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[Delicious Waffles]

It also came with a bunch of games. I've been wanting to move over from cart only to CIB for a while now so they're very welcome

Oh man, that SMB 3 CIB. Looks super nice. I've been looking for one CIB. I know it isn't hard to find but I'm picky on the condition. eBay yielding so-so results so far.

 

[theSlacker]

At least there is a picture and description. I've had stuff sold as 'like new' which are beat up to hell.

I had the opposite problem once though - sold a Master System game, which was in beautiful condition. Many high res pics included, detailed description. Listed as 'Like New'. Which it was, it had a store sticker on the front with a folded corner, but that wasn't part of the 'product' itself and was removable. Manual and map and inserts and cart were immaculate, they even smelt new.

Guy who bought it complained about the case having 'wear' where the clips are. That is, it had been opened at least once (just tiny scrapes in the plastic of the clip of the case!) Which was fairly obviously going to be true since it was open in the pictures, and all Master System games ever would have this, they were sold in the shops like that. If you saw this on a shelf in a store in 1990 you would not think it was used.

His play was clearly just a scam to get a partial refund, I get it a lot, complaints about things clearly visible in pictures that get re-interpreted post-auction, and they always ask for a partial refund. I offered a full refund minus the return postage, but he didn't go for that, the scammers never do.

The lengths honest people, buyers and sellers, have to go through to not get ripped off sucks. I've seen sellers that just list their games as "good" condition then have a ton of pictures with no visible flaws and I've always thought that they are people that have gone through the situation that you are describing.

I hate not being able to assume that something is a simple mistake in a listing. Like one random blurry picture in the middle of a bunch of clear ones, or thumb over center of disk while holding it. Get burned on people hiding damage to a case or a crack on a disk a few times and you end up just skipping auctions where you can't see everything.

 

[D.Lo]

Got my Baphomet RGB Famicom back last week, it's actually strange to see NES games this clearly. I've been running RGB on SNES for at least 10 years, but Contra without dot crawl? It doesn't look real. Weird to think basically no-one since the original designers on development systems have seen these games look this clean on real hardware.

Pretty tasty on dark games, and highly detailed games, Batman and CV3 look super-slick.

The lengths honest people, buyers and sellers, have to go through to not get ripped off sucks. I've seen sellers that just list their games as "good" condition then have a ton of pictures with no visible flaws and I've always thought that they are people that have gone through the situation that you are describing.

I hate not being able to assume that something is a simple mistake in a listing. Like one random blurry picture in the middle of a bunch of clear ones, or thumb over center of disk while holding it. Get burned on people hiding damage to a case or a crack on a disk a few times and you end up just skipping auctions where you can't see everything.

Exactly. Obvious flaws should be shown and clearly stated. I saw an NES game once, and the top, back and one side were shown in the listing. I asked for pics of the other side, and lo-and-behold the other side looked like a dog had chewed it. How will that ever work out for you? If I hadn't been diligent I would have bought it and then screamed to hell.

 

[Teknoman]

So i'm posting high score challenges periodically in the Genesis/Megadrive thread, think NES side would be interested in NES high score challenges? There wont always be prizes, and its mostly just to help people clear their backlog / play a game that they've never entertained the thought of.

 

[Friend of Sonic]

Got my Baphomet RGB Famicom back last week, it's actually strange to see NES games this clearly. I've been running RGB on SNES for at least 10 years, but Contra without dot crawl? It doesn't look real. Weird to think basically no-one since the original designers on development systems have seen these games look this clean on real hardware.

Pretty tasty on dark games, and highly detailed games, Batman and CV3 look super-slick.

Exactly. Obvious flaws should be shown and clearly stated. I saw an NES game once, and the top, back and one side were shown in the listing. I asked for pics of the other side, and lo-and-behold the other side looked like a dog had chewed it. How will that ever work out for you? If I hadn't been diligent I would have bought it and then screamed to hell.

Oh yes, NES RGB blew my mind. I knew what RGB was and how it could make games look, but it's almost like I was conditioned since childhood that the NES should look like crap. I couldn't conceptualize what NES RGB was until I saw it.

 

[sixteen-bit]

Weird to think basically no-one since the original designers on development systems have seen these games look this clean on real hardware.

Don't forget lucky owners of Famicom Titlers or Playchoice 10s

 

[Trojan]

Who the hell is paying over $200 for a CIB Mega Man?

I don't want to live on this planet any more.

Wow I thought you were kidding...did not think prices were that high. People will pay for nostalgia.

 

[sixteen-bit]

So from what I hear on Twitter a Strider Famicom prototype has surfaced?

 

[baphomet]

So from what I hear on Twitter a Strider Famicom prototype has surfaced?

Probably just the localized nes version, but still neat.

 

[Teknoman]

So from what I hear on Twitter a Strider Famicom prototype has surfaced?

lol i had to do a double take...thought you said super famicom.

 

[D.Lo]

Don't forget lucky owners of Famicom Titlers or Playchoice 10s

Playchoice 10 yes, Titler still needed a mod, just a less difficult one.

Come to think of it, I don't think there were any NES dev systems. So Playchoice 10 and modern RGB mods are the only ever times original hardware has looked like this.

 

[CoachKevin]

Anyone ever have issues with Famicom Disk games starting up fine on a Twin Famicom but not having the controller work?

I just got a copy of Legend of Zelda and it boots up and goes through the attract mode but the controllers don't work. Cart games are fine.

Edit: Nevermind just had to flip the disk!

 

[emb]

I finally played all the way through Super Mario Bros. 3 last night. I've played the first half of it so many times, but never went through the whole game.

I always thought SMW was far and away the better game, but now I can see why people love this one so much. There are lots of little surprises here and there, and a few pretty devious levels. I would say 3 is on par with the SNES game, if not for how prolific and dull the air ship levels kinda are. They're cool in atmosphere, but I hate waiting around for the screen to scroll.

Unrelated, a friend of mine happened across a boxed copy of Zelda II the other day (and brought it to me). No manual, but still neat to find.

 

[dcx4610]

I have a somewhat insane idea of trying to play and beat every single licensed NES game ever made. While some games can't be "beat" per se, I will at least play enough to get a good feel for the game.

I'll obviously have to use emulators and I'm certainly going to use save states to do it but I think it should be an interesting journey to look at the entire NES library and hopefully come out with some new gems. So far I'm just tackling my favorite titles and then I'll probably go in A-B-C order.

Anyone tried to do this?

 

[Friend of Sonic]

I finally played all the way through Super Mario Bros. 3 last night. I've played the first half of it so many times, but never went through the whole game.

I always thought SMW was far and away the better game, but now I can see why people love this one so much. There are lots of little surprises here and there, and a few pretty devious levels. I would say 3 is on par with the SNES game, if not for how prolific and dull the air ship levels kinda are. They're cool in atmosphere, but I hate waiting around for the screen to scroll.

Unrelated, a friend of mine happened across a boxed copy of Zelda II the other day (and brought it to me). No manual, but still neat to find.

That's the great thing about trying to pick a favorite Mario game. Nearly all of them are great-- just merely different flavors

 

[robot]

I have a somewhat insane idea of trying to play and beat every single licensed NES game ever made. While some games can't be "beat" per se, I will at least play enough to get a good feel for the game.

I'll obviously have to use emulators and I'm certainly going to use save states to do it but I think it should be an interesting journey to look at the entire NES library and hopefully come out with some new gems. So far I'm just tackling my favorite titles and then I'll probably go in A-B-C order.

Anyone tried to do this?

Someone is actually doing this on twitch - TMR (The Mexican Runner). It's called NESMania, he's at 65/709. Viewers pick the next game he plays based on a raffle that happens when he finishes a game.

He's doing it without hints, tricks or save states. Back to the Future 2/3 took over 20 hours to finish. Really entertaining channel, the first I actually subbed to out of sheer respect.

 

[sixteen-bit]

Playchoice 10 yes, Titler still needed a mod, just a less difficult one.

Come to think of it, I don't think there were any NES dev systems. So Playchoice 10 and modern RGB mods are the only ever times original hardware has looked like this.

Forgot about that. And to be honest, the PC10 PPUs output some funky colors. NES RGB is a real improvement.

 

[dcx4610]

A few observations on the Ninja Gaiden trilogy which I have just beat. I beat the 2nd as a kid but never the 1st or 3rd. I wanted a fresh take as an adult to see if my skills had increased or diminished.

Ninja Gaiden:

The last level and boss is still nuts. I managed to figure out a pattern to beat the first form without getting hit. The 2nd form appears to have no pattern at all at first but I finally found a decent strategy. It wasn't perfect but I managed to beat him with still having half health. The 3rd form isn't bad but you are likely going to get hit just due to the randomness so you really need to play the 2nd form well so not to die on the 3rd. As everyone knows, if you die on any form, you go all of the way back. Still as insane today as it was back then. 9/10

Ninja Gaden II:

Easier than the first but the last levels and the final boss is tougher IMO. Once again, you have 3 forms. The first is fairly easy but random enough where you will take some hits. The 2nd form is very similar to 1st game where there just doesn't seem to be a perfect strategy and you are going to take some hits. The 3rd form is nearly as difficult as the 2nd and you just have to get lucky and stay focused. Much improved graphics and gameplay while toning down a lot of the cheapness of the first. 9/10

Ninja Gaiden III

This was fairly new to me. I didn't have the game as a kid so I went in fairly fresh. I didn't care for the story or everything being robots but the gameplay and graphics are still great. The wider sword upgrade is kind of neat but I found that it threw me off from a gameplay point of view because I was so used to the shorter sword. When I didn't have the upgrade, I was already used to the bigger one and couldn't time my hits as well.

One of the biggest things I took note of was NO bats or birds in the entire game. Also, no respawning enemies. This was huge. There were very few cheap deaths and they mostly came from not knowing what to expect what was ahead of me.

The later bosses didn't seem to have any real patterns like the earlier games which made them a bit harder and yet again, the last boss has 3 forms. This time it was very similar to the 2nd game with a decently hard 1st form, harder 2nd form and equally hard 3rd form. 8/10

All in all, they are all still great games and hold up very well today. I think if I could add one thing it would be the ability to turn in midair. I found especially in the 3rd game that I really needed to jump and hit an enemy behind me but couldn't.

Sorry for the long read but Ninja Gaiden deserves it.

Up next, Batman and Battletoads.

 

[lordmrw]

A few observations on the Ninja Gaiden trilogy which I have just beat. I beat the 2nd as a kid but never the 1st or 3rd. I wanted a fresh take as an adult to see if my skills had increased or diminished.

Ninja Gaiden:

The last level and boss is still nuts. I managed to figure out a pattern to beat the first form without getting hit. The 2nd form appears to have no pattern at all at first but I finally found a decent strategy. It wasn't perfect but I managed to beat him with still having half health. The 3rd form isn't bad but you are likely going to get hit just due to the randomness so you really need to play the 2nd form well so not to die on the 3rd. As everyone knows, if you die on any form, you go all of the way back. Still as insane today as it was back then. 9/10

When I beat Ninja Gaiden back in Middle School I was practically considered a god. People would invite me over to there house to beat the game because they wanted to see the ending so badly. Awesome times.

 

[Het_Nkik]

As everyone knows, if you die on any form, you go all of the way back. Still as insane today as it was back then. 9/10.

You go all the way back but the forms stay dead, so really, I found it easiest just to play through the level while stocking up on the diagonal fire ninpo, unleash a flurry on the boss, die, and then repeat.

After playing that last level so many times it was easier to run through it than to try to fight the bosses with a legitimate strategy.

 

[Teknoman]

Was so tempted to eat here today (lol same font too). Also passed a steel repair place that had the Contra C in its logo.

 

[sixteen-bit]

Was so tempted to eat here today (lol same font too). Also passed a steel repair place that had the Contra C in its logo.

shoutouts to copyright infringement

 

[Hero_of_the_Day]

Was so tempted to eat here today (lol same font too). Also passed a steel repair place that had the Contra C in its logo.

Where is this?

 

[dcx4610]

I can now without a doubt say that Battletoads is the hardest game I have ever played.

I rented it all of the time as a kid and while I thought the speedbike stage was really tough, I still managed to make it to the next level or so after. When you search for other people talking about how hard the game is, everyone mentions the bike stage and that's where they do. Little do they know just how much more insane the game gets.

The ice level after is ridiculous. One hit deaths, traps, enemies out of nowhere and it only gets worse after.

I'm using save states because I don't want to go crazy and it's still insane. My biggest pet peeve has to be games that have obstacles where you have to learn from trial and error. Battletoads is the king of that crap. You can't win based on skill, it's about knowing what is going to happen next.

The surfing stage is annoying with one hit deaths. If you don't know what's coming, you are dead. The snake stage. Again, if you don't know the pattern, you are dead.

The 2nd speederbike stage. Oh my god. You have to alternate between speeding up and slowing down and it gets super fast to the point that you can barely move your d-pad fast enough.

It's a strangely charming and fun game but I just don't understand what they were thinking with the difficulty. I'm sure someone out there has memorized the game but I literally think it would be impossible to have someone that has never played the game or even knows a little but what to expect and have them beat it. Did I mention the game is freaking long?

 

[sixteen-bit]

That sounds almost as annoying as pranksters calling gamestop to check if they have the game in stock.

The only Battletoads I've ever played was that gory arcade game, which is a lot different.

 

[Timu]

The 2nd speederbike stage. Oh my god. You have to alternate between speeding up and slowing down and it gets super fast to the point that you can barely move your d-pad fast enough.

Worst stage in the entire game, no contest, makes the 1st one seem normal in comparison.

 

[Mzo]

Do you guys mean the flying missile stage? That's Volkmire's Inferno.

Yeah, Battletoads is hard; it's all trial and error. Luckily I did it all as a kid so I can still do it to this day. If the game had unlimited continues it wouldn't even be an issue.

Here's my advice: When you start the game, hold down on the dpad + A + B and press start for 5 lives instead of 3. You can also start a 2 player game with two controllers, beat up Zitz (or Rash if you play on the 2nd controller port like I do),and let the continue option run out for him. Play until you need to continue and then switch 'toads. Each one gets 3. Don't use the Ragnarok's Canyon warp, play through the Wookie Hole instead and bounce every raven you can for 1-ups. You can get a shitload of extra lives this way. The Genesis version changed this so the screen doesn't even scroll while you're bouncing them, making it even easier to do (one of many weird changes to the game).

Once you know the early levels you can use the warp in the Turbo Tunnel (final section, in front of the 10th wall) to go on to Karnath's Lair, and then the warp in the 2nd snake pit to get to the Intruder Excluder elevator level, completely skipping some of the hardest sections of the mid game. You have to play the rest from there on out.

The Surf City mines are random. There's no pattern there, or in the meteors and missiles in VI.

 

[robot]

I remember most of Rares games on NES being really tough - Battletoads, Cobra Triangle, Snake Rattle & Roll, Wizards & Warriors, Solar Jetman, etc.

 

[Teknoman]

Where is this?

Houston, Texas around the Barker Cypress area to be exact. I dunno if its any good or not, we were on our way to another restaurant and I spotted it.

 

[BTails]

I can now without a doubt say that Battletoads is the hardest game I have ever played.

Did I mention the game is freaking long?

I played Battletoads all summer back in University, and once got to the final boss without using any cheats or warps. She killed me right away, and that pretty much killed my desire to play.

I'll get around to beating it eventually.

 

[IrishNinja]

so who here really likes custom systems

 

[Peagles]

so who here really likes custom systems

*nose wrinkles*

 

[IrishNinja]

haha like it's messy but at least the 360 comic one is consistent, you could play ultimate alliance on it all day or something but that NES doesn't even make sense

 

[sixteen-bit]

so who here really likes custom systems

would look good next to my custom lost in blue DS

 

[El Pescado]

The lengths honest people, buyers and sellers, have to go through to not get ripped off sucks. I've seen sellers that just list their games as "good" condition then have a ton of pictures with no visible flaws and I've always thought that they are people that have gone through the situation that you are describing.

I hate not being able to assume that something is a simple mistake in a listing. Like one random blurry picture in the middle of a bunch of clear ones, or thumb over center of disk while holding it. Get burned on people hiding damage to a case or a crack on a disk a few times and you end up just skipping auctions where you can't see everything.

I bought a copy of Wild Guns on eBay a few years ago in "Like New" condition that looked fine in the pictures and only had "minor wear" listed in the auction that came to me looking like someone had rubbed some kind of weird abrasive cleaner all over the cart and label.

I opened it up and it looked like someone had filled it with maple syrup. I complained to the seller, but he swore he didn't send it like that even though the outside of the package was fine and there was goo INSIDE AND DRIPPING OUT of the cart. :/

 

[baphomet]

 

[theSlacker]

Please gib...

Spoiler

In exchange for money.

 

[scaffa]

NESRGB? Oh man.. I want that installed in my NES,

Spoiler

in exchange for money.

 

[sixteen-bit]

I'm putting away a little every month to finally get NESRGB done. Soon...

 

[Hero_of_the_Day]

Wanted a nice long RPG to play with my fancy new component modded NES and a local place happened to have a nice copy of Dragon Warrior 2 in luckily.

Never played DW2-4 so pretty excited. Pretty ugly game, but I just cannot believe how sharp my NES looks now.

I kept getting my ass kicked real bad in the first dungeon. I did manage to finish it after a billion tries. But, I expected to find the prince at the end of the cave and was confused when he wasn't there. So I went to a guide online and it tells me I fucked up and went the wrong direction on the world map. I wasn't supposed to do that dungeon until after I went the other way and got my second character. Thought this game was crazy hard or something. Time to find that fucking Prince now.

 

[Leonsito]

A friend bought me a Famicom last year and, besides not being able to use it yet (pal tv), I love it and now I'm interested in more Japanese Famicom machines.

What is exactly the AV Famicom? Just a Famicom with the Nintendo AV port?

Also, what's the diff between buying a Famicom Disk System and a Sharp Twin Famicom? I suppose it's like an addon vs a full integrated console and nothing more...

 

[LayLa]

A friend bought me a Famicom last year and, besides not being able to use it yet (pal tv), I love it and now I'm interested in more Japanese Famicom machines.

What is exactly the AV Famicom? Just a Famicom with the Nintendo AV port?

Also, what's the diff between buying a Famicom Disk System and a Sharp Twin Famicom? I suppose it's like an addon vs a full integrated console and nothing more...

AV Famicom was a revision of the original hardware, biggest plus points are the AV outputs and detachable controllers.
FDS is as you guessed the hard disk addon, which plugs in to the Famicom using a special cart.
Twin Famicoms fully integrate the FDS & Famicom into one, and there was a later revision that added turbo buttons to the controllers.

The only way you'll be able to play your original Famicom on a PAL system is to mod it for AV output.
Incidentally there was an OG Famicom made for the Hong Kong market that had a 50hz/60hz switch (marked Slow/Normal) which works on PAL TVs, but these are super rare.

 

[Timu]

I want to go the RGB route with my NES someday...

my fancy new component modded NES

Component modded NES???

 

[Hero_of_the_Day]

Component modded NES???

I don't have any way to hook RGB up to my TV. It's the same mod. It is actually ready to go for RGB if I ever go down that route, but Hal64 put component out for me as well.

and palette selector hidden on bottom:

 

[Leonsito]

AV Famicom was a revision of the original hardware, biggest plus points are the AV outputs and detachable controllers.
FDS is as you guessed the hard disk addon, which plugs in to the Famicom using a special cart.
Twin Famicoms fully integrate the FDS & Famicom into one, and there was a later revision that added turbo buttons to the controllers.

The only way you'll be able to play your original Famicom on a PAL system is to mod it for AV output.
Incidentally there was an OG Famicom made for the Hong Kong market that had a 50hz/60hz switch (marked Slow/Normal) which works on PAL TVs, but these are super rare.

Thanks for the reply, which is more rare, AV Famicom are a bit cheaper, but the FDS and the Twin are pretty much the same price...

With an AV Famicom will I be able to play on a PAL TV?

 

[LayLa]

Thanks for the reply, which is more rare, AV Famicom are a bit cheaper, but the FDS and the Twin are pretty much the same price...

With an AV Famicom will I be able to play on a PAL TV?

I don't own an AV Famicom and can't say for certain, but I don't see why it wouldn't work on any modern TV.
I do own a Hong Kong Famicom modded with AV outputs and a normal Famicom modded with AV outputs and both of those work fine here in the UK.
FDS are notoriously hard to maintain and you are dealing with nearly 30 year old magnetic disks. Ymmv but I found them to be not worth the hassle, I'm sticking to carts!

 

[Mzo]

Got a slightly beat up Bucky O'Hare for a good price today in the mail. Just beat it. I didn't know Masato Maegawa was the producer. Huh.

 

[womp]

So the extra NES I snagged recently is 'dead' in that it shows a totally black screen (no flashing or anything) and a blinking power light. I took it apart, cleaned off the pin connector, bent them up a bit to tighten them up...put it all back together, same situation.

It ignores carts. I'm used to seeing a flashing gray screen but have never seen a totally black one with zero indication of video before.

Any ideas what may solve this? New 72 pin connector?

 

[blizzardjesus]

Thanks for the reply, which is more rare, AV Famicom are a bit cheaper, but the FDS and the Twin are pretty much the same price...

With an AV Famicom will I be able to play on a PAL TV?

AV and Twin famicom are popular and both in demand, neither is really more "rare". It just depends on your gaming needs. I have both, AV has a slightly better video signal than the twin. The disk drive in the twin is susceptible to breaking, due to the rubber drive belt breaking.

Nope, all japanese systems are NTSC, to use them on a PAL system you would need to mod them or get a video converter of some sort, and a step down power converter due to voltage differences between the countries.

 

[D.Lo]

Nope, all japanese systems are NTSC, to use them on a PAL system you would need to mod them or get a video converter of some sort, and a step down power converter due to voltage differences between the countries.

Almost every PAL TV for 20+ years can handle an NTSC signal. And most for the 10 years before that. I played my Super Famicom on a 1985 model 'National' (Panasonic sub-brand) PAL TV for years. No need to mod anything with AV outputs.

Power wise, Famicoms and Super Famicoms can use a Mega Drive 1 power adapter.

So the extra NES I snagged recently is 'dead' in that it shows a totally black screen (no flashing or anything) and a blinking power light. I took it apart, cleaned off the pin connector, bent them up a bit to tighten them up...put it all back together, same situation.

It ignores carts. I'm used to seeing a flashing gray screen but have never seen a totally black one with zero indication of video before.

Any ideas what may solve this? New 72 pin connector?

Dead video, nothing to do with the pin connection. It might be fixable, especially if it's just the plug or something, but is likely not worth fixing.

FDS are notoriously hard to maintain and you are dealing with nearly 30 year old magnetic disks. Ymmv but I found them to be not worth the hassle, I'm sticking to carts!

I've had no issues at all on my FDS in almost 20 years.
The only games I've found that wouldn't run were pirate ones from flea markets that were very beat up.
Every official disk I've kept or bought from ebay has worked first time every time.
Just don't leave them in the sun or whatever.