Famicom shells are finally available! The shells are inspired by the shells commonly used by Koei games. We picked this style for a couple of reasons. First is the shell is secured together with four screws. One of the big challenges with making any Famicom games is dealing with the snaps that hold the shell together. The second reason is the design gives plenty of room for various DIY board designs. We don't yet have a date for release, but are hoping to be producing these before the end of the year.
(https://www.muramasaentertainment.com/wp-content/uploads/shared/fcworld/fc_shell_group.png)
You can find them here. (https://www.muramasaentertainment.com/product-category/new-game-components/nes-game-components/nes-fc-supporting-components/famicom-cartridge-shells/)
What good would shells be without PCBs? Pcbs can be found here. (https://www.muramasaentertainment.com/product-category/new-game-components/nes-game-components/fc-pcbs/)
(https://www.muramasaentertainment.com/wp-content/uploads/shared/fcworld/fc_nrom_v1.0_wm.png)
(https://www.muramasaentertainment.com/wp-content/uploads/shared/fcworld/fc_discrete_basic_v1.01_wm.png)
(https://www.muramasaentertainment.com/wp-content/uploads/shared/fcworld/fc_unrom_512_v1.0_wm.png)
Great update to read through - I think the MMC5 shell design is the right choice. Are you making these in any colours other than grey? Or is that Black in a lightbox?! :bub:
Quote from: L___E___T on October 24, 2019, 09:50:28 am
Great update to read through - I think the MMC5 shell design is the right choice. Are you making these in any colours other than grey? Or is that Black in a lightbox?! :bub:
The sample is actually black. I definitely struggled on the lighting on this, and just gave up so I could get the picture taken. I'm planning to do Red, Blue, Grey, Black, White, and maybe Green. For the initial batch.
And what about price? Both shells and PCBs.
Quote from: 80sFREAK on October 24, 2019, 10:43:55 pm
And what about price? Both shells and PCBs.
I still haven't finalized prices on shells. PCBs will be similar to the NES counterparts on my site. www.muramasaentertainment.com
cool ! and you products are with very attractive prices :) :coin:
Me too - looking to pick up a shell if you are likely to get any other colours?
Quick update. After a lot of trouble I finally have color samples in hand.
(https://www.muramasaentertainment.com/wp-content/uploads/shared/fcworld/color_sample.png)
It's great that we can finally have Famicom versions of repro cartridges. I'm mainly interested in NROM (most useful for basic programs and games) and SxROM with battery (most useful for most types of games) or possibly TxROM. A repro MMC5 with expansion audio would also be great if we could have that one day.
I see you are using AX5904 MMC1 clones and AX5202P MMC3 clones. Are these new old stock or something?
Quote from: P on April 04, 2020, 08:08:56 amIt's great that we can finally have Famicom versions of repro cartridges. I'm mainly interested in NROM (most useful for basic programs and games) and SxROM with battery (most useful for most types of games) or possibly TxROM. A repro MMC5 with expansion audio would also be great if we could have that one day.
I see you are using AX5904 MMC1 clones and AX5202P MMC3 clones. Are these new old stock or something?
Yes the AX5904 and AX5202 are new old stock. Eventually I would like to do an implementation in a CPLD.
I'm mainly interested in MMC5 and some MMC3. I don't know if the shell can accommodate both popular PCB designs.
The colours look great - how close is the red / maroon to the Famicom famous colour?
Favourites in order for me, would be:
- purple
- maroon
- gray
- blue
- yellow
- pink
- green (would rather it was a bit darker like Zelda 1 boxart if I'm being picky)
Really looking forward to when these are available.
Quote from: L___E___T on April 06, 2020, 09:01:52 amI'm mainly interested in MMC5 and some MMC3. I don't know if the shell can accommodate both popular PCB designs.
Not sure when a MMC5 board will be availble. It's outside of my skill range at the moment.
Quote from: L___E___T on April 06, 2020, 09:01:52 amThe colours look great - how close is the red / maroon to the Famicom famous colour?
Favourites in order for me, would be:
- purple
- maroon
- gray
- blue
- yellow
- pink
- green (would rather it was a bit darker like Zelda 1 boxart if I'm being picky)
Really looking forward to when these are available.
Yeah I asked them to match the famicom red, and I think it worked out pretty well. I went back and forth between doing a forest green like the first zelda cart, and a Luigi green. I ended up going with the luigi green for this first one, but if things go well I hope to add more colors.
All colours look great to be fair - I'm surprised you have all these options!
https://twitter.com/muramasa_ninja/status/1270134171495620610
Made a quick video. Coming very soon!
Got some the first color samples of actual shells and took some quick pictures.
(https://www.muramasaentertainment.com/wp-content/uploads/shared/fcworld/grey_sample.jpg)
(https://www.muramasaentertainment.com/wp-content/uploads/shared/fcworld/red_sample.jpg)
Wow, that red shell... Definitely ordering that for an Everdrive to go in!
Will the Everdrive fit though?
If it doesn't fit out the box I can make it fit snugly.
Quote from: P on June 16, 2020, 01:55:21 amWill the Everdrive fit though?
So it should fit. We both started with the same shell. So I imagine there would be no problems.
Also we have some more color samples getting close now.
Got some the first color samples of actual shells and took some quick pictures.
(https://www.muramasaentertainment.com/wp-content/uploads/shared/fcworld/yellow_sample.jpg)
(https://www.muramasaentertainment.com/wp-content/uploads/shared/fcworld/blue_sample.jpg)
(https://www.muramasaentertainment.com/wp-content/uploads/shared/fcworld/green_sample.jpg)
They look awesome! :D
Available now. Just updated the first post.
Awesome - been looking forward to getting some of these for ages. I also wanted to buy the NES Extended Famicom Converter, but that's out of stock in black.
I checked the other colours and it made me wonder how easy it would be to get one in a deep red / maroon shell like you have for the Famicom carts?
Just a thought, no biggie :)
Quote from: L___E___T on July 04, 2020, 06:55:34 amAwesome - been looking forward to getting some of these for ages. I also wanted to buy the NES Extended Famicom Converter, but that's out of stock in black.
I checked the other colours and it made me wonder how easy it would be to get one in a deep red / maroon shell like you have for the Famicom carts?
Just a thought, no biggie :)
So at the moment the colors I have I can only use with my own mold. I am hoping to do another mold soon, but am not sure about doing NES. The big problem with doing a NES Mold is that there are already 5 other molds that I can think of and two of them are in China which will be tough to compete with.
Ah finally 60-pin repro cartridges are here! Only NROM, CNROM and UxROM so far (which are not bad though), and no battery backed SRAM yet, but I guess that's coming?
I like that you use Nintendo's notation for nametable orientation (V and H) instead of the dreaded backwards-thinking H and V "mirroring" more commonly used in the scene.
Quote from: muramasa on July 04, 2020, 09:52:14 pmSo at the moment the colors I have I can only use with my own mold. I am hoping to do another mold soon, but am not sure about doing NES. The big problem with doing a NES Mold is that there are already 5 other molds that I can think of and two of them are in China which will be tough to compete with.
Yeah there are a lot of NES alternatives already. But what about MSX? It has quite a large and active homebrew scene (naturally because it's a computer meant to be programmed) and cartridges are getting much rarer and more expensive than Famicom cartridges, making it hard to use donors. There shouldn't be that that much competition. I haven't found anyone making MSX cartridge shells in a long time anyway, and I would like to be able to make my own ROM cartridges of my creations. Besides it would be nice to be able to make SRAM cartridges (used by some games to save) as well since they are expensive. There is one by Konami used by Konami games and one by Panasonic.
Cartridge front (https://ibb.co/CzJf3pZ)
Cartridge back (https://ibb.co/7QKyJSD)
MSX cartridges are often generic and easy to open like this Hydlide here which just uses two screws. But there are exceptions like Konami cartridges which uses tabs like Famicom cartridges do.
Board solder side (https://ibb.co/WsYyw5S)
Board front (https://i.ibb.co/1vcBc2V/board-front2.jpg)
Hydlide has a simple mapperless board with a 32 kB one-time programmable EPROM. ;D Mask ROMs are not as common as on Famicom carts.
ASCII cartridge front (https://ibb.co/ngy7tYD)
Some carts like Star Command here has a funny spring-loaded edge-connector protector that is forced in when sliding in the cartridge.
Quote from: P on July 16, 2020, 01:25:07 pmAh finally 60-pin repro cartridges are here! Only NROM, CNROM and UxROM so far (which are not bad though), and no battery backed SRAM yet, but I guess that's coming?
I like that you use Nintendo's notation for nametable orientation (V and H) instead of the dreaded backwards-thinking H and V "mirroring" more commonly used in the scene.
Yeah there are a lot of NES alternatives already. But what about MSX? It has quite a large and active homebrew scene (naturally because it's a computer meant to be programmed) and cartridges are getting much rarer and more expensive than Famicom cartridges, making it hard to use donors. There shouldn't be that that much competition. I haven't found anyone making MSX cartridge shells in a long time anyway, and I would like to be able to make my own ROM cartridges of my creations. Besides it would be nice to be able to make SRAM cartridges (used by some games to save) as well since they are expensive. There is one by Konami used by Konami games and one by Panasonic.
I hadn't actually considered MSX because someone in Korea has already made a mold for cartridges. I haven't actually sourced any yet but plan to at some point. I figured I would try some MSX boards if I can get them.
Still thinking on my next project. Haven't had too much time to dig into it yet. The original plan was to feed money from the Famicom shells into the next thing but right now they are selling too slow for that to work. I might try crowdfunding to make sure there is actual demand but still in the planning phase.
I remember there were cases from Korea years ago, but I never figured out how to get them.
There are a number of flashcarts and other newly-produced cartridge-slot hardware so I guess someone must be doing the cases for them. There's MSX Repro Factory, which has breadboard cartridges with case, but they have been out of stock for a long time.
Universal Mega Drive cartridge cases is another alternative, since you already have boards for them but no cases from what I can see.
About sales going slow, what about adding the tutorial the website is promising. I think it would be a good alternative to donors for people that just want to make repro cartridges of games, hacks and translations, but are not sure what things you need.
Quote from: P on July 23, 2020, 01:53:00 pmI remember there were cases from Korea years ago, but I never figured out how to get them.
There are a number of flashcarts and other newly-produced cartridge-slot hardware so I guess someone must be doing the cases for them. There's MSX Repro Factory, which has breadboard cartridges with case, but they have been out of stock for a long time.
I think I saved an email for the creator and will try finding it again and see if the creator can still sell either shells or possibly the tooling.
Quote from: P on July 23, 2020, 01:53:00 pmUniversal Mega Drive cartridge cases is another alternative, since you already have boards for them but no cases from what I can see.
My understanding is someone is working on one. The pictures I saw looked really promising. I'm not sure entirely what their plans are for them yet.
Quote from: P on July 23, 2020, 01:53:00 pmAbout sales going slow, what about adding the tutorial the website is promising. I think it would be a good alternative to donors for people that just want to make repro cartridges of games, hacks and translations, but are not sure what things you need.
Tutorials are definitely high on my list of things to get done. I've long heard that there are people that would love to get into this as a hobby that aren't sure where to start.