Twin Famicom modding, etc.

[Lum]

Hello. I'll start here. It's somewhere between a price check / general inquiry. See I'd imported this pretty Twin Famicom to resell. Then couldn't get much interest in it untested without power supply, despite price drops. What do I know? Order an adapter, pop in Urusei Yatsura*, success! Don't know about the disk drive. No FDS games to test.

*annoying game from my lum collection. yet it'd already turned out fine earlier anyway (using NES top loader).

Anyway so now I should get the most out of the system. First obvious task is must-own English friendly games not on NES that don't break the bank. Also looks to have good mod potential. Maybe making any NES controller work, and its controllers on any NES? I'd think the extension cable I've got will contain parts for one.

Improved video quality would help too. At least toning down those vertical lines common to several Famicom/NES models. RGB is sure a ways off. Difficult to find those scarce parts and somebody able to install them, more than price or compatibility.

[Xious]

Without specifics, such as your exact model and if the drive mech is functional, it's impossible to give you an idea of value. You also did not specify if the power supply that you purchased is an original Sharp part, or if it is an aftermarket adapter.

I also don't understand what you want to achieve: If you want to make NES controllers with the Sharp casing, you can simple swap cases, no rewiring required; you will lose mic capabilities without internal alteration to your NES in any case. Using a NES controller on the Twin requires a NES-7 to DA-15 adapter (plus the appropriate cables and a tiny enclosure box): There are plans for them in various threads here.

It is possible to make Famicom controllers detachable, and if you wire them correctly, you could make P-I usable on a NES (and on the Twin with added ports), however the same is not true of P-II, which requires a deal of extra work and will only be usable on a specially modified NES. Additionally, external (expansion-port) controllers will not work with all games.

The Twin usually doesn't display vertical bars; the phenomenon is typical of the Famicom (H, HV, and HC), Asian Market Famicom (HT, HH), NES-101, and Sharp C1, but not the Sharp Twin (AN-50x) series or the New Famicom (HVC-101); IIRC the AN-510 is also free of them. A video mod on them is therefore, except for arcade-cabinet conversion, rather without purpose. 

[fredJ]

It should be possible to sell it without modding it. It doesn't require any of the things you mention.

If you want to make a buck, buy a replacement belt and a famicom disk game, and learn how to fix the disk system.

Picking out and buying those special famicom games to bundle with the unit won't be worth it. But some classic action/plattform titles such as Super Mario Bros, Excite bike, Ice Climber, Balloon Fight, etc, are always nice. And air shooters and platform games. All are easy to come by.

[Lum]

AN-500B. The awesome looking black version no less, sample pic. I'm not as inclined to sell it after finding out cartridges start up. Reason this post wasn't in the "for sale" section. By price check, I was referring to mods like my topic title suggests. Sorry for being unclear.

Well there is one major problem in testing the drive: I don't own a disk. Its FDS bios screen seems correct.

BTW I no longer own NES-001, for me not worth dealing with the game loading mech with after discovering how convenient top loaders are. My MES-101's AV mod is only marginally better than this Twin. I didn't say it was cause for concern. Just be nice. Except as you say, can't really go further on normal Famicom hardware.

[Xious]

Price check for mods really depends on the person. As a professional dealer and tech, I just charge for the parts and whatever amount of time it takes to perform the modification...

The only way to test the FDS is to have a selection of disks, especially the bigger games, such as Dracula II, as these take multiple passes to load. Small, simple games such as Super Mario Bros.2 or Zelda no Densetsu are one-pass load games and will work on drives that may have problems with bigger games. The BIOS screen will work even if everything else on the system is broken: I have one Twin that is stuck in FDS mode... I'm thinking that the switch is dirty or corroded, and if I flip it to cart mode, the PRG and CHR lines become mixed with those of the FDS BIOS, producing a very garbled, albeit amusing mess of BIOS and game tiles.

In any event, I suggest picking up a couple inexpensive titles just to test it, and if it works, you can go for something more interesting. If it doesn't work, you may want to consider my FDS restoration service at some point.

An adapter to use NES controllers on a Famicom, professionally built with a decent housing would be between $50 and $65; the reverse (e.g. detached controllers) is more involved and convoluted, and as I say, it would require this, as yet untested mod to your NES for it to work at all (for Controller-II). I did these schematics for the NES-001 and HVC-001; The NES-101 and HVC-101 have a different unified part in place of the two 40H368s on the older designs. I haven't yet made it around to either verifying the modification, or to figuring out the pins on the part used in later models.

The other concern is what pin on the NES-7 port to use for the mic, as you'd be re-routing one used for another function, rendering some controllers useless. If you wanted to make it truly universal, you'd need to build-in a sort of cut-off switch so that the mic isn't connected when used on the NES, as it would be otherwise connected to a data line on port-II that may be inappropriate. There wasn't really much interest in doing this, so I put it on my 'to do when I have spare time' list. Suffice to say, I've spare time has been a precious and limited commodity here of late..

[ebay junkie]

i never used  this site before and im having trouble finding what i want  please can someone tell me how i can modify an nes to play famicom disks and carts! please send me a e mail at; mikejwbake@yahoo.com thank you

[L___E___T]

Best bet is to get a famicom converter.  You could ebay that and they're quite cheap.  Is it a UK NES or US?  Some NESs won't play other-region games (i.e. from Europe, Japan or the States) depending on where you are.

Oh, welcome to FamicomWorld!

[ebay junkie]

 i  know about the converter in gyromite i am curiouse about how to hook up and modify the disk system do you know what I'm talking about and do you know how to do that by the way thank you for your feedback please help! need more feed back about first post please send me more feedback thank you!

[ericj]

You'd need to disable the lockout chip in your NES, get a 72-60 pin cart converter, and wire up the extra sound channel since it wouldn't be supported with a generic converter. You could also get a HES Unidaptor for the cart slot instead of a cheap pin converter. The info is here on the site if you search enough. Either way, welcome! 

[ebay junkie]

how do i disable the lock out chip?and where is the lock out chip located?

[133MHz]

Cut pin 4 on the U10 CIC chip.

[ebay junkie]

Posts: 1776



      Re: Twin Famicom modding, etc.
« Reply #8 on: Today at 08:47:53 PM »   

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where is the lockout chip in the NES,located/which one is pin numer 4 where do i get a 72-60 pin cart converter, and how do i wire up the extra sound channelYou could also get a HES Unidaptor for the cart slot instead of a cheap pin converter.and thanks everyone forall the help
Post Merge: April 08, 2011, 01:02:51 am
welll disabled pin four on the lockout chip on my nes now  how do i wire up the extra sound channel on my nes so i can play famicom carts and disks? and how do i hook up the famicom disk system to my nintendo? and thanks again for all the help!

[Xious]

If you want to use a FDS on a NES-001, which is by no means a simple process, you will need to do one of two things:

Modify the cartridge-loading slot, add an adapter & a Game Genie, and run the system without its top cover;
or get a HES Unidapter.

I advise the latter, or buying a Famicom.

You should look at the following diagrams:
NES & Famicom Cartridge Connector Pinout
(Ben Heckendorn's NES & FC Cartridge Pinout Sheet)
Famicom Cartridge Connector Pinout

To get the extra sound from enabled games and the FDS, you will need to route it:

The NES EXP port (underneath) has a line for Sound-IN, and a set of ten lines for cartridge EXP. The first thing to do is decide which connector pin to use for the EXP-sound from the NES...This will need to be connected inside the cartridge adapter as well.  You should avoid using EXP6 (EXP-Pin-09), as this would be used by the PowerPak Expansion Sound mod and EXP0 (EXP-Pin-40) as it is used by the CopyNES.

After deciding which of the ten EXP pins to use, you will need to wire the EXP port pin that corresponds with that pin to the Sound-IN line (EXP-Pin-03): I suggest using 26-gauge wire for this, solid or stranded, and 60Pb/40 solder.

Next, open your FC-->NES adapter and identify the corresponding EXP pins. I hope that it was made correctly and all pins are wired; if not, seek another adapter. For example, if you wired NES_EXP-Pin-03 to EXP1 (EXP-Pin-41), then you will need to bridge pin 16 on the NES side of your adapter with Pin-45 on the Famicom-side of the adapter. You will need to include a resistor in the bridge, probably between 22K and 100K, plus a 1uF cap, thus:

EXP1----1uF Cap----R22K~R100K----SoundIN

There are numerous threads on this subject, and a handy search would answer many of these questions. The process is a bit overwhelming for anybody without experience working on the NES and FC platform hardware, but it isn't hard to perform if you are used to doing any light technical work (e.g. soldering) and have no problems reading pinouts.

As a final remark, it is also possible to wire this via a switch to support both the standard FC EXP sound and the PowerPak Extra Sound, permitting you to toggle between the two. This is why I suggested using wire here, and not directly soldering components to the NESEXP slot.

P.S. Why is this part of the O.P's thread?

[Lum]

I suppose all that gives me more reason to keep the Twin.

[ebay junkie]

i dont understand pinouts but with some notes and pics i think i would be alright i have been pasting everything on a writting page with all the notes you all have giving me thank you