Greg2600 Posted October 7, 2015 Share Posted October 7, 2015 Can you link a video or list to this thread of these 40-50 good titles. EDIT: Nevermind I found some quality videos to sift through. Easy ones are Super Mario series, Zelda series, Metroid, Punch-out, RC Pro Am, Castlevania series, Contra series, Mega Man series, Bionic Commando, Track and Field, Tecmo Bowl, Blades of Steel, Teenage Mutant Ninja Turles series, Gradius series, I could go on and on. Anyone like Batman? I remember getting that game BITD and it looked really kewl judging by the box. Then I played it and thought it was awful. As you said - then you're stuck with it. Then there was NES Football. I remembered all I had to do was throw a screen pass and I can run 80 yards for a TD every time. Reminiscent of bunting for home runs in Atari's RealSports Baseball. Incidentally I'm selling off my NES cart collection since I got an Everdrive. I have a thread in the auctions forum. Batman is normally well reviewed though. It looked fantastic but it's hard as hell, that's for sure! Similar to Ninja Gaiden, beautifully done game, frustratingly tough to beat. I own 72 games myself, most are highly acclaimed with a few lousy titles that I've kept since childhood out of nostalgia. I had maybe 3 dozen games from then, and doubled it with the big name titles I never had back then, plus stuff like light gun games. This was all collected before I got the NES PowerPak flash cart though. I'll hold onto them for sentimentality. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
+wongojack Posted October 7, 2015 Share Posted October 7, 2015 The NES library is extremely versatile, but you wouldn't know it because people seem to continually mention the same games over and over. If you don't like the games that Greg mentions, don't worry, there are hundreds more and some are even ports from computers of the same era like Ultima IV, Bard's Tale, Maniac Mansion, and North & South. I think a lot of older gamers (me included) wondered what the big deal was with the NES and stuck to our computers, but now there is no reason NOT to go back and check out some of the great titles on the NES. I don't even really tend to enjoy platformers and there is still plenty of fun to be had on the system. Check out Metal Jesus' NES Hidden Gems video that he posted right here on AA few weeks ago for some great ideas about a-typical NES games. All that being said, emulation for this console is pretty great, so you may not need to actually own one to explore the library. 2 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
byonddrivn Posted October 7, 2015 Share Posted October 7, 2015 My top 5 NES games: Battletoads (very challenging!) Legacy of the Wizard (get lost in a giant dungeon maze) StarTropics (tropical themed adventure) Punch-Out! Dr. Mario (puzzle game similar to Tetris) All awesome games! Might I mention there's Battletoads, Super Punch Out & Dr. Mario for the SNES. Sorry now I'm just going out of my way to cause trouble. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
+wongojack Posted October 7, 2015 Share Posted October 7, 2015 Here is a pretty good top NES games thread: http://atariage.com/forums/topic/240574-top-10-favorite-nes-games-of-all-time/page-2?hl=top+nes&do=findComment&comment=3290129 Here is the hidden gems video thread: http://atariage.com/forums/topic/242628-nintendo-nes-games-hidden-gems/?hl=%2Bnes+%2Bhidden+%2Bgems&do=findComment&comment=3323834 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
omegadot Posted October 7, 2015 Share Posted October 7, 2015 The NES is a great pick up and play console but it does take some upkeep. I totally dig mine even though I wasn't really into it as much back in the day. SNES was what really took root for me as a PC gaming younging. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
byonddrivn Posted October 8, 2015 Share Posted October 8, 2015 I only own about 50 games and many of the ones mentioned as loved I don't own, SMB2, Castlevania 2 & 3, Zelda 2, Mega Man, Ninja Gaiden, never liked them that much. Along with the games I previously mentioned, Lolo, Excitebike, Kirby's Adventure, Kung Fu Master, Pro Wrestling, Rolling Thunder, Silkworm, & Toobin' are my gems. It does go to show there's something for everyone on the NES. While the old school rectangular controllers are good but I'd also recommend getting a different controller for the NES. The Advantage is so awesome that I have 2, I also enjoy the NES MAX, as I recall it was a little weird to get used too. I know I have some Quickshot Joypads somewhere but don't use them much. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Nutsy Doodleheimer Posted October 8, 2015 Share Posted October 8, 2015 Batman is a hard and frustrating game for me. I have never even beat it. Someday when I get some free time I'll give it another go. I sometimes don't have the patience for difficult games. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
0078265317 Posted October 8, 2015 Share Posted October 8, 2015 My childhood new was given away years ago. So I ebayed one. I saved money by buying a broken toaster for 20 bucks. He said I blinks so it was not broken just needed a new pin. So 30 total. If no power then no good. But I took my chances all needed was a new 72 pin connector. And a game genie for better contact when the pins wear out. And I got lucky that was all I needed. And for Ac adapter generics work just fine "9v -". Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
MaximRecoil Posted October 8, 2015 Share Posted October 8, 2015 (edited) Replacing the original 72-pin connector with an aftermarket one is a downgrade. The originals never need to be replaced unless they have been vandalized. They simply need to be cleaned properly. For example, Bar Keepers Friend and a toothbrush results in an absolutely clean connector in a matter of ~30 seconds of scrubbing (due to its oxalic acid content); isopropyl alcohol is significantly less effective (due to it being merely a solvent, which has little to no effect on oxidation). Edited October 8, 2015 by MaximRecoil Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Dauber Posted October 8, 2015 Author Share Posted October 8, 2015 BTW, I do NOT want a SNES; my brother had a Sega Genesis for a while, and I really liked it, but oen day out of the blue he traded it for a SNES. Just didn't like the games. And the picture seemed kind of dim. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
mbd30 Posted October 8, 2015 Share Posted October 8, 2015 Batman is a hard and frustrating game for me. I have never even beat it. Someday when I get some free time I'll give it another go. I sometimes don't have the patience for difficult games. The Joker is an annoying final boss. I've gotten lucky and beaten him two or three times by rapidly punching him. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
mikey.shake Posted October 8, 2015 Share Posted October 8, 2015 Stinger and Life Force are fun NES shoot 'em ups if those are your thing, and neither is absurdly expensive. Both mix horizontal and vertical levels and offer a pretty solid challenge. Life Force can use the Konami Code, too. Stinger is a US port of TwinBee 2 (Japan) and Life Force is a sort-of sequel to Gradius. If you like platform-type games that are a bit out of the ordinary, Clash At Demonhead has been a lot of fun for me to play through for the first time since '92 recently. An expansive, somewhat open world... neat stuff for the NES. And if you like arcade-style stuff, check out the original Mario Bros. It's a blast. But check out all the "big classics" first... Super Mario Bros 1-3, Zelda, Castlevania, Metroid, TMNT 2-3, Mega Man 2, Ninja Gaiden, and lots of others. There's a bunch of fun games on the NES. Enjoy! Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Dauber Posted October 15, 2015 Author Share Posted October 15, 2015 Well, it's official: I'm getting a top-loading NES in a few days as well as an Everdrive cart....that Everdrive was expensive, but I just signed on to do some teaching, and just my first night's work will pay for the cart, so I figured I was justified. 4 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Nutsy Doodleheimer Posted October 15, 2015 Share Posted October 15, 2015 Well, it's official: I'm getting a top-loading NES in a few days as well as an Everdrive cart....that Everdrive was expensive, but I just signed on to do some teaching, and just my first night's work will pay for the cart, so I figured I was justified. Very nice!! I guess the TG-16 will be the next one down the road? 1 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Dauber Posted October 15, 2015 Author Share Posted October 15, 2015 Naaah, no TG16 for me. If I get another device used for gaming, it'll be maybe a C64/128 or an Amiga 600 or 1200...but man, Amigas are hard to come by these days... Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Dauber Posted October 19, 2015 Author Share Posted October 19, 2015 Well, got the NES today and...it doesn't work. LED blinks and I get an occasional orange flash on the screen. I tried cleaning the cart port connector, no go. Is it worth ordering a new 72-pin connector, or should I just try to get my money back? The auction said "no returns" but it also claimed that the machine works. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
MaximRecoil Posted October 19, 2015 Share Posted October 19, 2015 Well, got the NES today and...it doesn't work. LED blinks and I get an occasional orange flash on the screen. I tried cleaning the cart port connector, no go. Is it worth ordering a new 72-pin connector, or should I just try to get my money back? The auction said "no returns" but it also claimed that the machine works. You need to clean the 72-pin connector properly, assuming it still has its original one; if it has an aftermarket one its not as good. If the cartridge slides in and out of the connector with very little resistance then it is an original one. If the connector grips the cartridge tightly, then it is an aftermarket one. You need: - Toothbrush - Bar Keepers Friend (original powder form, about $2 a can at your local grocery store) Take the console apart and remove the 72-pin connector from the motherboard. Sprinkle some BKF in a bowl and add a little water, mixing it up to make a thin whitish solution (mix frequently because BKF settles to the bottom quickly). Dip the toothbrush in the BKF solution and scrub the contacts in the 72-pin connector thoroughly, both the set of contacts which mate with the game cartridge and the set which mate with the motherboard. Keep scrubbing for a minute or two, then rinse thoroughly with water. Either let air dry or you can use a hair dryer to speed things up. To make sure all of the BKF residue is gone, after it is dry, dip a clean toothbrush in rubbing alcohol and scrub the contacts again, and let dry. Ideally, you would do the same thing to your game cartridge contacts, but in most cases you need a special security bit (commonly called a "game bit") to open them with. Early NES cartridges have regular screws though. It is best to open them before cleaning with BKF, so that you can easily rinse the residue off the contacts afterwards. Reassemble and it should work flawlessly, assuming it is an undamaged original 72-pin connector and your game cartridge contacts are clean enough. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Dauber Posted October 21, 2015 Author Share Posted October 21, 2015 How much is "some BKF" and "a little water" though??? Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Nutsy Doodleheimer Posted October 21, 2015 Share Posted October 21, 2015 Well, got the NES today and...it doesn't work. LED blinks and I get an occasional orange flash on the screen. I tried cleaning the cart port connector, no go. Is it worth ordering a new 72-pin connector, or should I just try to get my money back? The auction said "no returns" but it also claimed that the machine works. I have a spare unused 72 pin connector (aftermarket version) I don't really need that I can send you for free. I need to get rid of some extra stuff lying around as I am moving to another residence. Let me know. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
MaximRecoil Posted October 21, 2015 Share Posted October 21, 2015 How much is "some BKF" and "a little water" though??? Exact amounts aren't important. You don't want it to be a thick paste, but you don't want it to be so watery that it has little effect. I've been using it for years and never measure anything; I just sprinkle a little bit in the bottom of a bowl and add a little bit of water. However, if you want to measure, a 1:1 mixture is fine, and so is a 2:1 mixture (2 parts water, 1 part BKF), or anything in between. The active ingredient in BKF is oxalic acid and it works very quickly, removing invisible oxidation that rubbing alcohol (which is only a solvent, not an acid) has little to no effect on. Only replace the 72-pin connector as a last resort. My main NES was given to me years ago for free because it was "broken" (it blinked, like yours, and like they all do eventually). After cleaning with BKF, it works first time, every time, as you can see in this video: You can see that it still has its original Nintendo-manufactured 72-pin connector in there by the ease with which I insert and remove the cartridges. Aftermarket 72-pin connectors have a death grip on the cartridges, and still don't work 100%. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
mikey.shake Posted October 21, 2015 Share Posted October 21, 2015 (edited) I recently restored a junked NES and decided to replace the connector. But made sure to get a refurbished OEM one that actually came from an NES. I've done this before and it's worked great. I'd suggest making sure you're looking for "refurbished" rather than "new" if a thorough cleaning won't cure your current 72-pin connector. The pins on this refurb have been tightened enough that I don't have to push my Everdrive cart down, but nowhere near the death grippiness of the aftermarket connectors I've encountered. Since I rarely need to swap carts with the ED, I imagine this console will last for ages, since that pin-bending pressure of pushing the cart down over and over won't be necessary. "Zero insertion force", my butt. That new RetroUSB thing looks pretty good in that regard... EDIT: read you were getting one, somehow missed it was a top loader. Have fun! Edited October 21, 2015 by mikey.shake Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
MaximRecoil Posted October 21, 2015 Share Posted October 21, 2015 I recently restored a junked NES and decided to replace the connector. But made sure to get a refurbished OEM one that actually came from an NES. I've done this before and it's worked great. I'd suggest making sure you're looking for "refurbished" rather than "new" if a thorough cleaning won't cure your current 72-pin connector. The pins on this refurb have been tightened enough that I don't have to push my Everdrive cart down, but nowhere near the death grippiness of the aftermarket connectors I've encountered. Since I rarely need to swap carts with the ED, I imagine this console will last for ages, since that pin-bending pressure of pushing the cart down over and over won't be necessary. "Zero insertion force", my butt. That new RetroUSB thing looks pretty good in that regard... OEM 72-pin connectors were loose when brand new, which is why they were called "ZIF" (even though they aren't so loose that they truly have zero insertion force), and why you were supposed to push them down after inserting them. A brand new NES generally won't work with the cartridge in the up position. My cousin got an NES when they first came out nationally in 1986, and he almost returned it because he couldn't get it to work. Finally he read the manual and discovered that you have to push the cartridge down. In hindsight that may seem obvious, but in 1986 it was a completely foreign concept. Brand new NESes worked flawlessly for a couple/few years, and then started "blinking" occasionally, eventually blinking most or all of the time. Since my cousin was the first person I knew to get an NES, his was also the first blinking NES I ever heard of, and it started around '88 or '89. I accused him of mistreating it. "What did you do, drop it? Get mad and hit it?" But then it started happening to everyone's NES. The bending that happens to the pins of an original, unaltered 72-pin connector when you push the cartridge down is harmless. Those pins are designed for that degree of bending. All card-edge connector pins bend when you insert a cartridge; that's the only way they can have the tightness they need for a good electrical contact. The only difference is: with a standard card-edge connector like in most consoles, the bending happens as you insert the cartridge, and with the NES design, the bending happens when you push the cartridge down after inserting it. The reason that standard card-edge connectors tend to be more reliable over time is because they are somewhat self-cleaning, i.e., the friction from inserting the cartridge into a tight set of pins has a cleaning effect. That doesn't happen with a ZIF or pseudo ZIF design, so to keep it reliable you have to thoroughly clean it every couple/few years if you are using it regularly (or in my case, every decade or more, because I don't use it all that much). Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Dauber Posted October 28, 2015 Author Share Posted October 28, 2015 Well, I tried the BKF thing...didn't help; although I DID notice that the orange screen now flashes faster. :/ Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
MaximRecoil Posted October 28, 2015 Share Posted October 28, 2015 (edited) Well, I tried the BKF thing...didn't help; although I DID notice that the orange screen now flashes faster. :/ Have you cleaned the cartridge(s) you're trying? Also, is the 72-pin connector an original one that no one has ever messed with before, such as by bending the pins out for a tighter grip? If it is an original one, when you slide the cartridge all the way in, does it at least have some grip? It should have a small amount of grip; if it has none at all, then the pins may have been bent down beyond their limits such as by someone using a Game Genie (which has an extra thick PCB). If that's the case, the only possible sort-of-a-fix for that particular 72-pin connector is to bend each pin outward slightly so that it has a light grip on the cartridge when you insert it. Only do that if it has no grip whatsoever on the cartridge, and be very careful to only bend the pins out slightly. Another thing which is commonly done to improve reliability is disabling the lockout chip (10NES chip) by cutting its pin #4. A Google search will bring up plenty of tutorials for doing that. This will definitely stop the blinking, and will eliminate some of the cartridge pins which need to make contact in order for the game to boot properly. It won't necessarily make the game boot properly, but it will improve your chances. Assuming there's nothing wrong with the hardware itself, as a last resort, you can buy a new 72-pin connector. An aftermarket one with a tight grip will make it work the first time, most of the time, and they usually work better if you don't push the cartridge down after inserting it. It would be better to find an original one that is undamaged and only needs a proper cleaning though. Edited October 28, 2015 by MaximRecoil Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
BigO Posted October 28, 2015 Share Posted October 28, 2015 I fought with bending pins and cleaning and cleaning and cleaning and bending pins and cleaning until I got both of my units to work more often than they did before, but it was extremely frustrating. Then I did the lockout mod. I'll do the lockout mod first if I ever get another NES. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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