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Thinking of getting an NES


Dauber

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I was struggling through the Second Quest of The Legend of Zelda last week, and there were times I was tempted to grab my Famicom so I could blow into the microphone. There are a few other uses for it : http://nerdlypleasures.blogspot.com/2015/07/the-famicom-microphone-obscure.html

 

Thanks for the corrections regarding the AVS, it can be difficult to ascertain details when you only have forum posts to go on.

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It gets harder when you run into areas of a dungeon that are filled with nothing but Pol's voice. And pol's voice are immune to every weapon save the microphone.

Did they leave that code in the US version? I heard there was some way to defeat the enemies with the mic using an adapter with an original Famicom instead of slashing at them.

 

 

1396615465031.jpg

Also Zelda had a cart release in Japan as well so they may have left the code in when they localized it for US.

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Did they leave that code in the US version? I heard there was some way to defeat the enemies with the mic using an adapter with an original Famicom instead of slashing at them.

 

 

1396615465031.jpg

Also Zelda had a cart release in Japan as well so they may have left the code in when they localized it for US.

I don't know about an adapter but as far as the cart is concerned.... well, from what I understand the Famicom cart is a straight localization of the NES cart with one exception. The localization team rejigged programing of the the pol's voice on the cart to be only killed by the famicom Mic. Edited by empsolo
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I don't know about an adapter but as far as the cart is concerned.... well, from what I understand the Famicom cart is a straight localization of the NES cart with one exception. The localization team rejigged programing of the the pol's voice on the cart to be only killed by the famicom Mic.

So I guess playing on an AV Famicom would cause the same mic issues as NES...

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Regarding the Blinking Light Win and complete lack of updates:

https://www.kickstarter.com/projects/113891498/blinking-light-win-resurrecting-your-nes/updates

 

 

I was at the Portland Retro Gaming Expo this year and I had never heard of the Blinking Light Win until I'd seen several NES front loaders(toaster, whatever) with it installed. It's pretty cool. It replaces both the tray and the port. There is no more downward motion. Unlike any of the other options, this is an actual complete redesign that gives the NES a standard straight in style cartridge port like that found on most other game consoles instead of just being a tighter version of the ZIF cart port the NES came with. It should be pretty easy to install once I get it. It's just screws and slide-in edge connectors.

 

About a week after I got home from PRGE I went online at arcadeworks.com and ordered a few of them since I've got a few systems sitting around. At $25 it's not bad. Also, apparently my order is waiting on some new part that will be a little easier to insert/remove carts than the first revision.

 

Anyway, personally a working NES front loader is just always going to be my preferred way to play NES games.

Edited by Rockin' Kat
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I was at the Portland Retro Gaming Expo this year and I had never heard of the Blinking Light Win until I'd seen several NES front loaders(toaster, whatever) with it installed. It's pretty cool. It replaces both the tray and the port. There is no more downward motion. Unlike any of the other options, this is an actual complete redesign that gives the NES a standard straight in style cartridge port like that found on most other game consoles instead of just being a tighter version of the ZIF cart port the NES came with. It should be pretty easy to install once I get it. It's just screws and slide-in edge connectors.

 

About a week after I got home from PRGE I went online at arcadeworks.com and ordered a few of them since I've got a few systems sitting around. At $25 it's not bad. Also, apparently my order is waiting on some new part that will be a little easier to insert/remove carts than the first revision.

 

Anyway, personally a working NES front loader is just always going to be my preferred way to play NES games.

 

HOLY SHIT ROCKIN' KAT LIVES

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Wow, glad to see my simple post evolved into such a huge thread. :)

Anyhoo, I couldn't get any of the three carts that came with the system working. Got the NES security bit this weekend. Yesterday the three carts had a date with Bar Keeper's Friend. Now....they work. :)

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um... you used an Abrasive house hold cleaner to clean cartridge contact points? eew...

 

Next time, try using q-tips dipped in Alcohol (which you can buy in a clear bottle in the First Aid department at your local grocery or drug store) ... And then when that doesn't work, get yourself some electronic contact cleaner like DeOxit... just make sure you get the quick dry version and not flushing.

Edited by Rockin' Kat
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um... you used an Abrasive house hold cleaner to clean cartridge contact points? eew...

 

Next time, try using q-tips dipped in Alcohol (which you can buy in a clear bottle in the First Aid department at your local grocery or drug store) ... And then when that doesn't work, get yourself some electronic contact cleaner like DeOxit... just make sure you get the quick dry version and not flushing.

 

Bar Keepers Friend is ~no more abrasive than talcum powder. Pretty much everything is abrasive to one degree or another, even your fingers, which is why textured plastic on e.g., your mouse or keyboard becomes polished/shiny with extensive use. It is nothing like e.g. Comet or Ajax, which rely on harsh abrasives for cleaning. And it is not a "household cleaner"; it is specifically a metal cleaner. BKF's active ingredient is oxalic acid. Isopropyl alcohol isn't an acid, it is a solvent, and as such, it is not very effective on tarnish or oxidation. It is good for cleaning contacts contaminated with dust and/or oil/grease that are otherwise clean, and not much else. DeOxit is okay, but it is far more expensive and harder to find than BKF, and it is not more effective at cleaning metal (it is typically less effective in fact). The oxalic acid in BKF quickly gets metal clean, in the most literal sense of the word clean, and you can't get cleaner than clean. You can think of oxalic acid as acetic acid (the acid found in vinegar) on steroids:

 

"Oxalic acid is an organic compound with the formula H₂C₂O₄. It is a colorless crystalline solid that forms a colorless solution in water. It is classified as a dicarboxylic acid. Its acid strength is much greater than that of acetic acid."

Edited by MaximRecoil
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Anyhoo, I couldn't get any of the three carts that came with the system working. Got the NES security bit this weekend. Yesterday the three carts had a date with Bar Keeper's Friend. Now....they work. :)

 

I've been using BKF as a contact cleaner (among other things) for about 10 years. In cases where it is practical to use (such as when you have good access to the contacts for both scrubbing with a toothbrush and rinsing off the residue without getting water or residue in places you don't want them to go), it is perfect; I see no need for any other cleaning product/method. It is perfect for the NES in particular, because its 72-pin connector is easily removable, and the cartridges easily come apart without damaging the labels.

 

So to recap, you got your non-functional (blinking) front-loader NES working against by cleaning the 72-pin connector and cartridge contacts with BKF, and disabling the 10NES chip? That's exactly what I did with the "blinking" NES that was given to me many years ago, and it still works the first time, every time (though I don't use it all that often; with regular usage I would expect to have to reclean the 72-pin connector every few years, which is about how long it takes a brand new front-loader NES to start blinking with regular usage).

 

I maintain that replacing the OEM 72-pin connector is rarely, if ever, necessary, assuming it hasn't been physically damaged. I've yet to see a proper cleaning (along with disabling the 10NES chip) fail to make them work perfectly. I have 3 front-loaders myself, and I've fixed several for other people over the years.

 

Earlier you said you had already cleaned one of the cartridges and it still didn't work. What method did you use? The typical alcohol/Q-tip method?

Edited by MaximRecoil
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