NES/Famicom Appreciation Thread

theSlacker said:
Was there any in game reason to get or want to get now the disk version of a game that is also a cart? Such as Zelda and Metroid?
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Only some games were released as both carts and disks in Japan. Zelda was one, but the cart was released very late in the Famicom lifecycle so it's pretty uncommon. If you mean compared to the western carts, I forgot to mention that the FDS also added extra sound channels. So there's different-sounding music in a lot of titles. Other than that it's on a game-by-game basis. Some games might have some extra things that weren't on the cart versions. But mostly it's the same experience, just that you can save your progress and with different-sounding music.

Edit: Main reason to get the FDS is for the exclusives like SMB2j, Murasame Castle and others.
 
synt4x said:
Even if you do the sound mod on the NES?
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That's irrelevant, all the NES sound mod does is makes it work like a Famicom.

PowerPak and Everdrive have bad FDS audio.

theSlacker said:
Was there any in game reason to get or want to get now the disk version of a game that is also a cart? Such as Zelda and Metroid?
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Yes, if the game originated on FDS, in most cases the FDS versions have significantly better, enhanced audio. There are a few exceptions (many prefer Cart Castlevania II), and some have no extra audio (e.g. Castlevania 1), but overall FDS is the superior experience for games in that category.

synt4x said:
But mostly it's the same experience, just that you can save your progress and with different-sounding music.
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In 85% of cases I wouldn't say 'different' music, I'd say 'better' music. It's a whole extra channel, some bits are actually wrecked on cart (e.g. item music in Metroid), and just sound much fuller and half a gen better.
 
D.Lo said:
That's irrelevant, all the NES sound mod does is makes it work like a Famicom.

PowerPak and Everdrive have bad FDS audio.
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Ah I see. Haven't done the mod myself yet so haven't had a chance to try it.

D.Lo said:
In 85% of cases I wouldn't say 'different' music, I'd say 'better' music. It's a whole extra channel, some bits are actually wrecked on cart (e.g. item music in Metroid), and just sound much fuller and half a gen better.
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Well that's subjective, which is why I formulated myself like that. :P

I love the intro and ending music in Kid Icarus FDS.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=N4ZkO6dD8Nw

But I think Castlevania II sounds better on the NES :S

Edit:
Mzo said:
So that's a vote for an original Famicom + FDS.

Are original famis RF only without modding?
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Yes
 
Thanks for all the info. Seems like something I have no business in trying to get into right now as I would much prefer just getting an RGB original NES for my own nostalgia.
 
I love my Twim Famicom, it's not RGB, but the design is amazing, and the AV out is pretty useful for people in PAL zones.

I only own two FDS, Zelda and one that has SMB2 in one side and a Mahjong game in the other.

I'm looking for Metroid and Zelda 2, but can't find a cheap deal yet.
 
theSlacker said:
Thanks for all the info. Seems like something I have no business in trying to get into right now as I would much prefer just getting an RGB original NES for my own nostalgia.
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Yeah I wouldn't look at the NES as any kind of viable option for FDS. As I said, flash carts suck for FDS, and plugging an FDS into an NES is a very difficult task, and the result will not look nice.

AV Fami is the most versatile stock 8-bit Nintendo model really.
 
Bancho said:
was playing contra last night on my little 14" PVM. Took some pictures for the scanlines thread but heres one for huggers to hype him up more for the NESRGB

IMG_5948.jpg
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Amazing!
 
theSlacker said:
Was there any in game reason to get or want to get now the disk version of a game that is also a cart? Such as Zelda and Metroid?
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There's new sound hardware on the Famicom Disk System so if you want to hear how it originally sounded while you play you'd want to play the FDS version. There's also the novelty of it all.
 
I remember reading about the disks in Nintendo Power. This was 1988 when the popular games were virtually impossible to find in store. I remember calling Toys R Us to ask about Double Dragon, and they said their three newly arrived copies sold out immediately. The search for SMB2 and Zelda II was endless. The disk system fuelled fantasies of simply going to the store and buying a disk copy of a game created on the spot. It would have been awesome.
 
I really need to get round to fitting a NESRGB board into my Twin Famicom. It gets little use since doing the RGB mod to my AV Famicom but i can't bring myself to selling it.

I didn't know the Twin had issues with the everdrive! I've never used it on my Twin, only on the AV famicom. I thought there was a setting to adjust sound on the everdrive for use with the Twin or was i mistaken for something else?
 
It's about damn time I beat Ninja Gaiden 2 recently, that 2nd final boss was really the main hard one. I had to use a clone for that one, otherwise I would be fucked. 7-2 is so annoying to get through but I put up with it. Man I need a break from these games and ninja games in general.=p

Unfortunately there's one more to go, and looks to be the worst of them all. I'll work on it in the future though.

I don't know how I put up with these games these days. They're hard as hell, I die a lot, and yet manage to beat them.
 
Hardest Nes games I've clocked. Castlevania 3. Mega Man 1. Ninja Gaiden. What others do I need to add to this list? I like hard but fair
 
IrishNinja said:
mono NES over 7-1 = BAWSE
wait so fami games over N8 don't sound right or what?
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Regular Fami games sound fine.
Enhanced audio from Fami carts, mostly okay (CV3 isn't right, but doesn't sound awful). I still use my Akumajou Densetsu cart because it isn't quite there, but N8 is acceptable for those who don't know what it's supposed to be.

Enhanced audio from Famicom Disk: busted. Ranges from 'a bit off' to 'my ears are bleeding'. Many of my favourite games (Ai Senshai Nicol, Arumana no Kiseki) are wrecked by it, I wouldn't even call 50% of FDS compatible. It's the audio equivalent of blues being reds in visuals.

Powerpak is also equally bad in a different way, though I don't have one anymore myself.
 
...shit, that's unfortunate. i don't have an FDS but was lookin forward to diving into that library one day when i had the chance...ah well, there's a metric fuckton of regular fami stuff i can dig into at least
 
Huggers said:
Hardest Nes games I've clocked. Castlevania 3. Mega Man 1. Ninja Gaiden. What others do I need to add to this list? I like hard but fair
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All those three are seriously hard, and I also think Castlevania 1 is really hard thanks to the area just before Death and himself.

Punch Out! is probably the most mainstream-game I never beat though :(
 
Morfeo said:
All those three are seriously hard, and I also think Castlevania 1 is really hard thanks to the area just before Death and himself.

Punch Out! is probably the most mainstream-game I never beat though :(
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I have played CV 1 so many times I can rinse through it without dying haha. The lead up to death is okay once you get your method down. Depending on what route you go CV 3 is way harder imo. I don't think I will ever finish Punch Out
 
Man I must be some kind of guru if Castlevania 1 and 3, Contra, Super C, Mega Man 1, Ninja Gaidens and Double Dragon 2 are 'hard'. 'Tough but fair' is what I call them (except Maybe Rock 1 which is a bitch). Jesus I could one-life Contra once. I could one-credit Castlevania 1 right now.

If you beat Ghosts n fucking goblins or Battletoads I'd be impressed.

Actual hard NES games are the ones that are actually unfair.
 
Timu said:
Or The Adventures of Bayou Billy.=p
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Yeah it's genuinely unfair. Buggy-ass collision. Mad City is slightly better. Such a same, great idea for a game and pretty nice presentation and music.

AoL just has a bad curve, it's hard and confusing to start with.
 
Huggers said:
Agreed man. When you die in those games, it's because you fucked up
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Or the game fucked you up, like 6-2 in Ninja Gaiden, Yellow Devil in Mega Man without the electric beam pause trick, disappearing floors in Castlevania 3, Medusa heads in Castlevania 1, platforming sections in Double Dragon 2, etc.=p
 
Timu said:
Or the game fucked you up, like 6-2 in Ninja Gaiden, Yellow Devil in Mega Man without the electric beam pause trick, disappearing floors in Castlevania 3, Medusa heads in Castlevania 1, platforming sections in Double Dragon 2, etc.=p
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Yellow Devil is just a test of patience. Only one of those jumps over his body parts ever catches me out on occasion. Medusa heads are okay, less so when you have an axe wielding knight to deal with as well followed by Death himself but still doable!
 
Timu said:
Or the game fucked you up, like 6-2 in Ninja Gaiden, Yellow Devil in Mega Man without the electric beam pause trick, disappearing floors in Castlevania 3, Medusa heads in Castlevania 1, platforming sections in Double Dragon 2, etc.=p
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All of those are doable. Memorisation of patterns and/or stages. Igors are worse than medusa heads in CV because they have a randomness element to them, I have zero problems with medusa heads and their standard sine curves. And even Igors the trick is to get rid of them BEFORE they have a chance to get random.
 
Huggers said:
Yellow Devil is just a test of patience. Only one of those jumps over his body parts ever catches me out on occasion. Medusa heads are okay, less so when you have an axe wielding knight to deal with as well followed by Death himself but still doable!
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I hate long drawn out fights.=p Also screw Death.

D.Lo said:
All of those are doable. Memorisation of patterns and/or stages. Igors are worse than medusa heads in CV because they have a randomness element to them, I have zero problems with medusa heads and their standard sine curves. And even Igors the trick is to get rid of them BEFORE they have a chance to get random.
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I usually try to kill the Igors as soon as possible as I put them at a priority over the other enemies.
 
Timu said:
I hate long drawn out fights.=p Also screw Death.
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Haha yeah he's a test of patience really. As for Death, just plaster him with constant use of the throwing cross sub weapon. He ain't so bad really. I beat him without taking a hit these days!
 
Oh yeah, now that Battletoads is mentioned, I would like to say that I did get past the 3rd stage unlike a lot of people and honestly the game gets so much worse from there that if they can't get past the 3rd stage they can forget about the rest of the game, lol. Most stages are just unfair. While I haven't beaten it yet, I did get far enough to witness how ridiculous the game gets, and I don't use warps because I don't know where they are at.
 
Timu said:
Oh yeah, now that Battletoads is mentioned, I would like to say that I did get past the 3rd stage unlike a lot of people and honestly the game gets so much worse from there that if they can't get past the 3rd stage they can forget about the rest of the game, lol. Most stages are just unfair. While I haven't beaten it yet, I did get far enough to witness how ridiculous the game gets, and I don't use warps because I don't know where they are at.
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Yeah I've gotten to the snakes. Can beat the bikes every time, but it just doesn't get much easier.

It's hard enough while still being high quality to be a Mark III action game.
 
Huggers said:
Whilst we're on the subject. Adventure of Links difficulty is wildly over estimated
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Yes and no.

It's a difficult game. The learning curve isn't something that eases you into the mix. Dealing with death freakin' mountain early on wasn't helping matters much, either. A bit later in the game you really come to understand how to take each enemy down, so when you encounter them, you rarely have to think about it. Still, cheap things happen and can make the game frustrating.

But what many people don't realize is that you can sort of make things a little easier on yourself by grinding. That helps significantly in the long run.
 
Timu said:
Oh yeah, now that Battletoads is mentioned, I would like to say that I did get past the 3rd stage unlike a lot of people and honestly the game gets so much worse from there that if they can't get past the 3rd stage they can forget about the rest of the game, lol. Most stages are just unfair. While I haven't beaten it yet, I did get far enough to witness how ridiculous the game gets, and I don't use warps because I don't know where they are at.
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Yes. Clinger Wingers is the official actual worst stage in that game. Rat Race is bad too. Mark my words, when you get there you will curse that cart.
 
Morfeo said:
Yeah, this game is impossible.
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Nope, I've beaten it legit on an NES.

The driving stages are quite hard, though.

I remember this was one of Spoony's first reviews. I was so angry that he didn't understand how to play it or why a bulletproof vest would make enemies (or yourself, if you take it from them) bullet-proof. It's not difficult logic.
 
Huggers said:
I have played CV 1 so many times I can rinse through it without dying haha. The lead up to death is okay once you get your method down. Depending on what route you go CV 3 is way harder imo.
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Agreed. Castlevania is rather easy. I can beat it without a single death. The bosses can't touch you if you have triple fire bomb.

I've never considered Zelda II difficult. I was 12 at its release and I could beat the game twice in one sitting back then. I thought maybe there was a second quest, but no such luck.
 
I popped in Zen Intergalactic Ninja last night. That game just isn't that good. The gameplay is unfocused and in some areas has poor feedback (the isometric sections come to mind) and it's just slightly too difficult to be fun. I'm sure it's beatable, but I just wasn't enjoying it. Also, the music has a good sound but the composition is as far from catchy as possible leading to an un-hummable soundtrack. There are dozens of better NES games. Definitely not worth the price.

Zing said:
Agreed. Castlevania is rather easy. I can beat it without a single death. The bosses can't touch you if you have triple fire bomb.

I've never considered Zelda II difficult. I was 12 at its release and I could beat the game twice in one sitting back then. I thought maybe there was a second quest, but no such luck.
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All except for Dracula
form 1
unless there's something I don't know.
 
OnPoint said:
I popped in Zen Intergalactic Ninja last night. That game just isn't that good. The gameplay is unfocused and in some areas has poor feedback (the isometric sections come to mind) and it's just slightly too difficult to be fun. I'm sure it's beatable, but I just wasn't enjoying it. Also, the music has a good sound but the composition is as far from catchy as possible leading to an un-hummable soundtrack. There are dozens of better NES games. Definitely not worth the price.
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I have to disagree. I think the controls are fine. A little 'loose' maybe but not bad. The isometric level is easily the hardest level in the game but once you figure it out it's not too bad. It doesn't approach Gremlins 2-levels of difficulty.

I wouldn't say it's a masterpiece but it's a very good late gen action game on the NES.
 
AlexSA2 said:
I have to disagree. I think the controls are fine. A little 'loose' maybe but not bad. The isometric level is easily the hardest level in the game but once you figure it out it's not too bad. It doesn't approach Gremlins 2-levels of difficulty.

I wouldn't say it's a masterpiece but it's a very good late gen action game on the NES.
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I don't know what to say then. I'm not saying the controls are bad, per se, they just don't have good feel. I find the action offered up in the design to be boring. It's not engaging and it's not fun. It's not super hard, like, I wouldn't classify it with unfair games like Gremlins or Battletoads or rewarding games like Ninja Gaiden or Castlevania, but the gameplay just doesn't feel fun enough for me to press through.
 
OnPoint said:
All except for Dracula
form 1
unless there's something I don't know.
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I always seem to find this bit easier than his 2nd form (lol are we really spoiler tagging a 28 year old game?!) to be more of a pain. First form is just a case of jumping his fire balls the second he opens his cape, I use it as a cue. 2nd form has this annoying habit of not doing his big jump often enough for you to run under

Morfeo said:
Yeah, this game is impossible.



Yeah, the only people saying Zelda 2 is hard, are the people that havent really played it. While not a cakewalk, it isnt really hard either. Pretty balanced game imo.
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I always find that second to last boss (before shadow link) to be a pain in the arse. And of course taking on Death Mountain too early can be problematic
 
Huggers said:
I always seem to find this bit easier than his 2nd form (lol are we really spoiler tagging a 28 year old game?!) to be more of a pain. First form is just a case of jumping his fire balls the second he opens his cape, I use it as a cue. 2nd form has this annoying habit of not doing his big jump often enough for you to run under
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If someone who didn't grow up with this game wanders in, I don't want to be responsible for giving that away. That said, his second form is harder unless you have the Holy Water. Then you just lock him in place and wail away.
 
Huggers said:
I always seem to find this bit easier than his 2nd form (lol are we really spoiler tagging a 28 year old game?!) to be more of a pain. First form is just a case of jumping his fire balls the second he opens his cape, I use it as a cue. 2nd form has this annoying habit of not doing his big jump often enough for you to run under
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I whip the fireballs as they appear, getting an extra headshot in at the same time. Same technique works in many other Castlevania games too.

I can easily beat first form with no life lost. Second form, as you say has some randomness, but get to him with a bunch of crosses and health and he can be spammed pretty easily anyway.
 
Yeah I've seen people beat the first form that way. For some reason I've always stuck to my leap technique. No doubt I'll clock it again soon and maybe I'll mix it up at the end
 
Anyone have any experience with the Twin Famicom? I'm trying to decide between that and the AV Famicom.

I know the TF has hardwired controllers but I've read that the 2nd model had longer cables. How long are we talking?

I've also seen that someone has made a mod to use the DB-15 port to use NES controllers. Do those actually register as 1 and 2 players?
 
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