c0op3r Posted February 16, 2020 Author Share Posted February 16, 2020 1 hour ago, 4300 said: Unless it's specifically listed as working with a new belt, I would 100% expect it to not work. The belt is fairly easy to replace. It's calibrating the drive that's kind of tedious. I would agree 100% with 4300, it is totally worth paying the little bit extra to just buy one that has been services and tested already, I did that with mine, it came with an extra belt and I have bought 60 games and everyone so far has worked perfect (knocks on wood). There are several eBay sellers in Japan that will sell them services and shipped for under 100$ Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
c0op3r Posted February 16, 2020 Author Share Posted February 16, 2020 16 hours ago, jhd said: This leads into my question -- what proportion of the games are reasonably playable by someone who cannot read Japanese? Obviously RPGs and other text-heavy games are out. Some over on the Fb group link to this book on Amazon: https://www.amazon.com/Hardcore-Gaming-101-Presents-Complete/dp/1546928316 I bought it it was good and it does tell you about the game(s) and if you need to know Japanese to play them, its is available digitally and in print. 1 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
CatPix Posted February 16, 2020 Share Posted February 16, 2020 (edited) If you don't want to buy the book, you also have the ressource to look for gameplay videos on Youtube. Sometime transcription form Japanese to English isn't perfect, especially from Japanese sellers (that probably use a different transcription method than Hepburn and/or mix up sounds and letter. It's not rare for even big Japanese sellers to write "Tetlis" for the famous game... even if the name is in plain latin on the box) so you can also use the disk reference : Don't recognize that game? All FDS games have a unique identifiant that is easily seen. Here it's FMC-ZEL. A search on Internet will bring out websites that will list the stantard Latin transliteration and/or the American/European title if the game was released outside of Japan. With those infos it's then easy to look for a gameplay video and decide if it's playable or not. For example you can easily play Castlevania II on FDS is you accept to have some guide around for obvisouly the clues will be in Japanese, but most of the game is easily doeable without any knowledge of Japanese. Same for Zelda II, you can easily check on a walkthrough... Or you already know the game in International version. Edited February 16, 2020 by CatPix 1 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
0078265317 Posted February 16, 2020 Share Posted February 16, 2020 Well I was not expecting the offer to ve accepted. If it does not work but at least powers with batteries I can re ebay it for 40. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
4300 Posted February 16, 2020 Share Posted February 16, 2020 Honestly, I'd give repairing it a shot. It's not THAT bad to do. I've got a few extra belts if you need one. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
0078265317 Posted February 16, 2020 Share Posted February 16, 2020 14 minutes ago, 4300 said: Honestly, I'd give repairing it a shot. It's not THAT bad to do. I've got a few extra belts if you need one. Will see when it arrives. I also got golf and volleyball just to test for 10 dollars and 47 cents. For both. 6 for both plus shipping and tax. So 5.235 each not bad. Loose but just to test not bad. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Tanooki Posted February 17, 2020 Share Posted February 17, 2020 I'm not sure of the spread on FDS, a little research maybe starting with Video Game Den which has a FDS section with full coverage/mini reviews may help. http://www.videogameden.com/fds.htm It will ultimately come down to how many games are mysteries (famicom tantei club etc), adventures (zelda), or RPGs that have moderate to heavy reading involved to keep you out. Light moderate to none/near none is what you need and ther eis a lot, though some are overlap with US titles (Castlevania 1/2, Metroid, Kid Icarus, etc.) 1 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
c0op3r Posted February 18, 2020 Author Share Posted February 18, 2020 So a friend from the Florida RetroComputer Club designed up some game holders for the Famicom Disk System games. I am sending him a game for final test fitting - but after that if anyone is interested they will be available 1 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
newtmonkey Posted February 18, 2020 Share Posted February 18, 2020 I've got a decent collection consisting of what I consider to be the best FDS games. I've got a refurbished disk system unit that works great, and I've been pleasantly surprised by how reliable the disks themselves are (I've not had a single bad disk, and that even includes untested disks bought from Yahoo Auction). However, at this point I just prefer to use the FDSStick plugged into an FDS RAM Adapter on my AV Famicom. Works great and the audio is perfect as the FDSStick itself just emulates the disks and drive. It's a nice option if you don't want to mess around with disks and disk units, but want something more accurate than loading FDS disk images on an Everdrive or whatever. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
CatPix Posted February 20, 2020 Share Posted February 20, 2020 Here my own collection. Not alot of games for I mostly buy them in lots and most lots are filled with unsellable disks (random sports ones). I got out and picked up interesting neat box ones as well tho. 1 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
c0op3r Posted February 20, 2020 Author Share Posted February 20, 2020 5 minutes ago, CatPix said: Here my own collection. Not alot of games for I mostly buy them in lots and most lots are filled with unsellable disks (random sports ones). I got out and picked up interesting neat box ones as well tho. There is a few really good games there - that Relics one is cool. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
0078265317 Posted February 23, 2020 Share Posted February 23, 2020 (edited) Got my 1 test game in the mail today. Edited February 23, 2020 by 0078265317 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
DJ Clae Posted February 25, 2020 Share Posted February 25, 2020 The belts don't wear out fast. I've had my replacement belt for 17 years. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
0078265317 Posted February 25, 2020 Share Posted February 25, 2020 1 hour ago, DJ Clae said: The belts don't wear out fast. I've had my replacement belt for 17 years. Or maybe would it be possible to make a belt out of material that never wears out? Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
4300 Posted February 25, 2020 Share Posted February 25, 2020 The clear silicone belts that most places sell as replacements seem to last a long time. It's the original rubber belt that dry rots and falls apart. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
c0op3r Posted February 25, 2020 Author Share Posted February 25, 2020 2 minutes ago, 4300 said: The clear silicone belts that most places sell as replacements seem to last a long time. It's the original rubber belt that dry rots and falls apart. The one I bought from eBay as service and belt replaced had the silicon belt installed and they even included an extra in an envelope. I dont think any 30+ year old belt is going to survive. The fact that the machines themselves had survived this long is amazing as they were built cheap and simple. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
4300 Posted February 25, 2020 Share Posted February 25, 2020 I have a feeling most of the disk drives out there probably don't have a lot of miles on them. I'm guessing the belts probably went bad fairly early on most of these and FD drives got thrown in a box for 30 years. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
R.Cade Posted February 25, 2020 Share Posted February 25, 2020 Just now, 4300 said: I have a feeling most of the disk drives out there probably don't have a lot of miles on them. I'm guessing the belts probably went bad fairly early on most of these and FD drives got thrown in a box for 30 years. Probably. I think their time was short-lived in the market. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
c0op3r Posted February 25, 2020 Author Share Posted February 25, 2020 Just now, 4300 said: I have a feeling most of the disk drives out there probably don't have a lot of miles on them. I'm guessing the belts probably went bad fairly early on most of these and FD drives got thrown in a box for 30 years. There is a pretty good chance you are right, I have read that Nintendo serviced the units all the way up to the 2000's. But I am sure that most people had moved back to carts. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
CatPix Posted February 25, 2020 Share Posted February 25, 2020 (edited) 13 hours ago, 0078265317 said: Or maybe would it be possible to make a belt out of material that never wears out? A material that need to be flexible and keep tension? Barely possible. Your best bet to make this part of the FDS failure-proof would be to replace the belt with a train of gears. About that, I had replaced my belt about 4/5 years ago and had to replace it. Though I gave my Twin to a guy so he could RGB mod it and he kept it almos a year, so it's possible that the belt took a bad shape and then snapped when I tried to use the FDS again. Edited February 25, 2020 by CatPix Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Yosikuma Posted February 28, 2020 Share Posted February 28, 2020 I have had a FDS for about a year or two. I just tried to boot some disks and my drive now does a loud continuous hum trying to read various disks (or disk sides) that seemingly go on forever. It has been multiple disks, and I will assume it's the drive. Anyone else experience this? Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
0078265317 Posted February 28, 2020 Share Posted February 28, 2020 The FDS I got from ebay finally hit usa. Should be here Friday or saturday. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
c0op3r Posted February 28, 2020 Author Share Posted February 28, 2020 57 minutes ago, Yosikuma said: I have had a FDS for about a year or two. I just tried to boot some disks and my drive now does a loud continuous hum trying to read various disks (or disk sides) that seemingly go on forever. It has been multiple disks, and I will assume it's the drive. Anyone else experience this? Was the belt replaced? I would start with that. Do you get an error #? Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
CatPix Posted February 28, 2020 Share Posted February 28, 2020 9 hours ago, Yosikuma said: I have had a FDS for about a year or two. I just tried to boot some disks and my drive now does a loud continuous hum trying to read various disks (or disk sides) that seemingly go on forever. It has been multiple disks, and I will assume it's the drive. Anyone else experience this? Definitively sounds like your drive belt broke and the motor is running empty-loaded. 1 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Yosikuma Posted February 28, 2020 Share Posted February 28, 2020 Almost no error message; the drive just spins (loudly) forever. I thought the belt too, but sometimes the disk will just randomly read. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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