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!
Game Boy Carry All by Nexoft / Asciiware
The Nexoft Gameboy Carry All was something I was seriously wanting to add to the portable storage article I wrote a while back, but I couldn’t manage to win one off ebay until recently. Although I’ve never seen one out in the wild I wouldn’t consider these storage cases to be rare, but they seem to be fairly hard to find! Always with an OCD for storing my video games and portable systems I had to own one, and here it is.
Mine says Nexoft, but I’ve seen them by Asciiware as well. From what I’ve seen online they are the exact same thing, just different company names. I’m assuming they were produced in the same factory and the names were printed on in different locations of that factory.
This case holds a Gameboy, up to 8 games, the Gameboy link cable, a pair of small earphones and possibly spare batteries, all within this compact unit. My only real annoyance comes not from the case itself but from Gameboy game cases. If you use game cases this will only hold a maximum of 4 games, but without cases you can store up to 8. Its not the carry all’s fault, but why would you only want to carry around (or store) 4 games?
4 games without cases or 2 with, why would you need cases within a case?
A very useful feature is the way it holds the Gameboy inside with a stationary bit in one corner and a quick release tab at the top. This keeps the Gameboy nice and snug within its own side, so you don’t have to worry about loose cartridges falling out when you close the unit up, just close it with the game part down.
I’m not sure whether this is common or maybe this particular one wasn’t used very often, but it doesn’t close well at all. I really have to give it a fair bit of pressure to get it to close. Being as old as it is I’m slightly worried about the plastic being too brittle. But once it all aligns the unit is held closed with a very sturdy clip, which holds it closed tight and secure.
As I only use it for storage the Nexoft/ASCIIWare Carry All serves its purpose of storing and protecting my Gameboy and a handful of games and accessories. Its small, light and compact with a carry strap, which I’ll never use but I’ll leave on anyway. But as I stated before with the plastic being this old it seems slightly brittle, so I couldn’t use this as a travel carrying case.
Aftermarket Game Boy Color Housing
Looking at the image above you may find it difficult to tell which one is the authentic yellow Game Boy Color and which has an aftermarket replacement housing. The authentic yellow is on the right and the aftermarket is on the left, but once you look a little closer the differences start to become apparent. Until recently I didn’t have an official yellow GBC to compare the after market housing to, now that I do I will be comparing them side by side.
About two years ago I picked up my second lime green GBC with a rather nasty scratch on the screen cover (featured in Sam’s Scores Game Boy edition). I weighed my options of buying just a replacement screen cover or replacing the whole housing and having a color that I didn’t already have. Given the choices, I settled on a yellow replacement housing and waited just over a month for it to arrive.
From my many trips through thrift stores and flea markets I felt more and more confident with my purchase of a yellow housing, as it seems to be the hardest of the six colors released in North America to find. After a while I felt as if I could pass it off as an official yellow GBC, if anyone asked. Initially I couldn’t tell the difference between the aftermarket housing and the other Game Boy Colors I acquired, but over time I noticed that it felt slightly lighter and the housing seemed to be a bit more transparent.
Aftermarket on the left, clearly you can see more through it than you can the OEM on the right.
Then I acquire an official yellow GBC, which was missing its battery cover, as well as having a whole chunk that required a little hot glue work, which didn’t turn out too well. I attempted to place the battery cover from the aftermarket shell into the OEM Game Boy Color, but it wouldn’t fit. I soon discovered there are small tabs on top of the tabs used to hold it in place that prevent it from going into any of my OEM GBC housings. That made me look deeper into what else was different between the two.
Hard to spot but look closely and you’ll see a textured area in the center of the tab.
At first glance they both seem fairly close, but if you look closer you’ll notice all of the embossed lettering around the console seem to be slightly thinner and less sharp than the OEM. All OEM Game Boy Colors have crisp and clean lettering, I assume from a solid casting process. Where I assume the aftermarket housings are made in haste from the cast of an official GBC and the finer detail is slightly lost in translation.
Maybe I just got the raw end of the deal and purchased mine from the wrong place, or maybe all of them are this cheaply made. I can’t deny that these aftermarket housings are a great choice to replace a beaten or broken housing, but don’t forget to purchase a triwing screwdriver! Which brings up another issue, the housing I bought didn’t come with any screws or the infrared cover on the top, maybe I was just screwed (get it?) out of them, so I’m glad I had those parts from the old housing.
Alone, an aftermarket shell could easily be passed off as an official GBC, but when compared to the real thing the differences quickly become clear. These housings are available in all of the officially released GBC colors, except limited editions, giving Game Boy Color fans all kinds of options to mix and match shell color combinations. All the small differences set aside they do their job and bring new life to any GBC that just needs a new place to live.
Retro Rechargeables
Like many vintage gaming fans, my first portable system was the Nintendo Game Boy. What I didn’t realize at the time was just how power hungry the little thing was, like a portable video game dictator. As the frequency of “Mom (or Dad), I need batteries for my Game Boy!” reached a fevered pitch, my mother bought me a rechargeable battery pack, which took forever to charge and only last as long as it took for me to get to a level boss.
As an adult I try not to pass them up when (more like if) I find them in a thrift store; I often say I would rather loathe owning something than regret not owning it when presented with the chance, if its cheap enough that is. In a previous article I showed off the SGRL system that I picked up simply based on its similar shape to the Game Boy Color battery cover, which turned out well in my favor. Shortly after I found another, this time just the battery pack and along the way I’ve found a handful of other retro rechargeables. For the most part many of them won’t hold a charge, as I assume the batteries have long since lost their ability to do so, but just having them around as relics of bygone technology and little piece of video gaming lore is something I find thoroughly enjoyable!
Nintendo Game Boy Rechargeable Battery Pack
I never had one of these when I originally had my Game Boy, mine was Doc’s brand and fit into the battery compartment from what I recall, but this is quite the nifty little battery pack. This was the official deal, licensed by Nintendo and sold off to all the kids who wanted power on the go. The cable has quite a bit of length on it and the pack itself has a clip, so the user can clip it into their belt and walk around aimlessly (perhaps into traffic), all while keeping their eyes on that Game Boy game. This didn’t require any strange power supplies either, it was a fairly standard direct DC cable used by most smaller home stereos at the time. Just plug it up and wait 8 hours, play until the battery runs out and do it all over again, what joy! Sadly due to the size of the plug this will only work on the original DMG Game Boys.
Power Pak Color by Performance
This one requires a standard Game Boy Pocket/Color (or even GBA) power adapter, so recharging it shouldn’t be too difficult as long as you have one of those lying around. Despite being bulky and uncomfortable while in use, the Power Pak color has 2 unique features that make me wish it were totally useful. Firstly the Power Pak Color has a charge viewing window at the bottom (much like the Energizer batteries in the 90s with the little charge meter on the side), often times it doesn’t work or the button gets stuck, but only after a short charge it fills up completely and all too quickly goes dead, rendering this feature pretty useless. Secondly, and what I find most excitingly, is a clever little storage space on the back for the Game Boy Color’s real battery cover, which would have nowhere else to go if it wasn’t for this little space. Due to its size and shape this will only work on the Game Boy Color.
SGRL Battery Pack and Charging Dock
I thought long and hard about adding this to the list and figured I may as well go ahead, even though I’ve already gone over it briefly. The SGRL is by far the most comfortable rechargeable battery pack I currently own for the Game Boy Color, sadly neither of them will hold a charge. The product gives no hint whatsoever as to what its for, other than the shape in both the charging dock and the battery pack itself. The charging dock uses the same power adapter as the Game Boy Pocket/Color, but there is not other way to charge the battery pack without the dock, sadly. This too is shapes strictly for the Game Boy Color and will not work on any other system.
Sega Game Gear Battery Pack
This one came bundled (I mean Goodwill packing taped) together with a Sega Game Gear I picked up a few years ago. Since I find the Game Gear a bit of a handful anyway, I didn’t really need to use the battery pack and stashed it away thinking I would never need it. As time went by the curiosity of whether or not the thing even worked set it, so I pulled it out and gave it a good charge. This pack uses the same power adapter as the Genesis 2 (MK-2103), so I just plugged it up and left it to charge. After a few hours I checked if there was any progress at all and no, there wasn’t any life coming out of this thing at all. If the unit worked I assume it may very well power the Genesis 2 or 3, since it has the same end as the MK-2103, which would be a little silly but fun nonetheless!
There are many other rechargeable systems created for vintage gaming portables that I don’t currently own, but if I manage to find a new one I’ll be sure to give it a quick review. I’ve passed up many along the way because I know they either won’t work or won’t hold a charge, like the ones I currently have, but I’ve regretted passing them up later down the road.
An easy way to test if the circuits in a retro rechargeable are working properly is to plug the battery in, as if to recharge it, and attach it to the system, then turn the system on. This should work as a simple pass-thru and power the system, but this only shows that the circuit is working properly and does not give any indication of whether or not the battery will hold a charge. Remember that these batteries often required 8 hours or more to charge fully and even as a brand new product (citing the Nintendo manual for the officially licensed battery pack) the battery will slowly discharge whether in use or not.
With advancements in modern technology its much easier to grab a handful of modern rechargeable AA or AAA batteries and just go to town until you’re fingers go numb, then charge them up over night. But I still find it fascinating to look back and see where that technology has come from. It was a long struggle to get where we are, and someday we will look back at today’s technology and scoff just the same, but just remember it was once brand new.
NUBY Game Light for Nintendo Game Boy
For the past 6 months or so I’ve had a neat little peripheral sitting in a drawer that I wanted to use so bad, but due to the state of corrosion on the battery contacts I packed it away and never really bothered with it. The overall condition wasn’t bad so when I saw it at the outlet store I tossed it in my bag anyway; whats the harm in buying a vintage gaming peripheral even if it may never work again? That peripheral is the NUBY Game Light, a neat little device that slides on to your original DMG-001 and lights up the screen so you can play in the dark.
When I originally found it I popped it open to make sure there were no batteries left inside, if I’m paying by weight I’m not paying for old, corroded batteries too! The corrosion didn’t alarm me until I got home, to have a deeper look inside the unit itself to see exactly what was going on and to map out how to fix it. All of the contacts were covered in a thick blue and rust colored layer of corrosion, so I reluctantly just packed it away in favor of doing something easier.
Oh boy, thats not going to be an easy fix, or is it?
I put the NUBY on one of my DMGs that doesn’t have a screen protector, hoping that the Game Light would keep anything that would do the screen harm far enough away. So every time I opened up that drawer to grab my working Game Boy, there it was, staring me in the face, almost begging for help. After a while of seeing it, and wondering what it did exactlty, I decided I would take on the challenge to clean the contacts, but how?
I did some research online as to what would remove corrosion from battery contacts, the most popular result was to use vinegar but I didn’t have any handy. After a quick rethink I went to the old standard way of cleaning and polishing small metal parts, STEEL WOOL! The steel wool polished up the contacts on the door quite well, which turned out to be brass, but the contacts deep inside the Game Light were a bit harder to reach.
Well that explains a lot!
The poor man’s ingenuity kicked in! I grabbed a pair of needle-nose pliers and grasped a small chunk of steel wool in the end. After giving all four of the inner contacts a good rubbing, or as good as I could get, they turned out ok.
Not perfect, but it will do.
After all the contacts were cleaned I checked inside to see which way the batteries went, when the sheer excess of the NUBY Game Light hit me. This thing takes four AA batteries, thats the exact same required to power the DMG-001! Four AA batteries to power 2 LEDs compared to the same to power everything needed to have a complete handheld gaming experience in your hands, it didn’t make sense. But these were the 90s, when technology wasn’t as sharp as it is now, so I will let it slide.
Four AA batteries in the same hole at the same time? No comment!
After popping in the thirsty beast’s battery requirements I slide it on to my Game Boy and flipped the switch, success! The LEDs are very bright and since they are in direct contact with the screen, as opposed to the LEDs in a magnifying unit that are so far away from the screen they barely do any good, the NUBY Game Light actually brightens up the screen pretty well. I was pleasantly surprised with the results to say the least.
2 ridges coincide with channels on the front and top of the DMG shell, holding it firmly in place.
With advances in modern technology, and the modification community, many people are using custom backlight/frontlight kits for their old DMG Game Boys. Admittedly I would love to have a backlit DMG, but I don’t want to modify any of my Game Boys, perhaps I’m too much of a purist in that sense. Over the years I’ve owned many of those hokey magnifier units that only slightly brighten the screen, but thats never been good enough. With the NUBY Game Light I can see much better, although its far from perfect, especially with its battery requirements, but it does a lot better than any alternative I’ve tried.
Shine on you crazy Game Boy!
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.