Interest Check: Large Famicom bundle + Satellaview

[Xious]

Why are you selling the Defective Famicom for so much? Is it simply because it's a rare revision and akin to how Stadium Events is so valuable yet the game is just World Class Track Meet, which in itself is a ho-hum game? That seems to be the only answer I can think of.

Yes: That's exactly right. Rare stuff is more valuable...and mate, please listen... Unless it is a Rev 4 or earlier, it's not 'defective'. (That's the most objectionable word here.) Even if it was a R4, the correct term is 'early'. Would you call a R7 Famicom 'defective' because they redesigned it again in 1988? The board in this, assuming it is a Rev 05 (most are) was issued all the way through serial # 3-Million or so. They never recalled it, only the earlier boards, which is why my photos are the first ever put on-line of a pre-Rev-05 unit (that some people here didn't want to believe existed at all without proof)...

Does the defective Square Button model of the Famicom suffer from the same yellowing normal models do? I wonder if the fire retardant was added for the later revision.

All plastics of this type suffer from yellowing. It's the nature of the chemical structure of the polymer, and how it reacts to UV light; Most early FC units are 'more yellow' (they call them 'Suntanned' in Japan) than later ones simply due to more years of exposure, and often, boxed systems are cleaner because they were stored away from light. Sunlight and fluorescent are the worst, and firelight is actually the best way to avoid yellowing, although direct contact isn't advisable.

Since the Satellaview service ended years ago, is there anything you can do with it now? Meaning, is there a storage medium of sort sort that allows you to plug it and use it?

If you have Satella games on memory cards, they will still play but you'll need all the parts of any given downloaded game. You can play any game, but the intrinsic collectors' value and the curiosity value are what make the SatellaView expensive.

I assume you're selling these for people who dont actually play them as Xious said but I'd still like to know more about the Square Button defective Famicom. With the Square button one, do game cartridges "click" into place like they are shown in early Famicom commercials?

If you push them hard enough, they'll click. There is nothing different about the way the cartridges insert compared to any other R&W Famicom (well, the VCCI model's shielding adds some friction, but not enough to notice). As I said, most of the early 'bad' boards were swapped by Nintendo, so if you have a SBFC, chances are it'll play identical to any other version, except for having square, rubber-y buttons like a Game & Watch.

Frankly, I've yet to see my Rev 04 crash from anything, so it's possible that the real problem boards were even earlier, and quickly changed out. FYI, the Rev 05, which is in most SBFC units, is also in round-button units. I have a pile of them. The cut-off for Rev-05 is around Serial 02.9-Million, IIRC. After that is a brief Rev-07, then around ten-million units of Rev-07, followed by the design change in 1988 that produced around another 3-Million units before finally releasing the New Famicom (A/V).

( It's hard to place a point of origin on Rev 05, as it was issued to resolve minor flaws and was placed in units with serials that predated it, but I can safely say it is after around unit 01.1-Million, as it has to proceed my Rev 04, and that means that there are around 2-Million Rev-05 FC units, a handful of which still have square-button controllers. )

Anyhow, in terms of playing your games, nothing is different save the feel of the controller. It's purely an interest to collectors, and especially those with a budget that allows for an expanding museum. (Although I still plug mine in, on occasion, for old-times sake.)

mod edit: Fixed your quotes. -ND