Introduction + Cheap & reliable Famicom converters (72-60 pin)

[Frank_fjs]

Hi all,

Have always used this site to obtain information and figured it's about time I joined the community and contributed.

I only just started collecting for Nintendo and my focus is on Japanese Famicom cart + disk games.

I do have a NES, which has had a new cart slot installed, lockout chip disabled and multi-coloured LED fitted:



But this is what I prefer to play on (aside from those too darn short controller cables):



Anyhow, that's enough of an intro, hope I haven't lost you as the main reason for this post is to let people know about a cheap 72-60 pin converter. I wanted one just for the fun of it, and wasn't prepared to pay some of the stupidly high prices I've seen them listed for on eBay. I know from searching these forums that a lot of people struggle to find these converters, especially at a reasonable price.

So here's one that will only set you back around $13 landed and seems to work well.



eBay link: http://www.ebay.com.au/itm/72pin-60pin-Famicom-game-adapter-converter-NES-game-work-Famicom-console-/120855231248?pt=Video_Games_Accessories&hash=item1c23887b10#ht_500wt_1361

It does play PAL games, only it plays them fast - they seem to play around 17% faster, the same difference between NTSC and PAL, so I would speculate that it's not the fault of the converter and the fact that most PAL games have been optimised for PAL systems, or something like that. Anyhow, US carts run just fine.

Here's a comparison video I took to show the difference between running a standard NTSC game and a PAL game:

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ixQO4aHohQM (no YouTube embedding with this forum?)

Hope this is helpful, glad to be part of the community.

-Frank (Australia)

[jpx72]

Thanks for the heads up on the cheap converter, and welcome to the forums!

PAL / NTSC speed difference is well known behavior and was discussed many times before, you should read some more posts in this forum, I'm sure you'll find many very interesting topics here.

Why do you have multicolor LED on your NES? Does it change on some action?

By the way nice TwinFami!
...and no video embedding, we like it this way

[Frank_fjs]

Thanks for the welcome.

No reason for the NES multi-coloured LED, it just came like that. It pulses to a different colour every 3 seconds or so, think it switches between 4 or 5 colours. Personally I find it annoying, I'd much rather a nice plain blue LED.

[untinip]

Thanks for the link! GameDoctorHK also has a webshop where they sell lots of other stuff, including the converter:
http://gamedoctorhk.com/index.php?main_page=product_info&cPath=72_1_17_121&products_id=1571

[justinagable]

Are these converters compatible with the US Castlevania 3?