What Was Tengen Thinking When They Designed NES Carts

[A2600]

I was thinking the other day, wow these tengen nes carts are pretty messed up I dont like them one bit.

 

Has anyone here tried to find some alternatives to recasing these games into a standard NES cart case?

 

I think gaunlet II and Paperboy along with Pac-Man and RBI 1 where the only games to see a two sided release (on the black Tengen carts and on the standard grey)

[+atari2600land]

I like them. I think they're cool looking and a nice alternative to the standard gray carts.

[Vic George 2K3]

I only remember seeing Gauntlet II and Paperboy being released in the standard grey NES carts, since both of them were distributed by Mindscape.

[A2600]

 

[darthkur]

They are a bit of a hassle to grasp and remove from the console. Other than that they are very nice looking.

[CGQuarterly]

I think that they were trying not to get sued for copying the unique design of the official NES cart. The carts can be hard to get out of your system if you have a replacement connector (which I don't), but I think they look cool. I was kind of saddened when they settled their differences with Nintendo and switched to the normal-style cart.

 

Chris

[jeremysart]

I only remember seeing Gauntlet II and Paperboy being released in the standard grey NES carts, since both of them were distributed by Mindscape.

 

I have never seen paperboy on the black cart either, however I have seen a few Gauntlet II carts in black.

[Video]

I LOVE the black Tengen carts. They are one of the cooleest looking carts for the system IMO (though to be honest, most third party cart shells look like ass, such as bible games and micromachines)

 

I only have a few, but they all live together, it just looks cool to have a stack of them, becasue surprisingly, even though most the tengen carts are common, it seems most people have rarely or never seen them.

 

Hey, if you do any cart bashing, I'll take those Tengen shells off your hands (I'd love to tengenafie some of my NES carts, a SMB/dh game would be cool in a tengen cart )

 

As for compatibility, I'm sure you can stick them inside a standard grey cart, don't know what they look like inside, but most the boards seem similar. If nothing else, epoxy that bitch in place...once it's in, it's not like it needs to go anywhere again.

Edited November 23, 2009 by Video

[shadow460]

Don't complain too much about them--at least they stack well. Some of the third party ones have a big glob at the end so you can't stack them at all.

[NinjaWarrior]

Can you even take the PCB from a Black Cart, and put it in a Grey Cart??

 

I'm talking about the Tengen version of Ms. Pac-Man

[BrianC]

Gauntlet I was released in both the gray and black carts. Indiana Jones and the Temple of Doom was released in black Tengen and gray Mindscape published versions, both the exact same game. As far as I know, Gauntlet II and Paperboy weren't released in black carts.

 

Here is a picture of my gray Gauntlet:

Edited November 24, 2009 by BrianC

[fiddlepaddle]

I like the way they look. The only problem I have is when they're lined up in a box I have to pull one out to read it; makes it a pain when looking through a bunch at a game show checking to see if there's anything I still need. In my collection, I don't have that problem since there aren't that many and I know what they are since I keep them in alphabetical order.

[peeingas]

I was kind of saddened when they settled their differences with Nintendo and switched to the normal-style cart.

 

Chris

Pretty sure that never happened. The gray ones were released first

[shadow460]

I like the way they look. The only problem I have is when they're lined up in a box I have to pull one out to read it; makes it a pain when looking through a bunch at a game show checking to see if there's anything I still need. In my collection, I don't have that problem since there aren't that many and I know what they are since I keep them in alphabetical order.

 

Simple solution. Set the first one or two carts out on the table, then let your fingers walk across all the rest while you read the labels. When done, replace the one or two carts. I flip through racks of CDs this way.

[nester]

I never have liked those Tengen carts either. They look alright, but they get stuck in systems a lot and they're so hard to adjust when in the system. Sometimes I need to slide them over a hair to stop them from blinking, but it's very hard with the way they are shaped.

[Shawn]

 

 

 

The one on the far right is the namco version not tengen FWIW.

[pinball22]

I do find it annoying that you can't see what they say when they're stacked up where you can't move them.