VGCollect Forum
General and Gaming => Hardware and Tech => Topic started by: darko on April 04, 2012, 01:36:49 am
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So I was filtering through several of my games this evening when I noticed a slight weight difference in a few of my 5 screw carts.
Here are the suspects:
(https://lh6.googleusercontent.com/-Z4Y3-iT6674/T3vbGCmWbOI/AAAAAAAAAYw/bAwwi-tXJ_0/s800/2012-04-04_00-23-31_259.jpg)
And here are the results:
(https://lh5.googleusercontent.com/-zf5ZySI18h8/T3vbIaWksxI/AAAAAAAAAY4/pfNr0mq8qDg/s800/2012-04-04_00-24-10_344.jpg)
Here are several things to look out for if anyone is trying to hunt one of these down:
The adaptors are primarily found in early 5 screw carts.
The 5 screw carts will not have tabs on the top of the cart like all? 3 screw carts have (easy to spot in any store).
The connectors on the board will have tiny outcroppings to one side as opposed to in the middle.
(https://lh6.googleusercontent.com/-LMY09Et9Kjc/T3vbgpKQWBI/AAAAAAAAAZA/HR2vvwaLKlQ/s800/2012-04-04_00-25-55_627.jpg)
Assuming the example above = |-- , the 5 screw cart pins that do NOT have an adaptor and look like the 3 screw carts = -|-.
If I can remember I'll take a picture of what I'm talking about tomorrow since my phone just died.
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Man, you lucky dog, you.
I've had (and tested) so so SO many of those games, probably a 100 Gyromites, and the only game I've ever had one in was my Wrecking Crew that I gave to a friend so he could convert Famicom games.
I really wanna get my hands on another just because it has a cool history (as I already have a 'official' converter)
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Well now you know what to look for! The pins are the tell.
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ya when I found my Gyromite cart, all I knew was that it would be heavier. It just makes sense to look for the weight difference, I didn't know about the pins until later.
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I've looked thru probably 50+ gyromite carts in the wild and only ever found one. Puchased it for 3.99! I have looked thru quite a few black box five screws and have yet to find one. Good haul on converters!!!
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Are you looking for one to sell or to play imports?
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I'll get some imports some day, but it was more about having one I guess. I have a Gyromite with converter and one without in my collection. I continue to look because I figure they would make good trade stock.
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Bump for those interested.
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And stickied for good info.
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Figured I'd write this up here, since we have the thread stickied and all already.
I finally got around to cutting up my extra Gyromite cart for the Famicom adapter. After marking how deep I needed the cut on the cart, I took it to the band saw and cut it down while both halves were still screwed together. This way, both of them are exact matches to each other. The blade on the bandsaw walked a little, so I needed to trim a little more off to correct it, and still ended up with a little walk in the blade. But it should be fine.
Once that was done, cut the tabs off of the adapter itself, so the Famicom carts will clear to the contacts. Then I just used some 2 sided tape and built up a few layers. Once that was done, I screwed the 2 remaining screws into place and viola! "Instant" Famicom Adapter cart!
Cart cut in half.
(http://i35.photobucket.com/albums/d177/LOPWyrm/IMG_20130321_102708_zpsd8cd855d.jpg)
Test fitting
(http://i35.photobucket.com/albums/d177/LOPWyrm/IMG_20130321_135914_zps61264c27.jpg)
Taped in place. You can see the layers of double sided tape. I used some industrial stuff that I have around work. But any good 2 sided tape should work fine. I needed to do 2 layers on the front and 3 on the back to help fill the gaps.
(http://i35.photobucket.com/albums/d177/LOPWyrm/IMG_20130321_143057_zps339fd427.jpg)
All done!
(http://i35.photobucket.com/albums/d177/LOPWyrm/IMG_20130321_143201_zps2438e92e.jpg)
The only thing I want to do yet is make up a couple labels and get rid of the left over Gyromite art and the Nintendo warning label.
If my measurements are right, the Famicom carts should but right up to the Gyromite cart and there shouldn't be a gap at all. Of course I didn't feel like taking my Kid Dracula cart to work for testing. So, I guess I'll find out tonight.
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Oh and here's the Kid Dracula plugged into it. Works pretty good!
(http://i35.photobucket.com/albums/d177/LOPWyrm/IMG_20130321_174942_zps7e17d281.jpg)
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now all you need to do is a attach a ribbon of some sort so you can put it into a front loader and still be able to yank it out.
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Ya. I realized this after the fact. D:
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In case anyone is wondering. Here is a list of games that are known to have Famicom Converters in them.
1942
Clu Clu Land
Donkey Kong Jr.
Duck Hunt
Elevator Action
Excitebike
Golf
Gumshoe
Gyromite
Hogan’s Alley
Mike Tyson’s Punch-Out!!
Pinball
Raid on Bungeling Bay
Rygar
Soccer
Stack Up
Tennis
Urban Champion
Wizards and Warriors
Wrecking Crew
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In case anyone is wondering. Here is a list of games that are known to have Famicom Converters in them.
1942
Clu Clu Land
Donkey Kong Jr.
Duck Hunt
Elevator Action
Excitebike
Golf
Gumshoe
Gyromite
Hogan’s Alley
Mike Tyson’s Punch-Out!!
Pinball
Raid on Bungeling Bay
Rygar
Soccer
Stack Up
Tennis
Urban Champion
Wizards and Warriors
Wrecking Crew
Yea that list is very helpful considering its a year later Turf ;D
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I've gone through so many 5-screw carts and haven't found a single converter. :-[
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In case anyone is wondering. Here is a list of games that are known to have Famicom Converters in them.
1942
Clu Clu Land
Donkey Kong Jr.
Duck Hunt
Elevator Action
Excitebike
Golf
Gumshoe
Gyromite
Hogan’s Alley
Mike Tyson’s Punch-Out!!
Pinball
Raid on Bungeling Bay
Rygar
Soccer
Stack Up
Tennis
Urban Champion
Wizards and Warriors
Wrecking Crew
I see this list on pretty much every website that mentions Famicom adapters in NES games, but I have to wonder if some of these games would actually have one inside. Games that'd had to be translated into English like Rygar, Wizards & Warriors, and Punch-Out seem like really unlikely games to have adapters in them. Also a game that was never released in Japan like Gumshoe also seems just as, if not more unlikely to have an adapter in it. I'm a little curious as to where this list originated from and it's validity since, like I mentioned, I've seen it on many retro game focused websites.
Regardless, I did end up getting a copy of Hogan's Alley that had a Famicom adapter in it years ago and I did notice a few differences between it and my other copy of Hogan's Alley that didn't have an adapter in it besides the slight difference in weight and in how the cart pins look. Not sure if it would help, but I can list what differences I noticed:
- The adapter copy is a 5 screw cartridge while the non-adapter copy is a 3 screw cartridge.
- The end label on the 5 screw copy has the ™ trademark symbol after Hogan's Alley while the 3 screw copy does not.
- The 5 screw copy does not say "Made in Japan" and is missing the item number NES-HA-USA below the Nintendo seal.
- The ® right reserved symbol is missing at the end of the Nintendo Entertainment System logo that is below the game's title on the 5 screw copy's label.
- The 5 screw copy seems to have more stars (the white dots in the background of black box game covers), but really looking at these two close up, it looks like the print job on the 5 screw copy is a little more clean. Like the printer making these labels in the factory was slightly misaligned when making the label for the 3 screw copy and blurred some of the smaller stars to the point of making them practically non-existent.
- The sticker on the back of the 3 screw cartridge has REV-A and ⓂNintendo® while the 5 screw cart has no revision information and the Nintendo branding is © Ⓜ NINTENDO 1985.
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In case anyone is wondering. Here is a list of games that are known to have Famicom Converters in them.
1942
Clu Clu Land
Donkey Kong Jr.
Duck Hunt
Elevator Action
Excitebike
Golf
Gumshoe
Gyromite
Hogan’s Alley
Mike Tyson’s Punch-Out!!
Pinball
Raid on Bungeling Bay
Rygar
Soccer
Stack Up
Tennis
Urban Champion
Wizards and Warriors
Wrecking Crew
I see this list on pretty much every website that mentions Famicom adapters in NES games, but I have to wonder if some of these games would actually have one inside. Games that'd had to be translated into English like Rygar, Wizards & Warriors, and Punch-Out seem like really unlikely games to have adapters in them. Also a game that was never released in Japan like Gumshoe also seems just as, if not more unlikely to have an adapter in it. I'm a little curious as to where this list originated from and it's validity since, like I mentioned, I've seen it on many retro game focused websites.
Regardless, I did end up getting a copy of Hogan's Alley that had a Famicom adapter in it years ago and I did notice a few differences between it and my other copy of Hogan's Alley that didn't have an adapter in it besides the slight difference in weight and in how the cart pins look. Not sure if it would help, but I can list what differences I noticed:
- The adapter copy is a 5 screw cartridge while the non-adapter copy is a 3 screw cartridge.
- The end label on the 5 screw copy has the ™ trademark symbol after Hogan's Alley while the 3 screw copy does not.
- The 5 screw copy does not say "Made in Japan" and is missing the item number NES-HA-USA below the Nintendo seal.
- The ® right reserved symbol is missing at the end of the Nintendo Entertainment System logo that is below the game's title on the 5 screw copy's label.
- The 5 screw copy seems to have more stars (the white dots in the background of black box game covers), but really looking at these two close up, it looks like the print job on the 5 screw copy is a little more clean. Like the printer making these labels in the factory was slightly misaligned when making the label for the 3 screw copy and blurred some of the smaller stars to the point of making them practically non-existent.
- The sticker on the back of the 3 screw cartridge has REV-A and ⓂNintendo® while the 5 screw cart has no revision information and the Nintendo branding is © Ⓜ NINTENDO 1985.
Most of those differences that you're noticing are because the copies with the Famicom converter are first printings. As the legend goes, there was a shortage of NTSC PCBs so these games were made with JAP PCBs and a 60 to 72 pin converter was used.
As for the list, it was just a compiled from experience. Folks got together and listed all the ones they personally had. This is just a known list. There may be more, but definitely not less.
I can confirm personally:
Stack-Up
Soccer
Golf
Gumshoe
Gyromite
Excitebike