Famicom

[funk]

So on our travels my wife picked up a Famicom cart of Labyrinth, like a Zelda style RPG of the film.

Yes, we could dump it / grab the rom, but she's got her heart set on playing it properly, which in fairness, I'm pretty proud of 🤣

Although I want a NES she's after one of the Japanese famicoms which I'm up for given the challenge and work involved getting one going in the UK.

Anyone done this of late? Power is an issue as is the video feed, short of that anything I need to be careful of? Seem to be plenty of them kicking around eBay for £30 not modded?

 

[Ace`]

The original Famicom only outputs RF (ntsc-j) and the controllers have short cables that are built in. The original Famicom consoles can be modified to output composite video /sound but I'd recommend picking up an AV Famicom. You'll have to pay a bit more but you've got composite output and detachable controllers, meaning you can plug in standard NES controllers.

As for power you can use any UK 9v centre negative adapter.

 

[funk]

Ahhh is the AV Famicom another model then or just a modified one?

Edit - Just seen the difference in looks, may not get away with it 🤣

 

[Coops]

I really like the Famicom and recently my wife brought me the Disk System.

As previously mentioned by Ace, due to the RF output it's difficult to get a clear picture (unless you have a TV/monitor with NTSC-J setting.
I actually purchased an 'AV modded' original Famicom for about £40 on eBay a few years ago, check on there (someone in the UK does these, I will try and find the link but it was a while ago). You can then use a Mega Drive Model 1 psu so you don't have to worry about the power.

I have a power glove for this too.

 

[L_____E_____T]

I've been collecting Famicom for god knows how many years now, and I still recommend the grey AV Famicom to anyone picking one up for the first time.

The original has charm and great looks, but as said they're RF only. So you'd need to find a modded one for composite, which looks 'ok' on most CRTS but god awful on HDTVs.

If you really want the little red and white one, you can find AV modded consoles on eBay still for fair prices. Make sure you use the right plug or a stepdown comverter.

Bear in mind the Japanese Famicom Labyrinth game is all in Japanese, it's an action RPG so you could get away with a guide, but as a game it's not so self-explanatory.

Reason I mention is that you'll be spending quite a bit potentially to get it all set up for this one game, and it'll probably end up a short-lived novelty moment.

Another good option is to pick up a Famicom mini and softmod that, it'll cos less in the longrun and you'll still have the feel of the little red and white machine.
Controllers are quite small on it so if you could get away with it, a NES mini would be more playable, or better still, a softmodded Super Famicom mini with FC games on.

 

[Coops]

I echo most of what L___E___T says.

However if you like the aesthetics of the Famicom, especially when adding the Disk System to it (feels like it should have been Transformer character) then they are worthy sacrifices to make.

The games in general are cheaper than NES equivalent and as mentioned, there are a lot of text heavy games which are difficult to play however there are still some great games to get and some strange ones too which are fun to play. Before buying a game, I check gameplay on Youtube and see if its a viable game that I would understand.

You can also pick up a cheap Famicom/NES adapter which extends the life of the console.

Its a shame as only a few years ago you could have picked up a cheap Famicom for between £20-£25, but now like all video gaming items the prices are rocketing!

I will upload a photo of my Famicom set up, maybe it might persuade you to get one

 

[Brettster]

I have around 7 original Famicom's and 3 Sharp Twin Famicom's that I need to list for sale at some point if you are looking to buy?

 

[funk]

Bear in mind the Japanese Famicom Labyrinth game is all in Japanese, it's an action RPG so you could get away with a guide, but as a game it's not so self-explanatory.

Reason I mention is that you'll be spending quite a bit potentially to get it all set up for this one game, and it'll probably end up a short-lived novelty moment.

Yeah thankfully we'd come across it before and knew ahead of time, if you've not tried it too Google translate with pictures, screens etc works shockingly well at times 👍

 

[Shun]

If you want to spend a bit extra you could go for a Sharp Twin Famicom. Has AV out and it's a bit different from the normal Famicom systems. Link below to a short article about them.

Home Page

Detailed information, history, pictures and reviews of the classic, new and obscure video gaming consoles.

www.videogameconsolelibrary.com

 

[funk]

Yeah I'm not overly fussed about the AV Famicom either, but she's got it in her head, needs to be the original 🤷‍♂️

In truth I get away with murder too so when demands like this do come up I usually comply 🤣

 

[kingtreelo]

I have around 7 original Famicom's and 3 Sharp Twin Famicom's that I need to list for sale at some point if you are looking to buy?

i may be interested in a twin famicom depending on the model/condition/price

i have a AN-505 model that is great condition but may be interested in one of the other models

oh, and for anyone else interested, i would highly recommend a Famicom, i have a twin and an AV version with 2 ASCII sticks, its one of my favourite consoles of all time, the games are pretty dirt cheap and its a great experience on a CRT

 

[kevkevkev]

I think it was a jap exclusive but has an English fan translations. So you can get people to make repro carts.

 

[funk]

I think it was a jap exclusive but has an English fan translations. So you can get people to make repro carts.

In fairness I've got a chip programmer so if push comes to shove I was thinking there's be translation patches etc out there anyways.

Have a 'few' more projects to finish off but the famicom has to be high on the list for reasons already discussed 😁

 

[kevkevkev]

In fairness I've got a chip programmer so if push comes to shove I was thinking there's be translation patches etc out there anyways.

Have a 'few' more projects to finish off but the famicom has to be high on the list for reasons already discussed 😁

I used to have all my japanese carts translated. Always nice to have an original shell. Things like Rockboard, akira, lag range point, sweet home. Though things like moon crystal were far too expensive to sacrifice an original cary.

 

[funk]

I used to have all my japanese carts translated. Always nice to have an original shell. Things like Rockboard, akira, lag range point, sweet home. Though things like moon crystal were far too expensive to sacrifice an original cary.

Akira... now I need one as well 😂