Anybody here own a Famicom Disk System?

[PukeSter]

Hey everyone,

I might like to own a Famicom Disk System, since it has the real Mario 2, Doki Doki Panic, Kaetakka Mario Bros.(I don't know how to spell it), Nazo no Murasame Jo, and some other games.

Unfortunately, I would also have to buy a Famicom, and I'm not sure how the r/f works on it. And I wouldn't be able to play the Zelda games in japanese. What are your thoughts on this weird add-on?

[Frank_fjs]

I've got a few:



Plus a twin:



RF on the original Famicom can be a little tricky to tune in, most TV's don't support the Japanese RF signal. I've got an old JVC CRT TV and it's the only one in my house that does (also handles the PC Engine via RF too). They're pretty easy to AV mod though.

Alternatively you could go for an AV Famicom or perhaps even a Twin Famicom.

[PukeSter]

My old crappy tv uses RF for my Japanese SG-1000. Would a famicom work then too?

[PunkCryborg]

I have a twin famicom and j love it. the av is pretty good and I got mine as a refurbished unit from yja and its rad. the turbo models are super cool

[TR0N]

Have a (famicom av+fds) and it works great beside it doesn't take up much space.Still a warning,if you plan to buy one be ready to replace it's belt-drive they can wear out easily

[Frank_fjs]

My old crappy tv uses RF for my Japanese SG-1000. Would a famicom work then too?

More than likely, worth a shot anyhow.

Re console performance...

The original Famicom's naturally look the worst in stock form due to only outputting an RF signal. The Twin has the best stock AV output in my opinion, the AV's have a little bit of interference.

The original Famicom's mix the enhanced audio very well. The Twin's also have good sound mixing and sound a little clearer due to a filter cap being used. The AV Famicom's don't mix the sound well at all, you can barely hear enhanced audio, so a mod is required to fix this if you care about it.

P.s. The FDS adds an additional sound channel/chip and some cart games have audio enhancement chips built into them.

[PukeSter]

I am very interested in buying a Twin Famicom. That seems like my best option for me. Any point in getting the Zelda games for it?

[PunkCryborg]

better music that uses the fds fm sound

[Frank_fjs]

I am very interested in buying a Twin Famicom. That seems like my best option for me. Any point in getting the Zelda games for it?

Yeah, the Twins are great. It's pretty cool having everything built into the one unit running off a single power supply and not having to worry about a RAM adapter. They're heavy bastards though so shipping is usually costly but probably no worse than grabbing a Famicom console and Disk System console separately.

As I'm sure you're aware the original belts on the disk drive were poorly manufactured and haven't stood the test of time, but replacing them and re-calibrating the head is rather easy.

Re Zelda, I can't say if it's worth grabbing or not, depends on if you enjoy the game or not. The FDS version has better audio and the ability to save progress directly to the disk if that tempts you.

[SuperDeadite]

I have a red Turbo Twin and an AV Fami.  The AV Fami had better AV out, though I RGB modded mine anyway.  The Turbo Twin is a great system though.  The better music on FDS games is quite nice, only real issue is the games can basically die at any point in this day and age.  Still worth it just for Falsion and the 3D System imo.

[Gao]

As I'm sure you're aware the original belts on the disk drive were poorly manufactured and haven't stood the test of time, but replacing them and re-calibrating the head is rather easy.

For what it's worth, I had a much harder time fixing an FDS than most people.  Replaced the belt, spent hours trying to adjust it, then it started not being able to tell if batteries were inserted.  Ended up just getting a Twin Famicom that was already repaired.  The belts pretty much melt after a few years, so if you see someone selling one and they don't state that they fixed it, you pretty much have to assume that it currently doesn't work.

Game-wise, both Kid Icarus and Metroid have saving ability (in addition to music and sound effect differences), which makes them worth getting if you like them at all.  Though Metroid seems to have unusually long load times for some reason.  The best Japan exclusive game I've played is Konami's Ai Senshi Nicole, a top-down action game that plays a lot like the overhead sections of The Guardian Legend.

[ccovell]

I have a Twin Famicom (plus other Fami units like the Fami Titler) and for reliability, you should buy a Twin Famicom that has had its belt fixed already.  Let's face it, belt changing & calibration is a minefield of problems for newcomers to the FDS, and since most Twin Famis come out of Japan anyway, a good seller/shop should be fixing the belt themselves before selling.

Definitely, Ai Senshi Nicol is one of the FDS' best games, along with Zelda, Doki Doki Panic, Arumana no Kiseki, and Gyruss.

[Frank_fjs]

It's only the original belts that turned to tar after a few years, replacement belts should last a lot longer, I'd speculate at least 10 years if not longer.

Replacing the belt is very straight forward and calibrating the head isn't a big deal once you know what you're doing. I think problems arise as there's a lot of inaccurate information on the net, which is understandable given the lack of technical information available. I see videos of people messing with the hub and the spindle and cringe.

Providing it hasn't previously been interfered with I can fit a new belt and calibrate the drive to read any good disk with 100% reliability in under 30 minutes. The longest part is cleaning off all the melted residue from the old belt.

[Gao]

Oh, one thing to keep in mind with the Twin Famicom that is rarely mentioned: the controller cords are really, really short.  You pretty much have to have the console placed directly in front of you to play it, and the controllers are hard wired in, so you can't easily get an extension cord of any sort (though there is a port for third party controllers, but only one).  Just wanted to give you a heads up if you want a console that you can place in a regular media stand and play from your couch or something.  The original Famicom has hard wired controllers as well, and I understand that they're also pretty short, though I never had one and can't confirm if they're any better than the Twin Famicom.  If cord length is a concern, the AV Famicom has regular NES controller ports, so you could get one of those and a regular FDS.

[Frank_fjs]

Regular Famicom controller cables are also short as hell, even the third party controllers that you can use have short controller cables.

You can use the AES extension cables though, or do what I do and sit with the console in your lap.

[futureman2000]

Can you use back-up games on regular floppy disks, or are they proprietary? I had always assumed that they were regular floppies.

[PunkCryborg]

They are special floppies but you can get them in large lots often from japan. You can write your own but you need some special cables and an old computer.

[Gao]

Can you use back-up games on regular floppy disks, or are they proprietary? I had always assumed that they were regular floppies.

They used this weird 3 inch disk format (normal floppies are 3.5" or 5.25"), so you'll have a hard time finding the hardware to burn new disks.  Pirate disks did exist, so it's possible, and the hardware was obviously made at some point, but I doubt any has been since the early 90s.

[Frank_fjs]

You can use an old brand of disk called Maxell Quick Disks, they require slight modification to work but can still be bought new to this day.

You can dump disks to a ROM file on your PC or dub disk to disk with various hardware mods and cables.

[GohanX]

It's easier to just buy lots of games from Japan with games nobody wants and rewrite them.

Also, Zelda 1 is perfectly playable in Japanese, the only Japanese text in the game are the old man hints anyway. I haven't played FDS Zelda 2, but I would imagine it would be a bit more difficult if you aren't already familiar with the game.

[Arkhan Asylum]

Arumanaaaaaaaaa

is awesome.