So I recently recieved a famicom... is there enough excellent disk system exclusive titles to merit getting a disk system?
Depends on the price you get it for! :)
I love my disk system but it was a hassle to find a working unit, correctly calibrated and at a good price. Check 80sFREAK's for sale thread here, he has some good deals on disk systems: http://www.famicomworld.com/forum/index.php?topic=6938.0
Yes.
Well, it depends, what would you like. Some people like FDS, some people prefer "$2 brand new multicarts"
added
I stay somewhere in between, with selection of carts
i think it is worth it alone for metroid, smb2, kid icarus, castlevania and zelda...
there are several good disk system exclusive titles, but fewer people are interested in them, and they are kind of unknown, even among people on a forum like this.
also, a fine tuned disk system will not give you much hassle...
Quote from: fredJ on July 21, 2012, 04:54:34 am
there are several good disk system exclusive titles, but fewer people are interested in them, and they are kind of unknown, even among people on a forum like this.
???
I wonder if the disk belt thing is made better on the Twin Famicom? How long will it last, regular disk system or not?
Twin Famicom has the same type of disk drive in it, no difference in terms of reliability.
Yes. It looks great and the FDS versions of many games are superior.
Agreed. The whole reason I got a disk system was because it has the very best versions of many classic games. I used to think that a Powerpak was good enough, but the Powerpak butchers the audio.
As long as you're fine when it comes to reading calibration instructions, it's more than worth it.
just get one with a new belt that's been calibrated and you're fine. if you're a hardware nerd you'll love the FDS. everytime a game loads I get that retro nerd grin. ;)
I'm still to get one, I will get there some day.
I'll get one someday. But school is starting soon so I really don't have an abundance of spending money.
So how long will a disk system last?
Quote from: 80sFREAK on July 22, 2012, 04:49:03 pm
Quote from: Protoman on July 22, 2012, 02:58:40 pm
So how long will a disk system last?
I would say longer, than modern systems.
So.. does this mean if I bought a 20 year old disk system and a brand new ps3, the disk system will outlast the ps3, or
does it mean the disk system will last 20 years and 5 months (leaving about 5 months remaining) which is longer than the PS3 will last since 21 years from now it won't work anymore...
I am interested in owning a FDS one day, as there are good games for it.
I like the disk system, but I am concerned about reliability. Mostly about the disks rather than the system.. I remember floppy disks dying on me all over the place and basically none of my original floppy disks still work so I have little faith in that type of technology.
I haven't had any problems yet, though but at this point I wouldn't be willing to invest big bucks in a disk system game, thats for sure.
^ Sure, everyone knows how to look after floppies but all that does is lower the probability of them failing from 10%/year of age to 5%/year of age.. :)
I think since most FDS disks come in cases they would last longer.. I remember having those 3.5mm disks for PC just laying all over the place. Sure they had those dust cover things(like the blue fds disks) but still a case would have been better, right?
Learn how to rewrite them and problem solved (at least until the media itself is degraded).
Quote from: ericj on July 23, 2012, 08:21:20 am
Learn how to rewrite them and problem solved (at least until the media itself is degraded).
I guess.. It's not a matter of learning.. Just of getting the right equipment, If it's rewritten it isn't original anymore anyway which makes me even less willing to spend any significant coin on fds games.. lol
At the point when you are just playing with rewritten stuff, I may has well just write onto whatever disks I have that aren't broken, at which point I'd be better off just to find a way to skip the disks as media entirely imo.
You can rewrite disc system games?
Quote from: crade on July 23, 2012, 09:12:22 am
If it's rewritten it isn't original anymore anyway which makes me even less willing to spend any significant coin on fds games.. lol
Actually, unless it's sealed, you have no idea if a game is rewritten or not. ;)
Quote from: ericj on July 23, 2012, 10:53:41 am
Quote from: crade on July 23, 2012, 09:12:22 am
If it's rewritten it isn't original anymore anyway which makes me even less willing to spend any significant coin on fds games.. lol
Actually, unless it's sealed, you have no idea if a game is rewritten or not. ;)
That was exactly my point :)
So how easy is it to rewrite a game that has gone kapoot?
Yes and no. The actual act of rewriting a disk is easy, getting the hardware setup is a bit more tricky. You need an old parallel port computer, a modified FDS system if you have a model with copy protection, and a homemade cable (can also be bought at Tototek.) If you are interested, go to ericj's site, the link is in his sig. It has everything you need to know, I probably wouldn't have figured it out without it.
I've had good luck with the games I've bought. I've only had two disks that gave disk errors, but they weren't actually damaged so I was able to write the original games to them just fine.
That's cool. Could you use this method to make famicom discs into makeshift flash carts?
(Obviously it'd be a stupid thing to do, I'm just curious if it's possible.)
I'm sure it's possible to hack a cart game to FDS format. It'd take some wok naturally.
Well it looks like im gonna find out :)
Quote from: ulera on July 26, 2012, 01:32:14 pm
Well it looks like im gonna find out :)
Nice work! Did you grab one from 80sFREAK?
Yes. I really shouldn't have but he is a fantastic tempter with the sale he has going on.
I just got my first fully functioning FDS about a week ago. I`m having a great time playing some of the classics like SMB2 so from that perspective it is worth it.
The fact that it took me 3 and a half years, while living in Japan, to get a working one should be taken as an indication of how much of a headache it is to find these things in reliably working condition. I`ve actually owned about 6 or 7 of them over the years, including a Twin Famicom that I paid a ton of money for since it was alleged to have a working FDS, but all of them were duds.
It's honestly not hard to get them back into working condition, and the most you're going to pay for a belt is 5-10 bucks. You just have to have to educate yourself on how to repair and maintain the FDS, be it stand alone or in a twin.
Best information resource so far is http://www.famicomdisksystem.com/tutorials/fds-repair-mod/belt-replacement-adjustment/ (http://www.famicomdisksystem.com/tutorials/fds-repair-mod/belt-replacement-adjustment/). I bought my disk system in 09 in non working condition, but it had a belt packed with it. Within an hour of reading, and two hours of work, it was working almost flawlessly. I say almost because I sourced my information from another site that lacked the spindle adjustment information. After reading that however, my FDS, three years later works like an absolute dream.
Will I replace the belt in the future when it breaks? You bet I will. Sit down for a few, read up, do a little homework, and you'll be able to keep an FDS running for decades.