I have read that these supposedly exist, though I have yet to find one.  Is there a device I can get that'll let me play Famicom carts on the NES?

If so, is it costly and does it work well?

Absolutely -- a few of older black box games have them inside, such as Gyromite. In fact, I have 5 extra Gyromites with converters and tried to sell them on ebay, but they yanked 'em.

-Dain

How much would a converter cost?

Dain

Could you give a little more details on the converters from old black box games?  This is new to me.  When you say "inside" does that mean inside the cart itself or they were included inside the original box?

Why the hell would they yank those!? Anyways, I still don't have a Gyromite with adapter (crazy!) I'll buy one if you still have them, in fact maybe I'll buy 2, then I can use one of them permanently for Famicom

Basically inside the cart is the Famicom version pcb which runs thru smaller board that has a CIC installed so it will boot on US machines. It also converts the 60-pin Famicom board to 72-pins like the NES uses.

This sounds strange actually.  Is this something I need to actually open up a cart and attach to the PCB?  Or is this something that connects to the Famicom game?

Actually, if it's a strange PCB thing, am I going to have to open up a Famicom cart and a standard NES game and hook all this stuff up so the cart will reach back?

Are all Gyromites like this?

No not all Gyromites are like this, I have 3 or 4 and none of them do. Only games that I have with them are Pinball and Stack-Up (I think all Stack-Up's do have them). The converter is a 2-part deal, it looks like this.

Interesting...  And that converter will make ANY Famicom game work?  Just attach it to the bottom of the cart and you're good to go?

NES JOINT 01 is a pretty good name for it.  Heh.

Stack-Up is the only game that always has one inside, so if you have a copy of that game, you're good to go. In fact, that's probably why the prices for Gyro's w/converters is a bit high -- the alternative is to buy up a bunch of Stack-Ups, which isn't any cheaper.

-Dain

I got given a converter with an item I brought through Ebay, I didn't really know what it was for.
Is there anyway I can upload a pic? Would like to know if anyone has something similar.

shoot me a PM sivak and i can walk ya through the steps on how to make the connector work if you are trying to make it work. i just recently did it with a splatterhouse famicom game and it works great. Was kinda tricky to get it to work though. plus in some cases you have to file down part of the connector to make a famicom game fit in it. so i took the cart apart, and put all the insides in an american nes cart, printed a new splatterhouse label, and added a new game to my US nes collection lol

Sivak:  A tip for you:  There's a certain way you can tell if a Gyromite cart has a converter inside by looking at the pins.  There's a bit of a rectangular metal protrusion at the end of the metal part of each pin.  If that protrusion is centered, the cart doesn't have the converter inside.  If the protrusion is to the right edge of the pin, the cart does have the converter.  Unfortunately, this trick only works with Gyromite carts.  Btw, I have a couple spare Gyromites with the converter inside...if you have anything NES-related to spare, we might be able to work out a trade .

Well, I do have things NES related, although they may not be the most appealing.  Mainly just some doubles although not all in the greatest of condition.  I'm gonna work on getting the Famicom material before I get any connectors.  I'm sure they'll still be around in the near future.

As you see in my sig, there's a pretty decent chance you have something I'm interested in.  But at any rate, please keep me informed .

Fun thing to do with spare Gyromite converter carts on a rainy afternoon:



Just cannibalized some famiclone multicart roms from the local thrift shop. Add sharpie, print cheap label, rinse, repeat.

I was thinking of spraypainting my Challenging Lolo repro cart a similar shade of blue.  I'm mainly looking at getting a higher quality label made for it though...

LMFAO!! Dan, that's pretty damn funny! But cool at the same time Is that a Wii warning image?

Yep, the text below reads "Wii = Dangerous / NES = Lucky Good,"

I think all of the images are from the Wii manual except the guy putting it down his pants, but that was too funny to pass up. Believe it or not I actually made the black one first, then felt the need to make a more traditional label for the second one. I was originally going to see if they sold for better money on eBay than the converters (although now that the adapter Gyros are getting yanked all the time, any money's good money) but wound up liking them too much and they're with my other japanese NTSC multicarts.

You can look at the pins to find converters in any of the old 5 screws that have been known to have them in them, its not limited to Gyromite. I have found 1 in an Excite Bike cart and 2 in Pinball carts. I did the switch similar to the one Dangevin did, but have yet to get a label or paint it. I had some great success with a spray paint and clear coat used for plastics on an old toaster deck (painted it black to match two controllers I got when I bought a Sharp NES TV) and was thinking about spraying the cart as well. I'll post some pics if I ever get around to it.

lol I just used broad-tipped sharpies Not the smoothest effect, if you look at the pic right you can see the lines, but it's close enough for me anyways.

Looking to let go of one of those pinballs? I collect this variant; I have four of them so far. If you'll let the Excitebike go as well that'd be great, I need both, but I figured since you've got a duplicate...

So far I've got Hogan's Alley, Gyromite, Wrecking Crew and ... of course ... Stack-Up (thought not really a variant!)

Anyone ever try these out for converters from Famicom to NES?
http://cgi.ebay.com/Cart-game-Con...

I use that very converter for my needs. Has always worked well for me.
~~NGD