Unboxing 301 Nintendo Famicom Cartridges!

[+GoldLeader]

 

Ok this is the 2nd time someone has used this exact phrase. What's all relative?

 

Pronouns huh? (I'm often left wondering what exactly the "it" is in certain sentences.)

 

Cybercyon is referring to Price. What does one consider cheap? Answer: It's all relative. A rich guy might have no problem springing for NES Bonk...My cheap ass better look for the Famicom version.

 

 

Myself, I was referring to Game Quality. What does one consider a good game? If you are talking about, let's say, Famicom games that cost between $2-7, how many of them will you consider to be "good games"? Answer: It's all relative. I would expect up to 80% of cheap games to be played once as a novelty, and then end up in my "Look! It's a novelty!" pile. Many call them "Unplayable", I tend to think, you could try to play them, but you will end up not doing it. Your mileage may vary.

[icemanxp300]

You see this is horrible lol. You guys need to put a little more info into your responses. I was assuming Goldleader was talking about price since TPR had mentioned relatively inexpensive and $2 a game right above your post.

 

I also assumed Cyclone was talking about a price as well but not sure of what as it made little sense to me. I see a game being "cheaper" when released in mass quantities, that made sense. However had a low run elsewhere, that really has nothing to do w/the first part of that sentence and low run doesn't mean cheap.

 

Then again import is cheaper could mean it was made of low quality. At any rate I'm too tired too guess what people are thinking right now.

[Tanooki]

When I used cheaper I mean it as price unless the entire context of what was being said was picking on something for a cheaper quality piece of garbage. Famicom games in general I'd say the boards have same if not better integrity with the superior special chips, but also the plastic shells I think suck and are cheaper. They're snap clips and with age they brittle, it's not fun trying to open one as odds are you're going to crack a clip off, so cleaning just gets annoying if you want to really get into it.

 

Again I think we should setup a Famicom topic and discuss some solid games most people won't recognize as being as such, and if someone wants to throw the WHY in there all the better.

[+GoldLeader]

I just reread some posts and thought, That is confusing! I'm not sure if my brain was translating to the fingers very well the day I typed that...(It could mean price LOL)...I may have been thinking in general terms. (It could mean Everything haha).

 

 

Next I suppose you're going to ask me to be sober when I do this?

 

[+GoldLeader]

Actually, and sorry if I overexplain here...I think when I wrote that (It's all relative)....I was thinking in terms of price to quality. Or simply put, you can get a lot of Famicom games cheap, but how many are quality games?

[Andromeda Stardust]

Fun fact you can even buy the $300+USD BONK game for $20-25 as PC Genjin Famicom (it's what I did.) I sold my cart, used the money for better stuff and snapped up the Famicom release.

I've owned and let go of Bonk's Adventure and Panic Restaurant. Both titles I repurchased as Famicom.

 

If only Bubble Bobble 2 were affordable. Tons of fakes out there for this game, vintage and newly manufactured. I remember once browsing Japangamestock.com and finding one listed for like 20000 yen ($200 USD at the time, probably slightly cheaper now due to the exchange rates) and was like "eff this..."

 

Oh yeah. And that minty copy of BB2 that was sitting at GameXChange in 2003 for $20, but I figured I got the first one why do I need the second? :facepalm:

[cybercylon]

You see this is horrible lol. You guys need to put a little more info into your responses. I was assuming Goldleader was talking about price since TPR had mentioned relatively inexpensive and $2 a game right above your post.

 

I also assumed Cyclone was talking about a price as well but not sure of what as it made little sense to me. I see a game being "cheaper" when released in mass quantities, that made sense. However had a low run elsewhere, that really has nothing to do w/the first part of that sentence and low run doesn't mean cheap.

 

Then again import is cheaper could mean it was made of low quality. At any rate I'm too tired too guess what people are thinking right now.

 

You have a point. I didn't explain myself very well on a Friday night.

 

I was referring to price in general, but I left that bit out, and there was no further explanation about what I meant with the second half.

 

So the import could simply be cheaper because the demand isn't as high for a number of reasons (e.g., most don't want to mess around with a way to play a famicom cart). An analogy would Doctor Who DVDs. Even for something that is still in print for North America, one story can cost $25-$30, while the PAL UK version might run about $8-$9 even after the exchange rate. Playing a PAL DVD isn't that hard to do these days, so guess which one I am getting.

 

Then there might be a price difference due to the number of copies that were made for region. Maybe this one applies to systems more modern than the Famicom/NES. If something had a high run in Japan, but a low run in North America, then it is likely to be cheaper just to get the import. I could go back to Doctor Who DVDs. The NTSC version of The Invasion might run you $50-$100 because it had a low print, while in the UK, that story is still being produced. I think I paid $7.50 after the exchange rate.

 

Of course the way I put it, I could have been referring "too expensive" being relative to the individual. That is not what I was getting at, but I might as well bring it up. Maybe $25 doesn't even cause someone to blink, while for me I will blink more than once at that price for Doctor Who stories, and quite frankly most cart based games. $8? Not so much. Of course, maybe some one hates Doctor Who and won't pay 25 cents or video games turn their stomach entirely, so 5 cents is too much.

 

I hope that makes better sense.

[TPR]

Wow! Just reading through the past few posts. I have to be honest, my goal in this whole thing wasn't as serious as maybe it's been made out to be? My intent was not to collect every single cart including the super expensive and rare ones. Really, I just like the super cute, colorful Japanese-made carts more than the over-sized, kind of ugly gray North American NES carts. (personal preference!) And I love to play NES games partly because it was one of my systems growing up, partly because it was the first system I worked on when I got into the video games business.

 

I realize I can play all of these games on either my Everdrive or Raspberry Pi...

 

But there is just something super cool about having the original carts. I'll collect as many as I can, but my OCD isn't so strong that I need to have them all. So carts that are more expensive, unless they have particular sentimental value to me, I probably will skip.

 

End of the day, I'm just super impressed that I was able to accumulate around 400 carts for the price that I did. I thought it was very reasonable. And that is what I meant by my last posts above.

[icemanxp300]

Wow! Just reading through the past few posts. I have to be honest, my goal in this whole thing wasn't as serious as maybe it's been made out to be? My intent was not to collect every single cart including the super expensive and rare ones.

 

I understand. In my opinion collecting and playing are two completely different things. The problem is people generally have a hard time grasping that people buy games for a reason other than to just play them. When I made my comment about getting a collection cheap, that was what I meant, getting a collection cheap. I was not referring to playing any of them so gameplay value was not a consideration, go back to my remark about hoarding lol.

 

I like to collect games any game and just let it sit on my shelf. If the time comes and I feel like playing something that's fine but collecting video games to me is collecting them, aka mass hoarding them in a pile and not really playing them much lol.

 

I do like playing video games as well and trust me I have played my share of them but at this point in my life I do more collecting and less playing. That may change in a few years when my twin boys get a little older and we can play games together but right now I do other stuff w/my time instead.

[TPR]

I like to collect games any game and just let it sit on my shelf. If the time comes and I feel like playing something that's fine but collecting video games to me is collecting them, aka mass hoarding them in a pile and not really playing them much lol.

 

I guess there is sort of a fine line between "collecting" and "hoarding!" lol I'd like to think that I collect, as it I like to have one of each item that is important to me and my collecting goals, but I don't really "hoard" as any extras I will usually pass on to other people or sell, so more collectors and share in the fun with me!

 

And I do actively play almost everything I own on a fairly regular basis cycling through different systems and games.

[Tanooki]

Some days I think I'd dig a pi, but then I look into the setup involved and I hate to say but it kind of spooks me. I have had enough trouble failing repeatedly to mess around using ADK packages and junk with my android tablet trying to do stuff and screwing it up I just let it go and just it unbroken and just side load stuff. I was thinking maybe if I figured out retroarch PI might be alright for setting up some games with it so I put that on the other day. Got a mix of a boost and annoyance as I could get the console/handheld systems I tried to work with no issue -- but it is impossible to get neo-geo to work, it just will not. I have the bios in both /system and with the games to be safe. The sets work with Final Burn Alpha which is what the retroarch core is, yet won't work in that. It's idiotic. I'd hate to invest like $70 into the parts/kit for a pi3 then get screwed and stuck.

[Andromeda Stardust]

Some days I think I'd dig a pi, but then I look into the setup involved and I hate to say but it kind of spooks me. I have had enough trouble failing repeatedly to mess around using ADK packages and junk with my android tablet trying to do stuff and screwing it up I just let it go and just it unbroken and just side load stuff. I was thinking maybe if I figured out retroarch PI might be alright for setting up some games with it so I put that on the other day. Got a mix of a boost and annoyance as I could get the console/handheld systems I tried to work with no issue -- but it is impossible to get neo-geo to work, it just will not. I have the bios in both /system and with the games to be safe. The sets work with Final Burn Alpha which is what the retroarch core is, yet won't work in that. It's idiotic. I'd hate to invest like $70 into the parts/kit for a pi3 then get screwed and stuck.

Dnon't feel bad. I spennt $300 on an enclosure for my Pi, more when you factor in stain and woodworking tools.

http://retrobuiltgames.com/

Beauty once I got her working though. 2300+ arcade games at my fingertips in MAME alone ain't bad...

[Tanooki]

That does look nice. I did a similar kind of image with my very large early 80s DK plush and the Coleco tabletop game for joke value some years ago.

[Newsdee]

Sweet... the FC is one of the main systems I collect for, I really like all the different colors and designs of the carts!

 

I usually sort my carts by company, series, and style (RPG, platformer, etc). I keep them in small boxes of 6-9 carts (I can fit 6 if I make the boxes stack neatly, 9 if carts protrude out),

and then keep around a few boxes of the ones I play the most, swapping from time to time as I feel like. That lets me choose among a few carts each session and gives incentive to play more out of them.

Edited February 12, 2017 by Newsdee

[TPR]

I usually sort my carts by company, series, and style (RPG, platformer, etc). I keep them in small boxes of 6-9 carts (I can fit 6 if I make the boxes stack neatly, 9 if carts protrude out),

and then keep around a few boxes of the ones I play the most, swapping from time to time as I feel like. That lets me choose among a few carts each session and gives incentive to play more out of them.

 

Interesting idea. Can you post some pics?

[high voltage]

Adol, a guy from France, he's collecting boxed Famicom games.

700 so far with approx. 400 to go.

He also has a complete Famicom disk collection

http://www.videogamecollectors.com/gallery2/main.php?g2_itemId=7024

Edited February 12, 2017 by high voltage

[Andromeda Stardust]

That does look nice. I did a similar kind of image with my very large early 80s DK plush and the Coleco tabletop game for joke value some years ago.

The inspiration was in DK64 when Donkey Kong stumbles across an old arcade machine at the frantic factory, and you get to play it for the RAREWARE medallion. Or N64 medallion? In the second loop, Pauline turns into an N64 logo...

[Tanooki]

I remember my brother unlocking that in the game. I never was huge on BK as I don't care largely for overkill collect-a-thon runs. I did end up a few months back actually finding one of those games in a bundle and ended up keeping it at no cost so maybe one day eh?

[icemanxp300]

DK 64 was one of my fav. games. Diddy's flying was really hard though and took some time to get it. I had to beat his flying stages for both my sister and my aunt lol.

[Silverfleet]

oh.. alright!

 

I'll share my ebay connection. I've been buying Famicom stuff from him over the past month or so and I've received nothing but top notch service. He even sells some Famicom games for $2.97 and free shipping, I've never seen another seller match that. It's great for hitting up a single cart impulse buy.

 

http://stores.ebay.com/playjapan/NES-/_i.html?_fsub=12949286012

 

Ha, I found this seller over the weekend!

 

I was going to go game hunting to a few local places, but a blizzard kept me from heading out the door. Then, I remembered that after reading this thread the other day, I felt like expanding the Famicom collection so I did some online hunting. I picked up the following titles for a grand total of around $18 shipped:

 

Kage no Densetsu (Legend of Kage, I know it came out for the NES but it always felt like an early Famicom title to me anyway)

King Kong 2 (the weird Konami King Kong game)

Family Circuit '91 (Namco racing game with extra sound chips in the cart)

Mobile Suit Z Gundam HOT SCRAMBLE (because HOT SCRAMBLE)

Star Luster (I've heard great things about this one)

City Adventure Touch Mystery of Triangle (It's terrible, it makes no sense, but that name makes me laugh every time!)

 

I almost snagged Bird Week and a few others, like the game Chubby Cherub was based on, but I held back.

[Tanooki]

Dude if that's the first person(or was it 3rd) shooter with Gundam it's a fantastic little game, same goes with King Kong 2 from Konami. Family Circuit isn't bad either. Star Luster the name sounds familiar as people talking it up but I don't think I've ever dug into it.

 

I don't have many FC games at the moment unless you count a pair of multicarts, then it's crazy. I've got variety, but stlil even if that variety saves space it would be nice to see more of the favorites in all those colors on the shelf for easy access.

[Silverfleet]

Dude if that's the first person(or was it 3rd) shooter with Gundam it's a fantastic little game, same goes with King Kong 2 from Konami. Family Circuit isn't bad either. Star Luster the name sounds familiar as people talking it up but I don't think I've ever dug into it.

 

I don't have many FC games at the moment unless you count a pair of multicarts, then it's crazy. I've got variety, but stlil even if that variety saves space it would be nice to see more of the favorites in all those colors on the shelf for easy access.

 

Yeah, that's the Gundam game! It's first person for some parts (in space, no less) and what appears to be a side scrolling platform shooter in other parts. Looks pretty cool.

 

Multicarts are a great way to try out a lot of the early games at once. I found one of the "Power Joy" carts that come with those Famiclones you see in mall kiosks sometimes at a game store and snagged it for $8 or so. Here's the game list:

 

 

A lot of the cheap, early titles, all in one place!

[Tanooki]

Good, though so, and you're right about the multicarts. Not going to make a bunch of screen shots, just click this: http://bootleggames.wikia.com/wiki/Supervision_115-in-1 Best of the supervisions due to the least amount of dupes/hacks. The other I have is in a FC shell it's one of those 2015-16 Super Games 500in1 carts with lots of the expensive games mixed with the cheap.

[Andromeda Stardust]

 

Yeah, that's the Gundam game! It's first person for some parts (in space, no less) and what appears to be a side scrolling platform shooter in other parts. Looks pretty cool.

 

Multicarts are a great way to try out a lot of the early games at once. I found one of the "Power Joy" carts that come with those Famiclones you see in mall kiosks sometimes at a game store and snagged it for $8 or so. Here's the game list:

 

 

A lot of the cheap, early titles, all in one place!

Yes, these multicarts and pirate clones were what originally got me interested in Famicom collecting. Mostly they used older titles because unlike the modern China MMC3 boots, with the early multicarts, only NROM titles really worked. That's also why some of them had like seven different Contras on them. Contra loaded a different bank for each level so they could fit individual stages easily by hacking them into NROM titles. No telling what happens when you beat a stage though. Many titles were also ripped from previous pirates and inherited whatever hacked titles and other tomfoolery were added back in the day. Many games have completely hacked or replaced title screens. It took me forever and a lot of Google-Fu to figure out that "DING-DONG" was actually Binary Land, a cute and charming puzzler with surprising depth.

[TPA5]

Wow, nice collection! I love looking at huge cart collections. I've never gotten into the Famicom, but this post makes me want to. Unreal you got them at such a good price, and hell even if you didn't, buy what makes you happy right? Certainly looking at these photos made me happy, really nice collection.