Famicom: Why do we love this system so much?

[Threedog]

RF only, you have to tune your TV to channel 95 1/2 to make it work, controllers are hard wired to the console, the cord comes out the side of the controller (you know, that place where your hand is supposed to go...) and the cords are two freakin' feet long. How much does that suck? "Yeah, but the AV Famicom-" Naaaww shutup! That's not a Famicom! It doesn't even have a microphone! We love it because it's different and has one or two features our own NES doesn't have. 'Mkay, so why am I burning up precious page space talking about this? Well, I'm currently locked in epic battle for a gen-yew-ine Famicom system on Ebay, and after I snipe this loser and the console is mine, I'm going to make it not suck. I'm going to make it not suck -hard-! Um... yeah. My intention is this:

1-Perform an AV mod, and I don't mean the kind that makes your groovy Far East console look like it was modded by a third grader who's dad works at Radio Shack

2-Stick a LED on there somewhere so there's some indication other than a strip of orange paint that the system is on

3-Fix that garbage with the controllers -and- allow the use of a light gun that doesn't cost a zillion bucks (does anyone really play Wild Gunman anyway?)

4-Preserve every bit of the admittedly very cool character of the Famicom system

5-Chronicle everything and make a clear step-by-step worklog as I go, mistakes and all.

 

[Kickback]

I always wanted to get a Famicom and add actual controller ports... but I got a NES instead. Funds being low and all haha.

Looking forward to seeing this mod.

 

[Threedog]

Looking forward to seeing this mod.

Well, I won the auction. Not too pricey. Now allow about a friggin' month for delivery and the rest should go pretty quickly...

And thank you, Kickback.

 

[Threedog]

Yeeeeaaaaaaaaa!!!!!!!! Famicom finally arrived in the mail today! What was that, like 2 months?? It's a little bit faded, definitely shows signs of use, but it appears to be in working order. I don't have a proper RF switch, so I had to kind of rig up a cable thingumabob to get it working. The picture looks great, the sound works, but there is a loud buzzing in the background which I'm going to go ahead and assume is a product of my hacked together cable apparatus, since no AC is being fed into the system. Anyway, off to go start the first of many mods to it, and then pictures.

 

[Threedog]

Awwwwright! AV mod complete! Well ok, AV mod working. Didn't take long, eh? I can't honestly say by any stretch or the imagination that I have achieved the promised effect (Performing an AV mod that doesn't make the Famicom look like it was modded by a child who's dad works at Radio Shack...) but I'm very pleased with the prototype. So here's what's up, since I haven't taken pictures yet: All I did was remove the Famicom RF box and replace it with the RF box from a US "Toaster" NES. This is both easier and harder than it seems. The easy part is that well, it works without having to add any other components to it. The tricky part is that you have to figure out how to put 7 little wires from the Famicom motherboard into the 5 little holes on the NES RF box. See, the Famicom RF board has 7 wires connecting it to the mobo. I have always assumed that was because the two extra wires serviced the "TV/Game" switch on the back of the Famicom. Well, they don't. As it turns out, three freaking wires all connect to the same 5 volt source, and two wires go to the same ground.

Why is it preferable to trade one RF board for another instead of grabbing A/V straight from the board? Well, the RF board on both the NES and the Famicom provide not only audio and video out, but also voltage in. And we all know the Famicom takes DC only, and the NES can take AC, or DC with no preference in polarity. So in other words, I've not only managed to AV mod my Famicom, but also AC/DC mod it as well, which I guess is sort of neat.

Turns out that horrible buzzing noise was produced by a bad 50 uf capacitor in the Player 2 controller microphone circuit. That'll be an easy fix. Now let me go find my camera and I'll try and illustrate all this excited gibberish.

 

[Threedog]

Yeah, I promised pictures. I didn't take any yet, things have been crazy over here. I think the last couple items I need for the project arrived in the mail, but I won't be able to pick up the package until the end of next week. I'll get some pictures before I start on the controller adapter.

 

[Drakon]

Let's see....it's a top loader...no lockout chip.....simplified no frills cartridge port that gets rid of all the unused pins, has less pins and yet includes wiring for extra audio chips....And it was way ahead of its time?