Why Famicom instead of NES?

[Bergasa]

Hello everyone, I'm new here. I thought I'd give a bit of my history before my post. I live in Canada and I got my first video game system at the age of 4 in 1991, the Super NES. Since then, I've gotten an N64 and Gamecube, and will probably get a Wii in the summer. I love classic gaming and I am constantly adding additions to my SNES and N64 collections. Having gotten most of the good games for those systems, I've been looking to branch out, and I've always dug the simplicity of the NES/Famicom.

Sometimes I scour eBay for Famicom games and stuff because I really like the style of the system. The original system deck looks totally retro cool, and  I love how the games are different colours rather than North America's dull grey. The labels are more interesting (better art) as well.

I haven't gotten a Famicom yet, but I plan to soon. It is great to find such a thorough and pro site on the hobby, and cool to see others share the past time.

My question is this then for all of you: For those who don't live in Japan, why Famicom? Why not NES, what is it about Famicom that does it for you? Also, what do the majority of you guys and girls prefer, the Family Computer or the AV Famicom?

Thanks for reading, and I look forward to more Famicom goodness in the years to come.

John

[kite200]

Original family computer, but i want an av too for collecting purposes. The hardwired controllers and the red and white are what do it, it looks cool. Also the famicom has alot better games, no blinkinng problems, and the famicom disk system.


In short, the nes is a piece of crap compared to the famicom imo

[JC]

I don't like to say I collect, so I, in the shallow of that thought, I should stick with the NES and a converter, but I tend to think that the best gaming is done on the original system of the games, since that's what the games were programmed for. And why not just stick with NES games...that's easy, since there's so much released for the Famicom that wasn't made for the NES.

NES + Famicom games = almost excellent gaming; Famicom + Famicom games = excellent gaming.

And welcome, Bergasa, our 100th member. (No prize, sorry.)

[DevIancE]

I collect for both, as well as alot of other consoles. I like the Famicom, because of the whole import factor. It makes it more of a challenge to find games for it, especially CIB games, and it also makes it more difficult to find info on Famicom games, so it makes you feel more accomplished when you run across a pretty cool game, that not too many in the people in the US even know exist.

I'd get both an AV Famicom, and the original, and use the AV Famicom to play the games, and the original, just because it's the very first Nintendo console ever made, and looks alot better sitting ontop of the Disk System than the AV Fami does.

[Doc]

I also collect both. In fact, it wasn't until December of 2005 when my friend bought me a Super Mario Bros. 3 Famicom cart as a gag gift that I got interested. I soon later bought a Famicom, and the rest is history.

I like the Famicom because it has:
Great games that were never released in the U.S.
A better fanbase (No elite "OOOO LOOK WHAT IVE GOT LOL" guys.), and great people
It's more fun to collect, since less people are Famicom fans (Hopefully that'll soon change with the site. )

[Jedi Master Baiter]

Two words: Gradius II - I've constantly wondered about this game ever since I've known that Gradius III was for the SNES: first, what system was it for? When I found out it was for Nintendo's 8-bit system, the next question was, what region? Now I ask, why wasn't it released in the U.S. ? I will hopefully get ideas & post them on the review.

After buying Gradius II & a converter (which seemed more common a couple years ago) I bought a loose Tetris, since I read a nice review of it on the Warp Zone.  After that, I bought several CIB games inluding Tetris 2 + BomBliss & Tetris Flash & that's going to be my specialty: official CIB games.

Other than that, I have a few distinct Street Fighter pirates worth a writeup.

Honestly, I'm not a hardcore Famicom fan - I'm only interested in the games not released in the rest of the world.  Someday I'll buy an AV Famicom.

I think the 100th member should get a prize: Since I bought a CIB Tetris, I have an extra loose copy as well. It's yours if you don't have a copy.

[DevIancE]

I think the 100th member should get a prize: Since I bought a CIB Tetris, I have an extra loose copy as well. It's yours if you don't have a copy.

Damn...  if I would have just waited a few more days before giving up my lurker status...   I guess the LATE bird gets the worm in this case.

The Gradius II thing that you mentioned above is kind of like my situation with The Goonies. I played  a Vs. The Goonies cabinet at a local Pizza Hut frequently when I was a kid, and always wanted the game, but all I could find was Goonies II. I later found out that for some weird reason they never released it here, yet one of my friends scored a 124 Games in 1 cart at a flea market one day, and it was on there...   Then I found out it was released in Japan only. Why there would be more of a market for a game based on an American movie in Japan is beyond me, but not releasing it here at all was very strange on Konami's part. It's not like there were translation issues for either of these games, yet Americans still got shafted, even on a game based on our movie. There are alot of quality games on the famicom that require no translation to English whatsoever, yet these companys seemed to have felt they wouldn't do well in our market...   yet we ended up with titles like Mag Max, Deadly Towers, Bad Street Brawler, and Wrestlmania.

[Doc]

Was Wrestlemania the one with the constipated Andre The Giant?

[Bergasa]

I think the 100th member should get a prize: Since I bought a CIB Tetris, I have an extra loose copy as well. It's yours if you don't have a copy.

Really? Man, you guys are really great. Seems like such a nice community! I would love to start my collection with a free game 

[Jedi Master Baiter]

I think the 100th member should get a prize: Since I bought a CIB Tetris, I have an extra loose copy as well. It's yours if you don't have a copy.

Damn...  if I would have just waited a few more days before giving up my lurker status...   I guess the LATE bird gets the worm in this case.

It's just Tetris. By the way, LJN, a division of Acclaim was made solely for Acclaim to make more games than they were alotted.  This was Nintendo's solution from releasing a bunch of crappy games: put a limit on each company's games. That worked out well, didn't it?

Oh, & Bergasa, I'll need your address.

I'll have a much greater prize for the 500th Member when we get there.

[Bergasa]

Oh, & Bergasa, I'll need your address.

PM'd

[FamicomFreak]

I used to use my famicom console but then found out about the power difference thing so I changed back to nes with converter. THe problem is that the games are harder to make work in the nes than in the famicom. It's amazing how in the famicom doesnt matter if it's dirty the game will still work and in the nes I seem to have to clean them every so often. Anyways, if anyone knows this does the converter to play famicom games on the nes damages the nes in any way?

[JC]

I'd imagine a converter wouldn't do much harm. Some converters are made with very tight pins on the Famicom game side, so it's likely to scratch up and damage the Famicom game's pins. And one reason playing Famicom games on the NES is a bitch is because a lot of time the pins on the Famicom game and the converter don't match up -- due to crappy converters and especially true of poorly made pirates.

[DevIancE]

Was Wrestlemania the one with the constipated Andre The Giant?

Indeed. I feel sorry for the people that forked out $49.99 for that PoS.

[DevIancE]

It's just Tetris. By the way, LJN, a division of Acclaim was made solely for Acclaim to make more games than they were alotted.  This was Nintendo's solution from releasing a bunch of crappy games: put a limit on each company's games. That worked out well, didn't it?

Yeah, but I love free stuff!!    ...and Konami done the same thing with Ultra, yet we still didn't get Goonies, Gradius II, Falsion, or countless others.  ...  though with all of the games Konami was releasing at that time, they would have needed to make about three more bogus companys in order to get Nintendo's "Seal of Quality"...   Capcom didn't seem to have any problem putting out titles in the US though.