hey /vr/, what's the way to go with the famicom? i've owned around 20 nes consoles throughout the years and they've all been super unreliable, are the failure rates on the famicom better? i'd like to get into collecting for the famicom but i'm not sure whether to go with one of the several famiclones, the original, the famicom av, or the twin famicom. pls assist thanks.
Your best bet is the model 2 Famicom. Solid build design, comparable to a top loader NES, but with composite AV out, shouldnt be any compatability issues either. I'd recommend the Sharp Twin Famicom but the disk drive is just to unreliable.
>>3068469
Also just to clarify: This is coming from an anon who has owned a standard RF Famicom, a modded AV model 1 Famicom, an AV Famicom, a Sharp Twin Famicom, a Famicom Disk System and a Generation NEX.
>>3068473
If you don't own a Titler then your opinion doesn't matter.
>>3068462
>and they've all been super unreliable
You know that it's pretty easy to do maintenance on these things, right?
Fitting new pin connectors on the system is easy and fixes most typical reliability problems.
>>3068462
>>3068469
I agree with this. AV/Model 2/HVC-101 Famicom is the best official NES model you can get. Don't bother with famiclones, they all suck in one way or another. Twin Famicom is good too, but it has hard-tethered controllers and you'll be lucky to find an affordable one with a working FDS inside.
Just make sure you get a proper power adapter; Famicom DOES NOT take the same adapter as NES, and will damage the system if you try. If you're in the US, use a model 1 Genesis adapter or equivalent. Do some research.
If you're thinking about FDS too, I would suggest not even bothering with a real FDS as they're also prone to wearing out just due to the old unreliable disk drive design. These days there are small devices that replace the entire thing with a sort of flashcart-type thing: http://fdsemu.com/
>>3068509
Don't even bother with new pin connectors, they'll all wear out eventually anyway. It's shitty by design. Just get one of these, which replaces the entire mechanism with something that won't wear itself out: https://www.arcadeworks.net/blw
>>3068462
I bought the Generation Nex at a used game shop some time ago. It's really been working out great for me.
>>3068462
The Sharp twin Famicom has great rgb out and has the disk drive built in. The Disk Drive will most likely be broken though, but if you're handy it's fixable and the console itself is pretty cheap.
>>3068462
How the actual fuck have you had 20 NES consoles break on you? I still have the original one from my childhood which my older brother bought in 1986. That console, after all, was made of precious & nigh-indestructible Nintendium.
>>3068756
The Twin Fami doesn't have RGB out though...
>>3068462
Buy an AV Famicom and never look back. I've been collecting Famicom for years and it really is the best you can get. It takes NES controllers and has the same video out connector as the SNES/N64/GCN. Also Famicoms in general are tanks and never break.
It's a real shame that the original Famicom is such a piece of shit. I've always adored the design, but it's just fundamentally broken. Sure, you can AV mod it, but that doesn't solve half of the problems with it. The buttons are a joke, the stupid dust protector is flimsy, the eject mechanism is awful, and the controller cords stretch all of a foot and come out of the back so you're absolutely required to use it while sitting on the floor.
The AV Famicom is ugly as shit by comparison, but at least it works properly.
>>3068830
It really is a beautiful machine. It's most functional sitting on a table with a 12" or smaller CRT right next to it. I don't think most of those issues are a big deal though, short controller cords are my biggest gripe.
>>3068754
i really dig the way it looks, too bad they're crazy expensive these days.
>>3068469
>>3068534
>>3068798
>>3068830
the av famicom seems like the way to go, shame it's comparatively ugly. love the aesthetics of the original hardware. bit more expensive than i was hoping for but all the cheaper originals are yellowed and cracked to shit anyway. thanks guys.
>>3068796
moreso that i've bought a boatload of nes consoles and the vast majority have had issues. used to have a massive stack of nes games from buying up people's collections at garage sales.
>>3069046
Don't listen to that other anon, the Generation NEX is a shit-tier Famiclone. $20 Yobo clones have significantly better compatibility. You're on the right track, buy an AV Fami. They're cheaper and better than a top-loader NES anyway.
I've had my same NES since childhood, it had the typical connector problems since the early nineties.
A few years ago, I took out the connector, and using a small hook utensil, bent the pins upwards slightly.
The thing works absolutely brilliantly now, I don't even have to press the games into the down position for it to work.
I'm sure I'll probably have to do maintenance on it again in the future, but it has been fine for at least 4 years.
Before that, I just used a game genie to play anything. That thing also does a great job of making the NES work.
>>3069137
This.
People who shill NEXes are desperate resellers, and those who buy NEXes today are idiots
I'm also interested in Famicom, but I already have an NES and don't want to but another system. Any tips on making a DIY converter? The actual boards are available on ebay for ~$20 but don't come with a case, so I need to make something that would make it easy to put it in and take it out of a front loading NES.
>>3069137
Expansion audio sounds a little off though on AV Famicoms.
Is there a similar thing to "famiclones" but for SNES hardware?
I don't wanna start a huge cartridge collection because resellers have gouged the market and pushed prices to crazy levels, so I'm thinking for SNES stuff I'd just get a shitty clone console and a flash-cart. I do however want to have the standard Nintendo connector so I can get an RGB cable and hook it up to my CRT. So far all I have seen is HDMI emulator dogshit like the Retron.
Is there anything like that out there or am I just gonna have to pay over the odds?
>>3070051
How are you finding it hard to get a hold of a fucking SNES? I bought a fucking SuFami from halfway around the world for 30 bucks.
I really don't know how do you guys can fuck a console, the major problem I ever had was probably a stuck on/off button after more than 2 decades, console still working anyway. Shit back in the days were resistant as fuck
>>3068509
>Fitting new pin connectors on the system is easy and fixes most typical reliability problems.
Just boil the old one and bend the pins back. Fuck buying some shitty after market one.
>>3070037
Debatable.
>>3070030
Buy a vintage one that comes with a case, the Honeybee comes to mind.
What's the advantage of a real Nes as opposed to using an emulation machine?
>>3071091
It's real hardware, it just feels good. I use my real NES and Famicom on my CRT, and I use the Homebrew Channel on my Wii U to emulate on my LCD TV.
>>3071103
So placebo basically.
Not that that's a bad thing. If it works it works
>>3071091
NES emulation can have fucky audio issues that obviously aren't present on the actual system. Likewise Famiclones typically have that same problem.
I think the best way to play NES stuff is basically what's been stated above, one of the Famicoms that has composite along with a CRT TV. You can get adapters to play NES games on the Famicom and I've never had any reliability issues. You can also get adapters for the controllers too so you can use stuff like the NES Advantage on a Famicom.
The NES also has really weird color palette crap where it doesn't have a defined palette, so it looks different depending on the TV and the actual version of the NES/Famicom and yadda yadda yadda. Emulators typically have a handful of different recreated palettes for this but from personal experience I know the Twin Famicom has a more saturated, vibrant (if not slightly darker) palette than the standard North American NES and just generally looks really good on a CRT through composite.
>>3068534
>dont bother eating youll just get hungry again eventually anyway
Is the reason that my sisters (eu) nes looks like dogshit on a big LCD because of the native resolution?
I guess for this case an emu is an enormous improvement
>>3071229
Yeah, modern TVs scale low-res content horribly and introduce a ton of lag. You're better off emulating if you don't have a CRT on hand.
I snipped my 10nes chip and got a cheap Chinese 60 to 72 pin adapter and have had zero problems playing famicom games on my NES. It's been a hell of a lot easier than having to hunt down a famicom and its nice not having to swap consoles.
>>3071561
Enjoy the lower quality sound.
>>3071569
You talking about games with expansion audio? Because that's only on a handful of games, most of which I have no interest in. Games without expansion audio (more than 95% of the famicom library) sound identical.
>>3068462 (OP)
Only way to go, my friend.
AV famicom looks boring and ugly, famiclones often have shitty sound (wrong duty cycle on square waves), and game incompatibilities.
Also, on the AV famicom you lose the mic for killing Pol's Voice.
>>3071561
I don't swap consoles and my games work every time I insert them.
>>3072237
have fun playing inferior Zelda and Castlevania.
Also Metroid.
>>3071131
>the NES really can't be perfectly emulated in sound and color. Color especially. Emulation is great for perfect pixels and fan translations, but if I'm going to play an arcade port or something, nothing beats real hardware.
Agreed.
The closest I've ever found is Nestopia's 'Canonical' palette. Still not quite the real thing, but better than anything else I've seen. Note that the NESRGB does not include the canonical palette. This is one of the major reasons I don't want to buy one.
>>3071112
It's not more saturated and darker, it just has a lower black level. It uses NTSC-J standard black, which is 0 IRE. North American TV's use 7.5 IRE black levels, which means that video from a japanese console looks darker.
>>3072816
Also note that the brightness knob on a CRT fixes this. Also some CRT's (mine) have a black level setting in a OSD menu.
It calls it 'NTSC Setup' and toggles between 0 and 7.5 in my pic. Some PVM's also have a 'BETA' level, used for betacam recordings.
>>3068462
I've got the same NES I got for Christmas in 1988. I never clean it, and I've never replace the pins. it still works perfectly.
glory picture. Also experimenting with camera RAWs.
>>3072812
Those are all disk system games. Which I can't hook up to an NES anyway. Sure the disk system is cool but it might as well be its own console, and I'm more interested in the cartridge library. No need to get so salty over video games, anon.
>>3072915
The RAM adapter is a cartridge. And you can connect a 60-72 pin to a 72-60 to a 60-72 pin adapter to extend out of the NES. Doesn't change you having a sub-optimal system for playing imports.
>>3073735
I really don't see why you're arguing so much for this, the NES plays famicom carts just fine. If I'm not playing FDS or expansion audio games there really isn't any noticeable difference. Works great for what I use it for. You should try not to be such an elitist, anon. It doesn't contribute anything.
>>3073797
If it can't use a famicom cart (the ram adapter is a cart), it's no substitute. Also it can't even play expansion audio carts. Don't claim it's something it's not - a Famicom substitute.
And you can't use the mic either. Face it, you aren't really playing a famicom.
And you miss out on these sexy controllers!
>>3073797
I contributed a way to use the FDS on a NES. And with some clever wiring it is possible to mix famicom expansion audio into a NES. Just a pain and not going to be the right mixing level, since it can vary from cartridge to cartridge.
>>3068754
But, it has issues with Castlevania 3 and Battletoads just like the much cheaper clones.
>>3068796
This!
>>3075064
not to mention the wrong duty cycle on the square wave channels.
>>3069137
And about twice the price of the white and red and gold one with a microphone.
>>3073907
Man that red / gold / cream scheme is beautiful.
>>3070056
>SuFami
YOU AGAIN
>>3070060
nes failure rates are extremely high due to shit design decisions
>>3070051
what? just use a wii or something.
>>3071091
i wanna collect the carts without feeling like a tool
>>3072795
i'm probably going to go against my better judgement and buy an original fc just because i like the aesthetic and also i'm broke as fuck
>>3070051
Just get a used SNES they're like $30
>>3070051
Get a SNES. The FC Twin exists but it sucks ass. Shit colors and shit sound.
Used SNES consoles weren't too expensive last I checked. I got a 1chip fat SNES (by random chance) at a local store for $35 about four years ago.
>>3070030
Buy a famicom. The front loading NES is more trouble than it's worth.
I have advice on fixing NES game -> famicom console converters, but not for the other way around. I can say you'll probably have to cut the bridges between /A13 and /CE on each side and run wires between the connectors for them.
Also an option is to find a stack-up cartridge or something with the official adapter board in it.
>>3071012
Not debatable. Compare a famicom to an AV famicom and you can clearly hear it.
>>3075282
If you're broke as fuck like me and are willing to take a chance, I've bought four famicoms sold as 'untested' or even 'junk' and all have worked fine. The 'junk' one needed a pin on the pin connector pulled forward and now it works perfectly. It's the one in the pictures here
>>3073907
>>3072856
>>3072797
>>3072795
>>3075282
Note that unless you have a VCR or a TV that can tune to analog NTSC channels, you will need to AV mod a famicom. It's not actually hard (you can follow the directions for top loading NES modding), but it's something to be aware of.
You need to tune to channel 95 on american VCR's/TV's to get japanese channel 2, btw.
