Famicom World

Family Computer => Famicom / Disk System => Topic started by: vealchop on August 31, 2006, 01:52:48 pm

Title: Pulse line carts
Post by: vealchop on August 31, 2006, 01:52:48 pm
Here's a list of all the known pulse line carts released by Nintendo:

Japan (in order of release)
Donkey Kong
Donkey Kong Jr.
Popeye
Gomokunarabe
Mah-Jong
Mario Bros.
Popeye English
Baseball
Donkey Kong Jr. Math
Tennis
Pinball
Golf
Donkey Kong 3
Devil World

Hong Kong/Taiwan (alphabetical)
Baseball
Donkey Kong Jr. Math
Excite Bike
F1 Race
Urban Champion
Title: Re: Pulse line carts
Post by: JC on August 31, 2006, 01:57:19 pm
I've got Baseball and DK Jr., I think.
Title: Re: Pulse line carts
Post by: Doc on August 31, 2006, 01:58:10 pm
I've got Donkey Kong Jr. Math myself.
Title: Re: Pulse line carts
Post by: vealchop on August 31, 2006, 02:04:40 pm
"I've got Donkey Kong Jr. Math myself. "

that you're looking to sell?

Are you the one that bought it off featherplukin a few months ago? He was selling that in the box and everything in REALLY nice condition, actually maybe that was the Popeye English game I can't remember!
Title: Re: Pulse line carts
Post by: Doc on August 31, 2006, 02:07:20 pm
Not complete, I have it loose. Some stains, but still works very very well.
Title: Re: Pulse line carts
Post by: JC on September 02, 2006, 10:30:08 pm
Anyone have a list of all the cassette line carts?
Title: Re: Pulse line carts
Post by: vealchop on September 03, 2006, 07:29:45 am
Mario Bros
Tennis
Baseball
Pinball
Donkey Kong
Donkey Kong Jr.
Donkey Kong Jr. Math
Donkey Kong 3
Popeye
Popeye English
Mah-Jong
Gomokunarabe
Devil World
Golf
Title: Re: Pulse line carts
Post by: Doc on September 03, 2006, 11:45:05 am
I believe Nuts & Milk was a Cassette Line game aswell.
Title: Re: Pulse line carts
Post by: vealchop on September 03, 2006, 02:40:13 pm
Nuts & Milk was made by Hudson so I don't think it was part of the "cassette line" series. The cassette line series of games were all made internally by Nintendo R&D. Although the art on the game cart does in a way resemble the cassette line art, instead it looks like it spells out "Hu" rather than a pulse line like on the "cassette line" carts.
Title: Re: Pulse line carts
Post by: JC on September 03, 2006, 03:21:47 pm
Hey Vealchop. What are the HVC codes on those cassette line carts you've got?
Title: Re: Pulse line carts
Post by: vealchop on September 03, 2006, 05:03:34 pm
Mah-Jong - HVC-MJ
Gomokunarabe - HVC-GO
Popeye - HVC-PP
Baseball - HVC-BA
Tennis - HVC-TE
Donkey Kong - HVC-DK
Devil World - HVC-DD
Donkey Kong Jr. - HVC-JR
Golf - HVC-GF
Pinball - HVC-PN
Title: Re: Pulse line carts
Post by: JC on September 03, 2006, 05:09:30 pm
Thanks. :D
Title: Re: Pulse line carts
Post by: Doc on September 03, 2006, 05:39:18 pm
Quote from: vealchop on September 03, 2006, 02:40:13 pm
Nuts & Milk was made by Hudson so I don't think it was part of the "cassette line" series. The cassette line series of games were all made internally by Nintendo R&D. Although the art on the game cart does in a way resemble the cassette line art, instead it looks like it spells out "Hu" rather than a pulse line like on the "cassette line" carts.


Hmm...I'll have to look into that.

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You're correct. :D
Title: Re: Pulse line carts
Post by: vealchop on September 04, 2006, 07:43:21 am
It's different, but they definately designed the art on the cart to closely resemble the cassette line. I guess at the beginning they figured all the carts were going to look that way and in order to align themselves closely with nintendo, they made a similar design. Marketing!
Title: Re: Pulse line carts
Post by: KennyB on September 04, 2006, 11:53:12 am
Can someone give me a small explanation what the cassette line series are ?  :)
Title: Re: Pulse line carts
Post by: JC on September 04, 2006, 12:02:28 pm
These are the "cassette line" carts. They're the first released games for the Famicom and the label all had the same design, with the pulse line stretching from one end to the other. Someone posted a list of them above.

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Title: Re: Pulse line carts
Post by: Doc on September 04, 2006, 12:06:21 pm
Quote from: vealchop on September 04, 2006, 07:43:21 am
It's different, but they definately designed the art on the cart to closely resemble the cassette line. I guess at the beginning they figured all the carts were going to look that way and in order to align themselves closely with nintendo, they made a similar design. Marketing!


I think it looks cool. :)

And that's a nice shot of the Baseball cart, JC. Is that yours? If so, I can do a review before I go...PM ME!
Title: Re: Pulse line carts
Post by: JC on September 04, 2006, 12:55:06 pm
vealchop, did you arrange your list in an particular order, such as release? It's certainly not alphabetical.
Title: Re: Pulse line carts
Post by: Doc on September 04, 2006, 01:49:51 pm
Maybe in the order of what games were in a collection box? My collection isn't in order, I went by what came out of my box first.
Title: Re: Pulse line carts
Post by: JC on September 04, 2006, 03:40:45 pm
Can anyone confirm that "Sansuu Asobi" is the same as Donkey Kong Jr. Math?
Title: Re: Pulse line carts
Post by: vealchop on September 04, 2006, 07:08:44 pm
Here's a quick shot of my "cassette line" collection:

[Removed]

Also JC, not to be a dick or anything, but if thats a shot of your Baseball "cassette line" cart, I think it might be a pirate. I've never seen them with "family computer" written on the top in English.
Title: Re: Pulse line carts
Post by: JC on September 04, 2006, 07:26:36 pm
No problem -- the Baseball cart is a piece of shit anyway. Maybe a variation, tho? Damn. I hate having to start thinking about variations; FW is still so young and we're gonna pop that cherry, aren't we? :-\

Thanks for the pic. If you wouldn't mind, I'd love to have a pic of each one individually (uncropped/unresized) so that I could post them with the piece I put up on the cassette lines. If you have time: jc@famicomworld.com.
Title: Re: Pulse line carts
Post by: Doc on September 05, 2006, 02:50:55 pm
It's a variation. For some reason, Nintendo made TONS of color variations to its Baseball cartridge. Both of yours are legit and real.
Title: Re: Pulse line carts
Post by: JC on September 05, 2006, 03:11:21 pm
Ah shit, vealchop. If what JL is saying is true, you've got some work to do on that collection of yours. :D
Title: Re: Pulse line carts
Post by: Doc on September 05, 2006, 03:43:39 pm
I'm pretty sure there's purple and green variants...and more. :D
Title: Re: Pulse line carts
Post by: vealchop on September 05, 2006, 06:41:49 pm
I dunno. I work in advertising, and I know Nintendo always used Avant Garde fonts when spelling out "Family Computer" in english. Using a regular font like the one on JC's isn't something a big company like that would approve of, which is why it leads me to believe its a pirate. I'm challenging you on the cassette line variants though! I need to see some proof! hahaha
Title: Re: Pulse line carts
Post by: JC on September 05, 2006, 07:17:11 pm
Ok. So I figured the only way to know for sure was to open the cart...

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:D Looks like JL was right! And I got myself another HVC code!

EDIT: I think it was by year of release. My 1984 DK has Family Computer in Japanese, while the 1983 Baseball has it in English. That doesn't make sense...you think it'd be the other way around.
Title: Re: Pulse line carts
Post by: vealchop on September 05, 2006, 07:50:14 pm
Okay, here's may theory. I took a close look at the Baseball cart I own. It too says "baseball" on the pulse line. Above that it says "baseball" in Japanese, but when I looked closely at it, the Japanese on JC's cart looks a lot different. Here's I pic i googled searched of the cart I own:

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And here's JC's:

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See the difference? It almost leads me to believe that it might be Chinese? I know there was a Hong Kong version of the Famicom released. Could there have been Hong Kong versions of the inital Cassette line series released? Also notice JC's doesn't say "Made in Japan" which further leads me to believe its an HK version.
Title: Re: Pulse line carts
Post by: JC on September 06, 2006, 08:01:52 am
That makes a lot of sense, vealchop. We'll have to do some more investigating. ;)
Title: Re: Pulse line carts
Post by: Doc on September 06, 2006, 11:18:59 am
But, weren't Hong Kong version games PAL only?
Title: Re: Pulse line carts
Post by: JC on September 06, 2006, 11:43:08 am
Yeah, I think so, but how the heck do you tell the difference between PAL and NTSC for the Famicom? There's no lockout chip. Remember I had a thread about this a while back!
Title: Re: Pulse line carts
Post by: Doc on September 06, 2006, 01:30:31 pm
Ah well. :P
Title: Re: Pulse line carts
Post by: michaelthegreat on September 11, 2006, 12:54:44 am
Yeah, Milk and Nuts was an interesting copy job.  The tile screen is set up almost exactly like Donkey Kong (along with with a couple other sceens).  Either they worshiped the ground Nintendo walked, or it was kinda their practice game... 

Wasn't the official hong kong fc/nes shaped like a nes?  I thought that the hong kong fc style carts were all pirates.  If you look at the chips, HVC is Japan and HKV is hong kong.  I'm pretty sure the official Hong Kong ones had a lockout chip too.

ps if anyone has the milk and nuts cart with the character picture, I'd love a big photo!
Title: Re: Pulse line carts
Post by: JC on September 11, 2006, 03:42:42 pm
So, does what Michael is saying prove that Baseball was officially released by Nintendo with two different labels, since the chips read HVC on my copy of Baseball? Sounds like it.
Title: Re: Pulse line carts
Post by: michaelthegreat on September 11, 2006, 07:06:40 pm
I've never seen a pirate pay that much attention to both the nes circuit board or to what it says on the rom chips.  I don't think what you have is a pirate.  BUT, I've been told by some that any game that says "Family Computer" in english is a pirate.  You'll have an uphill climb convincing some people that what you have is not a pirate.  Not many know what a NES circuit board is supposed to look like, much less a famicom!

I've done a little more research and it does seem that there is some confusion over whether a 60 pin famicom was really released in Hong Kong.  Some say that the companies in HK that produced the famicom were allowed to repackage them for HK.  The only issue I have with that is the fact that I thought the famicoms were all made in Japan... 

I personally think that if any 60 pin famicom games were officially sold in HK, that they were the same thing as their JP counterparts and therefore the same label.

As far as more than one label--oh yeah there are tons of label variants in JP!  This was Nintendo's first try for a consol.  They certainly did not have the conformity thing down for the famicom.  Yeah the NES had 8 versions of the SMB/DH label, but I bet there are famicom games that blow that number out of the water.  For famicom games, the HVC codes were used by nintendo, but lots of companies used their own codes!  There are carts of all different colors and styles.  Then pirates are thrown in the mix.  It's a pain to open fc carts, so how do you tell if it's a pirate label or a variant? 

It's just one big mess.  I would never let myself become a fc variant collector.  It would drive me absolutely mad!
Title: Re: Pulse line carts
Post by: JC on September 11, 2006, 07:28:54 pm
Well damn, Michael. I thought we were going to have this solved already. I'm fully convinced that the Baseball I've got is a legit Nintendo release. I have no reason to doubt that yet. There's no mistaking that the code on the board reads HVC, as opposed to HKV. I just don't know. And you're right about pirate dudes not trying to be so accurate in making their pirates that they'd actually put HVC on the board. I've never seen a pirate with that code.

Now, if it was released in HK or in Japan, I can't say for sure. Can anyone (manuel, featherpluck) confirm whether or not that's Japanese on the label? At least we could try to give it a country of release/origin.
Title: Re: Pulse line carts
Post by: vealchop on September 11, 2006, 08:04:44 pm
Those characters deifnately look Chinese to me. The Japanese on my cart is completely different. JC, you may have a one of a kind item there.
Title: Re: Pulse line carts
Post by: JC on September 11, 2006, 08:36:36 pm
Eek! I hope not, since I'm using it to prop up my laptop (so it doesn't burst into flames!).
Title: Re: Pulse line carts
Post by: michaelthegreat on September 12, 2006, 01:44:32 pm
I don't know if I made it clear that I definately don't think it's a pirate.  Especially since they're marked as mitsubishi roms.  The milk an nuts I took apart was on that exact same circuit board (nrom is a pretty common early nes circuit board).  But after that, I don't know what to think. 

The earliest games were the exact same roms whether pal or nstc (I've been told that in europe that there is an early version of smb that is identicle to the nstc version and that there's a later version with some pal changes). 

I think a translator is the only way you'll learn more.
Title: Re: Pulse line carts
Post by: Doc on September 13, 2006, 03:25:59 pm
Quote from: JC on September 11, 2006, 08:36:36 pm
Eek! I hope not, since I'm using it to prop up my laptop (so it doesn't burst into flames!).


Considering how crappy that game is, it's only a fitting enough place to put it, lol.
Title: Re: Pulse line carts
Post by: nes_pwnerer on September 15, 2006, 12:50:45 pm
I hear the streets of Japan are paved with Baseball carts there's so many of them...
Title: Re: Pulse line carts
Post by: featherplucknfilms on September 18, 2006, 11:15:49 pm
Sorry I didn't notice all this talk about the baseball cart before.  That one is definitely the HK version with the Chinese characters and English Famicom. 
Title: Re: Pulse line carts
Post by: JC on September 19, 2006, 07:58:02 am
I was hoping one of you Japanese-reading members would notice this thread. It's good to have that settled. Looks like vealchop was right, in the end. :)
Title: Re: Pulse line carts
Post by: Doc on September 19, 2006, 11:33:31 am
Yay for Hong Kong stuff! But didn't veal say it was a pirate?
Title: Re: Pulse line carts
Post by: JC on September 19, 2006, 11:41:24 am
Right you are...kind of. You see, vealchop's quick reaction was to think it was a pirate, but even when we were all scratching our heads wondering why it said HVC inside, he's the only one who quickly realized it must instead be HVC-HKG, and now we see he was right.

Glad to settle the debate. :)
Title: Re: Pulse line carts
Post by: featherplucknfilms on September 19, 2006, 05:57:18 pm
Actually it could still be a pirate.  I've never seen a HK version of these games so I don't know what they look like or if they even had them officially but the characters are chinese and with the English it has HK written all over it.  But telling wether its a pirate or official, that I don't know.
Title: Re: Pulse line carts
Post by: JC on September 19, 2006, 06:06:32 pm
We pretty well established earlier in the thread that it's not a pirate, but we weren't sure where it came from -- Japan or Hong Kong. So, now that we know that the characters are Chinese, we're almost certain it's an official HVC release in Hong Kong.
Title: Re: Pulse line carts
Post by: vealchop on September 20, 2006, 08:16:19 am
Let's all keep a look out for any other cassette line HK releases, I'm curious to see if anyone finds another one. I still think you have a pretty unique item there JC, take it out from under your laptop and put it in a box! hahaha
Title: Re: Pulse line carts
Post by: Doc on September 20, 2006, 07:48:38 pm
I don't think it's that easy...I'll link when I do find any though.
Title: Re: Pulse line carts
Post by: vealchop on October 03, 2006, 01:54:48 pm
Big news on my collection coming soon!!!!
Title: Re: Pulse line carts
Post by: JC on October 11, 2006, 08:54:37 am
*cough* vealchop! *cough*
Title: Re: Pulse line carts
Post by: vealchop on October 11, 2006, 11:23:13 am
It's coming! I swear! any day now! hahaha
Title: Re: Pulse line carts
Post by: Doc on October 11, 2006, 01:56:32 pm
Sounds interesting. :)
Title: Re: Pulse line carts
Post by: vealchop on October 30, 2006, 08:41:53 pm
I know I'm late posting this and I definately know I'm not a photographer, but here it is....Cassette Line Collection COMPLETE!!:

[Removed]

Big ups to Kris (featherplukin) for all his help in completing my mini quest. Definately feels good seeing them all lined up!

Here's a glimpse at the current (2nd) quest, little more than halfway there:

[Removed]
Title: Re: Pulse line carts
Post by: JC on October 30, 2006, 08:47:37 pm
Damn! Quite nice, dude. :D Just curious...how long did it take you to track down all of the pulse line carts and which was the hardest to find?
Title: Re: Pulse line carts
Post by: vealchop on October 30, 2006, 09:01:02 pm
Kris helped me a great deal. I've never seen the "Gomokunarabe" pulse line cart anywhere on ebay. So I was surprised he was able to track one down for me so fast. I've seen "Devil World", "DK Jr. Math", and "Popeye no English" go for a shitload of money in the box. It was easier for me to find a lot cause they didn't need to be in the box. Funny thing is though, I've never seen the "GOLF" pulse line anywhere on ebay, only the picture version. So when I finally saw one pop up on ebay for 5 bucks I snatched it up. Its a fun thing to try and definately if I can do it anyone can do it.
Title: Re: Pulse line carts
Post by: JC on October 30, 2006, 09:09:39 pm
I don't know how many pulse lines I've got, but when I get that 80-something cart lot in, I'll check it out and tell you. I think I may have about half, plus that weird ass HK pulse line.
Title: Re: Pulse line carts
Post by: Doc on October 31, 2006, 04:04:45 am
I have two pulse line carts, Mario Brothers and DK. JR. Math, but that's NOTHING compared to your complete collection. :)
Title: Re: Pulse line carts
Post by: Profeta Yoshitake on October 31, 2006, 07:42:32 pm
Quote from: vealchop on October 30, 2006, 08:41:53 pm
I know I'm late posting this and I definately know I'm not a photographer, but here it is....Cassette Line Collection COMPLETE!!:



Oh my!!
What a beautiful sight!!!
Excellent!!!
Title: Re: Pulse line carts
Post by: JC on December 03, 2006, 12:26:16 pm
Turns out I've only got six of the cassette line (DK3, Tennis, Mah-Jong, Pinball, DK Jr., Mario Bros.). Oh, um, seven if you count the one under my computer. ;)
Title: Re: Pulse line carts
Post by: JC on August 04, 2008, 10:33:09 pm
Even tho veal's not around for it. I wanted to post this: HERE (http://page10.auctions.yahoo.co.jp/jp/auction/m54554892). It's another Chinese pulse line release.

BTW: Looks to have a modified title screen, no? Chinese? I never booted up my Chinese Baseball cart to compare it to the Japanese cart. I should do that.
Title: Re: Pulse line carts
Post by: JC on August 30, 2008, 10:19:32 pm
Found two more Chinese pulse line: F1 Race and Excite Bike and Urban Champion. I don't think Excite Bike had a pulse line release in Japan.

Chinese pulse lines found thus far:

Baseball (HVC-BA)
Donkey Kong 3 (HVC-DT)
Donkey Kong Jr. Math (HVC-CA)
Excite Bike (HVC-EB)
F1 Race (HVC-FR)
Urban Champion (HVC-UC)