We were super lucky to live in Japan in 1985/86 (I was 10) and my Dad bought us Famicom and Disk System which I loved. Somewhere along the way they broke down or got lost but I remember being the envy of all my friends when we brought it back to Australia because the NES hadn't released here yet. So much nostalgia now playing those Famicom games on my Nintendo Switch!
Is this why i can't get my famicom to work? :( just got it on ebay works in Japan i told seller if he can send me the RF when i buy something else. .. he told me to try sega Rf but doesn't work
@@segagirladventurespico It's made for Japanese TVs, and while Japan uses basically the same composite video format as the US, their channels are different so a US TV probably won't be able to tune to Japanese RF. However if you have a newer analog TV that can tune to channels 95-97, those correspond to Japanese channels 1-3. In the US these channels were only used on cable, never broadcast.
That's cause you can't use a VCR. You have to use a retro crt tv to get video signal. Cause Japanese use different RF signals. So u have to tune your tv to 95 or 96.
Famicom is not a weird console to me as in Malaysia and most South East Asian Country in the late 80s and early 90s, Famicom are sell everywhere like hot cake. The NES is very hard to find back then to be honest in my country generally. Showing this Famicom really bring a lot of nostalgic moment when i still a kid.
Famicoms arent worth that much, it was likely a reseal which is pretty common, mine was a reseal as well(Its still in the shrink because I bought 3 $10 junk systems) I got my complete in the box system for $60
Look on your local facebook marketplace for an older TV. People give them away for free all the time rather than pay to recycle them. I actually just picked up a nice 32 inch with an RF port and 2 sets of RCA/AV ports.
I actually saw you at toomanygames spawnwave you were by the smash tournament next to the Mario kart speedrun. I should have said what's up but I missed the opportunity
Spawn that isn’t a official famicom RFadapter. Those were white and had those screw holes in it. I’m sure that put the nes one in there for US compatibility
Japan and the US have the same plug. Japan was making pretty much all the electronics for the US for a few decades. But it is a different plug. The original was black with a small silver rectangle with red writing in Japanese.
It's important to remember when the Famicom was released. In 1983 RF was really the only way to hook up a video game system (or VCR for that matter) on the majority of televisions at the time. A few systems at that time period had their controllers hardwired. Probably the most prominent of them was Mattel's Intellivision. Although they did release a revision that had detachable controllers in the latter half of 1983.
Regarding your complaint about the cord location on the controller: remember that back when this was popular, there were no game controllers with shoulder buttons. The L and R buttons first appeared with later generations of game consoles and handhelds. Most people would tuck all their fingers together about halfway up the back and press buttons from under the bottom or around the side of the lower half. Holding the bottom allowed for easy access to the Start and Select buttons by sliding a hand inward.
@@ultimatums1 pretty sure that's only if the channel sets it to mark it as spam. I've posted multiple links on videos that's never been marked as spam.
I have about 30 famicoms. Channel 1 is 95 and Channel 2 96 on U.S. televisions. Tv's channel frequencies vary though so some TV's have lots more interference than others. You need to use a nice shielded subwoofer cable (shorter the better) and the Coaxial to RCA adapter and actually you can get a great picture that way. If their is buzz it's generally the mic on controller 2. Simply take the controller apart and use metal polish to polish the slider contact and use rubbing alcohol to clean the board it slides around. If the black electro coating material is worn off simply use a pencil to remark it thick and use a toothpick to bend the little slider springs out for better contact.
In Japan saving space is a high priority so their living rooms are generally much smaller than western style. That's why the controller wire is short and why they come out on the side so that you have a low vertical profile and can store it away on a shelf.
I assume you're intended to run the console to the TV with a long wire and the Famicom sits next to the gamer, similar to how the Atari 2600 and other early systems would. (Atari you have to flip all sorts of switches on the console to make the games work) - Nintendo making the controllers long in the US was probably part of the "entertainment center system" look - so you would slot it in with your VCR, and not use it "like a games console".
This is interesting: the european design! European NES = the US design European SNES = the JP design (not the US design) European machines are PAL. Not sure how they did in France. France got SECAM instead of PAL. Japanese Zelda 1 on FDS (Famicom Disc System): those LOADING TIMES when Link walks into dungeons! Crazy! Glad that Zelda 1 was released on cartridge in US/Europe! "No" loading times! Exactly like PlayStation 5 :-) Sometimes I think about the different audio/music in Zelda 1 for NES and FDS. Which version is best? I think I prefer the NES version. Have also seen comparisons for Zelda 2 on NES and FDS. Zelda 2 is really really better on NES! I wish the japanese market could get the NES versions of Zelda 1 and 2!
Riley European Nintendo customers are so lucky! They got the best edition (from US vs JP). But it's 50 fps and not 60 fps in Europe. PAL you know. Not NTSC. So the music and games are often 10-20 percent slower in Europe, if the games are developed for NTSC and quickly ported to PAL. I've read the "some games" (no idea which ones) that had been ported to PAL has also been adjusted for the 50-60 Hz "thing/problem". But notice the gamepads for Famicom! Gamepad 1/A got select and start. Gamepad 2/B doesn't have that. European/JP SNES looks sooooooo good!!! Also love Nintendo 64! Finally same console design in all regions! I would say that Nintendo 64 is the best looking Nintendo console of all time! But the N64 Gamepad is horrible. A dream: the N64 chassi and Switch's internals and possibility for crazy much storage! No big need for 4K gaming graphics. Better to focus on good framerate for 1080p!
@@cjeelde That's probably because they added a lot of QoL features during the FDS to NES conversion. Same thing with the transition from Doki Doki Panic to Super Mario Bros 2. Lol
Man, this brings back so many memories. I still have my original Famicom from back then and it still works. :D I have over 200 games for it. I have some 5 in 1, 10 in 1, 100 in 1 and my biggest 1000 in 1 game cartridges. The dance floor pads, the boxing game suite. the zapper gun and some many other peripherals made for it back then. My Famicom thought I painted it black so it would be unique. Those were the days. :D
Protip: if you ever intend to hook it up to an old CRT, you'll need to set it to channel 98/99 due to that being the frequency equivalent to Japanese channel 1/2.
Nice video, quick correction: the 72 pin connector on the NES isn’t the reason they blink. The lock out chip goes bad on 90% of NES. Open it up, cut a single pin on the chip, and your NES will load games every time and won’t blink anymore. Disabling the chip causes the NES to load games as easily as a SNES, N64, etc.
Great video! Thank you. I am in Japan right now and these sell at resale shops for $12 each and games are about $2 each. After seeing your video I will have to grab one! Thank you
I too picked up a Famicom about a year ago along with a disk system (for the complete package) and as I held it in my hands I couldn't help thinking about what little Japanese kids once sat in his parents livingroom playing Mario, Zelda, or Dragon Quest on it.
nostalgic. I remember having one and playing super Mario bros for the first time. we weren't allowed to use it on the color TV and so me and my bros only played it on black and white
I had several Famicoms during the years. Your Revision is a newer one, you can see it based on the metal shielding at the cartridge slot. I guess the model must be manifactured around 1988,1989. Older ones had just the blue plastic pin connector.
Whenever you see something janky about the Famicom, like the side cord on controllers or the really loud power button, you have to remember that when they made this system, nobody knew it was going to be successful. It was essentially the equivalent of your TV plug-and-play games, but it had a catridge port. The cartridge port allowed extra chips to be contained in the cartidge itself, and things just kind of spiraled upward from there.
Ah the family computer, my 1st console. Whole family played this. Me and my brother after school. Mom and dad at night with tetris and battle city and my grandma during the day with circus charlie. So much good memories and blistered thumbs.
I had a famicom growing up never knowing it was a Japanese version of the NES, my brother had the NES and I was pissed thinking it was some bootleg console lolol
Ch 95-96 for RF, but these guys are pretty easy to mod if you want composite out. You don't need a new power supply, just don't leave it plugged into the wall.
We got that exact model in South America. You can plug it in a VHS player with TV sintonizer and the put channel 2 or 3 to play. Mine came with some games in "memory", so if you turn it on without any cartbridge you can play those games. Some years later I found that the console has a second cart slot and there was a board with the games "in memory", you could replace this board with any other game that is accessed when you turn the console on without a cart in the main slot 😎
In 1991, I played the similar shape called Micro Genius, it is actually a fake Nintendo Famicom, but it actually works. We can play Super Mario Bros., Islander, Battle City, Contra, Bomberman, and more.
Why isn't there an HDMI cable. SMH, they expect you to have an HDMI. That's why I have a Sony switch. The switch isn't made by nintenDON'T, and it does come with an HDMI cable, even though you can't plug it into the switch, you have to use the dock. That's only because Microsoft took the HDMI ports off the system when they broke into Atari headquarters, where they teleported to the Ultimate Sony Base, or USB. They also stole the d-pad unfortunately. Hey, spawnwave, you should do a gaming historian episode on this with JonTron.
I literally have one from my father, who played it as a kid. It was still functional, so that was cool. Sadly, he lost most of the games when he moved into Shenzhen, and all that remained were the Super Mario and The Legend of Zelda. Kind of sad he lost Contra.
On my last trip to Japan I got a used Famicom without guarantee or extras like the box, tv cable or power adapter for 1100¥ (unter 10$). Got it home, bought some adapters etc. and tested it with games I also bought in Japan (100-10000¥, depends on the game). It's working.
alot of people forget Atari screwed things up so bad. that when you said video games they thought you were cursing at retail outlets they wouldn't put them on shelves. rob the robot tricked them into thinking it was a simple toy and the NES was made to look like a VCR to make it not look like a console. saving console industry should be nintendos slogan they continue to do that every other generation.
Lucky! You got the revised model (FC logo on the front and metal slot)! It has a high chance of having a batter jailbar-less PPU after adding AV mod (contraty to that the internet says jailbars are caused by bad revisions of PPU). The box appears to be from an older version though. Do NOT use any kits, they are garbage, there was a decent manual online but was lacking info about adding 2 additional caps underneath the board (it makes the picture much, much better), also please do not butcher the shell, you can easily squize wires through controller holes and it even makes the picture better as sockets do add interference. It might sound crazy but FC has real, really bad video signal and just anything can add drastic interferences to it, really.
It may seem curious for US people, but here in Argentina famicoms and its knock-offs were the standard back then. Almost no one bought the NES as it was way too expensive and cardriges barely available. On the other hand, most japanese games were quite easy to find. I still have a couple of Dragon Ball RPG games and a collection of Kunio-kun games (yes, we were used to menuing and copying passwords in japanese °_°).
this is exactly the same as in the middle east, I remember seen the US NES in a gaming store and it was just too darn expensive, it was hocked to one of the TV running Super Mario World in demo mode, I told they guy working on the store what's the difference between the Famicom and the NES as both play the same games but the NES is far more expensive? and he replied that the NES is more powerful lol! only the rich kids in the block used to have the NES back then 😂
As Frank from Channel 33 RPM would say concerning vinyl records, "records are made to be played." Watching your videos showing what makes the systems fascinates me greatly (yes, I have seen quite a few of them.)
I bought a boxed untested one on ebay from japan for $39.99 and it worked perfectly. It was very very yellowed. I then bought a whiter one for $8 that was listed as Not working. I was going to do a shell swap with the other but when I got the non working one I tried it and after I wiggled the AC port in the back it came on and worked just fine. So under $50 for two working Famicoms one boxed!. I did a video on the boxed one when I got it, bad lighting cause it was one of my first videos.
I have a Famicom top-loader with an Everdrive, I modified it to use a NES Zapper and I love it, I can also load Disk System games with the Everdrive and the extra audio channel is nice with games that support it. Fun fact it was sold and supported in Japan till 2003!
The only thing that comes to mind as to why the controllers are the way they are is that because the average Japanese home was/is much smaller than a western home, space is a commodity and Nintendo knew this. They made the controllers built into the system so that way people and families didn’t have to worry about a place to store the controllers, it’s already built in and stored with the system, no worrying about losing controllers. I could be wrong, but it’d make sense, at least to me. I’m curious to know how would anyone replace the controllers if anything to happened to them. Future video, perhaps?
That came with the wrong RF switch. The Famicom had it's own specially designed switch, though they are cross compatible. Also, you can use the Famicom on an American T.V. via RF by using channel 95 or 96.
Now you have to get the AV Famicom, it's what Nintendo of America took and replaced the AV with RF jack o3o which they must had realize was a mistake as later versions do use AV out. And even rarer is the version that has both AV and a RF jack.
To preserve my old childhood NES, I use a pin adapter on my Twin Famicom to play my NES carts. The Twin Famicom still has wired controllers, so if the controllers work, the cart port part of the system usually does as well. It’s the disk drive that falls apart.
Got one recently myself with a famicom disk system at CORGS (Columbus, OH). First two Tv's and two VCR's did not work. You need channel 95/96 not 1/2. Third TV tuned to 95. You know the box was not sealed now because the rf adapter is not original as someone else mentioned. You can get cheap multicarts for it as well.
I know you are trying to probably put it on a more hi definition tv when you hook it up, but for mine i play it on an old trinitron. Issue is, is Japan's channel 2 or 3 translates honour channels like 96 and 97, and thebold trinitron doesn't go that high. That being said I bypassed THAT issue by hooking it up to a VCR (from the goodwill) and changing the channel on that instead. Good luck hooking it all up. Also side note because it requires so little power when you get a disk system rather than a second power brick you can just get a splitter.
The SNES changed the way we hold controllers with our index fingers on the shoulder buttons. On the NES, your index fingers stayed underneath the controller to brace it as your thumbs pressed the buttons.
There are 2 types of famicom the other famicom does have a detachable controllers and was built in with AV cables. That is the famicom we have during the 90's
Yours is a later model, you can tell from the stylized "FF" logo on the front. Modifying the system for composite video is pretty simple, my dad helped me with it and we got it done in probably 2 hours. Really helps for TV compatibility, since Japan's channel 1 is our channel 95, which isn't commonly accessible.
IGN: 7.9/10 - not enough hammers. But real talk, I always enjoy your teardown videos. I grew up in HK so we had the famicom, but there were so many bootlegs at the time, it was hard to figure out if you were getting an authentic system. Probably explains why Nintendo was forced to introduce a proprietary gamebit for their next systems. But thanks for the trip down memory lane!
I know a lot of people already said the RF switch isn't original, but I'm pretty sure the power adaptor also isn't the original one that came with the unit.
"Famicom"/"Famicon" is the Japanese abbreviation for Family Computer (Fami= Family, Com/Con= Computer) that was popularized by gamers in Japan back in the day and by Famitsu magazine...
I know why the made controller wires so short it's because back in the past they had CRT tvs which are the cube shaped tvs and they were a bit small that people put them on a desk
Damn! Sounds like something my folks would have done! Lol! And Lord forbid if it somehow broke while being applied to that ass! Would have been even worse!
He should've got the AV famicom, has AV built in and detachable controllers, too bad it wasn't at toomanygames probably otherwise he would've bought it
I looked through the comments and no one has mentioned it, so I will! The copyright date on the motherboard said "1989 Nintendo". Was this a later release/revision?
I owned a Famicom back in the 80s since getting a NES in my country at the time was almost impossible since you had to import it from the US. My cousins owned the disk system and owned several games that were never released in the West. There were even porn games.
Oh god, I remember those! My friend had chinese version of famicom and I got Sega master system II (our first consoles). Then we visit vendor and it was like suprise (becuse bootleg games) what we get. Good times.
if you see the earlier commercials for the North American NES you can see they hold their controllers from the bottom maybe thats why the cable came through the side, also the NES controllers in NA have it on the top left...by the time the Super Nintendo came out it had it in the middle because it looks like people adapted to grab the controller with the palms...its something I've always been curious about how to properly grab your controller since the NES controller looks like a TV controller...also if you can see the Genesis controller has three buttons and they are called triggers which fits your three biggest fingers properly like if it was meant to be hold from the bottom like this theory I have with the NES controllers...just something to think about.
I have one on my shelf but it's more of a decoration as the moment. I really need to get it RGB modded, maybe some sort of controller extension mod as well.
We were super lucky to live in Japan in 1985/86 (I was 10) and my Dad bought us Famicom and Disk System which I loved. Somewhere along the way they broke down or got lost but I remember being the envy of all my friends when we brought it back to Australia because the NES hadn't released here yet. So much nostalgia now playing those Famicom games on my Nintendo Switch!
Now you opened pandora box, you have to get the disk system.
and the modem and the light gun ;)
And the 3D System.
You can actually get a great deal on those on Ebay. Had a guy from japan replace the bands for me and give me about 20 replacement bands.
This video remembering my childhood days.... Really loved it now technology has been improved but I love to play with Famicom nice video bro
I predict that excepting any further video content, this lives in a box on his wall. 🙄
that "Nintendo-branded RF" is actually from a NES. The actual Family Computer RF is way different than that.
Is this why i can't get my famicom to work? :( just got it on ebay works in Japan i told seller if he can send me the RF when i buy something else. .. he told me to try sega Rf but doesn't work
Sara love Z z try using a different channel. There’s an article somewhere that shows which channel you should actually use. It’s not channel 2,3, or 4
@@rastasega apparently, there are a few articles which say it will pop up on channel 96, however, there is no sound.
@@criss1234ful a little fine tuning and you’ll get sound
@@segagirladventurespico It's made for Japanese TVs, and while Japan uses basically the same composite video format as the US, their channels are different so a US TV probably won't be able to tune to Japanese RF.
However if you have a newer analog TV that can tune to channels 95-97, those correspond to Japanese channels 1-3. In the US these channels were only used on cable, never broadcast.
Still jealous of when you picked that up at toomanygames lol sweet find 👌
They’re not really rare or expensive
Got mine for 70 n guy had a yellowish one for cheaper in box still also.
I'm surprised that you don't have a VHS player, that's what I use to play old consoles, using the RF in and scart out to the tv via converter.
I heard you can use the vcr i have to try cuz my famicom isnt working
That's cause you can't use a VCR. You have to use a retro crt tv to get video signal. Cause Japanese use different RF signals. So u have to tune your tv to 95 or 96.
Famicom is not a weird console to me as in Malaysia and most South East Asian Country in the late 80s and early 90s, Famicom are sell everywhere like hot cake. The NES is very hard to find back then to be honest in my country generally. Showing this Famicom really bring a lot of nostalgic moment when i still a kid.
most modern tvs still have rf, its how cable hooks up so its not hard to find since you already have the stock converter box
Me: “John, it’s only $200 for a famicon. You should get it. It’s a tax write off”
Spawn: “ok.... I’m going to open it up.”
Me “......or that.”
Giving John a video game system is like giving a child a giant birthday cake: he's gonna get into it and it may just get messy.
Famicoms arent worth that much, it was likely a reseal which is pretty common, mine was a reseal as well(Its still in the shrink because I bought 3 $10 junk systems) I got my complete in the box system for $60
There are people who don't immediately take apart their consoles to see how they work???
Opening it up is kind of what makes it a tax write off..
Famicom*
My first console!! Glad that I had my first gaming experience with it.
Look on your local facebook marketplace for an older TV. People give them away for free all the time rather than pay to recycle them. I actually just picked up a nice 32 inch with an RF port and 2 sets of RCA/AV ports.
I got 7 CRTs of all different sizes for free in like 3 months. If you live in a city they’re super easy to get
I actually saw you at toomanygames spawnwave you were by the smash tournament next to the Mario kart speedrun. I should have said what's up but I missed the opportunity
This was my first console, I still see it in my dreams.
Spawn that isn’t a official famicom RFadapter. Those were white and had those screw holes in it. I’m sure that put the nes one in there for US compatibility
Agreed. Also, his outlet plug isn't original. US power plug wouldn't be included by default.
Robert Finley I have a original set that’s why I know lol.
Japan and the US have the same plug. Japan was making pretty much all the electronics for the US for a few decades. But it is a different plug. The original was black with a small silver rectangle with red writing in Japanese.
It's important to remember when the Famicom was released. In 1983 RF was really the only way to hook up a video game system (or VCR for that matter) on the majority of televisions at the time. A few systems at that time period had their controllers hardwired. Probably the most prominent of them was Mattel's Intellivision. Although they did release a revision that had detachable controllers in the latter half of 1983.
Regarding your complaint about the cord location on the controller: remember that back when this was popular, there were no game controllers with shoulder buttons. The L and R buttons first appeared with later generations of game consoles and handhelds. Most people would tuck all their fingers together about halfway up the back and press buttons from under the bottom or around the side of the lower half. Holding the bottom allowed for easy access to the Start and Select buttons by sliding a hand inward.
The Famicom+Disk System and the white PC-Engine were the two best looking systems ever made.
I already found the converter you would need, though I’m not sure how to send you the link.
DM him the link to him via Twitter
Is his Twitter open to DMs?
Just copy and paste it
Copy and paste it here?
@@ultimatums1 pretty sure that's only if the channel sets it to mark it as spam. I've posted multiple links on videos that's never been marked as spam.
I have about 30 famicoms. Channel 1 is 95 and Channel 2 96 on U.S. televisions. Tv's channel frequencies vary though so some TV's have lots more interference than others. You need to use a nice shielded subwoofer cable (shorter the better) and the Coaxial to RCA adapter and actually you can get a great picture that way. If their is buzz it's generally the mic on controller 2. Simply take the controller apart and use metal polish to polish the slider contact and use rubbing alcohol to clean the board it slides around. If the black electro coating material is worn off simply use a pencil to remark it thick and use a toothpick to bend the little slider springs out for better contact.
In Japan saving space is a high priority so their living rooms are generally much smaller than western style. That's why the controller wire is short and why they come out on the side so that you have a low vertical profile and can store it away on a shelf.
Still think the controllers coming out on the side makes no sense. “A low vertical profile”....... what?!?
@@rap6439 There's a 15 pins expansion port on the front that you can plug in 3rd party controllers with longer wires...I use a Hudson one on mine
I assume you're intended to run the console to the TV with a long wire and the Famicom sits next to the gamer, similar to how the Atari 2600 and other early systems would. (Atari you have to flip all sorts of switches on the console to make the games work) - Nintendo making the controllers long in the US was probably part of the "entertainment center system" look - so you would slot it in with your VCR, and not use it "like a games console".
Always loved the look of the Famicom. Almost prefer this over the American version.
Definitely superior to our top loader.
Fr
This is interesting: the european design!
European NES = the US design
European SNES = the JP design (not the US design)
European machines are PAL. Not sure how they did in France. France got SECAM instead of PAL.
Japanese Zelda 1 on FDS (Famicom Disc System): those LOADING TIMES when Link walks into dungeons! Crazy!
Glad that Zelda 1 was released on cartridge in US/Europe! "No" loading times! Exactly like PlayStation 5 :-)
Sometimes I think about the different audio/music in Zelda 1 for NES and FDS. Which version is best? I think I prefer the NES version.
Have also seen comparisons for Zelda 2 on NES and FDS. Zelda 2 is really really better on NES!
I wish the japanese market could get the NES versions of Zelda 1 and 2!
Riley European Nintendo customers are so lucky! They got the best edition (from US vs JP).
But it's 50 fps and not 60 fps in Europe. PAL you know. Not NTSC. So the music and games are often 10-20 percent slower in Europe, if the games are developed for NTSC and quickly ported to PAL. I've read the "some games" (no idea which ones) that had been ported to PAL has also been adjusted for the 50-60 Hz "thing/problem".
But notice the gamepads for Famicom! Gamepad 1/A got select and start. Gamepad 2/B doesn't have that.
European/JP SNES looks sooooooo good!!!
Also love Nintendo 64! Finally same console design in all regions!
I would say that Nintendo 64 is the best looking Nintendo console of all time! But the N64 Gamepad is horrible.
A dream: the N64 chassi and Switch's internals and possibility for crazy much storage! No big need for 4K gaming graphics. Better to focus on good framerate for 1080p!
@@cjeelde That's probably because they added a lot of QoL features during the FDS to NES conversion. Same thing with the transition from Doki Doki Panic to Super Mario Bros 2. Lol
Man, this brings back so many memories. I still have my original Famicom from back then and it still works. :D I have over 200 games for it. I have some 5 in 1, 10 in 1, 100 in 1 and my biggest 1000 in 1 game cartridges. The dance floor pads, the boxing game suite. the zapper gun and some many other peripherals made for it back then. My Famicom thought I painted it black so it would be unique. Those were the days. :D
Protip: if you ever intend to hook it up to an old CRT, you'll need to set it to channel 98/99 due to that being the frequency equivalent to Japanese channel 1/2.
That’s IF your crt can go to those channels at all
95/96
95/96*
The Mic is used in the Famicom version of The Legend of Zelda, where in the manual it says that certain enemies are sensitive to sound. :)
Nice video, quick correction: the 72 pin connector on the NES isn’t the reason they blink. The lock out chip goes bad on 90% of NES. Open it up, cut a single pin on the chip, and your NES will load games every time and won’t blink anymore. Disabling the chip causes the NES to load games as easily as a SNES, N64, etc.
SHUT UP I’VE MADE MILLIONS OF DOLLARS SELLING NEW 72 PIN CONNECTORS TO PEOPLE!
NOBODY LISTEN TO THIS GUY!
Great video! Thank you. I am in Japan right now and these sell at resale shops for $12 each and games are about $2 each. After seeing your video I will have to grab one! Thank you
I too picked up a Famicom about a year ago along with a disk system (for the complete package) and as I held it in my hands I couldn't help thinking about what little Japanese kids once sat in his parents livingroom playing Mario, Zelda, or Dragon Quest on it.
nostalgic. I remember having one and playing super Mario bros for the first time. we weren't allowed to use it on the color TV and so me and my bros only played it on black and white
I had several Famicoms during the years. Your Revision is a newer one, you can see it based on the metal shielding at the cartridge slot. I guess the model must be manifactured around 1988,1989. Older ones had just the blue plastic pin connector.
Spawn Wave When Playing Famicom: I Can't wait to scream into the microphone to kill the poll's voice.
It doesn’t sound like he’s even aware of that yet.
Yeah but, it was as a joke also, I wanted to see who got the reference. So Congrats Tim Walden! xD
Whenever you buy used consoles (and most other items) from shops in Japan, they wrap it in cellophane.
Whenever you see something janky about the Famicom, like the side cord on controllers or the really loud power button, you have to remember that when they made this system, nobody knew it was going to be successful. It was essentially the equivalent of your TV plug-and-play games, but it had a catridge port. The cartridge port allowed extra chips to be contained in the cartidge itself, and things just kind of spiraled upward from there.
I wish the bright red and beige and brass was Nintendo's official color scheme for every hardware thing they do.
Wow that Famicom is truly a fossil of gaming history. Good shit!
I JUST NOW learned what "Famicom" means...Family Computer. 🤯
I thought it was mini version, not the actual original. Nice.
So you're telling me your television doesn't have coaxial input? I mean I don't know what TV you have but I would think that all still do.
Even new tv's has it, myb4k tv has coaxial, and you need channel 3,4
Guillermo Vanegas famicom needs channel 1 or 2
With the all the video games and systems this guy has he doesn't have an older TV? Lol
Japan's channel 2/3 is equivalent to our 96/97, I learned that when i had to get my famicom going
@@alientech8673 TVs today have Channel 1 and 2 so I don't know why he doesn't think he can hook it up
Ah the family computer, my 1st console. Whole family played this. Me and my brother after school. Mom and dad at night with tetris and battle city and my grandma during the day with circus charlie. So much good memories and blistered thumbs.
I had a famicom growing up never knowing it was a Japanese version of the NES, my brother had the NES and I was pissed thinking it was some bootleg console lolol
I got my Famicom and Disk System a few months back. Here’s a tip: download Google Translate and you can translate the Japanese in real-time. 👍
They make RF converters and you can pick one up at Walmart
hmh. you could just do holes for controller wires on the front of the device and make them a bit longer.
"We did a Panasonic Q recently..."
*lip twitches*
I see you're still suffering PTSD from how much of a pain that was inside! 😂
Ch 95-96 for RF, but these guys are pretty easy to mod if you want composite out. You don't need a new power supply, just don't leave it plugged into the wall.
We got that exact model in South America.
You can plug it in a VHS player with TV sintonizer and the put channel 2 or 3 to play.
Mine came with some games in "memory", so if you turn it on without any cartbridge you can play those games.
Some years later I found that the console has a second cart slot and there was a board with the games "in memory", you could replace this board with any other game that is accessed when you turn the console on without a cart in the main slot 😎
In 1991, I played the similar shape called Micro Genius, it is actually a fake Nintendo Famicom, but it actually works. We can play Super Mario Bros., Islander, Battle City, Contra, Bomberman, and more.
Look, growing up in 90's South Africa, we had a Famicom, but the cables on the controllers were longer and they also had "turbo" buttons on them.
I hope this Famicom box joins the rest on your wall!
Lol. You must be new here lol. Thanks for sharing. Curious how much did it cost?
Also curious about that
I know it's the wrong place to look but I saw a couple for sale on EBay for 30 bucks
I saw one at a used game store with a couple games included for like $90
@@billcook4768 not nececerally, I got mine on ebay for $60, you just need to keep your eye out on the Japanese sellers =-}
"you know you're turning this thing on when you hit it like that" - awwe yeahhh
Why isn't there an HDMI cable. SMH, they expect you to have an HDMI. That's why I have a Sony switch. The switch isn't made by nintenDON'T, and it does come with an HDMI cable, even though you can't plug it into the switch, you have to use the dock. That's only because Microsoft took the HDMI ports off the system when they broke into Atari headquarters, where they teleported to the Ultimate Sony Base, or USB. They also stole the d-pad unfortunately. Hey, spawnwave, you should do a gaming historian episode on this with JonTron.
I literally have one from my father, who played it as a kid. It was still functional, so that was cool. Sadly, he lost most of the games when he moved into Shenzhen, and all that remained were the Super Mario and The Legend of Zelda. Kind of sad he lost Contra.
That was my NES. Fond memories playing "Bad dudes" and Zelda.
The 1st console in my gaming life!!!!
On my last trip to Japan I got a used Famicom without guarantee or extras like the box, tv cable or power adapter for 1100¥ (unter 10$). Got it home, bought some adapters etc. and tested it with games I also bought in Japan (100-10000¥, depends on the game). It's working.
alot of people forget Atari screwed things up so bad. that when you said video games they thought you were cursing at retail outlets they wouldn't put them on shelves. rob the robot tricked them into thinking it was a simple toy and the NES was made to look like a VCR to make it not look like a console. saving console industry should be nintendos slogan they continue to do that every other generation.
Lucky! You got the revised model (FC logo on the front and metal slot)! It has a high chance of having a batter jailbar-less PPU after adding AV mod (contraty to that the internet says jailbars are caused by bad revisions of PPU). The box appears to be from an older version though. Do NOT use any kits, they are garbage, there was a decent manual online but was lacking info about adding 2 additional caps underneath the board (it makes the picture much, much better), also please do not butcher the shell, you can easily squize wires through controller holes and it even makes the picture better as sockets do add interference. It might sound crazy but FC has real, really bad video signal and just anything can add drastic interferences to it, really.
It may seem curious for US people, but here in Argentina famicoms and its knock-offs were the standard back then. Almost no one bought the NES as it was way too expensive and cardriges barely available. On the other hand, most japanese games were quite easy to find. I still have a couple of Dragon Ball RPG games and a collection of Kunio-kun games (yes, we were used to menuing and copying passwords in japanese °_°).
this is exactly the same as in the middle east, I remember seen the US NES in a gaming store and it was just too darn expensive, it was hocked to one of the TV running Super Mario World in demo mode, I told they guy working on the store what's the difference between the Famicom and the NES as both play the same games but the NES is far more expensive? and he replied that the NES is more powerful lol!
only the rich kids in the block used to have the NES back then 😂
@@anasbakhit4303 well, let's say he tried to sell it to you ^_^
As Frank from Channel 33 RPM would say concerning vinyl records, "records are made to be played." Watching your videos showing what makes the systems fascinates me greatly (yes, I have seen quite a few of them.)
I played a Famicom when I was in Japan. One of the AirBnbs I stayed in had several game systems and games.
Timestamps
0:00 I bought a famicom
@@skipeveryday7282 well my sister does
Wait... what?
@@yamiii 😂😂😂😂
@@yamiii Best come back I've seen in ages
I bought a boxed untested one on ebay from japan for $39.99 and it worked perfectly. It was very very yellowed. I then bought a whiter one for $8 that was listed as Not working. I was going to do a shell swap with the other but when I got the non working one I tried it and after I wiggled the AC port in the back it came on and worked just fine. So under $50 for two working Famicoms one boxed!. I did a video on the boxed one when I got it, bad lighting cause it was one of my first videos.
I have a Famicom top-loader with an Everdrive, I modified it to use a NES Zapper and I love it, I can also load Disk System games with the Everdrive and the extra audio channel is nice with games that support it. Fun fact it was sold and supported in Japan till 2003!
By top-loader I mean the Famicom Model 2 (HVC101)
The mic works in LoZ for the rabbit bad guys. Spose to make a noise and it gets them gone. Impossible to do for NES since it had no mic.
You really know your turning this thing on when you hit it 😂😂😂😂
You turn it on when you hit the switch
The only thing that comes to mind as to why the controllers are the way they are is that because the average Japanese home was/is much smaller than a western home, space is a commodity and Nintendo knew this. They made the controllers built into the system so that way people and families didn’t have to worry about a place to store the controllers, it’s already built in and stored with the system, no worrying about losing controllers.
I could be wrong, but it’d make sense, at least to me.
I’m curious to know how would anyone replace the controllers if anything to happened to them. Future video, perhaps?
this is what i used to have back in the 90s in the philippines
That came with the wrong RF switch. The Famicom had it's own specially designed switch, though they are cross compatible. Also, you can use the Famicom on an American T.V. via RF by using channel 95 or 96.
Now you have to get the AV Famicom, it's what Nintendo of America took and replaced the AV with RF jack o3o which they must had realize was a mistake as later versions do use AV out. And even rarer is the version that has both AV and a RF jack.
RF still works on any TV. Just plug it into your antenna port. The issue might be that it's pal or some different method of encoding.
To preserve my old childhood NES, I use a pin adapter on my Twin Famicom to play my NES carts. The Twin Famicom still has wired controllers, so if the controllers work, the cart port part of the system usually does as well. It’s the disk drive that falls apart.
Got one recently myself with a famicom disk system at CORGS (Columbus, OH). First two Tv's and two VCR's did not work. You need channel 95/96 not 1/2. Third TV tuned to 95. You know the box was not sealed now because the rf adapter is not original as someone else mentioned. You can get cheap multicarts for it as well.
I know you are trying to probably put it on a more hi definition tv when you hook it up, but for mine i play it on an old trinitron. Issue is, is Japan's channel 2 or 3 translates honour channels like 96 and 97, and thebold trinitron doesn't go that high. That being said I bypassed THAT issue by hooking it up to a VCR (from the goodwill) and changing the channel on that instead. Good luck hooking it all up. Also side note because it requires so little power when you get a disk system rather than a second power brick you can just get a splitter.
The SNES changed the way we hold controllers with our index fingers on the shoulder buttons. On the NES, your index fingers stayed underneath the controller to brace it as your thumbs pressed the buttons.
Well I guess u wouldn't need to replace a controller unless the actual cord was damaged. You can just take it apart and replace parts
There are 2 types of famicom the other famicom does have a detachable controllers and was built in with AV cables. That is the famicom we have during the 90's
Yours is a later model, you can tell from the stylized "FF" logo on the front. Modifying the system for composite video is pretty simple, my dad helped me with it and we got it done in probably 2 hours. Really helps for TV compatibility, since Japan's channel 1 is our channel 95, which isn't commonly accessible.
IGN: 7.9/10 - not enough hammers.
But real talk, I always enjoy your teardown videos. I grew up in HK so we had the famicom, but there were so many bootlegs at the time, it was hard to figure out if you were getting an authentic system. Probably explains why Nintendo was forced to introduce a proprietary gamebit for their next systems.
But thanks for the trip down memory lane!
I know a lot of people already said the RF switch isn't original, but I'm pretty sure the power adaptor also isn't the original one that came with the unit.
"Famicom"/"Famicon" is the Japanese abbreviation for Family Computer (Fami= Family, Com/Con= Computer) that was popularized by gamers in Japan back in the day and by Famitsu magazine...
This was also sold in Mexico. Not sure if officially lol but people in Mexico had this one.
That’s an American RF switch. The Japanese was different. You can’t use a Japanese from switch with a US tv, so that’s why it was in there
Just got my own Famicom AV modded... can't wait to hook it up tonight :)
It was there at home when I was a child, didn't knew what it was back then now I know 😂
It's 2:30 in the morning and I just found this guy and I can't stop watching his videos
I've got one (AV modded) and love it. There's tons of great games for it and it's way cheaper than NES.
Keep up with the awesome shirts
Mind telling where you get those gems ?
I know why the made controller wires so short it's because back in the past they had CRT tvs which are the cube shaped tvs and they were a bit small that people put them on a desk
As a kid my mom once beat my ass with the cord of a Nintendo controller because I threw it at my sister in a zelda rage quit... ahh the memories
Damn! Sounds like something my folks would have done! Lol! And Lord forbid if it somehow broke while being applied to that ass! Would have been even worse!
@@myretroworld1121 lol yeah that would've been my fault somehow
Those were the days! Did you ever feel the scorn of orange Hot Wheels track across your ass or back? 😂
@@NeonKnight83 I've grown to hate toys! Lol!
@@NeonKnight83 hahahaha no but I can imagine it sucked
He should've got the AV famicom, has AV built in and detachable controllers, too bad it wasn't at toomanygames probably otherwise he would've bought it
This is what we used to play with in Kuwait 🇰🇼 in the 80’s and 90’s the famicom
I looked through the comments and no one has mentioned it, so I will! The copyright date on the motherboard said "1989 Nintendo". Was this a later release/revision?
RF unit is the US version, Japanese one is different, and that Power Supply is 3rd party.
Funny you post this video today because i got a family computer mini today 👍
The top loading nes was missing the av ports .. but it took the same cables as the snes .. so you could still get that output
I also got one, that same model. In 1988. My first game was Mighty Bomb Jack. Good times
I owned a Famicom back in the 80s since getting a NES in my country at the time was almost impossible since you had to import it from the US. My cousins owned the disk system and owned several games that were never released in the West. There were even porn games.
Oh god, I remember those! My friend had chinese version of famicom and I got Sega master system II (our first consoles).
Then we visit vendor and it was like suprise (becuse bootleg games) what we get. Good times.
Pretty nice system. The RF is not the one that came with the famicom, it's the one that came with the NES. The RF that came with it is white.
if you see the earlier commercials for the North American NES you can see they hold their controllers from the bottom maybe thats why the cable came through the side, also the NES controllers in NA have it on the top left...by the time the Super Nintendo came out it had it in the middle because it looks like people adapted to grab the controller with the palms...its something I've always been curious about how to properly grab your controller since the NES controller looks like a TV controller...also if you can see the Genesis controller has three buttons and they are called triggers which fits your three biggest fingers properly like if it was meant to be hold from the bottom like this theory I have with the NES controllers...just something to think about.
I have one on my shelf but it's more of a decoration as the moment. I really need to get it RGB modded, maybe some sort of controller extension mod as well.