Which System for the beginning?

[Ginkgo*]

Hello there Famicom World - Community!
As the total Famicom-newbie I am I read some articles on the mainpage about the various Famicom systems. There is of course the original Family Computer by Nintendo, the Twin Famicom by Sharp, several Famiclones ... ah well, I don't need to list them here, you know your stuff. 

The thing is, and I couldn't answer that question by searching through the forum, with which system should I start? My idea is to fully enjoy the games, so the fact that Famiclones are .. clones, the experience wouldn't be the same as on an original Nintendo System. Correct me if I'm wrong but that would exclude all these Famiclones. You need to know that I'm living in Germany so there might occur some problems with the power-supply and the NTSC signal.

Besides the technical worries I also have to think about the pricing. So no cool collectors-items for me at the beginning of my Famicom journey.

I apologize if that topic had already been discussed several times, I couldn't find any thread fitting my situation.
Thanks in advance,
greetings Ginkgo*

[UglyJoe]

Some PAL residents here can feel free to correct me, but I would say that an original Famicom with an a/v mod is probably your best option.  Using a/v instead of RF would make using it in a PAL region a lot easier, and an a/v mod Famicom is typically cheaper than an official a/v Famicom.

[L___E___T]

I would agree with that - unlessd you would prefer to spend a little more on an AV Famciom, which are superb and will 'future-proof' your Famicom gaming so to speak.

[Ginkgo*]

Thanks for your answers.
That helps a lot.
I remember when I bought a Japanese Playstation 2 a few years ago, I had to buy an RGB-cable to get colors on the screen. Is there any problem like that with the Famicom? I just buy it, mod it (or buy the AV Famicom) and it works without a single problem?

Greetings

[L___E___T]

I'll let someone mroe technical answer that - bvut you'll need a 60hZ TV.  All I can say is mine worked out the box, with an RGB scart cable and a stepdown converter.  Don't forget the stepdown, these run on 100-110v. 
I never had to worry about a stepdown for my JP PS2.

[Ghegs]

Or just get a power adapter better suited to PAL land. I'm running my RGB-modded AV Famicom with a Mega Drive PSU. Your TV does need to support 60Hz as stated, but unless your TV was made over 15-20 years ago, it should be able to do that.

[fcgamer]

I'm honestly not sure why there tends to be a lot of hate towards the Famiclones.  TBH, that is what I started out with, and unless the Famiclones in other parts of the world are much different from the ones in Taiwan (    )  I think that this would suffice, especially for someone that is just getting into Famicom gaming.  In general, I have never experienced problems of running any of my Famicom games (well excluding the disks) on my clone hardware, but to run bootleg games on the original hardware, I have had some issues.  If I were you, I would buy a clone, and one of those multicarts like Marek was selling, with dozens of interesting Famicom games to explore.  Quite cost effective, and it would give you tons of Famicom playtime.  From there, you would have an idea of what sorts of games you were interested in getting, etc.

[nerdynebraskan]

Welcome to the board!

I personally love my AV Famicom. I wouldn't trade it for anything else, but they are definitely going to be pricier than an original FC (even if you're paying someone else to do your AV mod). One thing that separates the two is the fact that there aren't hard-wired controllers on the AV Famicom, and I like being able to plug my NES controllers into it. It would be a big investment up front, but I guess if you ever decided it wasn't for you then you could always resell it. It's not like these consoles are going to depreciate any time soon as long as we keep them in working condition.

Whatever you do, your best bet would probably be to keep an eye on this forum's Buy/Sell/Trade section. People are selling clones, original FCs (modded and unmodded), and AV Famicoms here all the time... and at better than Ebay prices.

[L___E___T]

I'm honestly not sure why there tends to be a lot of hate towards the Famiclones.  TBH, that is what I started out with, and unless the Famiclones in other parts of the world are much different from the ones in Taiwan (    )  I think that this would suffice, especially for someone that is just getting into Famicom gaming.  In general, I have never experienced problems of running any of my Famicom games (well excluding the disks) on my clone hardware, but to run bootleg games on the original hardware, I have had some issues.  If I were you, I would buy a clone, and one of those multicarts like Marek was selling, with dozens of interesting Famicom games to explore.  Quite cost effective, and it would give you tons of Famicom playtime.  From there, you would have an idea of what sorts of games you were interested in getting, etc.

I'm actually going to have to agree with FCgamer here and suggest starting out with a clone - good video quality (like an AV Famicom) but for much cheaper.  Then if the bug bites, you could get an AV Famicom or a modded Famicom.  I started out with a clone nearly 10 years ago and it was one of these N64 models - it came with a 118-in-1 cartridge that included all the old classics like Donkey Kong and Super Mario Bros. I would definitely recommend them, even though they are PAL machines so run at 50Hz.

I actually have a good clone available should you want it.  I haven't gotten round to advertising it on the boards here yet:





As you'll see it comes with everyhing you'll need to get started out of the box.  The game is Goonies - it's not a multicart, but I can throw in a multicart I have should you want one (MWK's are much better though)!

[P]

OK here are my conclusions:

Famicom
+microphone on controller II
-you probably need an AV modded one
NTSC

AV Famicom
+AV
+can use NES controllers
-no microphone
-expensive
NTSC

Twin Famicom
+AV
+Famicom Disk System built-in
+microphone on controller II
-probably even more expensive
NTSC

Famiclone
+cheap!
-bad quality video and sound
-no microphone
NTSC or PAL

PAL NES
+works out of the box on your PAL TV!
-expensive
-NTSC games runs slowly
-no microphone
PAL

The biggest problem is NTSC/PAL. Since you live in Germany it's no guarantee your TV can display an NTSC picture in colour and at 60Hz. If you know that your TV can display NTSC then you can look for any console with AV (audio video cables). The original red and white Famicom only displays Japanese NTSC through RF and most European TVs can't display NTSC through RF (even though they state that they support NTSC, it's only through AV) which is why you'll need an AV-modded one.

If your TV really can't display any NTSC signal then you could look into getting one of those NTSC -> PAL adapters and see if it works.

Personally I live in Sweden and have a modern TV which can take PAL, PAL60 and NTSC signals (only through AV not through RF) and use an AV-modded Famicom and a Disk System. This modern TV is LCD so it can't be used for light gun games and ROB. I use a CRT TV for those games but my CRT TV can only display PAL60 so I need an NTSC->PAL adapter yo play on that TV. I don't have any experience of Famiclones so I'm not going to say anything more about those.

[fredJ]

I'm honestly not sure why there tends to be a lot of hate towards the Famiclones.  TBH, that is what I started out with, and unless the Famiclones in other parts of the world are much different from the ones in Taiwan (    )  I think that this would suffice, especially for someone that is just getting into Famicom gaming.  In general, I have never experienced problems of running any of my Famicom games (well excluding the disks) on my clone hardware, but to run bootleg games on the original hardware, I have had some issues.  If I were you, I would buy a clone, and one of those multicarts like Marek was selling, with dozens of interesting Famicom games to explore.  Quite cost effective, and it would give you tons of Famicom playtime.  From there, you would have an idea of what sorts of games you were interested in getting, etc.

I agree.
I also started with a famiclone and played many hours.  I remember that the neo-fami was enjoyable enough, and most are at least playable. Some of them have very flimsy controllers. The "slow" function broke, when I tested it out, LOL. 
I just tested a Next II that was sold to a customer (for 12$ !) and it also played alright.
To add to P's fine summary, the famiclone may not work with some games (how many depends on the clone). They can't emulate all mappers, I think. That's the main reason I stopped using it. It is a problem if a game doesn't start no matter what you do, because you can't refund the game if it is the console that is the problem.

However, I personally don't enjoy multicarts at all and have never even started one! I only play original carts, otherwise it takes away the feeling.

[L___E___T]

Just to add - the clone I have has great audio and video, plus plays NTSC games with a converter, I never had issues with Akumajou Densetsu, Castlevania 3 for example or any games for that matter.

Only minus I would place is that it's 50Hz, which isn't alweays a negative for Europeans, that's what we grew up with.

[P]

Yes usually NTSC games works on PAL systems except that they run slower (the reverse is not always true though). But even some officially released games wasn't speeded up properly (if at all) so they run very slow.

Maybe a Famiclone is a good start and you can upgrade to something better later.

[2A03]

I would take an AV Fami any day over a clone. Sure it's more expensive, but the build quality is far better, you can use NES controllers with it (or SNES controllers if you build an adapter), and you can easily add RGB or S-video output to it using an NESRGB board.

[Issun]

Yeah, usually a NTSC game is just slower on a PAL system but some NTSC games that use raster effects, like Rad Racer and Final Fantasy 1 (text boxes), don't work all that well on a PAL system.