Famicom reproduction carts?

[Yukima]

I've seen a lot of reproduction carts for NES games and know of people who make them, but is there anyone who does Famicom reproduction carts?  Especially someone who could put a translated Famicom game onto the original cart?  I'll be getting a lot of Famicom carts pretty soon, including some RPGs.  I'm hoping I could do the same thing as what I'm planning to do with some of my Super Famicom games - get them "translated", so to speak.

[ericj]

Anyone who can burn an eeproms should be able to put a translated version on it for you to swap out in your cart.

[Yukima]

Is there anyone here in particular that I could contact for something like this? 

[satoshi_matrix]

Well, I know michealthegreat can do Famicom reproductions of Mother using the prototype Earth Bound rom, but the general interest in Famicom reproductions isn't anywhere near what NES repros are because a good number of Famicom owners already have some degree of knowledge of Japanese to begin with, negating the need for reproductions.

The other big issue is getting Famicom games open. It can be done, but it's certainly more difficult than unscrewing NES cartridges.

What games were you looking for reproductions of Yukima?

[Yukima]

I wish I had more than a very minimal knowledge of Japanese (i.e. katakana only, unfortunately... ^^; ) so I could play my Japanese games and actually understand them!  I like collecting games regardless of whether or not they're Japanese-intensive, and I'd usually play Japanese RPGs with the help of translation guides and note-taking.  But since I've seen so many NES repros with translated games on them, I thought, "why not on Famicom carts?" 

I'm interested in repros of Famicom RPGs and maybe a few FDS games if possible (depending on if I get a Disk System or not).  I guess if there are members here who can make repros, they can PM me.

It probably would be cheaper and easier to get a PowerPak and a 72-60 converter, wouldn't it? 

[Xious]

Well, I know michealthegreat can do Famicom reproductions of Mother using the prototype Earth Bound rom, but the general interest in Famicom reproductions isn't anywhere near what NES repros are because a good number of Famicom owners already have some degree of knowledge of Japanese to begin with, negating the need for reproductions.

That's news to me. I barely know enough to figure out simple stuff, much less play an RPG where text and understanding of the language is crucial. 'FF2' & 'FF3' are the top two candidates used in FC translation hacks, followed closely by 'Wai Wai World' and 'Getsu Fūma Den; 'Recca' is the most commonly reproduced cartridge. Quite a lot of hacked ROMs are turned into real carts, then sold with high-quality artwork, or even boxes & manuals in Japan too.

'Mother' does need a proper T-Eng patch though: The unreleased USA ROM has some quirky issues not found in the FC release. Most of the Famicom collectors and enthusiasts that I know, and most of my customers, can't read enough Japanese in any form to find a bathroom though, so your assumption that FC collectors are more likely to be able to read it is IMHO, unfounded.

A lot of people collect the FC stuff specifically because its neat, or different, or wasn't released here, and then have issues playing it. That's why JewWario's .You Can Play This' is a popular event on YouTube, et. al.. 'Tis also a very radical programme; the spin-off episode ('Mario Rants'?) is quite amusing and it'd be nice to have that type of satire on a regular basis: Good stuff.

Anyhow, repros aren't that uncommon, but for the FC, they are usually of the weirder stuff. Certainly they aren't made int he quantity of the NES repros, but many of those games are just Famicom releases in NES cart format, so there isn't any reason to reproduce them.

I'm interested in repros of Famicom RPGs and maybe a few FDS games if possible (depending on if I get a Disk System or not).  I guess if there are members here who can make repros, they can PM me.

It probably would be cheaper and easier to get a PowerPak and a 72-60 converter, wouldn't it?

As to who can do a translation hack, a lot of people here could do it. I could, if I knew to where my programmer vanished. I've done the FF2 and FF3 carts before if that what you are after. If you can do either EPROM or Flash-Chip programming, all you need to is de-solder the old ROMs and solder in the new ones with very minimal mess. You could also solder both in on a selector switch is you wanted to be fancy about it.

I'm not sure what you want in way of disk system repros. You'll have to clarify. I'll eventually offer very precise and accurate (but marked, to prevent fraud) reproductions of the rarer titles, like 'All Night Nippon SMB', 'New Clu Clu Land', and the Gold Prize Cards (which are expensive to reproduce!)' That's another one of my 'get around to it' projects.

If you mean patching FDS disks with the translations, well, first you had better be sure that the T-Eng patch will work on the real disks on real HW--many of them won't--before going nuts trying to make the disks. I tried to use the T-Eng patch of 'Deep Dungeon' (or was it 'DD2'?) on real HW, and it immediately spewed out an Err (20, or 08, I think). I tested it before writing it using my PP with Loopy's mappers, so I know it wasn't a problem with the actual media, as it was virtual media.

The problem is that the patch is designed for emulators, which often don't care about things like correctly preserving file lengths or checksums. (I'm not even sure that many IPS patchers can readily handle .FDS files.) There are a few FDS-specific utilities, but patching the disks to run correctly takes some practice, and most people (unlike myself) don't write disks to play on original HW, as they use emulators. I don't emulate unless I can't find another solution (e.g. 'JY-120'-I need to rip SMW out of there and test it with Loopy's experimental Mapper-90!).

In any event, if you're sure your patches will work, then I can probably re-encode the disks for you. Also, if you want to buy a *perfect* FDS with a warranty, PM me. I got a load of 'dead' disks in from someone in Japan, and more than half of them worked perfectly on one of my restored drives. Sad actually, as I wanted *dead* disks to use for a project and I hate overwriting good ones. On well, I suppose Bandai and a few of the zillion extra disks of Konami sports games that I have can be sacrificed.

My point is that when I restore n FDS, it's factory-perfect, and will run even stubborn disks. I also tuned a few drives to run everything I could throw at them, like cheap pirates/MAG disks, Turbo Dicks, etc. It's more time-consuming as the tolerance on them is far lower, and is under factory tolerance. I sell these as 110%, 120%, 150% and 200% drives, based on what they can run outside of every official Nintendo-made disk. My 100% drives are rebuilt to Mitsumi factory specs using special, secret techniques of my own devising. (No, unless I decide to retire, or I publish it commercially in something, the technique I use will remain in my own techbench conceptual ideas books.)

Lastly, it's actually harder to find a good NES(72F)->FC(60M) adapter for the PowerPak than it is to wire up this stuff, unless you make the adapter yourself. Expect to pay ~US$ 40-60 for a good adapter that is PP compatible Lower end for bare baords, higher end, finished (and more stable) versions in. cases The nicer ones also allow you to insert a game facing the front of your FC rather than the back (so the label is facing you, not the wall).I tried contacting the firm that made the good boards in cases, in order to have more specially made, and they told me that they destroyed or lost the mould, so that couldn't make any more.

Someday, when I get my plastics lady to cooperate, I may recreate them myself. I'm thinking of doing a run of NES-FC PCBs to sell at any rate, which will be the label-facing-the-front type, if anybody wants them.

[Yukima]

I'm not sure what you want in way of disk system repros. You'll have to clarify. I'll eventually offer very precise and accurate (but marked, to prevent fraud) reproductions of the rarer titles, like 'All Night Nippon SMB', 'New Clu Clu Land', and the Gold Prize Cards (which are expensive to reproduce!)' That's another one of my 'get around to it' projects.

I actually meant repros of FDS games on cartridges (e.g. Super Mario Bros. 2j).  I've read some threads here about writing FDS disks - it's very interesting, but something I'll probably never get the proper equipment for (much less the time to try it!)

If you mean patching FDS disks with the translations, well, first you had better be sure that the T-Eng patch will work on the real disks on real HW--many of them won't--before going nuts trying to make the disks.

...It didn't occur to me that you could patch translations to FDS roms.    I guess because there weren't any FDS games I knew of that had fan translations.  As for problems with real hardware, I've had that experience with patched Super Famicom games and the SNES PowerPak - I had a translated rom that crashed my SNES in a few spots because it involved weird code for text display...  Good thing I didn't request a repro of it!

IIn any event, if you're sure your patches will work, then I can probably re-encode the disks for you. Also, if you want to buy a *perfect* FDS with a warranty, PM me.

I'll keep that in mind! 

ILastly, it's actually harder to find a good NES(72F)->FC(60M) adapter for the PowerPak than it is to wire up this stuff, unless you make the adapter yourself.

Yeah... that's the impression I got from the threads I read here.  I now know to absolutely avoid a Yobo adapter and to look out for a gray or gold Honeybee adapter.  Is the Honeybee compatible with the PowerPak? (in the event I ever find one!)

Thanks for all the information! 

[manuel]

Most of the Famicom collectors and enthusiasts that I know, and most of my customers, can't read enough Japanese in any form to find a bathroom though, so your assumption that FC collectors are more likely to be able to read it is IMHO, unfounded.

I can just underline that. Being able to "read" katakana or hiragana still doesn't mean somebody understands what's written there. I can also "read" French, but I don't understand it. ;P
I know a guy who said he could read and speak Japanese without problems, he's totally fluent, he knows 1000 kanji or something, then when he was asked what the text in a pic said... *silence*.
So be careful when people on message boards say they know Japanese. In most of the cases they don't.

But I know that many members of this board can at least decipher game titles and stuff like that, so we're definitely above average here.

[jpx72]

'Mother' does need a proper T-Eng patch though: The unreleased USA ROM has some quirky issues not found in the FC release.

I wanted to ask about this one for a long time... Does anybody know where I can find the "best" english translation patch for Mother?

[Xious]

I wanted to ask about this one for a long time... Does anybody know where I can find the "best" english translation patch for Mother?

Hmm... I went over this with an associate of mine who loves the game. I had thought that there was a T-Eng IPS, but after looking all over, all I could find were patches to fix the Beta English ROM. I don't know if I was just having a senile moment, of if the patch did exist and the hosting site went ::poof::.

To my knowledge, no patch exists for the original FC ROM, or, at east, neither he nor I could find one.

I actually meant repros of FDS games on cartridges (e.g. Super Mario Bros. 2j).  I've read some threads here about writing FDS disks - it's very interesting, but something I'll probably never get the proper equipment for (much less the time to try it!)

That's a different can of worms. You have to do a lot of reworking to adapt it to an existing mapper. It's not a process that you could even attempt without a decent understanding of 6502 Assembly and the FC/NES architecture, and certainly no ball of fun. If you don't want to actually get an FDS, go for a PowerPak. You'll lose the extra sound channel (and yes, I know that Loopy's mappers restore the sound, but not the extra sound channel; the sound is quite different) that gives such superb music and SFX that way though.

Then again you'd lose that converting to cart unless you convert to VRC6, which is pretty hard to do to begin with,would still sound different and it's hard locating donor carts with that mapper.
I guess 'Nothin' beats the real thing, baby'.

I think they Honeybee is compatible, but I also recall it as one of the adapters where the label faces the back of the console. The 'Family Converter' definitely works as does the unnamed black adapter that I use (which has the label facing the front). I have the part number somewhere in my notes, but they're rare and expensive; well, that goes without saying for any of the old-stock adapters.

If I do a run of adapters that work with the PowerPak, pre-wired for extra sound (PP and normal cart on a switch), who would want one?