NES/Famicom Appreciation Thread

You can get a good deal once in a while on eBay, agreed, but the prices suck in general compared to Yahoo Auctions Japan.
if you're in Japan, sure, but the shipping and forwarding in a killer if using a forwarder. I do it for bigger lots that are bargains, and expensive stuff, but a $10 game becomes $40 if bought alone.

I picked up a bunch of cool stuff cheap while last in Japan, but honestly I get the best deals on eBay.

By the way, get Arumana No Kiseki. Best Konami game to not hor the U.S.
 
yeah...so I just put an offer in on a NTSC NES and I bought an Everdrive as well. I've been working through this thread from the beginning and every time an interesting game is I've been straight onto eBay - it's costing me a fortune. So I decided to buy the drive so i can play stuff I'm curious about while I wait for bargains to show up.

If that makes sense.
 
Japan Game Stock has some FDS games complete at pretty decent prices. Just wondering if there are any other online stores people know about selling these things.

You can get a good deal once in a while on eBay, agreed, but the prices suck in general compared to Yahoo Auctions Japan.

I shop on Japan Game Stock as well. It's really not a bad little resource most of the time.
 
Wow. Hit-Japan's prices and shipping costs are miserable. I'd have to best offer for half what they're asking for a normal purchase, let alone a deal.
 
I haven't seen any good prices on Japan game stock in years. And 'sample' pics only.

Oh I lie I got a Duo RX pad. Lower than ebay BIN but higher than auction result prices.

Yamatoku used to have a web store years ago, that had some good prices.
 
Did every FDS Super Mario Bros. 2 bring the original SMB on the other side of the disk, or were there multiple releases of the game?

I would usually prefer the original release, but having both in one is pretty dang convenient.

Also fucking lol at thinking how small these games are.
 
Did every FDS Super Mario Bros. 2 bring the original SMB on the other side of the disk, or were there multiple releases of the game?

I would usually prefer the original release, but having both in one is pretty dang convenient.

Also fucking lol at thinking how small these games are.

Erm, what are the chances that somebody asked in the recording venue to just record them like that?
 
I guess SMB2 is small enough to fit on one side so there are a lot of SMB2 + other game combos that people made at the kiosks.
 
Did every FDS Super Mario Bros. 2 bring the original SMB on the other side of the disk, or were there multiple releases of the game?

I would usually prefer the original release, but having both in one is pretty dang convenient.

Also fucking lol at thinking how small these games are.
No, not all had it, that's a later release that did.

Original release was blank on Side 2 (so you could use the other side to record a game at a kiosk). A typical mid-gen (for FDS) release had a sports game like Volleyball on the other side. And the final retail release had SMB1.
Erm, what are the chances that somebody asked in the recording venue to just record them like that?
Possible, but it comes with a completely different manual that way (a white piece of fold-up paper). I assume he's talking about the retail release with a full SMB1 manual as well as the SMB2 manual.

I have copies with SMB1, Volleyball, and Disk Writer Galaga.
 
Thanks, that's great info. Is this documented anywhere?
Probably not, I started a blog to document stuff like this because I've found sometimes there is nothing in English on the internet.

I wrote a few things for HG101 a few years ago because there was no decent info on them, I think I wrote the most comprehensive overviews of Ai Senshai Nicol and Meikyuu Jiin Dababa out there.
 
I'm playing Dababa now, it's pretty cool.

You can't get much better than Konami in the 8-bit era.
Yep, and they used those FDS sound channels to their max.

8/16 bit Konami is my single favourite developer of any era. Even more than Nintendo and Sega, and that is saying something. And now both Sega and Konami are effectively dead as of the mid 2000s :(

I'm working on a full CIB Konami Famicom/FDS set.
 
I need to stop reading this thread. Due to things I've read in here I'm bidding on NTSC consoles, I've ordered an Everdrive, I've found someone who can do Tim's RGB mod over here in the UK, which is next on the list. I've got bookmarks for a XRGB-mini. Everytime I get drunk, I wake up to emails from eBay. I'm watching an auction for 120 Super Famicom carts, I haven't even got a Super Famicom but I bet I will have soon. And then I'll get another flash cart. And I'm already looking for SD2SNES compatible translations of Seiken Densetsu 3. It's a lot to take on!
 
I need to stop reading this thread. Due to things I've read in here I'm bidding on NTSC consoles, I've ordered an Everdrive, I've found someone who can do Tim's RGB mod over here in the UK, which is next on the list. I've got bookmarks for a XRGB-mini. Everytime I get drunk, I wake up to emails from eBay. I'm watching an auction for 120 Super Famicom carts, I haven't even got a Super Famicom but I bet I will have soon. And then I'll get another flash cart. And I'm already looking for SD2SNES compatible translations of Seiken Densetsu 3. It's a lot to take on!

If you don't mind me asking who in the UK can do the RGB mod?

Cheers
 
http://www.oldskoolkonsoles.com/index.php

This guy claims to have stock of the boards and the necessary skills. I have no idea if his work is any good or not, I just found the site on google. The site seems to say the right things though. He doesn't offer the sound mod but if and when I order an RGB mod from him I may mention it because I guess if he can do this he can do that.
 
http://www.oldskoolkonsoles.com/index.php

This guy claims to have stock of the boards and the necessary skills. I have no idea if his work is any good or not, I just found the site on google. The site seems to say the right things though. He doesn't offer the sound mod but if and when I order an RGB mod from him I may mention it because I guess if he can do this he can do that.

Thanks I will give that site a look, what is the sound Mod Stereo ?
 
I'm no expert on this so probably some of the other people in this thread can explain better but I believe you can mod the NES to replicate the superior famicom sound capabilities used by games like the Japanese version of Castlevania III. And also generally improve the quality...I think
 
No, not all had it, that's a later release that did.

Original release was blank on Side 2 (so you could use the other side to record a game at a kiosk). A typical mid-gen (for FDS) release had a sports game like Volleyball on the other side. And the final retail release had SMB1.

Possible, but it comes with a completely different manual that way (a white piece of fold-up paper). I assume he's talking about the retail release with a full SMB1 manual as well as the SMB2 manual.

I have copies with SMB1, Volleyball, and Disk Writer Galaga.

Oh wow. Thanks for that info. I never knew this. I seem to own an original/early gen release

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By the way, how were the games packaged? Are the manuals supposed to be in front of the disk or is the disk supposed to be in front of the manual?
 
By the way, how were the games packaged? Are the manuals supposed to be in front of the disk or is the disk supposed to be in front of the manual?
Manual in front, that's how brand new games come.
Some (two disk) games have a sort of 'cover sheet' which is a single piece of paper with the cover art too, which goes in front of that.

If there are two games on the disk, they come packaged in this order and orientation, front to back

Game 1 manual, front facing
Game 2 manual, front facing
Papers (haven't paid that much attention to these)
Disk in case, with case label facing forward and with game 2 facing forward in the case (so game 1 shows its disk label through the plastic box).

Actually I remembered some Mario 2s come with Zanac on side 2 as well.
 
Beat Metal Storm. Very good little game. Only problem I have with it is that it's a tad too easy up until the 2nd to last level. Surprisingly lenient game with infinite continues, passwords, and if you die at a boss it sends you back to the last level before the boss.
 
Manual in front, that's how brand new games come.
Some (two disk) games have a sort of 'cover sheet' which is a single piece of paper with the cover art too, which goes in front of that.

If there are two games on the disk, they come packaged in this order and orientation, front to back

Game 1 manual, front facing
Game 2 manual, front facing
Papers (haven't paid that much attention to these)
Disk in case, with case label facing forward and with game 2 facing forward in the case (so game 1 shows its disk label through the plastic box).

Actually I remembered some Mario 2s come with Zanac on side 2 as well.

My FDS SM2 has a Mahjong game on the other side.
 
Beat Metal Storm. Very good little game. Only problem I have with it is that it's a tad too easy up until the 2nd to last level. Surprisingly lenient game with infinite continues, passwords, and if you die at a boss it sends you back to the last level before the boss.

I really liked Metal Storm. I don't remember having a problem with the difficulty one way or the other in all honesty, but that might play right into your theory. I should play through that one again at some point.
 
Went out on my lunch break and found Castlevania and Tetris 2 carts. Tetris 2 was relatively cheap, Castlevania...less so. Thirty quid!.. but I checked eBay and nothing...just CIBs at ~ £90!. NTSC carts from the US were cheaper but once shipping is factored in, no saving really.

So I bought it because I've been looking for it for ages.

Then my phone dinged to let me know that my offer on NTSC NES had been accepted - something like £35 plus £15 shipping.

Expensive lunch break.

Can anyone recommend a UK stepdown converter for the US NES?

Edit: PAL A games are typically way more expensive than NTSC games, I guess because they are quite hard to find. The NES wasn't a big seller in the UK.
 
Manual in front, that's how brand new games come.
Some (two disk) games have a sort of 'cover sheet' which is a single piece of paper with the cover art too, which goes in front of that.

If there are two games on the disk, they come packaged in this order and orientation, front to back

Game 1 manual, front facing
Game 2 manual, front facing
Papers (haven't paid that much attention to these)
Disk in case, with case label facing forward and with game 2 facing forward in the case (so game 1 shows its disk label through the plastic box).

Actually I remembered some Mario 2s come with Zanac on side 2 as well.

Awesome! Thank you so much for the info.
 
Went out on my lunch break and found Castlevania and Tetris 2 carts. Tetris 2 was relatively cheap, Castlevania...less so. Thirty quid!.. but I checked eBay and nothing...just CIBs at ~ £90!. NTSC carts from the US were cheaper but once shipping is factored in, no saving really.

So I bought it because I've been looking for it for ages.

Then my phone dinged to let me know that my offer on NTSC NES had been accepted - something like £35 plus £15 shipping.

Expensive lunch break.

Can anyone recommend a UK stepdown converter for the US NES?

Edit: PAL A games are typically way more expensive than NTSC games, I guess because they are quite hard to find. The NES wasn't a big seller in the UK.

I just use my NZ NES adapter with my US NES, it's one of the few times it's okay to just use the local power supply. Should be same for UK.
 
I need to stop reading this thread. Due to things I've read in here I'm bidding on NTSC consoles, I've ordered an Everdrive, I've found someone who can do Tim's RGB mod over here in the UK, which is next on the list. I've got bookmarks for a XRGB-mini. Everytime I get drunk, I wake up to emails from eBay. I'm watching an auction for 120 Super Famicom carts, I haven't even got a Super Famicom but I bet I will have soon. And then I'll get another flash cart. And I'm already looking for SD2SNES compatible translations of Seiken Densetsu 3. It's a lot to take on!

I'm right there with you. I've planned on buying a Framemeister for a long time now but I'm really getting the itch. And I've bought about a half dozen CIB games from eBay and a few others from a local flea market in the last two weeks. I go in waves and I'm cresting on one right now! I'll post some pics soon. I am trying to get a spreadsheet together so I can track stuff since it's mostly all boxed up and I can't play a damn thing right now. (Plasma TV ... which is why I need that Framemeister).

As for eBay, yeah, it's just a waiting game. It's really time consuming, but you can snag decent stuff for OK amounts. But as D.Lo said, it's only going up. I really wish I would have bought more CIB stuff when I was on my first kick 10 years ago. Things seemed expensive then and I had just started my first real job. If I only knew ...
 
Can anyone recommend a UK stepdown converter for the US NES?

Edit: PAL A games are typically way more expensive than NTSC games, I guess because they are quite hard to find. The NES wasn't a big seller in the UK.

I got mine in Maplin. Does the trick. And yeah, some Nes games are seriously steep. I just grabbed Mega Man 1-3. Ouch
 
And the rest of my CIBs for good measure. Been ages since I've pulled them out. I'm happy to have Zelda, Metroid, Popeye, Blaster Master, RCPA II and Crystalis. I'm sure I didn't pay more than $20 or $25 for each. I think I got RCPA II for about $5. Wish I would have bought more back in the day when I got these.

 
There's an ebay seller right now with a Metal Storm, Panic Restaurant, Bubble Bath Babes and Dino Peak ... who has zero feedback history and is using all stock images and info pages - no unique descriptions. Hmmm...
 
There's an ebay seller right now with a Metal Storm, Panic Restaurant, Bubble Bath Babes and Dino Peak ... who has zero feedback history and is using all stock images and info pages - no unique descriptions. Hmmm...
Has Metal Storm jumped up? I was just playing that a couple of weeks ago.
 
Ay dios. I'm pretty sure mine was around $10 not TOO long ago.

Of course, I'm starting to lose track of years so maybe it was long enough ago.

You might have been able to pick it up for that cheap about 5 years ago.

Kids of retro generations have grown up and now out of college and with high paying jobs. Modern console manufacturers are pushing digital content. It's driven up the collector's market hugely.
 
Swordmaster is still the game I actually saw rise in price. One day it was like maybe 15 bucks. Then sold out for a week or two, and started to skyrocket.
 
Several of this guy's items actually have no image at all and every item is listed as "like new." The prices are lower because of all this but it's a gamble for sure.
 
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