Got a Famicom, Recommendations?

[RodLightning]

I got a Nintendo Family Computer (HVC-001) yesterday. I've been curious about these for a while and found what I think was an ok deal on ebay. Paid $52.99usd total shipped from a seller in Japan. $25 of that was shipping, but it was well packed and sent registered mail. The seller threw in a Super Mario Bros cart as an unexpected surprise.

 

I'm setup and running with a proper us voltage switching 9vdc supply and enjoying the system so far. Pictured is the console running on my modern tv. The tv is doing a decent job on ch96..better than I expected actually. I am impressed by how small this model is compared to the NES.

 

So, where to go from here? Any suggestions on Famicom specific games to look for?

 

Btw, the Power-Joy famiclone (also pictured) first got me interested in the real hardware.

 

[Nutsy Doodleheimer]

I highly suggest getting the Famicom Disk System peripherial so you can play the disk formatted games. Just be advised that the drive belt wears out after lots of play and need to be replaced, but it's after about 6-8 years worth of heavy play though. A great website to get Famicom related stuff is japangamestock.com They are excellent!! Congrats on getting the Famicom! I have the Sharp Twin Famicom which is the two in one that plays cart and disk games.

[CatPix]

For a started, I wouldn't recommand a FDS, unless it was tested working before shipping.

the FDS are wonky. I discussed this day with a collecotor of Japanese consoles, and he said that he wanted 2 FDS, one for him and one for a friend.

He ended buying 7 of them.

Not only the drive belt snaps, but also, the FDS cheap nature make is so that the head position on the disk is mechanically ajusted, not software adjusted. The problems are that 3 things in the driver slowly get out of specs for this : motor speed, spin hub position, and head position.

On some intensively used, all 3 parameters can go out of specs, which mean that it's virtually impossible to fix them unless you own a Disk Doctor disk (which are of course very rare).

 

But I do own a working FDS and playing the original Zelda or Doki Doki Panic is a niflty thing.

Bottomline : buying a junk FDS is a gamble. You can be lucky and get oen where you'll have to replace the belt and just ajust the spin hub (because of course after the belt snaps, it went out of alignment) or accept that you mgiht have to buy 2, 3 or 4 of them before finding one that won't spit you Err 21 or 27 no matter what your do.

 

One nice game on the Famicom is Konami Wai Wai World. Made by Konami (obvs) It's a game where you play Konami Man or Konami Girls and must rescue Konami game characters such as Simon Belmont, Goemon, and the Vic Viper; you can play at any tiem with them once you saved them (except for the Vic Viper which is played in a shooting level), kinda like in Castlevania 3, but in a more open world/select a level game like the Mega Man series.

Some levels must be replayed with specific characters to unlock bonus and helping items.

Edited March 28, 2016 by CatPix

[Skippy B. Coyote]

Of the good games out there that were released for the Famicom and not the NES, my top pick is definitely Summer Carniv... Wait, how much money do you have to spend?

 

In the "not worth it's weight in gold" category, I like TwinBee and Yie Ar Kung-Fu. Neither require you to be able to read Japanese and they both offer a really enjoyable experience for their respective genres. TwinBee is just a classic vertical scrolling shoot 'em up, and Yie Ar Kung-Fu was one of the first fighting games to offer the same kind of gameplay that you'll find in later titles like Street Fighter II and Mortal Kombat. Two men enter, one man leaves!

 

I'm sure there are tons of great Famicom exclusive games out there, but those are the first two (or three, depending on your budget) that come to mind for me.

[phoenixdownita]

If I were you I'd buy an Everdrive N8 and see what you really like, and in case buy the actual games.

For FDS you will need to put up with a bad sound emulation and the lack of pause between side switches (if you want to look at the attract mode it's a bummer).

 

Other than that a few mappers are not complete (MMC5, VRC7 ...) and you may have to put up with off key music here and there (again depending on the mapper).

[CatPix]

For emulation, there is the FDS-Stick that hook up to the RAM adapter and so, emulate the FDS perfectly as the RAM and sound parts are made by the original hardware.

 

[madhatter667]

Recca/Summer Carnival is brutal. A legitimate copy will cost you a very pretty penny... a clean pirated version... less so. The thing about the Famicom is that there is a TON of pirate carts out there, multi, and stand alone. There are also pirate originals, and what could be called pirate ports. It's a LOT of fun to collect for. Golden Axe, A Link to the Past, Street Fighter 2, Fatal Fury, Samurai Showdown, TNMT Tournament Fighters etc. are neat ones.

 

I think about my favorite of the bunch is Splatterhouse: Wanpakku Graffiti (or something like that). It's a sidescrolling, chibi-esque Splatter House game. Also, Parodius, the Ninja Kun titles, I can't remember the Japanese name but it translates to Castlevania: Kid Dracula. Silly and fun.

[in the dark]

I recommend, Son Son. And if you like a good shooter Crisis Force. Gun Nac is also good.

[TaskenLander]

Famicom "Star Wars" is a wacky hoot!

[RodLightning]

FDS emulation looks very interesting. There is a learning curve involved, especially if going with a FDS-Stick and ram adapter! Maybe a Everdrive N8 would be a good choice either way to begin with.

 

Many thanks to those who suggested favorite games so far. I think I want to first grab a few common carts to compliment the system and then maybe dare to sample one of the bootleg pirate multi cartridges. I already have a head start with this Power Joy cartridge. It seems to work well on real hardware...70+ games including an interesting Super Mario clone called Pandamar.

 

The coolness factor of playing a system not intended for the US market is definitely a motivator here as I expect happens in Japan with products they import from abroad. I was never much into NES or SNES during the height of their popularity. Famicom, for some irrational reason, really draws my interest.

Edited March 28, 2016 by RodLightning

[madhatter667]

Lol. Pandamar. There are some crazy Mario hacks out there. Many of the massive multi-carts will have a lot of the same games... I think a lot of them are referred to as Mapper 0 games. A lot of them are common/early games, so having a multicart isn't the worst way to start out. Most of the named games aren't going to be on there though.

 

If you keep your eyes open, you can find some really neat ones. I have a multi that has Bubble Bobble 2, and Mighty Final Fight on there. Totally don't care about the other 2 titles on it. Lol.

[GameGirl420]

I'm planning on getting the portable Famicom soon called FC Pocket so I can play it on the air and everywhere.

 

Definitely get the Famicom Disk System. As far as games go, I love Urusei Yatsura:Lum No Wedding Bell, Super Mario Bros.2, Goonies, Macross,and Cosmic Wars.

 

[Great Hierophant]

FDS emulation looks very interesting. There is a learning curve involved, especially if going with a FDS-Stick and ram adapter! Maybe a Everdrive N8 would be a good choice either way to begin with.

 

The FDSStick is no more difficult to use than an EverDrive N8 these days. Load your disk images onto the device using the GUI loading program, insert FDSStick into the RAM Adapter's cable, select them using the on-screen menu on the TV, press the button once (Side A) or twice (Side B) to change sides.

 

Here is the my TL:DR version : http://nerdlypleasures.blogspot.com/2015/07/the-fdsstick-compact-solution-to-your.html

 

Enjoy perfect sound and game support, assuming your disk images are not bad. An EverDrive N8 Famicom Edition is a very good choice for cartridge games.

Edited March 28, 2016 by Great Hierophant

[R.Cade]

But Everdrive works with FDS images also... Does the FDS-Stick have any extra advantage? Does N8 not provide the extra audio channel for those games?

[Great Hierophant]

But Everdrive works with FDS images also... Does the FDS-Stick have any extra advantage? Does N8 not provide the extra audio channel for those games?

 

FDSStick External Audio (via FDS RAM Adapter) = Guaranteed 100% Accurate

EverDrive N8 External Audio = Far from 100% Accurate

Edited March 28, 2016 by Great Hierophant

[theoakwoody]

I've got both the everdrive and fdsstick running on a Famicom AV. The everdrive doesn't emulate the Fds sound as accurately so I'm glad I got both. I love them both and would highly recommend them.

 

 

Sent from my iPhone using Tapatalk

[RodLightning]

How does the ram adapter work? I've seen them listed before without a disk unit. Seems adequate for use with a FDS-Stick if you don't want or can't find a disk drive. Does it need to be swapped in and out when you want to play cartridges?

[Great Hierophant]

How does the ram adapter work? I've seen them listed before without a disk unit. Seems adequate for use with a FDS-Stick if you don't want or can't find a disk drive. Does it need to be swapped in and out when you want to play cartridges?

 

In this sense, it works just like a cartridge. It and the FDSStick is all you need if you don't want to fiddle around with real disks and drives. The FDSStick is really Heaven to the Disk and Drive Hell when it comes to getting games working reliably.

Edited March 30, 2016 by Great Hierophant

[CatPix]

How does the ram adapter work? I've seen them listed before without a disk unit. Seems adequate for use with a FDS-Stick if you don't want or can't find a disk drive. Does it need to be swapped in and out when you want to play cartridges?

The RAM adapter is kind of an official linker for the Famicom.

It stick into the cart port like a real cart, and behave to the Famicom like a real cartridge. The difference is that the RAM adapter have it's own BIOS that display the "Please load a disk" screen. Then after that, the disk data is loaded into the RAM and the Famicom access this game data like it was a regular cart.

It works exactly like the Starpath Supercharger or the Cuttle cart, except the data is on a disk rather than on a tape. (tho, given the mechanical fixed nature of the reading system, the FDS disks is more like a bunch of tapes stored in a helicoidal manner than a real data floppy).

Edited March 30, 2016 by CatPix

[retrofixes]

That's a great deal for a Famicom in that condition. Nice Job!

 

One of my Favorite famicom games is Splatterhouse. I would suggest giving that one a try.

Edited April 9, 2016 by retrofixes

[RodLightning]

That's a great deal for a Famicom in that condition. Nice Job!

 

One of my Favorite famicom games is Splatterhouse. I would suggest giving that one a try.

 

Thanks. This one seems to have had gentle treatment during it's life.

 

I saw Splatterhouse Wanpaku Graffiti in a top 10 video posted by atariage user KWKBOX. It looks like a fun game. Prices on Splatterhouse series titles seem to be on the rise.

[madhatter667]

Splatterhouse Wanpakku Graffiti wasn't a cheap one when I bought it several years ago. I can't imagine that time has been friendly to the price tag. Lol. Worth picking up though. Stupid fun.