store bc the box was nice and it was a 5 screw but i overpaid by 15 bucks.

i can 1cc it pretty easy bc i played it so many times from my childhood =)

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I sometimes don't mind overpaying if I found a unique copy out in the wilds of retro stores. The memories are cool to have. Looks like a pristine copy, too!

Gun Nac is my favorite, but Zanac is awesome too!

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Can ANYONE explain what all the letters or numbers and items you collect/buy in GunNac do? So many things to collect....

I own the famicom version, so the language barrier doesn't help, either.

 

[Deleted member 3010]

I think I'm buying an AVS tomorrow.

It will cost like 330$CAD shipped but I feel like it would be a nice venture after buying a Mega Sg and a Super Nt earlier this year. FPGA Glory!!!

 

[Varth]

Easiest way I've seen is this.

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Bookmarked for future reference, Thx.

 

[maximumzero]

I bought a bare cart of Rockman 5 a few years back and now I'm thinking of selling my boxed copy of Mega Man 5. It's in good condition, though I wouldn't say mint, with the manual. eBay prices seem to be around $100 to $150 on average.

Hmm.

 

[Morfeo]

Always hard to part with stuff, but guess there is no point in owning both?

Anyways, a mod should change the typo in the thread-title lol.

 

[Glimlocker]

I bought a bare cart of Rockman 5 a few years back and now I'm thinking of selling my boxed copy of Mega Man 5. It's in good condition, though I wouldn't say mint, with the manual. eBay prices seem to be around $100 to $150 on average.

Hmm.

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I would say sell it, if you think the time is right - unless the MM5 has special sentimental value. Also, is the manual interesting or fun to peruse?

Those Famicom carts take up a LOT less space than the NES carts. And they look like colorful little cartridges of fun!

That fact alone has me selling off my NES carts to be replaced by Famicom versions - provided they're not text heavy.

Anyways, a mod should change the typo in the thread-title lol.

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Heh, didn't even notice this until you mentioned it!

 

[Fuzzy]

Also, those Famicom carts take up a LOT less space than the NES carts.

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But they don't have end labels so they're more annoying when trying to grab a game to play.

 

[maximumzero]

But they don't have end labels so they're more annoying when trying to grab a game to play.

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I dunno I kinda like flippin' through 'em like it was an old school card catalog at a library.

 

[Glimlocker]

But they don't have end labels so they're more annoying when trying to grab a game to play.

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This is also true! I do like the label design on the NES carts.
I guess if you take love Namcot games or the handful of other publishers that have top Famicom labels you're ok, but that's...not many games.
Edit: I forgot most Konami games have the top labels...but still, the point stands!

I've mostly memorized the colors of the carts I play the most. I never realized this until now, but that's actually how I'm able to find them in their respective drawer.

 

[Fuzzy]

This is also true! I do like the label design on the NES carts.
I guess if you take love Namcot games or the handful of other publishers that have top Famicom labels you're ok, but that's...not many games.
Edit: I forgot most Konami games have the top labels...but still, the point stands!

I've mostly memorized the colors of the carts I play the most. I never realized this until now, but that's actually how I'm able to find them in their respective drawer.

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I knew a guy that did something similar to this with his carts but closer together. It looked awesome but took up a lot more space.