how to play NES japanese games?

2016-12-12 08:39:03 am

noticed all the 'big boys' are using the japanese version of a lot of games (mega man, zelda)

how do you go about doing this? do you have to buy a famicom?

Thread title:

ktwo

2016-12-12 02:18:56 pm

I don't have a setup to play Japanese games myself, but I wanted to take this opportunity to promote that some work has been put into documenting how to overcome region differences:
https://kb.speeddemosarchive.com/Bypassing_Region_Lock
(it includes a section about NES)

Komrade

2016-12-12 03:54:42 pm

For Japanese NES games specifically you would play on a famicom (also called Famicom games).

You would need an adapter to be able to play a Famicom game in a NES and vice versa. (This is because NES games are 72pin, and Famicom are 60pin)

As far as region locking, on the NES there is the NES10 chip that you can clip (check the link ktwo provided)

For playing NES games on the famicom, I've had zero issues with region locking on the AV Famicom model, but not sure about original famicom.

presjpolk

2016-12-12 04:11:16 pm

HELLO!

Well for the NES Zeldas there's no real reason to get the Famicom version. And there isn't even a Famicom version of Zelda 2, heh.

For the Mega Man games, it's as easy as buying the cart, and getting a 60-72 pin converter, and getting a top loader NES.

Grygor

2016-12-12 06:18:30 pm

Quote from Komrade:

For playing NES games on the famicom, I've had zero issues with region locking on the AV Famicom model, but not sure about original famicom.

No Famicom version even has region-locking hardware.

The "region lock" was specifically added to the NES so Nintendo could control the supply on NES games (under the assumption that a glut of software was what killed the American home gaming industry), which is the reason NES carts have 12 more pins than Famicom carts in the first place.

Necator

Edit history:

Necator: 2016-12-12 07:01:04 pm

2016-12-12 06:57:42 pm

Is it kosher to do speed runs on a Nintendo avs from retrousb.com? I see that plays famicom games as well and I ordered one.

presjpolk

2016-12-12 07:26:55 pm

HELLO!

Not sure how accurate the sound is on those for Famicom/FDS games.

Komrade

2016-12-13 11:15:23 am

Quote from Grygor:

Quote from Komrade:

For playing NES games on the famicom, I've had zero issues with region locking on the AV Famicom model, but not sure about original famicom.

No Famicom version even has region-locking hardware.

The "region lock" was specifically added to the NES so Nintendo could control the supply on NES games (under the assumption that a glut of software was what killed the American home gaming industry), which is the reason NES carts have 12 more pins than Famicom carts in the first place.

There is no region locking on any version of famicom, is what you're saying? Would make sense.

Quote from Necator:

Is it kosher to do speed runs on a Nintendo avs from retrousb.com? I see that plays famicom games as well and I ordered one.

You can speedrun on it, but SDA wouldn't accept a run ran on that hardware. And whether or not it's allowed for the game you intend to speedrun varies from community to community.

presjpolk

2016-12-13 04:44:30 pm

HELLO!

I would be wary of the clones (RetroUSB, Kevtris). They may not run at the proper speed, being downclocked for HDMI compatibility.