Looking for decent quality cartridge shells.

[Preki]

Hi guys.

I've been browsing recently through the net for some Famicom cartridge shells I would use for my flashcart and some repros I'm planning to make in the future but I couldn't find anything decent. It's easy to find new NES or SNES/SFC replacement cart shells, but I couldn't find either shells from genuine games or new ones that look identically. Maybe someone here has some of these to sell, could be even games with busted PCBs but intact shells (labels are irrelevant).

[L___E___T]

There's a problem with Famicom shells that the SNES / SFC doesn't suffer from; each game / mapper uses a unique shell.

So you want an English translation of an MMC3 game?  That won't got in an NROM shell, and vice versa.

So most Famicom repros tend to use donors.  On the SNES / SFC all shells are the same.

[Preki]

Ah, yes, I knew I forgot about the mapper type One of the repros I'm going to make is that of a UNROM game. So the interior of the cartridge is different depending on what PCB is inside regardless of the shell's outer dimensions? Then it seems I'd better look for a busted donor, I'd rather not scavenge a working cart for parts (even if that's what most people do).

[muramasa]

This doesn't help you yet since they still aren't ready, but I have a shell in progress. I posted about it a while ago here.

[Preki]

Hey, I saw that thing yesterday, looks cool, I would like to take one for some MMC5 repros, but what I'm aiming at is a UNROM repro that would imitate mid-1980s aesthetics, just like most of those Famicase cartridges, but this one will contain an actual game (a romhack, to be precise). So in this case I'll have to use a donor, I guess.

[L___E___T]

You should be able to find a cheap NROM donor pretty easily.  There are cheap cartridge shells around, but they never feel authentic.  Even the better (bit still cheap) shells that Krikzz uses feel very inauthentic in my opinion.

Muramasa's cart shell looks great, I'm a big fan of it and love that Famicom / NES hybrid look to the aesthetic, but I know it's not what you're looking for.

Best bet is to find a cheap and kusoge Famicom NROM game and use that as a donor.  Cheap and no-one will cry over it

[P]

I'm no expert on boards, but since several makers made their own Famicom cartridges, I'm not sure an NROM board from one maker necessarily would fit all NROM cartridge shells though?

IIRCC the Everdrive was designed for the shell of one of the Boukenjima games, so it's not very standard. But it's readily available thanks to the Everdrive. Also it's engraved with "Everdrive" on the front so you might want a label over that if you use it.

[MWK]

These looks pretty decent:
https://aliexpress.com/item/4000224859789.html
https://aliexpress.com/item/33053044612.html

Or those from Mindkids^TM:
https://www.aliexpress.com/item/32868570666.html
https://www.aliexpress.com/item/32870227192.html

Spoiler

http://forum.contrabanda.eu/index.php?topic=949.0

[close]

[Preki]

Why hello there, MWK

These looks pretty decent:
https://aliexpress.com/item/4000224859789.html

This is something I'd take, the exterior closely imitates the standard Famicom cartridge form and I think I can use a Taiwanese-made PCB I currently own (the shell it sits in is really crappy). I wish these could be in different colors but I think painting it over with an airbrush will be okay. And these Mindkids shells look more like those from Jaleco games, so... no, these won't do.