Just received my Game Axe Color. The screen was working, but the quality wasnt the best, and the screen was a little dark in some places. It might be the polarized, even if it looks ok, but i choose to replace the screen with an IPS one. Thanks to Skyway1985, who guided me buying the screen and soldering it.

Used this Alibaba screen + control board:

https://www.alibaba.com/product-detail/4-inch-LCD-display-module-with_1600468023611.html

For the soldering in the control board, as you can see on the photos, i used pins 1,3 and 4 of the third connector, having video on 1, ground on 3 and power in 4.

For the soldering on the board, power goes to the top right on photo 5, ground to the bottom left on photo 5, and video to photo 6.

For the screen location, i tested first without any cutting, and ended up cutting the bottom screw holes (not in photo) to make it fit better. Still, is not 100% perfect, and a custom crystal protector with some less black on the top would solve it. Still, only a few games will use the top part of the screen in a way you notice it, so no problem there.

Also, used hard glue to prevent the screen for moving. Someone making a 3D print mount to fit the screen would prevent this step 🤣.

After the mod, the contrast wheel does nothing, and the LCD on/off only turns on/off the sound. There is probably a way to mod the functions in again (at least the power off, if you get the 5V somewhere else), but im ok with the screen always on.

The screen comes with a pannel with buttons to configure it (contrast, brightness, etc). I personally left it connected inside because there is enought space inside after taking out the old LCD screen, but you can take it out, or make holes on the shell and access them from the outside. The board is needed at least on first use, because you need to 'change the channel' to get the screen to show in.

The console works flawlessly, with both batteries and connector, and with normal games, repro games, and everdrive. I read somewhere that the everdrive was problematic with the original screen... It seems solved now.

Hope more people with this console mods it and make if worth playing today. I now need to find a way to transport this monster 🤣.

Mentioned in "Pak Watch" in the first issue of Nintendo power. But I guess there was nothing to watch 😂

Every now and then I see insane prices paid for games on eBay, and the only reason I can think of is that either someone is really dumb or someone is doing something shady.

Edit: here’s the link: https://ebay.io/m/dSMbVu

Hi Everyone

I'm restoring a Japanese Hotel Famicom Box. It was working but now won't show anything on power up. I've tried different CPU and PPU ICs in the unit and nothing changes. I'm starting to focus on the PRG-ROM cartridge which holds the machine's menu system.

I've used PCBway to recreated a bunch of NES Cart PCB mapper boards, hoping I can use this as a base to build a board. I've soldered on two 32-pin DIP sockets and I've acquired a 8051 programmer and two 4Mbit, 32pin flash memory chips in order to copy the 32kb PRG-ROM and 8Kb CHR-ROM.

My question is the CIC chip. I found one website talking about the specific SSS-256-NROM which appears to be slightly different to the one found in ordinary games - the one site which mentioned this board says that the "address lines" on the CIC chip are different and brought to 4 of the expansion connector pins. I don't really understand the lockout chip's use on this famicom cart, because I was under the impression that the famicom doesn't need a CIC/lockout chip?

Has anyone any experience of recreating the NROM in the famicom box, or even just a regular famicom one, as used by many of the early games?

I am very thankful to my friend. He bought it from Japan for me.

It is considered to be one of the rarest commercially released Famicom cartridges and worth hundreds of dollars. It is still in my collection sitting with the rest of my Famicom cartridges.

I want to buy an Av famicom plus light gun because I want to add to my retro collection and play all the iconic games on og hardware. Now, the thing is that I live in Europe and to get those items I've decided to get them trought the zenmarket proxy that I had used previosly and had good experiences with. I did find what I was looking for, plus some other cib super famicom games, a capture card and 2 separate famicom carts. From all these, only the 2 famicom games and the capture card were tested. The other including the console and lightgun plus the games that the lightgun comes with are untested. Is the risk worth it? From what I know, these things are pretty resistent if they were well kept but we are talking about a potential risk here so I want some advice. After this, another thing to ask for is, if this price is good for what I am ordering, From what I found on ebay, the value that I am getting from zenmarket is much better, even after keeping in mind how big the shipping and import price is going to be with such a heavy parcel. So what do you guys think. If there are better alternatives please mention them. Thank you!

So one of my European plugs failed and caused a short that killed the voltage regulator in my famicom, and for the first time in my life i repaired something by soldering, and i couldnt be happier. To avoid that this could happen again and since i am a console collector i also decided to get myself a stepdown converter to use the og cables

It is the famicom version I do warps and non warps playthough and it is the game that saved everything back in 85

I just got a famicom from a friend and it had this spot on it, I wouldn't have a problem removing it, but since the sticker is there and I want to keep it, I'm not sure how to fix it.

I already know how to safely disassemble and clean it, I just don't know how to keep the sticker intakt

So I want to buy a nes. Specifically an american nes or famicom because they are both ntsc and run at a full 60hz compared to the pal one. Now, since I live in Europe, getting an american nes is kinda expensive with the shipping and all the taxes plus that the console itself is a bit pricey. The famicom on the other hand is cheaper and I already have experience with buying from Japan so that whouldn't be the problem. The problem is that I can either go with the first model or the av one. The av model in my opinion is ugly even tho it is the best one and most reliable. The first model, the one with the cords attached to the console is in my opinion the best design, but it only outputs rf signal. I can buy an av modded one if it is the better choice but idk. So what do you guys think? Also, is the Sega Megadrive 1 Power supply good for playing the famicom or ntsc-u nes on European outlets? That's what I heard but just want to make sure.

For #ThrowbackThursday, I have the entire official catalog of Nintendo Famicom 3D System games.

The Famicom 3D System was a short-lived add-on to the Nintendo Famicom that supported, that's right, just 7 total games, 4 from the Famicom and 3 from the Famicom Disk System.

Those games are Attack Animal Gakuen, Cosmic Epsilon, Falsion, Grand Prix II: 3D Hot Rally, Highway Star, JJ: Tobidase Daisakusen Part II, and Fuuun Shourin Ken: Ankoku no Maou.

Have you played any of these? On the 3D System?

Hi guys, I just wanted to share my excitement around finally obtaining one of my favorite Famicom games!

I started collecting Famicom games a few years ago, some in box, some loose (maybe I'll share more on those later), but this CIB Hebereke is my grail at this point. I've adored this game since I first discovered it as Ufouria: The Saga, and I even made a ROM patch that fixes the bit order of the DPCM samples. I highly recommend this game to any Metroidvania fans. There's an English patch out there that is extremely well done and faithful to the original script, so check that out if you've never played before.

Now I'm curious to know, what are your favorite/most treasured Famicom games? I'm hoping to own Gimmick someday, but it's a little too pricey for me right now. Oh yeah, and I also included some doodles of the main cast because they're funny little guys lol.

Just checking in with fellow owners to see if there's been any new discoveries or dumps in the Bung/FFE/Venus Game Doctor world. Picture for attention, 😂.

Hi,

I have a famicom and a bunch of jrpg on it. Only problem, like a lot of people, I can't read japanese. For several weeks know, I've tried to see if a pair of smart glasses can do the tricks. The glasses would read the text on the screen and translate it right in my hear or on my phone. Does someone have tried that or not ? And does someone have a pair of smart glasses that translates japanese and gives you the result on your phone or in your ears. Thanks !

I know it's not the famicom version but still sucks

Hello, I'm quite new to the Famicom scene, I was wondering where could I get some specific things. I recently bought a Famicom with a super mario bros 1 cartridge and I am on cloud nine, I really really love it but I was wondering where I could get some other cartridges. I'd like to specify that I'm underage so I'm not able to have a credit/debit card of my own, or at least I could get one but my parents won't let me so usually I get my things online throughout my friends, but unfortunately I'm from Europe and we have tariffs from things coming from Japan so the Famicom and smb1 came from a total cost of 30€ (without shipping) to 70€ without tariffs ( 30€ or so). So I was wondering, is there a cheaper way I can get some games? Also I was wondering there can I get replacement labels for the console and the controllers? As I said I'm underage and I want to emphasize on that because I don't have much money and I don't want to ask my parents for the money, I usually get money from my grandparents but I don't get a large amount ( like 20€ every week or two)

Any type of help is really appreciated 🙏

p.s. sorry for anybody that had to read all of that.....

Currently I'm using a cheap power supply from Columbus Circle. It gets the job done, but I'm afraid to leave it plugged in because it gets hot even when I'm not using it, I always unplug my Famicom when I'm done playing for the day. I'm changing my setup soon and I want to have all of my retro consoles plugged in at once, and since the Famicom (And Disk System), Super Famicom, Mega Drive, PC Engine, and Virtual Boy all use the same power supply I would like to grab something higher quality so that I can just leave them unattended without fear of my house burning down. Constantly reaching behind the TV to plug in/unplug each game system whenever I want to play would be a big inconvenience.

While searching, I found this power supply on DigiKey which I think(?) meets the specs for the Famicom. Does anyone here have experience with this one, or do you know if the quality of Triad power supplies is any good?

Thanks

So I own 2 disk systems. One is an early model. Let’s call it Drive A. I can write with drive A. The other is a later model (Drive B). Both are unmodified. Both work great. They read and play every game that I own with no issues. My questions are, if they both play the same games, then why when I write a disk with Drive A, Drive B can’t read it? Do I need to calibrate Drive A? Do I need to calibrate both? Is it even possible to calibrate the writing drive to work with other disk drives? Does anybody have any advice?

Thanks in advance

I have a little famicom setup in the corner of our family room. My son and I have been having a fun time putting it together. Originally we had the famicom on the pull out shelf of the entertainment center next to the Super Famicom. It just wasn’t working and I was considering somehow lengthening the cables. Not wanting to modify the console too much I thought why not bring the console closer to the chairs? Got a 15 ft av cable and routed it along the wall and behind the chair. Super happy with how it turned out.