Faxanadu for the NES
My first true RPG experience was Final Fantasy on the NES, which lead me to believe that all RPGs should be like Final Fantasy. Later in life I found that belief quickly losing ground to the new belief that an RPG can take many forms, and as long as it’s enjoyable I don’t really care what game it may borrow it’s style from. Enter Faxanadu, an Adventure/RPG for the NES, developed by Hudson, that felt more like Metroid and Castlevania than it did Final Fantasy or Dragon Quest.
For many American RPG fans Faxanadu seemingly came out of nowhere, yet Faxanadu is reportedly a spinoff of a much larger series called Dragon Slayer. I don’t know much about the Dragon Slayer series other than both Faxanadu and Legacy of the Wizard are supposedly the only parts of the series that made their way on to the NES. I do own Legacy of the Wizard, I just haven’t delved too deeply into it, so for now I will continue with Faxanadu.
The game starts with the hero returning to his home village, only to find out many things have gone wrong in his absence. And as with any good RPG you are requested by the king to adventure out and set things right again, restoring peace and harmony to the lands once more. I feel that sums up every RPG in the 8-bit era, but you know what? It worked, and all of them put their own spin on that plot as well as made that single, overused plot enjoyable!
So in a more Metroid than Dragon Warrior Adventure/RPG way you set off going screen by screen collecting items, battling monsters and even visiting villages that offer new equipment and even spells. Along the journey you will collect exp and money from Monsters, which is vital for gaining levels and obtaining new armor, weapons, spells, keys, etc. Sometimes there are little tricks thrown in that will have you hopping back and forth between screens to obtain a special potion or other items.
Instead of a battery save Faxanadu uses a mantra system, which is nothing more than a password given to the player by visiting a priest in any given town. This password system leaves a bit to be desired as once the mantra is reentered the player will start from that church with the items, spells, etc. they left off with, but not all their exp or gold. Each mantra reverts the player back to a predetermined amount of exp and gold for the last level they obtained after acquiring a new mantra.
Fighting in Faxanadu is fairly straight forward, you simply press the button and attack what is in front of you. Sometimes, although rarely, you may need to use some clever tactics to defeat a foe, but nothing ever felt like it was impossible to slay; difficult, but never impossible.
Which leads me to the leveling (aka Rank) system, which is quite straight forward and standard, yet a bit frustrating. Even though the Rank system is capped at 16 it does require some periodical grinding. After you’ve obtained the next level it is highly advised, by myself, that you return to a priest in any given town to acquire a new mantra, thus saving your new rank and game progress. If you happen to die before obtaining a new mantra you will lose all extra progress toward your next level. But also, as stated above, mantras will only retain a base level and base amount of gold, any exp or gold gained above that, without acquiring a new level, will be lost.
Although not robust Faxanadu does offer the standard RPG fair, an increasingly difficult set of challenges/monsters, an increasingly better set of armor, weapons and spells, as well as a handful of back and forth missions. But one thing Faxandu has that is unique is the key system used to unlock new areas. Keys can be acquired from shops within the towns, but beware as you can only hold so many items. Plus the fact there are multiple types of keys; most of the time you have no way of knowing how many of each keys you’ll need to progress, and all used keys are gone forever.
Once you’ve defeated the final boss and restored peace to your village everything is perfect once more. At least I assume so, I mean we did just go through the whole game and took care of the reason everything was a mess in the first place. Faxanadu doesn’t quite fill up the same time as Final Fantasy or Dragon Quest would, but it’s definitely a great game to play and very enjoyable. Replay-ability may not seem likely, but give it some times and you’ll find yourself going back into the world of Faxanadu just to relive the adventure you had the first time around. Trust me!
The Art of Cheating 2: A Little Help From My Friends!
Most vintage gamers prefer to play video games as they were intended, trying over and over to get just 1 more level and feel our hard work has paid off. Others will only try so many times before they pull out an old issue of Nintendo Power, look up a walkthrough, or find cheat codes. For the rest of us, and even all of the above, there was the Game Genie, Action Replay or Game Shark!
The main function of these devices is to alter the game’s coding so that we don’t have to struggle. Sometimes, with a little fiddling around, codes could help us forget about our struggles by completely altering the game in quite interesting ways. From infinite exp, gold or levels in an RPG, to allowing Mario to swim through thin air and complete levels untouched, these cheating devices offered endless possibility and helped many gamers beat a game, while all their friends were struggling to beat the game the intended way. Ha, losers!
As far back as the Commodore 64 days, cheating devices have been on the market. When the home console market started heating up many companies decided it was time to step up to that market and throw their name into the ring. I don’t own them all (I wish I did though!), but I will be going through the cheat devices I do own (or have owned) for each console and giving them a quick review.
Nintendo Game Boy
One of the earliest Game Genies I owned was for my Game Boy, which came with a little code booklet that had such small print it was almost of no real use. It also came with stickers that you could place on the back of each game and punch in codes at a glance. When the Game Genie started up the user was prompted to enter codes, meaning if the game you wanted to use didn’t have any stickers or wasn’t in the booklet, you were out of luck.
This Game Genie works universally with the DMG, Game Boy Pocket and the Game Boy Color, but it will not work with the Super Game Boy without modification. Even though Game Boy Color games fit, they blank out the screen on the Game Boy Color. They do seem to work on the DMG and Pocket, but GBC games won’t work on that hardware anyway, leading me to assume Game Boy Color games will not work with the Game Genie.
Many years later I acquired a Game Shark Pro, which encompassed both the Game Boy and Game Boy Color library of games. Although a little unorthodox in the way you connect the cartridge, the Game Shark was far superior to the Game Genie, in that it offers on-board memory to store cheat codes, as well as allowing the user to remove or even input new codes/games into the Game Shark’s memory. Unlike the Game Genie, the Game Shark will work in a Super Game Boy, but due to the lack of a notch for the power switch, it will not work in an original DMG.
Nintendo Entertainment System
The only cheat device for the NES I’ve ever owned is a Game Genie, but I do believe there is an Action Replay out there for the NES as well. The Game Genie for the NES was released in two forms, that I know of, black and gold, which are simply esthetic differences and have nothing to do with performance. The Game Genie was very straight forward in how to use it with the old NES box design, but if you own an NES top loader you will notice that the Game Genie is almost impossible to get in. With a little force it will work, but once it is within the console it is extremely hard to remove. Galoob did remedy this with an adapter, which has become too rare for me to ever find.
As with any Game Genie, all codes were punched in manually and if the game I wanted to use wasn’t in the booklet, I was out of luck. Sometimes I would get additional codes from kids around the neighborhood, as well as punching in random codes to see what the results would be. I mostly enjoyed my Game Genie with various Super Mario Bros. and Super Mario Bros. 3 codes, to completely alter the game. Anything from changing the background textures or enemy textures, to allowing Mario to walk over pits and walk through obstacles and enemies alike, the Game Genie produced amazing results in those two games.
Super Nintendo
Again I must confess the only cheating device I’ve ever owned for the SNES has been the Game Genie, but I believe there was an Action Replay available for it and/or the Super Famicom, I’m not completely sure. The SNES version of the Game Genie was much like the NES version, as all you needed to do was piggyback the SNES cartridge on top, plug it all into the SNES and away you went. But sadly the Game Genie didn’t come equipped with the spare connectors that are used in games that utilize the Super FX chip. I’m not completely sure whether this affects using these two in combination, but I’m pretty sure those are essential and would indeed cause problems.
Another downside is that during the lifetime of the SNES, Nintendo got wise to all the game copying machines that were prevalent in that era. To stop these devices from working, and subsequently the Game Genie as well, Nintendo put a security measure in place that will prevent some games from loading correctly, if they detect they’re not connected directly into the SNES console. This means a lot of games, such as Killer Instinct, that you would like to use Game Genie codes for simply won’t load, defeating the whole purpose.
Nintendo 64
By the time the Nintendo 64 rolled out, Game Genie had become but a memory and left the other two devices to rule the console cheating device market. For the N64 I own a Game Shark Pro v3.3, which offers all the on board memory goodness that I’m familiar with in the Game Shark product line. Also by this time computers were becoming more prevalent, so the Game Shark offers a connection port on the back of the device, allowing for updates.
The N64 Game Shark Pro doesn’t allow for the comfortable, snug cartridge connection that I’m familiar with in all my other cheating devices, instead of function they went for form. This means the cartridge doesn’t always align properly, feeling very flimsy once its all put together, which often forces me to reconnect the game cartridge and the Game Shark to get it to function properly. Apart from the occasional need to reconnect the game cartridge I haven’t had many issues with the Game Shark, but I have heard many of them suffer from numerous problems and are often completely nonfunctional.
Sega Genesis
When I got my first Sega Genesis I had to find myself a Game Genie, so I did. Operation is the exact same as all the other Game Genies (punch in the codes and go!), as well as offering the familiar snug and comfortable fit between cartridge and Game Genie. I no longer have a Game Genie for the Genesis, so this means I can not offer pictures of it, but there is always Google.
The Sega Genesis version also came in 2 variations, that I know of, black label and gold label, again purely an esthetic change and nothing to do with performance. The Game Genie works with both the Sega Genesis model 1 and 2, but does not work with the Majesco model 3, which is a hardware limitation of the console and not the Game Genie. From what I understand this can be rectified by adding a few wires within the console to connect the points that need to be made for the Game Genie to work. As I’ve never owned a Nomad, or any other portable Genesis device, to test it with, I can not confirm or deny whether it works with any of those.
Sega Game Gear
Just like the Game Boy, the Sega Game Gear had a Game Genie as well. This one also had a compartment for a little code booklet, but unlike the Game Boy version the games actually went in the correct way around. My only real complaint is that once the unit is fitted to the Game Gear it becomes slightly difficult to properly plug in the power supply, which is almost vital for using a Sega Game Gear at home.
This version of the Game Genie seems to prefer loading the games first, requiring the user to hit the green reset button on the Game Genie to boot to the code entry screen. But once the Game Genie begins to boot you are greeted by a voice saying “Game Genie!”. Even more good news is that, unlike its Sega Genesis 3 cousin, the Majesco Game Gear will run the Game Genie with only slight glitches, but overall runs quite well on the games I have tested it with.
Sega Dreamcast
As the Sega Dreamcast was drawing its last breath, many stores were abandoning support for the terminally ill console. During this time I was trying to pick up as many games, VMUs and other things for the Sega Dreamcast as I could. One thing that caught my eye was a Game Shark Lite, in a pretty strange looking case.
As the media had changed from cartridge to disc, I was completely ignorant to how this disc would work, as I was still imagining the mating between cartridge and cheat device to be the way things needed to be done. The concept was far more simple than I could imagine, you simply boot the Game Shark disc and pick from the preloaded games, pick your codes and then swap out the Game Shark disc for the game disc. Everything was smooth and easy! I own the Game Shark Lite, which only requires the single disc to operate, but I have seen Dreamcast Game Sharks with specialized memory cards that are required for the whole thing to work.
Sony Playstation
When the Playstation launched with disc based media, cheating devices had to become more clever in the way they would be utilized. One of the first ways was to tap into the Parallel I/O port on the back of the early Playstation consoles, at least that’s what the Game Shark I own does. Simply plug this into the I/O port on the back and the Game Shark boots up first. This Game Shark also has a port on the back, again I assume to allow for updates.
But once Sony started seeing the Parallel I/O port being used for thing they didn’t like, or license, they decided to do away with it. This gave birth to the disc based Game Shark, such as my Game Shark CDX. I have two different versions of the CDX, one only requires the disc and saves to any Playstation memory card, but the other requires the disc and a memory card combo.
I’ve always enjoyed the simplicity of the Game Genie. The Game Genie only required a simple code and even went out of its way to avoid any confusion between the letter O and number 0, something that I’ve actually found to be a problem with one of my Game Sharks. For every Game Genie other than the NES version, they offered an on/off switch to allow users to have codes at the ready, just in case they were wanting to beat a game without cheating.
Most Game Sharks offered the on/off switch as well, but I feel it was put in more as a fail-safe, as I’ve found the Game Shark tends to lock up games quite a bit more easily than Game Genies ever have. The Game Shark has an inviting interface, and the fact that offers an editable memory of codes gives it more overall appeal. But either way, both the Game Shark and Game Genie have helped me out of binds on more than a few occasions, as well as made games more fun.
Codes for both Game Sharks and Game Genies can readily be found online, allowing anyone who finds one of these devices out in the wild to take it home and use it straight away. But as with anything on the internet, codes aren’t always to be believed and often times don’t work. But the internet has shown me that someone has released a Game Genie for the Famicom, which is something I’ll have to get my hands on for sure!
Interview with Wisdom Tree Owner Brenda Huff
Wisdom Tree games have become a punchline in the modern gaming era, due in large part to their exposure in AVGN episodes. Subsequently some gamers will judge these games, and the company who made them, solely on what they see and never give these games a try, for personal experience. Although AVGN is a character, and mostly reacting to these games for entertainment value, Wisdom Tree is a real company, with a real purpose.
Wisdom Tree was the first and only publisher of Bible based, educational games designed for the Nintendo Entertainment System. Founded in August of 1990, under parent company Color Dreams, Wisdom Tree sold over one-quarter of a million games in the first year of business. As systems advanced Wisdom Tree added games for the GameBoy, Sega Genesis, Super Nintendo, and PC to the product line.
Without question Wisdom Tree’s games were based heavily on top games of the day, and are often mocked for never reaching the refinement level that those games did. Although I’m not drawn in by the religious aspect, I still respect the company, and games, from a business standpoint. I’ve always been interesting in the history of Wisdom Tree, knowing they worked around Nintendo’s heavy hand, so I sent an email off to the current owner of Wisdom Tree games, Brenda Huff, to see if she could give me a little more insight into what the company behind these games was about.
Brenda started by giving me a brief history of her time with the company.
I joined the Wisdom Tree sales team on January 15, 1991, just in time for the initial sell in of their first game, Bible Adventures for Play on Nintendo®. In 1992 I was promoted to the position of sales supervisor. As supervisor, I was head of the sales team, managed the major accounts, worked on product development, and was in charge of all trade shows and convention operations. This included the CBA (Christian Book Association) Regionals and International convention, as well as several denominational conventions each year.
TVG: Did Color Dreams shut down or did it kind of dissolve into Wisdom Tree?
WTG: Color Dreams was always the parent company until my husband and I bought Wisdom Tree. They were the development and manufacturing side. When we bought Wisdom Tree they had moved on to digital camera development.
TVG: Did Color Dreams ever approach Nintendo for a license or was the idea to get around that in the first place?
WTG: As far as I know, Color Dreams opted to work around Nintendo. I do know that Nintendo had a list of subjects they would not license. Religious games were on that list, so Wisdom Tree had no option.
TVG: Why did Wisdom Tree decide to create strictly Christian games?
WTG: Wisdom Tree was created to serve a niche market, the Christian Bookstore industry. The Bible-based games gave families an alternative to the sex and violence present in so many secular games. It was also an industry that Nintendo had no interest in.
TVG: Did Wisdom Tree ever distribute internationally? Or even Canada or Mexico?
WTG: Wisdom Tree did distribute all over the world. Some of the larger accounts were in Canada, Australia, UK, Brazil, Germany and France. Bible Adventures and Exodus were even translated into German and French.
TVG: Did Wisdom Tree have any unfinished or unreleased games?
WTG: No. We had a few basic concepts, but nothing serious. Color Dreams had moved on to digital cameras by then.
TVG: Although most famous for NES games, a few Game Boy and the 1 Super NES, were there any games released for any other consoles?
WTG: Game Boy – Exodus, Joshua, Spiritual Warfare, KJV Bible for GB, NIV Bible and the 20 Lost Levels of Joshua for GB, Sega Genesis – Bible Adventures, Exodus, Joshua, Spiritual Warfare.
TVG: Can you tell me much about Super Noah’s Ark 3D and if there was any involvement from id Software with the source code or anything from Wolfenstein?
WTG: Color Dreams originally licenced the Wolf engine from id Software to do a game they were planning on calling “Hellraiser”. They also licensed the rights to use the name and story line. Many problems arose and the project was never finished. Color Dreams finally used the license and the engine for a Wisdom Tree game, Super 3D Noah’s Ark for SNES. See below for more info on this game.
TVG: I’ve seen Wisdom Tree games in both blue and black versions, were cartridge colors random? Were there any additional cartridge colors that didn’t make it to production?
WTG: The blue carts were originally for the Color Dreams games. Wisdom Tree games were to be done in black. The remaining inventory of blue carts was used by Wisdom Tree. Nothing planned, just using up inventory. Of course back then, there was no thought of the games becoming “collectibles”.
TVG: Were there any other cartridge designs before settling on what we see now?
WTG: As far as I know, there was only one final cartridge design. When working with prototypes it is a trial and error process. Once the games were actually shipped I believe the cart never changed. To avoid copy right violations the cart and circuit boards had to be different than those on used by Nintendo.
TVG: No physical cartridges are available for sale, but all games are available in PC format on your website, correct?
WTG: We are not selling the original cartridge games any more. They are out of print. Five of the titles are available on PC. Bible Adventures, Exodus, Spiritual Warfare, Joshua and Super 3D Noah’s Ark are selling for $7.50 ea in the PC format. (Wisdom Tree Games Page)
TVG: Has Wisdom Tree always been based in Tucson, AZ?
WTG: Color Dreams and Wisdom Tree Inc. were started and run in Brea, CA. We moved WT to Tucson after purchasing the company in 1997.
TVG: Where was your manufacturing plant for the games?
WTG: Pre 1997 manufacturing was done in Brea, CA. After my husband and I purchased WT manufacturing was done by my son in Yorba Linda, CA. WT has been a family business since we purchased it.
TVG: Do you have any pictures of the work areas from the NES era that we can publish?
WTG: I have attached a picture of CNN reporter touring the manufacturing area at WT. (Photo Here)
TVG: With the recent waves of nostalgia have there been any thoughts about releasing Wisdom Tree games again?
WTG: Yes, it is certainly an interesting turn of events. First of all, Super 3D Noah’s Ark was the only SNES game ever released that was not licensed by Nintendo. Color Dreams was the licensee for the original game as well as all of the Wisdom Tree NES titles. Color Dreams is noted to be the only company who legally maneuvered around Nintendo’s lockout chips. This was established in testimony given by a Nintendo employee during a court case involving another developer.
As I am sure you know, retro gaming is a really big entity right now. All of our games are in great demand by collectors. Our games are some of the hardest to find. There are systems out now that allow gamers to play the older games. The idea actually came from Piko Interactive. You may want to contact them for more info. The release of the re-make of Super 3D Noah’s Ark has been well received.
Am I amused by its infamous reputation, or do I think people slagging it are way off base and missing the point? I believe everyone has an opinon. As the old saying goes, beauty is in the eye of the beholder. I have had comments from “the worst game ever” to “finally, a game the whole family can play”. Personally, I think it is a game that appeals to niche markets. To a lot of collectors, it is a piece of video game history. For the Christian community it is an alternative to the violence and sexual content present is so many games. I have customers who want to play the games from their childhood with their children. We are considering the re-release of some of the NES titles also. The fact that a Bible-based SNES game is back on the market in 2014 shows that nothing is impossible for God.
Wisdom Tree games may never be priceless relics, or even games that you will play, but one undeniable fact is that they are quite an interesting piece of video gaming history. From working around Nintendo’s marketing demands and serving the niche market they intended to serve, Wisdom Tree set out with a goal to do and made it happen. I would like to thank Brenda for taking the time to answer some of the questions I’ve had, perhaps additional questions may be asked later, if she is once again willing to participate.
Peripheral Vision: Turbo Touch 360 for the NES
Its no secret that the good old days of gaming were used extensively as a guinea pig for many strange, unique and down right useless peripherals. Many companies threw outrageous products onto store shelves in hopes it would catch on and become part of the video game craze. Today I will be taking a look at possibly one of the most unique controllers that came out of the vintage gaming era, the Turbo Touch 360 for the NES.
At first glance many gamers will notice its Sega Genesis controller shape. Turbo Touch controllers were available for the NES, SNES and the Sega Genesis, with only the color and button configuration changing between them. Shortly after they will undoubtedly notice the fact that there is absolutely no D-pad, but don’t let that scare you quite yet.
Twins!
I picked up a Turbo Touch 360 a while back and featured it in Sam’s Scores. At that time I only had one complaint, which was that they only made them in the Sega Genesis shape. Well after playing with it for a while I came up with an additional complaint; if you need to hold down B to run and press A to jump, the A button often times becomes stuck. More recently I acquired yet another so I figured I would give it a once over to make sure everything worked, yet again the exact same problem plagued this controller as well, so I assume this is just inherent all NES versions.
Virtually no changes between the NES and the Genesis version.
When I got my first NES I started with a stock rectangle controller, graduating to a 3rd party controller shaped more like the Famicom controllers (rounded edges) with built in turbo buttons, since then I’ve adopted the NES Dog bone as my favorite NES controller. All that being said, the point here is to say all those controllers are tiny compared to the behemoth that is the Turbo Touch 360.
The Turbo Touch 360 dwarfs the original NES controller!
The Turbo Touch 360 has built in turbo buttons that work quite well, but since the A and B buttons are significantly larger I sometimes find it difficult to transition back and forth between them. This may just be a slight issue, but it may also be compounded by the fact my mind is telling me that I’m playing NES games with a Genesis controller.
Now you can see how closely is resembles the Genesis controller.
Now we get to the most unique part of the Turbo Touch 360, as well as the feature that gave the controllers their name. As you can plainly see there is no D-pad, at least not the design we’re familiar with, rather there is a small plastic disc with a sort of braille built in to let you know what to expect as you move your thumb around the octagonal hole. It may take a little while to get used to but it is quite easy to use.
For lack of a better name I’ll be calling it a D-pad from here on, and in terms of D-pads the Turbo Touch 360 is no less accurate than any other third party controller I’ve ever owned. Super Mario Bros. is a great test for new controllers as you can quickly and readily use any of the buttons on the controller at any given time. In doing so this style of D-pad made me jump into holes and slide into enemies, but again no more so than any other third party controller.
The depth of the concave octagon is a little deep when you’re used to a raised D-pad, so there may be a slight learning curve all around when using a Turbo Touch 360. The edges of the octagon are rounded off nicely, which makes using the d-pad slightly more inviting. The controller’s overall shape is rounded in many areas but still too blocky for its own good, although it resembles it in shape its nowhere near as comfortable as the Genesis controller.
I haven’t dared to take the D-pad apart and see how it work because I’m afraid I may never be able to get it back together. The D-pad doesn’t have a spring/gummy feeling like normal D-pads, so I don’t see there being any carbon pads underneath. However it works it does quite well, but I’m not brave enough to take it apart and find out.
I love to collect weird controllers, as I’m sure I’ve documented quite well here on the site. While the Turbo Touch 360 isn’t something I would use all the time, thats just personal preference and has nothing to do with the controller itself. Perhaps I could take the controller apart and fix the sticky button issue, play with it more often to get over the strange feeling of using a Genesis controller on my NES and enjoy the controller a lot more than I do, but I just prefer the simplicity of using the controller I’m already accustom to.
Now I leave you with this strange ad I found for the Turbo Touch 360 while doing research for this article, enjoy!
This ad seems a little wrong by today’s internet mindset.
Sam’s Scores: Game over, man! Game over!
As hunting has slowed to a complete stop as of the past few months, I feel it best this series come to a close and take a graceful and final bow. Thrift stores and flea markets are drying up, and if they do have something I want its usually priced too high to be a considered a score. So this series will end with a handful of pickups that I’ve found, but I never got around to posting. As most of these are outlet store finds I can’t price them all, because everything is purchased by weight, making giving them individual prices too much math for me. But there is one small lot of items that I do know the exact price of because I bought it specifically just so I know what I paid for it.
8)Sega 32x Cables and Information
This is a bit of a mixed bag, quite literally. I picked up a bag of christmas lights for a project and while looking through it I spotted this bag of 32x information. It had various cables and stuff for the 32x, but for some reason I never checked the bottom of the bag to see if there was a 32x inside! Its been too long to start worrying about it now, but if I happen to find one I’ll have the information and cables to use it.
7)Super Mario Bros. 3 Valentines Cards
I remember actually receiving some of these when I was a child, but back then I didn’t own an NES nor did I have the collectors mind that I do now. The outlet store had a tub filled with vintage valentine’s cards of all kinds, but the only pack I was interested in was this one, which are still factory sealed! Had there been more I would have gotten as many as I could, but sadly this was the only one they had. Regardless its a pretty cool little collector’s item from the glory days of Nintendo and their keen promotional tactics.
6)Masters of the Universe – Intellivision
You simply never know what you may run across when you’re peering into the seemingly bottomless blue bins at the outlet store. Often its just filled with endless junk nobody else wanted, and sometimes treasures nobody else wanted. The box pretty much tells the tale as it was crushed under junk, while the cartridge was in another bin and the manual and overlays were in yet another. After putting it all together I was pretty excited, even though I don’t even have an Intellivision.
5)Sony Dual Analog and White PS Controllers
Playstation controllers, especially the dual shock, are a penny a pound, but there were a few uncommon controllers I was actively seeking. First up is just the standard white controller, no analog, no vibration, just normal controller functions in a strange color, since they didn’t release a Playstation in white until the PSOne. Secondly is a controller I’ve ran across before, but didn’t want to pay the insane price for, and that is the Dual Analog. The Dual Analog has no vibration feature, but offers 2 different analog settings, concave thumbsticks and also sports handles that are longer than any other PS controller. From what I understand the Dual Analong was a failure and now is considered to be rare, but when it comes to anything vintage gaming, isn’t it all nowadays?
4)Sega Saturn Model 1 and Games
At the beginning of the year I potentially risked my life to go pick up a Sega Saturn model 2, which turned out pretty well. I had Guardian Heroes but I also went to Disc Replay and picked up FIFA, but for the longest time I couldn’t find anything in thrift stores. Later I happened to find Ultimate Mortal Kombat 3 and a broken copy of Daytona USA hidden inside a Playstation case at a Goodwill store. Later the outlet store gave me Virtua Cop 1 and 2 as well as a working copy of Daytona USA. But the biggest find was when I found a dusty old Saturn model 1 sitting in a bin, it needed cleaned and the laser adjusted but it was worth the outlet store price!
3)Super 8 SNES Attachment
I am enthralled by pirated and just downright strange attachments, controllers or anything that has to do with video gaming really, and the Super 8 delivers that four times over! When I found this at the outlet store I thought it was something else, but I was still pretty damn excited to have found it. I’m not sure video game peripherals get any more weird than the Super 8.
2)Game Genie and Book for NES
This one is a bit of a tricky situation, the book came from the outlet store and cost me 25 cents while the Game Genie actually came from a local thrift store called The Recycle Bin for 99 cents. For about $1.50 (tax included) I have to say this is a pretty decent grab! I already own a Game Genie and book, but they’ve been packed away in a box for years. Could you pass up these for that price for the sheer luxury of not having to dig through boxes to find your other one?
1)NES-101 aka Top Loader
Yes, you read that correctly. I found an NES top loader at the Goodwill outlet store, where almost everything is sold by weight instead of some ludicrous price the managers found online. I had always hoped I would run across one at the outlet store, yet I never honestly thought I would, and if I did it would be in the possession of someone else.
I was doing my normal digging when I ran across an NES dog bone controller (the third one I’ve found there), then I noticed a normal rectangle controller as well as an NES RF adapter all in the same bin. Now, for some reason all of the cables get tangled together, causing you to slow down and untangle whichever item you want (controller, AV/RF cables, power supply, etc.), but also when you pull on any given item you have the resistance of the whole ball of wires pulling against you. As I pulled on the dog bone controller I felt that resistance, so I wasn’t thinking there was anything on the end, apart from a huge mass of phone cables, misc. power cords, coax cable, etc.
I slowly snatched up the rectangle controller and the RF adapter and went back to pulling on the dog bone controller. The more I pulled the less resistance I received, so I assumed this rat’s nest wasn’t too large, but as I kept pulling out popped a small, dark grey bit of plastic with a shiny silver sticker on the bottom that said NES Control Deck NES-101. It couldn’t be! It was smaller than a normal NES, but this just simply couldn’t be my luck, an NES top loader from the outlet store? Surely not! I must have done something right, because it was.
Jumping around like a ninny and stopping only long enough to snap a pic of it in front of the bin I had just resurrected it from, I made sure that all I was going to purchase was the control deck, both controllers and the RF adapter. I rushed to the counter with a massive grin on my face, failing miserably to hide it, and paid what the cashier asked. Once outside I snapped a pic of the receipt, because nobody would otherwise believe what I paid.
Bypassing the NES10 Lockout Chip Mod Tutorial
So what is the NES10 lockout chip that almost all gamers talk about when they bring up the downfall of the NES? Well, while designing the NES Nintendo decided they wanted complete control over what games could be played in their system, thus creating the fabled NES10 lockout chip and forcing anyone who didn’t pay their license fee to spend most of their time and money figuring out a way to bypass this chip. Many companies, such as Tengen, Colored Dreams and Wisdom Tree, managed to bypass the chip with seemingly great success and ease; I assume there were others who put so much effort into trying to bypass it they could no longer stay in business to release games.
But another thing that the NES10 chip did, that Nintendo never really seemed to think through, was keeping officially licensed, yet slightly dirty games from being played on the NES as well. While most NES fans will quickly point their fingers at the ZIF (Zero insertion force aka 72 pin connector) connector inside the system for giving off a brilliant light show instead of playing your games, I personally have found the NES10 to be more problematic. The main job of the NES10 is to make sure the chip inside the cartridge matches up with the NES10 inside the system, but with a little help from a slightly dirty or misaligned cartridge inside the ZIF, even an officially licensed NES game will cause the NES10 chip to reset the NES over and over again, warning you that it is in control and about to exterminate all humans.. Where is Dr. Who when you need him?
While taking apart a broken, yet still functioning, NES to repair the NES from my childhood I decided I would disable the NES10 chip. Mere moments after I had already perform the mod it dawned on me that I should have taken before and after photos for a tutorial. Well its too late now, but I am going to write up a photographic tutorial on how you can disable the NES10 and make your NES work better.
First of all I must say that I, or anyone else at TheVintageGamers.com, will not be held responsible for the result of your modification to your own NES, even under my instructions. The mod is simple, yet precautions must be taken as well. The results are yours and yours alone, successful or otherwise, so be careful!
The first thing you will need is a willing NES, as we here at The Vintage Gamers don’t condone modifying any piece of vintage gaming equipment without it’s prior and expressed consent. Secondly you will need a medium philips screw driver and a place to lay out the (figuratively) hundreds of screws you will be removing and needing to replace once you’re done. You may want to take the time to label each screw set; they’re not very diverse but spending 15 minutes trying to sift through them all to find the right one for each given spot only takes away time from enjoying your newly modified NES, we don’t want that now do we?
Step 1 will require you to turn your NES over on it’s lid and remove the 6 screws from the bottom holding the lid on.
Once all 6 screws have been removed, flip your NES back over and its time to tackle the RF shield. The RF shield is being held down by an additional 7 screws.
Now its time to tackle the tray that the NES games slide into, which is held down by 6 more screws, a set of 3 per side. Once you’ve removed the 3 screws on each side you’ll need to carefully pull the tray forward and up slightly to get it clear a few things, so you can remove it. This can be one of the most frustrating things to both remove and put back into place, at least it was for me, so take your time and be careful with this step.
Next you’ll need to remove the 2 screws holding the motherboard and the power input/video output box into the shell.
Sadly with all those screws removed you’re still 3 simple clips away from removing the motherboard from it’s shell. Carefully remove the 2 green clips and the 1 (larger) blue clip from their place on the motherboard. Freedom! You can now remove the motherboard and flip it over to get ready to modify.
Another RF shield in your way? Not a problem! This one simply slides off, just place it aside and get ready for the next step.
I’ve outlined that pesky NES10 chip in red, you may also notice some capacitors sitting just below the chip. You’ll need to be extremely careful with the next step and not knock these off.
For this step you’ll need something such as a smaller flat head screw driver or needle-nose pliers, but only pry on the marked (and missing in the photos) pin of the NES10 chip. Again, make sure you take your time removing this and don’t accidentally knock off a capacitor or bend any of the surrounding pins on the chip.
My results here look more like a broken tooth, rather than a professionally extracted one, but the affect is the same. I’ve seen other tutorials that say to simply bend the pin upward and solder on a ground wire, but I’ve personally found no issues with simply removing the whole thing entirely. But only that pin of the chip!
Since you already have your NES open to do the NES10 modification, perhaps you want your NES to work even better! Well take an old toothbrush with some rubbing alcohol and give that old 72 pin connector a good rub down. Just make sure you use high % rubbing alcohol as the other ingredient is water, and we all know water and electricity don’t mix very well.
Once you’ve disabled the NES10 chip and given the 72 pin connector a thorough alcohol bath, reassembly is just the reverse of what you just did to take it all apart. Hopefully you managed to keep track of which screw went where, or maybe you’ll luck out and have everything fit the first time. Either way the results (if you did everything correctly) will be an NES that works much better.
Even though I’ve modified my NES and cleaned out the 72 pin connector, I still prefer to make sure all my games are clean. Either way your NES will now never blink off and on ever again, in fact if there is an error it will simply go to a solid colored screen, while remaining on. If you don’t want to crack open your NES I highly suggest keeping your games clean and maybe even trying to track down a good old cleaning kit, just to make sure its as clean as possible and works properly.
Sam’s Scores 13
4) NES game carry case
You may know how I love to buy the canvas travel cases for retro systems, but I’ll buy almost anything branded that allows me to store my video games and systems. Such is the case with this NES game carrying case. Back in the NES days Nintendo put their name on anything, sometimes it was utter junk and other times it was decent, in this case it was JUNK! This thing was meant to carry up to 10 NES games anywhere you needed to go. The problem was these things were merely plastic covering cardboard, not the strongest combination! The strongest part of this thing is the brass parts, which have tarnished. This is still a pretty cool retro piece to own, and it does hold 10 games quite well, even if it is slightly misshapen.
3) 1080 Snowboarding N64
In a previous edition of Sam’s Scores I discussed how I may have bricked my N64 Gameshark. After a little bit of research I learned that fixing it may be as easy as buying the game that corresponds with the key code I changed it to. Lucky for me it did the trick and fixed my Gameshark to usable condition once more! Even if it hadn’t, it was cheap enough that I wouldn’t have minded just adding it to my collection anyway.
2) Krazy Kreatures NES
Most of the unlicensed games for the NES are naturally harder to find than the official releases, such as Krazy Kreatures. When I found this I originally thought it was an old 8-track tape, it looked so strange inside it’s American Video Entertainment sleeve. Although the game isn’t very fun, this is one of only two games actually developed by A.V.E.
1) Tecmo Super Bowl
About a year ago I happened to find Tecmo Bowl for $1, but could never find Super Bowl for a price that I felt was good enough to warrant owning both of them. Until recently, when I found one at such a good price that I couldn’t turn it down!
