For the very first time I just purchased a used original 1985 Nintendo Entertainment system

[HDTV1080P]

My very first videogame system that I owned was the ColecoVision that I purchased around August of 1982. Then in October of 1983 I purchased the Expansion Module #3 ADAM computer that included a Super Game Module with more advanced videogames up to 256K in size on Digital Data Packs. The ColecoVision/ADAM was the most advanced videogame system between the years 1982 to 1985. However, in January of 1985 Coleco stop production on both the ColecoVision and ADAM. This was a business decision during the 1983 to 1985 videogame crash. Since they were shutting down Coleco had no plans to release a new 8 bit or 16-bit second generation videogame and computer system to replace the ColecoVision/ADAM. Coleco sold over 2 million ColecoVisions and over 500,000 ADAM systems.

 

For the very first time I just purchased a used original 1985 Nintendo Entertainment system

 

After the videogame and computer crash in the United States, Nintendo saw a new opportunity to release a videogame system called the Nintendo Entertainment system (NES) on October 18^th 1985 in North America. For the very first time a videogame system more powerful than the ColecoVision/ADAM was released. The Nintendo Entertainment system was so popular that it sold around 62 million consoles worldwide. Both the Nintendo Entertainment system and Commodore Amiga that came out in 1985 were more powerful when compared to the ColecoVision/ADAM. However, as the years went on I kept using my Coleco ADAM computer system for around 10 years for word processing and still use the Coleco ADAM for classic videogames that are exclusive to that system. Between the years 1983 to around 1993 the Coleco ADAM was my only computer system, until I purchased an IBM compatible with Windows 3.1.

 

My first experience with the Nintendo Entertainment system was in the late 80’s while visiting a relative. I ended up playing the NES at the relatives’ house. However just recently in the last year or two I have been purchasing some older classic 70’s and 80’s videogame and computer systems that I have only used in retail stores in the past around 40 years ago. I purchased a used Nintendo Entertainment system recently. I am amazed at the graphics and sound quality of the NES, which does beat my ColecoVision/ADAM system. The NES videogames have 64 sprites and some game cartridges are around 1MB in size. While someone did make Mario Brothers for the ColecoVision, Super Mario Brothers does not exist for the ColecoVision. I was amazed at the graphics and sound quality of Super Mario Bothers on the NES. However, while the NES most of the time has better graphics and sound then the ColecoVision. Some videogames like Donkey Kong and Donkey Kong Junior are better quality on the Coleco ADAM when compared to the NES. The Coleco ADAM versions of Donkey Kong and Donkey Kong Junior contain all the intermissions with all the screens. So, in the 80’s the best version of Donkey Kong was on the Coleco ADAM with all 4 screens including the conveyor belt stage. Also a former Coleco employee leaked to the ADAM community in the early 80’s the unreleased 5 screen version of Donkey Kong Junior (only the 4 screen version was released). I heard that in the year 2010 that in Europe that a special version of Donkey Kong was released for the NES that has for the first time all the intermissions with all 4 screens. However, I have never seen or played this 2010 version. There is a possibility that this new 2010 version of Donkey Kong for the NES might be better when compared to the original Donkey Kong the supergame that was released for the Coleco ADAM in 1984.

 

I like the NES Zapper light gun which was a controller style not found on most home videogame systems in the 70’s and early 80’s. While I like the original NES controller, it lacked the keypad controller that was offered on other system like the ColecoVision/ADAM. With a keypad controller unique education and other unique games could have been developed for the NES (most people prefer arcade and action games which are perfect for the existing NES controller, NES kept their controller simple and easy for the average person to use. That is one reason why the ATARI 2600 was popular since it had a simple controller with not too many buttons). The standalone Coleco ADAM had a composite video and audio output, however to get audio a special DIN plug needed to be used (The ColecoVision only had RF output). As far as I am aware the very first videogame system that used standard female RCA jacks for composite video and audio output was the NES system. That is a nice design on the NES to have standard composite video and audio jacks. Too many 20th century videogame systems require a special adapter plug to get the best possible quality to one’s display/TV system. The good thing about all modern 21^st Century videogame systems in the last 10 to 15 years, is that they all use some type of HDMI style connector to interface the videogame system to one’s projector or flat panel display.

 

The original 1985 NES has a 48-pin card edge connector expansion port on the bottom of the console that no company has every made a hardware device for. However reading online to access the 48 pin connector one has to cut or break the plastic tab on the door to gain access to the connector. Both Mattel and Nintendo made it really difficult to gain access to the expansion interface (The Mattel computer module and voice module have issues accessing the connector that sometimes is missing from the motherboard). At least the ColecoVision and ADAM has an easy plastic door to access the expansion module. The Coleco ADAM has 4 expansion ports (1 external and 3 internal that are easy to access). The 1982 ColecoVision system has a nice onscreen logo that tells people that they need to turn off the videogame system before inserting a cartridge or expansion module. That is rare for a 80's system, and was not even offered on the NES. The NES instead has a flashing LED light with a blue screen that flashes instead of having a onscreen logo that tells people that they do not have a cartridge inserted. 

 

The biggest negative of the original 1985 NES videogame console was that the front-loading cartridge design became known as a major problem since many people had to replace their 72-pin connector which was easily damaged with bent pins when a cartridge is inserted several times.  As a solution to the original NES front loading cartridge design flaw that showed up after many months or years of cartridge inserts, Nintendo released the NES-101 top loading cartridge model in 1993, which was a more reliable cartridge inserting and ejection system. However, the original 1985 NES has better picture and sound quality because of the standard composite video and audio output. To make the USA NES 1993 top loader cheaper, that top loading model only has a RF output. It really is a bad decision 8 years later to rerelease a new NES version for North America without at least composite or S-Video output. In 1993 TV sets with composite video inputs was a standard feature, and some what rare on some TV’s in 1985.  Today in the 21^st Century people use a NES emulator with HDMI on their Windows PC or a third-party console to play NES games. There is many third-party video game consoles that accept NES, SNES, and Genesis game cartridges from one console, and then they output to HDMI and sometimes an analog video options like S-Video and composite if one does not want to use HDMI. The several 3 in one NES, SNES, and Genesis consoles with HDMI output sell for around $75-$100 on EBAY and other websites (These are the best option since they have 3 videogame cartridge slots from one videogame console). However other people prefer to do an internal HDMI upgrade to their original NES console that they have had since 1985+. The original 1985 NES can do native HDMI with no anlaog to digital conversion if one internally modifies their NES console for HDMI.    

 

I am wondering if it would be possible to make a HDMI graphics card that would plug into the bottom NES 48 pin expansion port since there is direct access to some of the pins on the CPU. Bypass the NTSC composite video and audio pins on the connector and use the + 5 volts, ground, and accessing some of the CPU pins might result in creating an interface to an external HDMI graphics card chip compatible to the NES, without needing to open the console up.

 

+-------\

                                 +5V -- |01   48| -- +5V

                                 Gnd -- |02   47| -- Gnd

                            Audio in -> |03   46| -- NC

                                /NMI <- |04   45| -> out 2 ($4016 write data, bit 2)

                                 A15 <- |05   44| -> out 1 ($4016 write data, bit 1)

                                EXP9 ?? |06   43| -> out 0 ($4016 write data, bit 0, strobe on sticks)

                                EXP8 ?? |07   42| ?? EXP0

                                EXP7 ?? |08   41| ?? EXP1

                                EXP6 ?? |09   40| ?? EXP2

                                EXP5 ?? |10   39| ?? EXP3

($4017 read strobe) /OE for joypad 2 <- |11   38| ?? EXP4

                         joypad 1 D1 -> |12   37| -> /OE for joypad 1 ($4016 read strobe)

                         joypad 1 D3 xx |13   36| xx joypad 1 D4

                                /IRQ <> |14   35| xx joypad 1 D0

                         joypad 2 D2 -> |15   34| -> duplicate of pin 37

                         joypad 2 D3 xx |16   33| <- joypad 1 D2

                 duplicate of pin 11 <- |17   32| <> CPU D0

                         joypad 2 D4 xx |18   31| <> CPU D1

                         joypad 2 D0 xx |19   30| <> CPU D2

                         joypad 2 D1 -> |20   29| <> CPU D3

                           Video out <- |21   28| <> CPU D4

                           Audio out <- |22   27| <> CPU D5

       unregulated power adapter vdd -- |23   26| <> CPU D6

                     4.00MHz CIC CLK <- |24   25| <> CPU D7

                                        +-------/

https://wiki.nesdev.com/w/index.php/Expansion_port

Edited October 15, 2020 by HDTV1080P

[atarilovesyou]

Maybe you will get a bit more response if you post this in the general section?