Someone should really design a better NES. I see two possibilities. First, you design an almost-replacement system, differing in design. It would probably look something like a top-loader. Inside it would have a motherboard almost fully populated. The electrical components would be in place, as would be the LSI chips (139, 373, 368, 2x2K S-RAM), the 2 port NES controller brick, the 72-pin connector (designed for NES carts) and the Nintendo AV multi-out + AC adapter connectors. It would also have two 40 pin sockets for a 2A03 and a 2C02. The idea is that you find the chips and put them in the socket yourself and you can play the NES. The best place to find such chips would be from front-loaders, which would be desoldered therefrom for an additional fee. Alternatively, the system could support a 2C03 RGB PPU chip. This would have to do unless someone wanted to fully reverse engineer these chips and make clones.
My other idea revolves around replacing the top half of the NES. This top half should have a lower profile than the original and will have a slot in the middle for the cartridge connector. The cartridge connector will be supported by a brace and will have a ribbon cable with a female edge connector fit onto the male edge connector on the PCB.
My other idea revolves around replacing the top half of the NES. This top half should have a lower profile than the original and will have a slot in the middle for the cartridge connector. The cartridge connector will be supported by a brace and will have a ribbon cable with a female edge connector fit onto the male edge connector on the PCB.