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[-KRS-]

Yeah late-gen Sunsoft games are very impressive both technically and gameplay-wise. Especially RotJ and Gimmick. They both used a special mapper chip only found in those two games. Another one is Ufouria/Hebereke.

Late Konami games are up there as well such as Crisis Force. Very impressive effects going on in that game. See for example the part around 2:45; vertical scrolling as well as horizontal scrolling side to side. Then the damn ground opens up, revealing fake-parallax scrolling canyon walls, while still maintaining the multi-directional scrolling that also becomes faster and faster, and with enemies flying up from the canyon using progressively larger sprites. That's just pure wizardry on the NES. Stage 3 at around 7:20 also has a canyon like that but with no horizontal scrolling. But they make up for it by putting more parallax scrolling walls in the canyon instead.

Natsume games are also up there, like Shatterhand.

I also want to mention Punch Out!! for the detailed facial animations and large sprites. And Super Mario Bros 3 as well but that's pretty obvious.

 

[JMDSO]

So my brother in law just had this lying around in his mom's garage.

 

[dark10x]

So what's the over under on Mr Gimmick PAL? I ran across a complete mint copy of the game today for 180 Euro. I have no idea where it currently sits, though. Considering grabbing it tomorrow?

 

[georgetheplushie]

So what's the over under on Mr Gimmick PAL? I ran across a complete mint copy of the game today for 180 Euro. I have no idea where it currently sits, though. Considering grabbing it tomorrow?

That sounds too good to be true.

 

[dark10x]

That sounds too good to be true.

I'm going to go back and inspect then. Any idea how I can verify that it's legit and not a repro? The only reason I can see it being real is that it's being sold by a second hand electronics shop in France that often gets prices wrong or under values certain games. I really need to look closely at it to see if it's the real deal.

I'd so, after looking into it, it seems like a steal.

 

[-KRS-]

A steal would be an understatement. Recently one was sold in Sweden (where it's probably most common to find a copy) for 20 000 SEK, which is around €2100. For some reason it has really exploded in price the last 6 months. I don't think 20 000 SEK is a common price though, but it's well over 10 000 SEK usually. Only like two years ago a CIB copy could be had for around 4-6000 SEK. These days a cart alone reaches almost 4000 SEK.

 

[kunonabi]

Got a few more famicom games today. Hopefully, I'll actually be able to get a famicom for my birthday.



Might order a few more games tonight.

 

[Khaz]

Lol the game on the left looks like it's a phone sex hotline simulator.

I'm sorry

Spoiler

not really

Spoiler

I have no idea what any of these are.

 

[LayLa]

Lol the game on the left looks like it's a phone sex hotline simulator.

It's actually an early dating sim made by Sakaguchi of Final Fantasy fame and Sakamoto, maker of Metroid & WarioWare & other games! The girl on the cover is actress/singer Miho Nakayama who makes a guest appearance in the game (check out the film Love Letter that she stars in, I'm amazed Hollywood hasn't made a remake of it)
Edit: haha the commercial for it is so 80s! http://m.youtube.com/watch?v=g16Jahd5Yuo

 

[Mercutio]

I haven't seen this posted yet...

http://www.polygon.com/2015/1/13/7541447/analogue-nt-nes-motherboard

Pretty interesting, certainly looks nicer than his horribly point-to-point wired MVS systems.

Is linking Polygon banned? Probably should be, huh?

 

[sixteen-bit]

I haven't seen this posted yet...

http://m.neogaf.com/showthread.php?t=956011

 

[Mercutio]

http://m.neogaf.com/showthread.php?t=956011

Euuugh. Didn't realize it got its own thread.

 

[RetroDLC]

I figure this is the appropriate thread for me to mention these in.

I managed to buy this lot of Famicom bootlegs on eBay for quite cheap this week. It was Mario Fighter III that caught my eye, though I didn't even notice that one of them was Snow Bros until I won the auction. Now I need to get an actual system to play these on.

On a side note, was there any Famicom releases that included mini CDs with audio dramas or music on them? That's another tangent I'm into collecting right now.

 

[ViperVisor]

Got a few more famicom games today. Hopefully, I'll actually be able to get a famicom for my birthday.

Might order a few more games tonight.

I ordered me a famicom today. In my education of the Family Computer after I was hooked on getting one a highly recommended thing to pair with it is the Hudson Sansui SSS controller. Some say better than the real deal Nintendo controllers.

A bit more substantial with 2 levels of turbo and a neat feature is the headphone jack. I'd figure it was a needed convenience for Japan where you'd want to play and not disturb someone else close to the TV.

 

[@MUWANdo]

On a side note, was there any Famicom releases that included mini CDs with audio dramas or music on them? That's another tangent I'm into collecting right now.

I know a bunch of 'em got cassettes, Psycho Soldier immediately springs to mind.

There was also a series of FDS games published by Imagineer and developed by Wave Jack that came packed with cassettes and guidebooks and all sorts of trinkets that were required to solve puzzles within each game, partly as a marketing gimmick and partly as a way to keep people from pirating their games. Unfortunately for them, those games all sucked and they only made a few of them before giving up entirely.

 

[D.Lo]

So many official control options, I genuinely can't decide sometimes...

Bonus pic: my whole 8-bit pad selection

I know a bunch of 'em got cassettes, Psycho Soldier immediately springs to mind.

There was also a series of FDS games published by Imagineer and developed by Wave Jack that came packed with cassettes and guidebooks and all sorts of trinkets that were required to solve puzzles within each game, partly as a marketing gimmick and partly as a way to keep people from pirating their games. Unfortunately for them, those games all sucked and they only made a few of them before giving up entirely.

Psyco Calibur was alright. I played it through like 15 years ago though...

 

[BocoDragon]

My Famicom Everdrive N8 has entered Canada and is on its way to my house... I can't wait.

First goal: I'm going to finally play through Final Fantasy III in English. I have this purism, and it's almost unconscious, where it never felt right to me playing the remake on DS, iOS, PC, etc, because I know it's a Famicom game and I want to see how that was first.

I own the official Famicom cart, so I feel totally fine in patching that into English and playing it on my Everdrive

 

[D.Lo]

Tonight I'm playing...

Upa!

Vastly superior Famicom Disk version with extra sound channel!

My Famicom Everdrive N8 has entered Canada and is on its way to my house... I can't wait.

First goal: I'm going to finally play through Final Fantasy III in English. I have this purism, and it's almost unconscious, where it never felt right to me playing the remake on DS, iOS, PC, etc, because I know it's a Famicom game and I want to see how that was first.

I own the official Famicom cart, so I feel totally fine in patching that into English and playing it on my Everdrive

The N8 is pretty sweet.
There's also lost of hacks to 'fix' games, including a pretty amazing re-translation of Simon's Quest. So good to play that on real hardware!

 

[sixteen-bit]

Tonight I'm playing...

Upa!

Vastly superior Famicom Disk version with extra sound channel!

Nice. I think the Wii VC version is the FDS version too, right?

 

[Sandarken]

Oh gods I love the Famicom so much...

The colourful carts are so much better than the usual drag grey... Too bad the Sufami wasn't the same

I just wish I had more space for my games >_< There's an extra couple of rows behind the first one with a load of Disk system games and boxed games (like Ys/Quest of Ki/Wanpaku Graffiti).

 

[entremet]

Wow @ Castlevania 3 Famicom music is crazy good. That extra sound channel on the Japanses cart makes a huge difference.

 

[Mercutio]

Wow @ Castlevania 3 Famicom music is crazy good. That extra sound channel on the Japanses cart makes a huge difference.

It is absolutely my favorite 8 bit music, full stop. I adore that version of that game. The game play changes as well make it the superior version.

 

[Miguel81]

It is absolutely my favorite 8 bit music, full stop. I adore that version of that game. The game play changes as well make it the superior version.

I'll always have that game around for a yearly play. The soundtrack and atmosphere are just superb, and the gameplay remains addictive to this day. It's like setting out on a wonderful adventure every single time I start up a new playthrough.

Edit: Air Fortress is a cute little shmup(?) from the late 80s. It was a childhood favorite and it's been a pleasure revisiting it after all these years(beat 5 fortresses so far). The short password system(4 digits) is welcome after something like Metroid.

 

[D.Lo]

It is absolutely my favorite 8 bit music, full stop. I adore that version of that game. The game play changes as well make it the superior version.

Not really, apart from the music, Castlevania III is the superior game. Many small graphical and balance fixes were done for the USA version.

 

[Rydeen]

Oh gods I love the Famicom so much...

The colourful carts are so much better than the usual drag grey... Too bad the Sufami wasn't the same

I just wish I had more space for my games >_< There's an extra couple of rows behind the first one with a load of Disk system games and boxed games (like Ys/Quest of Ki/Wanpaku Graffiti).

Yeeesss, love the colors of Famicom carts. I guess it helps that publishers were allowed to manufacture their own cartridges for the system. Because of that, I personally think that Fami-carts trump any and all other system's carts, design-wise. Once I get my cartridges out of the plastic storage bins I have them in I'll have to get a photo of them all lined up.

 

[entremet]

Not really, apart from the music, Castlevania III is the superior game. Many small graphical and balance fixes were done for the USA version.

How was it fixed?

 

[Mzo]

There were like a million small changes, some good and some bad. Overall they made the game harder.

The worst is that Grant has a melee dagger instead of a throwing dagger. That sucked. And damage isn't enemy based, it's level based.

They fixed the handshakes, I guess, and some other small graphical glitches.

edit: here, found this.

Adding bats to the pendulum room, those sons of bitches!

 

[Khaz]

How was it fixed?

http://tcrf.net/Castlevania_III:_Dracula's_Curse

 

[entremet]

I just found out there was an original Ninja Gaiden game released for the SMS in Europe. I saw some footage on Youtube. Never knew.

 

[Rydeen]

I just found out there was an original Ninja Gaiden game released for the SMS in Europe. I saw some footage on Youtube. Never knew.

I own a copy of it, Sega got the license for Ninja Gaiden from Tecmo and developed it in-house. It's fine, but the NES games are still better. The controls aren't as tight as the NES games are, probably due to the mushy Master System pad, and the story / cut scenes aren't as compelling and well done as the NES games. Still worth looking into if you're a fan of Ninja Gaiden and can find it for a good price. I bought it for $50 in-box from a European seller and thought that was fair.

 

[@MUWANdo]

I just found out there was an original Ninja Gaiden game released for the SMS in Europe. I saw some footage on Youtube. Never knew.

There's a Game Gear game, too! NG SMS is okay, NG GG sucks.

 

[sixteen-bit]

A mega drive game was in development too, but it was canceled. Was gonna be a beltscroller like the arcade game. A playable version was leaked and it's apparently atrocious.

 

[Leonsito]

Just bought a Sharp Twin Famicom, should arrive this week from Japan. Now I have to find an European PSU for it, I guess the same SEGA Adapter I use for the regular Famicom works.

 

[Polioliolio]

I just watched Robocop for the first time last night.. it was awesome.

Then I pulled out the NES game and played THAT for the first time..
Not so great, but could have been worse. I got to the last stage then had a game over one too many times.. Next time, I'll be ready..

 

[ViperVisor]

Just bought a Sharp Twin Famicom, should arrive this week from Japan. Now I have to find an European PSU for it, I guess the same SEGA Adapter I use for the regular Famicom works.

Nooop...

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=R0dJEj1g_98

Q2: What type of Power Supply Unit / AC Adapter should (or can) I use with my Famicom?

A2:The specific and original AC Adapter for the Famicom and the Super Famicom has the following specifications:
Input: 100VAC 50-60Hz
Output: 10VDC 850mA
Polarity: Centre Pin Negative
(+)------------(o------------(-)
Barrel Size: Outer Diameter 5.5mm; Inner Diameter 2.1mm

The Sharp Twin Famicom AC-Adapter is different. Its specifications are:
Input: 100VAC 50-60Hz
Output: 7.6VDC 1250mA (1.25A)
Polarity: Centre Pin Positive
(-)------------(o------------(+)
Barrel Size: Outer Diameter 5.5mm; Inner Diameter 2.5mm

 

[Leonsito]

Nooop...

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=R0dJEj1g_98

Q2: What type of Power Supply Unit / AC Adapter should (or can) I use with my Famicom?

A2:The specific and original AC Adapter for the Famicom and the Super Famicom has the following specifications:
Input: 100VAC 50-60Hz
Output: 10VDC 850mA
Polarity: Centre Pin Negative
(+)------------(o------------(-)
Barrel Size: Outer Diameter 5.5mm; Inner Diameter 2.1mm

The Sharp Twin Famicom AC-Adapter is different. Its specifications are:
Input: 100VAC 50-60Hz
Output: 7.6VDC 1250mA (1.25A)
Polarity: Centre Pin Positive
(-)------------(o------------(+)
Barrel Size: Outer Diameter 5.5mm; Inner Diameter 2.5mm

Welp, thank you for that! I guess I will have to buy something like this: http://en.retrogamesupply.com/products/power-supply-for-nintendo-sharp-twin-famicom

 

[Timu]

I just watched Robocop for the first time last night.. it was awesome.

Then I pulled out the NES game and played THAT for the first time..
Not so great, but could have been worse. I got to the last stage then had a game over one too many times.. Next time, I'll be ready..

I beaten it years ago, takes some practice but it's pretty doable.

 

[sixteen-bit]

I didn't know Lickle cost as much as Sampson, lol

http://famicomblog.blogspot.jp/2015/01/some-interesting-famicom-price.html?m=1

 

[SuperLeviathan]

Speaking of the Famicom, I have something I've been dying to talk about.

Of the 30 first-party, first-generation Famicom titles, 5 were never localized for the US. The original F-1 Race for the Famicom 1984 was one of them.

The others have reasonable/well-documented explanations why (Mahjong, Gomoku Narabe, Popeye's English Game, Devil World), but this is a racing game with no Japanese text or thorny religious imagery. It's never been rereleased, not even for the Japanese Virtual Console, unlike Devil World it was never released in Europe, there are zero references to in the Super Smash Bros. games and a microgame based on it was dummied out of the first WarioWare game.

It's like Nintendo wants to supress it. Why? Does someone in the company not like it? Is it too close to Pole Position for Namco's liking?

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=mSx58Z_fQNA

 

[Polioliolio]

I didn't know Lickle cost as much as Sampson, lol

http://famicomblog.blogspot.jp/2015/01/some-interesting-famicom-price.html?m=1

I don't believe it. I'm sure I bought Lickle in the range of 30-50 dollars just a few years ago in Japan at a Mandarake.

edit: Sorry, I didn't realize these were all CIB

 

[georgetheplushie]

Anyone have a spare Lickle manual I can have? I picked it up for about $50 with the box off Yahoo auctions about a year and a half ago. It's been on the up and up, but I didn't think that much.

Edit: Looking at some of the prices of some of the other games on the list (Donald Land for $200 lol), it seems like a few of the prices on this list could be real outliers from the norm.

 

[kunonabi]

Finally bought a Famicom. Still paid more than I would have liked but it's AV modded and came with the AC adapter so I'm not too broken up about it. I finally get to see if my FDS actually works. I really hope it does because I don't look forward to fixing it.

 

[Rydeen]

Figured some of you guys might get a kick out of this: My friend put this fake commercial for the NES 3DS XL together to look and feel like the original NES TV ad campaign. I did the voice-over.

http://vimeo.com/113230978

 

[sixteen-bit]

Figured some of you guys might get a kick out of this: My friend put this fake commercial for the NES 3DS XL together to look and feel like the original NES TV ad campaign. I did the voice-over.

http://vimeo.com/113230978

lmao, this is amazing.

 

[7threst]

Figured some of you guys might get a kick out of this: My friend put this fake commercial for the NES 3DS XL together to look and feel like the original NES TV ad campaign. I did the voice-over.

http://vimeo.com/113230978

Haha, this is very well done!

 

[thomasos]

Hey GAF, I need some help. My NES had been acting up recently, then started giving me the blinking blue screen or scrambled graphics pretty much every time I turned it on.

So I disassembled it, cleaned the 72-pin connector with 91% Isopropyl alcohol and a toothbrush, then bent up all 36 of the bottom pins. Now most games will work, but only if I don't push the cartridge in all the way (it's very finicky) and never if I push the cart slot down. Anyone have an idea what the issue could be? Thanks!

 

[Rydeen]

Hey GAF, I need some help. My NES had been acting up recently, then started giving me the blinking blue screen or scrambled graphics pretty much every time I turned it on.

So I disassembled it, cleaned the 72-pin connector with 91% Isopropyl alcohol and a toothbrush, then bent up all 36 of the bottom pins. Now most games will work, but only if I don't push the cartridge in all the way (it's very finicky) and never if I push the cart slot down. Anyone have an idea what the issue could be? Thanks!

It probably is because the NES-10 lockout chip is starting to wear out, and when that happens it starts locking out even official NES cartridges. You can easily disable it without breaking your system but check a tutorial out on it first to make sure you do it correctly.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=LLMCj2VosLc

 

[thomasos]

I don't think it's the lockout chip; I don't get the blinking title screen like described in that video.

After reading how the little tab on the bottom of the cartridge loader has to slip under the circuit board, I disassembled the system again and made sure to do that. Now games mostly work when I insert them snugly, but if I push the tray down, I get scrambled graphics or the blinking blue screen. I wonder if I bent the pins up *too* much?

 

[Teknoman]

Figured some of you guys might get a kick out of this: My friend put this fake commercial for the NES 3DS XL together to look and feel like the original NES TV ad campaign. I did the voice-over.

http://vimeo.com/113230978

Wow you captured the playing with power/super power guy perfectly!

 

[Peagles]

I don't think it's the lockout chip; I don't get the blinking title screen like described in that video.

After reading how the little tab on the bottom of the cartridge loader has to slip under the circuit board, I disassembled the system again and made sure to do that. Now games mostly work when I insert them snugly, but if I push the tray down, I get scrambled graphics or the blinking blue screen. I wonder if I bent the pins up *too* much?

Not having to push it down is a good thing IMO.