Famicom World

Family Computer => Famicom / Disk System => Topic started by: karaokeninja on August 10, 2016, 10:48:55 pm

Title: NES Games That Don't Support External Controllers on Famicom?
Post by: karaokeninja on August 10, 2016, 10:48:55 pm
Hi folks. So I got my Twin Famicom recently and I got a NES-to-Famicom pin converter deal and I've been going through my collection of NES games and trying them out of the Twin Fami. The Twin Fami, like the original Famicom, has a port on it to plug in external controllers. I have a converter that allows me to use NES controllers with that external controller port. So far so good. I tried a number of games this way and they worked just fine. Then I discovered something weird: some of the NES games do not support the external controller on a Famicom.

Here's a list of games I tested that did not support the external controller port:

Captain Skyhawk
Ironsword: Wizards & Warriors II
Anticipation
Super Glove Ball
Tom & Jerry
Vs. Super Mario Bros. (the Retrozone cartridge)

I've noticed that most of the games on the list are developed by Rare, though one is by Software Creations / Hi Tech Expressions, and one is a homebrewed conversion of an arcade title.

Is there any rhyme or reason to this? Seems like they were all Western developed games (well, if you count Vs. SMB by Retrozone as Western) and maybe that's the commonality? I tried a bunch of other games that worked fine including the original Super Mario Bros./Duck Hunt, Super Mario Bros. 3, Strider, Double Dragon, and so on.

Obviously this doesn't affect people with AV Famicoms, but it's definitely an issue on Twin Famicom.

Does anyone have any insight into this?
Title: Re: NES Games That Don't Support External Controllers on Famicom?
Post by: Ghegs on August 11, 2016, 12:47:53 am
Some other threads about the same issue:

http://www.famicomworld.com/forum/index.php?topic=12820.0

http://www.famicomworld.com/forum/index.php?topic=6701.0

Title: Re: NES Games That Don't Support External Controllers on Famicom?
Post by: lobdale on August 11, 2016, 06:39:29 am
This is one of the main reasons I swapped out my usual OG Famicom daily driver for an AV.
Title: Re: NES Games That Don't Support External Controllers on Famicom?
Post by: karaokeninja on August 11, 2016, 08:53:19 pm
Ah, very interesting! Thanks very much!
Title: Re: NES Games That Don't Support External Controllers on Famicom?
Post by: aitsu124 on September 02, 2016, 07:57:39 am
Mostly off-topic, but where did you get that converter, and how much did it cost?
Title: Re: NES Games That Don't Support External Controllers on Famicom?
Post by: karaokeninja on September 02, 2016, 09:07:11 am
$13ish from some Amazon seller.