NES enthusiast thread

[GohanX]

Yeah, I hate that. It's why I never liked nes on the Wii VC or gba on a DS.

 

[Tanooki]

If it's the original 72 pin and it's never been disconnected, i wouldn't exactly say it "slides right off"

That boiling water trick is interesting and I may give it a shot. My guess is that it's also partially the lockout chip being finnicky.

It's both. Those chips are prone to age based failure from what I've seen. As they get older they seem to get just more testy about recognizing the signal that gets ping pong'd between the cart and itself -- the dirty issue of the pins is still the best aggravator though. I swear by the pin boiling. I had one that was so bad off I was like fuck it, it's trash anyway as I thought it was ridiculous to throw the pins into boiling tap water after 91% alcohol failed. I pulled it, the amount of gunk that came off was disgusting looking ...it was like a big phlemy gray booger all over the cart cleaner board the first time in/out of it. It took 3 dips but after that the Nintendo (pin4 snipped on 10NES too) ran like a swiss watch -- never failed again, ever.

That boiling trick is amazing.

Apparently my save game is gone but the NES is working. It worked for 2/3 of the connectors I tried. I didn't even bother scrubbing it just boiled them for 15 minutes, cooled them off in cold running water, dried them off and it worked

Since you didn't try the in/out part with a cleaning kit or something to simulate it, try it. If a 15min soak boiling bubbled the crap off 2/3 of them you may resurrect all three.

 

[Gentlegamer]

That SNES one allows you to use PS3, PS4 and Wii U Gamepad Pro... holy shit that's amazing.

What a time to be alive.

 

[Wachenroder]

You can fix it while you wait. Get a small pot, fill it a bit with water, put a towel along the bottom and bring it to a boil. Throw the 72pin in there for 5minutes. Remove and use NES cleaning kit cartridge adapter (or credit card with eye glasses silk rag tight over it) and pull in and out like 10x. You'll see this disgusting gray goop come off, years of dirty pins and dirty people, dust, you name it in there. Return to the water for 5min. Try again it should come away cleaner if not clean. Do it until you come away clear. If you feel the need (likely not necessary) use a safety pin along the bottom row and pull them upwards a bit.

The heat of the water actually acts like memory metal on the pins, it will sturdy them up some and return them to form. I've done this 2 of 2 times, in both cases the system ran like it came out of the box without a hitch, but sometimes it will make the pins so tight the game will BOTH just dropped in and locked into place as designed.

The boiling works as the pins (real ones from Nintendo) are aluminum and don't rust unlike the shitty after market knockoffs.

Nice tip. Do you think this will work for the SNES as well?

 

[Newsdee]

That SNES one allows you to use PS3, PS4 and Wii U Gamepad Pro... holy shit that's amazing.

Both of them allow that

Button remapping could be done via firmware upgrade in theory (by connecting it via USB to a PC), so they might add it eventually.

I'm tempted to get a SNES to Neogeo adapter to use with these, but they're expensive. If I wait a bit maybe they'll make a Neo receiver too.

 

[ChuChu Flamingo]

Yeah no matter what 72 to 60 pin adapter I try, if you bump the cart just a little it will lock the game up, you would think that would be a non issue but when I pause the game and throw the controller up on the table I always manage to knock it.
That said I love my rgb AV fami still.

I've noticed it depends upon how tight the pins are, condition of pins, how clean they are, and the converter you use. On my AV famicom with an adapter I can move the cartridge quite a bit and nothing happens to 90% of games.

 

[Tanooki]

Nice tip. Do you think this will work for the SNES as well?

I wouldn't see why not, other than the fact the PINs are soldered to the board on the SNES so you'll either have to detach it with a lot of work, or get a big enough pot to boil the whole thing and then let it dry for a day or two so no water remains standing in some little droplet somewhere (and hope the heat doesn't jack something else up.) The NES one is just easy because it slides onto the motherboard treating the board like another cartridge by design. I suppose if you have a spare SNES that's otherwise good as dead over a bad pin setup it would make for a fun experiment. The whole thing wouldn't need submerging anyway, just a towel up the side of a wide enough pot to get the pins part into the water.

 

[Alpha Skyhawk]

I wouldn't see why not, other than the fact the PINs are soldered to the board on the SNES

My childhood SNES has removable pins. I don't know about later revisions.

 

[GohanX]

It depends on the motherboard revision, I've seen both.

 

[Tanooki]

I think the original models were detachable held in with a couple philips screws right? It was once they went through the other 4 revisions of the system they were soldered straight to the board.

My current system which is boxed up and put up on a shelf is the famous 1CHIP style system which has the best quality video of the various models, it came in a DK Super Set I got shortly after moving back here 4 years ago. Some dude threw it up on craigslist with a little stack of games for $80 and I was all over it, came to find the box, system, all of it was handled with loving care so much you'd never know it was used. Since I ended up with a Retron5 I put it away for the time being but I've been lately thinking of selling that crap off and pulling out the real deal again (same with the nes top loader of mine which is heavily modded.)

 

[GohanX]

Okay, I got the 8bitdo stuff today and just tried it out! I got the 8bitdo SNES bluetooth clone controller, a NES and a SNES reciever. It all works great!

The controller is a very good clone of a SNES controller. The plastic feels just about the same as the original, although it's a little heavier due to having a battery. The buttons are a little stiffer and clickier than my original pads, but that's not necessarily a bad thing, and it could just be because my original pads are well worn. It definately feels better than most 3rd party shit controllers, I think wireless aside I might prefer it slightly to the originals.

I tried SNES first, it ran without a hitch. I used Megaman X and Final Fight 2 as my test games, it was perfect. I had no problems dash jumping everywhere in MMX, or doing the punch punch suplex combo with Hagger in FF2, which probably wouldn't work if the controller lagged any.

On the NES, I do have good news, they do in fact map NES B and A to SNES Y and B. X and A are both turbo buttons, which is a nice touch. I tried SMB3 at first, and since it went well I popped in Mike Tyson's Punch Out, which is my ultimate lag test. If there is lag Tyson will destroy me.

I beat Tyson in the second round. I even accidentally discovered a one hit knockdown!

 

[Alpha Skyhawk]

Okay, I got the 8bitdo stuff today and just tried it out! I got the 8bitdo SNES bluetooth clone controller, a NES and a SNES reciever. It all works great!

The controller is a very good clone of a SNES controller. The plastic feels just about the same as the original, although it's a little heavier due to having a battery. The buttons are a little stiffer and clickier than my original pads, but that's not necessarily a bad thing, and it could just be because my original pads are well worn. It definately feels better than most 3rd party shit controllers, I think wireless aside I might prefer it slightly to the originals.

I tried SNES first, it ran without a hitch. I used Megaman X and Final Fight 2 as my test games, it was perfect. I had no problems dash jumping everywhere in MMX, or doing the punch punch suplex combo with Hagger in FF2, which probably wouldn't work if the controller lagged any.

On the NES, I do have good news, they do in fact map NES B and A to SNES Y and B. X and A are both turbo buttons, which is a nice touch. I tried SMB3 at first, and since it went well I popped in Mike Tyson's Punch Out, which is my ultimate lag test. If there is lag Tyson will destroy me.

I beat Tyson in the second round. I even accidentally discovered a one hit knockdown!

Awesome! Thank you! I'm so happy to hear about how the NES buttons are mapped

Hey, where did you buy yours? If you got it, they've got to be reputable.

 

[GohanX]

I used Amazon. Dat Prime shipping!

 

[Alpha Skyhawk]

I used Amazon. Dat Prime shipping!

Kickass! Thanks!

 

[Tanooki]

Ahhh the undisputed Tyson test. That among any, if you can battle him even for 30sec or so to get a feel for it nails the lag test any time. If any wireless pad can get you through Tyson, it has no lag problem.

 

[GohanX]

My thoughts exactly. I can't even get to Mr Dream on the Wii U VC version due to lag.

 

[RAZO]

Okay, I got the 8bitdo stuff today and just tried it out! I got the 8bitdo SNES bluetooth clone controller, a NES and a SNES reciever. It all works great!

The controller is a very good clone of a SNES controller. The plastic feels just about the same as the original, although it's a little heavier due to having a battery. The buttons are a little stiffer and clickier than my original pads, but that's not necessarily a bad thing, and it could just be because my original pads are well worn. It definately feels better than most 3rd party shit controllers, I think wireless aside I might prefer it slightly to the originals.

I tried SNES first, it ran without a hitch. I used Megaman X and Final Fight 2 as my test games, it was perfect. I had no problems dash jumping everywhere in MMX, or doing the punch punch suplex combo with Hagger in FF2, which probably wouldn't work if the controller lagged any.

On the NES, I do have good news, they do in fact map NES B and A to SNES Y and B. X and A are both turbo buttons, which is a nice touch. I tried SMB3 at first, and since it went well I popped in Mike Tyson's Punch Out, which is my ultimate lag test. If there is lag Tyson will destroy me.

I beat Tyson in the second round. I even accidentally discovered a one hit knockdown!

It's funny you mentioned Mike Tyson's Punch out for lag test. I use the same exact game when doing a lag test. That was the game that made me bench my framemeister. I still use it but not for games that require exact timing. Tyson will destroy you if your off by 1/2 sec.

 

[Tanooki]

I think for anyone who knows the NES and cares about it plus has a general grasp of that game probably knows or knows someone who uses it as a benchmark for timing, and then later LCD/LED timing, wireless controller, and otherwise 'something' causing lag or not. Tyson is just such a bastard you have to be right on it, or it's over in seconds.

 

[RAZO]

I hear that. It's funny because a few years ago there was a discussion here about lag and I was thinking to myself, what a bunch of cry babies, who cares about a little lag? This was when the Framemeister came out. Then when I experienced it first hand I was like ohh, now I see what they mean. Put the Framemeister away and went back to doing my thing on the crt.

 

[GohanX]

I never noticed lag in the Frame Meister, I just though I wasn't as good at these old games as I used to be. Then I hooked the Famicom back up to a tube and I was better than I've ever been at most of the games.

 

[RAZO]

I never noticed lag in the Frame Meister, I just though I wasn't as good at these old games as I used to be. Then I hooked the Famicom back up to a tube and I was better than I've ever been at most of the games.

Yea, I could see playing with a little delay sharpening up the skillz on a crt.

This is a little off topic but did you notice any lag with those hdr genny cables? I've tested them out with a few games and they seem to work lag free. Would be interesting to do the Punchout test with the Snes cables.

 

[GohanX]

No, the way they work the should be absolutely no lag from the signal whatsoever, it's not really processing the signal like an upscaler. Any lag you might get would be from the hdtv itself if any is noticeable.

 

[RAZO]

Very good. Will be purchasing some snes cables when they are back in stock.

 

[GregN]

Anybody play Renegade? What a great game, like all the other Kunio games. I can get as far as mission 4 and then Kim kicks my ass. Is she transgender?

 

[GohanX]

Renegade is the first video game that I ever beat. I wish I still had that cart.