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How does one take a Famicom game apart without breaking it? Unlike NES carts which use secuirty screws (which can be opened with a security screwbit) Famicom games have NO screws and are held together by veture of magic/Japanese ingiunity.
I want to dismantle the carts so I can regeriously clean some of the dirist older Famicom games I own that give me trouble whenever I try to play them. Pirate carts are easy to take apart because of their cheapness, but the actual licensed carts are much more difficult. Is there a specific tool you can use/buy to open them up?
I ripped apart a Yie Ar Kung Fu to find that it is (near?) impossible. On the bright side is that it can snap back together even with some broken pieces. :-\
um, why would you open it, just clean the connectors...................
because you can clean it much more effectively when its opened. You aren't limited by space and you can swish in a downward motion away from the board instead of an upward motion towards the board.
waste of time. you'll probably break the cart trying to open it, dont even bother.
How about using a sideways motion? :P
The key is to use a thin screwdriver to press in the parts where the tabs are located. There's usually two on the top, two on the sides.
have you done it a lot before madman?
On a handful of games, yes.
I found a dude a while back selling this contraption:
(http://i52.photobucket.com/albums/g2/jerahcordova/Famicom%20Oddities/opening_carts1.jpg)
That contraption doesn't look like it'd be any more successful than pulling it apart with your hands. The tabs on the sides and top are the main problem and it doesn't look like it addresses those areas. Plus, there are many different types of carts, so there probably isn't just one right way to do it.
Could someone make a video of how to do this, and upload it somewhere or post it on YouTube?
To open up the typical cart (not talking Konami or Jaleco, etc.) you need to locate the bottom tabs. A cart is two pieces: the front half with the main game label and the back half with the general info label. The tabs are always attached to the back half with the general info label. There are four tabs on the back half: two at the top, about an inch in on both sides, and then one on each of the sides, near the bottom. You need to locate the side tabs. While pushing the back half inward near a side tab, you need to push the front half outward, also near the same tab. That'll unhook that tab. Once you get one of two bottom tabs unhinged, it's easy to unhook the rest. I'd take a few pics, but I don't have my digital camera at the moment.
Proceed with great caution! It's easy to break a tab.
So, from that description, I'm guessing the reason it's so difficult is because of the pushing inward on the side of the back half of the cartridge near the side tab. I can't imagine moving hard plastic like that being any kind of easy... And with that much force being applied, I can see how it could be easy to slip up and snap a tab.
That is, unless I misread or misunderstood your description...?
Anyway, if someone could take pictures, or if you could when you get your camera, JC, that would definitely clear everything up. :)
I suggest that you try to open a worthless pirate cart to get the hang of it.
Quote from: 133MHz on August 30, 2008, 09:43:54 pm
I suggest that you try to open a worthless pirate cart to get the hang of it.
Or a baseball game :D
Quote from: ericj on August 30, 2008, 09:45:45 pm
Quote from: 133MHz on August 30, 2008, 09:43:54 pm
I suggest that you try to open a worthless pirate cart to get the hang of it.
Or a baseball game :D
Or almost any sports game for that matter.
From my experience, no matter how good you get, you're going to break some tabs, It just happens.
And Wow JC, hook me up with one of those amazing things. I don't care if it breaks tabs, I just want to take pictures with it and tell people that I use it to open carts to see their reaction... ;D
Hmm, I was fussing around with one of my carts last night and found a way that works very well (at least for me). Instead of going for the side tabs I went for the top tabs. What I did was use a dental scraper and a curved pointy thing (now known as the CPT).
(http://i72.photobucket.com/albums/i177/PatMan33/Video%20Game%20Collection/Guts/Rockman1.png)
From there all I did was go into one of the holes on the top with the CPT and (with a little doing) got it wedged between the clip and the outer part of the cart. Due to the size of the CPT, it was a little tricky but I did get it.
(http://i72.photobucket.com/albums/i177/PatMan33/Video%20Game%20Collection/Guts/Rockman2.png)
(http://i72.photobucket.com/albums/i177/PatMan33/Video%20Game%20Collection/Guts/Rockman3.png)
I applied a little pressure and the top part of the cart popped. Rinse and repeat for the other top hole and you've got the top half of the cart unlatched. After that I held the cart open and went for the side clips with the dental scraper. I used the same method that I used for the top clips. Using the dental scraper I wedged the end behind the clips and carefully applied pressure. Two pops later and the cart was open!
Also, if you're not one to go through all of that it appears that you can open a single top and a single side clip (both have to be on the same side) and then you can coerce the board out without releasing the other two (this also takes a little doing).
That should do it for now. I hope this works for you! And, if you were wondering... no, Rockman didn't come back to life. *lights a candle*
(If anyone can help me fix my Rockman that'd be cool too!)
Awesome you found a way to open them! That's pretty kewl! I'm sorry to hear about Rockman though....
If you bust off tabs, just super glue them back on. Thats what I did.
beautiful. After taking some advice, I've started using a bar clamp. I squeeze both sides of the cart and fiddle with things to get it open. Haven't broken a single tab since I've started using this method. Not only that, but it's strangely satisfying to slowly twist the handle to squeeze the life out of your famicom carts...
Can you post pictures and detailed instructions? Using a clamp was something I tried but couldn't make work.
Yeah, let me play with it some more. They told me that I should use the bar clamp and then there was a step 2. But so far, I've used the bar clamp and they've just popped open every time. So, I'm trying to make sure I'm not squeezing too much and causing some stress harm. And I don't understand the step 2. Once I'm sure I'm giving good info, I'll post pics. Bug me when the new year comes if I still haven't come through.
As I was playing around with it I was seeing some success with causing the two halves to buckle; however I was not willing to risk breaking it and so I backed off. I bet I was right there, should have gone a little further.
Wonderful pictures! I've always wondered how to open the carts, because it's so easy for the NES games, as compared to these guys!
I just found a way to bust em open with only two coins as tools, I don't think it's fool proof yet but I did open my Namcot cart with no snapped tabs and am going to check a Jaleco cart now.
My Wai Wai cart however, was annhilated!
Oh - it wasn't wai wai world, it was this - http://www.retrogames.co.uk/stock/assets/images/Fami_-_Mystery_Hudson_Game.jpg - and whatever it was it board the hell outta me so I'm glad it's bust.
Also, my method doesn't really work, the jaleco cart was quite fragile and nearly shattered. I think the dentistry method above is by the best :D
Hi all!
I have found a way to open famicom cart without breakage tabs.
This simple tool - Screwdriver and hands, nothing more :)
(http://img67.imageshack.us/img67/5034/img4258xp5.th.jpg) (http://img67.imageshack.us/my.php?image=img4258xp5.jpg) (http://img145.imageshack.us/img145/2906/img4249zp0.th.jpg) (http://img145.imageshack.us/my.php?image=img4249zp0.jpg) (http://img67.imageshack.us/img67/7286/img4252dc8.th.jpg) (http://img67.imageshack.us/my.php?image=img4252dc8.jpg)
More low small video on which process is more clear.
http://rapidshare.com/files/178565248/142CANON.rar.html
Sorry, my English is bad..
The thing is, not all carts have those gaps in the top to get to the tabs - they're the easy ones!
I would never open hem unless I was curious to see what certain carts would look like but I wouldn't want to break them. Even using a contraption that looks remotely like a stapler seems dangerous and merciless when opening them. Besides, chances are you wouldn't even need to open them up to clean them because dust is near impossible to accumulate inside a tightly seal space as Famicom carts are even pirates seem to be securely enclosed. So in my opinion; cleaning the connectors would seem like a feasible solution for efficient cleaning.
I've never needed to clean any of my carts, I opened them out of curiosity and the fact that I want to recase my pirate multicarts so I don't feel sad every time I look at their ugly plastic!
i was just wondering out of curiosity how to take apart a famicom game to see what inside, ive taken apart 5-screw NES games, but im just curios
I'm pretty sure you take the cart sideways, put your fingers in the slot, and yank. :o I think it also breaks the seals on the top, but you should just use superglue.
Quote from: cubelmariomadness on November 13, 2009, 12:33:56 pm
I'm pretty sure you take the cart sideways, put your fingers in the slot, and yank. :o I think it also breaks the seals on the top, but you should just use superglue.
Yup... superglue is a quick fix on busted famicom cart cases.