/vr/ - Retro Games

>>461832

Because the NES was supposed to look like a VCR

At the time, bigger meant better in America.
Now everyone like everything "slim" and small, but back then something liek the Famicom wouldn't have looked interesting for the average american consumer. The NES on the other hand looked like this big machine full of power., same with the carts.
It's all a lie.

>>461846
I've heard this as well. Apparently Nintendo didn't want to advertise the NES as a gaming console because of the ongoing Video Game Crash. They advertised it as (the name suggests) and entertainment system.


Semi-related question, where there any official carts that used the entire space of the NES cart or were larger than Famicom chips?

I like the famicom, but the only problem is the cord lengths for the controller are too short

Video games were almost toxic in the eighties after the crash. The Famicom was redesigned to look more like a futuristic set-top box, rather than a toy.

Here is but one of the many prototype designs for it.

Did you ever stop to think of why it is called the entertainment system, rather than just some codename?

>>461879
While the rest of it looks like trash, the controllers look nice.

>>461864
>Semi-related question, where there any official carts that used the entire space of the NES cart or were larger than Famicom chips?
Gyromite is kind of a special case. It and allegedly some other games were released so early they simply took the FDS board and put it in a NES cart with an adapter.

>>461879

those pads look stylish as fuck, not sure if comfortable to play with though

>>461864
Might also be related to them selling it as an entertainment system. When they sold early products as toys they were forced by US laws concerning toy sales to take back any product that didn't move on store shelves. With things like VCRs etc, if the store didn't move it then 'tough shit' the store 'owns' it and can't send it back to the manufacturer for credit.

>>461909
Forgot pic. Doesn't use quite the whole thing.

>>461912
>>461908
Looks like master system controllers to me. And I never cared for the D-pad on master system.

>>461879
It looks like the cables for the controllers would come out from underneath. kind of meh

>>461923
I saw that as well - That is a user mod to play FamiCom games using the NES - it's just an adapter.

>>461879
> "Sleek, dazzling veneer of the 1980's"

That fucking phaser designed light gun.

>>461951
It is just an adapter, and it is often used as a user mod, but that is how they shipped a lot of copies of Gyromite.

>>461951

No it isn't shit bird, that's a real thing. If you find a for the NES with 5 pins rather than three it might have one of those in it.

You'd think with all of that extra fucking useless space they could have kept that pure genius controller holding. Would have worked well to disguise it from being a video game console as well.

Seriously though, when I found out about the Famicom's actual design and cart size etc I felt fucking ripped off.

>>461864
Some early Nintendo games are Famicom games with a converter inside the cart. I think the extra large carts may have been to accommodate those adapters.

>>461864
Many proto/demo carts were full or large sized, it seems.

Here's another prototype. Dunno the source, but Google image search or Tineye should help.

Famicom is an ugly piece of shit. NES is spartan and fucntional. Like an 80s version of the PS2.

I don't like the design of the Famicom. I personally think the NES looks much better.

The Famicom is very cute and toy-like, thus appealing to Japanese aesthetics. NES had to look like it was carved from granite because of our rather different tastes here.

>>462104
also let's look at some period American and Japanese cars

>>462132
Lern to imgedit.

In Japan, many roads are narrow as fuck. Same goes for tunnels, and city streets. In big old AMERICA, you can drive an H2 without touching the lines. In Japan, you'd probably be on both curbs.

I like the design of the Famicom more than the NES

I'd like to buy one but first I'm saving money up for a Mother 3 Game Boy Micro and I know it isn't retro and I'm sorry

>>462104
And exactly where is "here"?

>>462151
>Lern to imgedit

Huh?

>In Japan, many roads are narrow as fuck. Same goes for tunnels, and city streets. In big old AMERICA, you can drive an H2 without touching the lines. In Japan, you'd probably be on both curbs

ah true. the first Toyotas sold in the US were complete flops because they couldn't handle our road conditions.

>>462162
>And exactly where is "here"?
Obviously the US, dummy

>>462051
>>462104

I do prefer the looks of the monolithic, industrial NES over the whimsical Famicom

>>462083
Looks like a PS3

>>462169
How is that obvious? The NES looks the same everywhere except in Japan.

>>462153
>Mother 3 Game Boy Micro

Last time I saw one it was 500$
You aren't really saving 500$ are you?
And since you're already at 500 want to add an extra 30 and buy me a new faceplate? my got a distracting scratch in it

>>462163
Oh damn I never actually saw a Japanese car like that, shits neat

>>462190
I am.

I barely even know you anon-kun~

>>462196
- US/American Website
- original comparison was japan vs us, and japan was already stated in his post

>hard wired controllers

Still enraging to this day

>>462105
>>462104
this same aesthetic quality is seen on our computers which also look like they were carved from granite

>>461879

That thing is classy as fuck.

I went on a trip with my family when I had 6 years.
I already had the NES and my mother bought me a strange console when we visited a big marketplace (Mexico).

I played the shit out of the Tiny Toons game on that console...I remember the strange shape and controlers; "this is just like my Nintendo" I thought...I started to wonder if it was a bootleg console...or a famicom, I'll never know

>>462046
>infrared controllers
Could they have pulled it off?

>>462727
It would have been fucking horrible. IR controllers have always, and will always be relegated to the ranks of oddities.

>>462727
totally, but it probably would be very accurate

>>462727
Probably not. The Acclaim ones had to be nearly exactly lined up for them to work, and ate batteries like nachos.

I actually really like the look of the NES and it's carts.

Even though the NES's design is a factor in it's technical problems.

>>462750
Y'know how you have to waggle the remote around sometimes because the tv can't read it?

Now do that while jumping over a pit in SMB.

>>461879
>an actual Nintendo computer

Does that thing actually work?

>>462257
I have a Famicom, and the controller cords are like two feet long. The cord also comes out of the side. It's also not working, and since the Famicom doesn't have an LED light, it makes it a lot harder to figure out what's wrong with it.

TL;DR NES is bulky, but improved on a lot of design features and is better overall.

>>461879
Holy FUCK I want that...any of them in the wild?

Captcha: competitors gookpos

o-ok...

>>462276
>fat computers vs calculators vs computers

>>461951
so in theory, you could open that cart up and hook any fami board to it and itll run? or will the lockout chip fuck with it? This is all very fascinating to me, never knew this.

The Famicom looks nice, but I'd never want to own one due to the hardwired controllers and the short cables for them.

Seriously, those holding areas on each side of the console for the controllers are clever as fuck.

>>462918
Should work with any Famicom game.

Good luck finding one though. You can try your luck by finding a copy of Gyromite with five screw holes and no upper tabs on the cart, which is what they're found in, but even then there's a chance that you won't get one.

>>462948
yeh.

Ive been in the loop looking for an inexpensive R.O.B. for a while now....so who knows. I just love the little guy, but they are so expensive.

>>462918
No theory about it, anon. People do this all the time and it's a fairly well known trick.

Find old copy of Gyromite/Golf/ancient five screw, black label game with no top tabs in the wild for cheap. Open cart. See if it has a stock adapter built in. Remove game board. Keep 72-pin board + 60-pin adapter. Cut cart down to size, exposing 60-pin connector.

Congrats, you've just jury rigged a Famicon to NES adapter out of actual stock parts and nothing off-brand.

The hardest part is finding one of those old games that have it. Not all of them do, even if they're five screw, black label, no top tab copies.

>>462976
WELL.

Knowing truly IS half the battle.

The only good thing about the famicom is the small size, the colors looks silly, the controllers are forever attached to the console, the overall design screams "toy"

The best is a mix between the two

>>463094
Every time I see one of those, I can't help but think it should be flying out of the USS Enterprise.

>>463094
If it didn't had a RF output only, it would be the perfect NES.

>>461832

Like others have said, it's meant to resemble a VCR or cassette player due to the negative stigma video games had after the crash.

That said, I actually like the western NES and cartridge designs better. Even if there hadn't been a crash, I still think that the console and games would have had a different design because of slight cultural differences between the US and Japan. We liked the nice gray cartridges and modest game covers.

I love that Super Mario Bros. 3 pic, but it's too busy to place on the actual cartridge itself. The yellow doesn't fit either.

The same goes for the original Super Mario Bros. The cover used in the EU and Japan says "This is a fantasy adventure about a hero rescuing a princess from a dragon." The US version says "It's time to get down to business."

Look at that. He's got the fire suit on, he's walking into the castle, it's time to kick some ass.

>>463151
>NES 2
>Resembling Star Trek
If anything it's design screams Star Wars. It's just that awful.

>>463213
As i kid i thought that he was jumping onto a broken window.

>>463213
>walking into the castle
He's falling in fucking lava.
The cover of SMB portrays Mario falling to his death.

>>463213
>walking into the castle
look again

>>463225
I dunno, they kinda resemble the shuttles from Star Trek.

But I'm sure you could also glue some wings on it and call it a T-16X

>>463205
The Famicom version of that system is fittingly called the AV Famicom(The original FC didn't have AV outputs)

If you get yourself a 72-60pin adapter, you could use this for all games, plus it's superior to the US Toploader.

>>463213
I'm generally a fan of the western carts, however, we really missed out on some radical boxart into the 16 bit era...

>>463253
I'm with this guy...def looks like a shuttlecraft from Trek. Ready the away team.

>>463253
Okay, I'll give you that. I was thinking more of the asymmetrical design that Star Wars loves so much for it's ships.

Let's call it a hybrid of both.

>>461846

and now Microsoft is trying to do the same with their new system.

and they say there isn't a game crash coming again.

>>463267
It even looks better.

One thing I never understood about our NES is why they took out the sound expansion chip feature. Although there are very few Famicom games that utilize them(mainly because they couldn't be used on the NES) the few that exist sound absolutely amazing.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=6cuxQfmjzy0
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=u_uwN9zewsw
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ptgaCJSF7j8
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=OshyhWVquA0

>>463361
Possibly due to the fact that the NES wasn't capable of stereo.

>>463380
The Famicom couldn't do stereo either.

>>462362
Likely a bootleg

>>463361
It's still there, they just moved the connection from the cartridge slot to the bottom expansion port.

>>463361
>http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ptgaCJSF7j8

ooo yea. that cv3 1st stage music is baller

>>461879
Why would you even need a keyboard?

>>463440
They were probably planning to release Family Basic in the States.

>>461879
>literal cassette player

OH FUCKING WOW. They really were serious about not making it look like a game system.
And all those prototypes somehow manage to look better than the VCR incarnation, which is the epitome of 'unstylish'.

Seriously, guys like >>463213, I will never get why you keep liking the in-your-face western console and cartridge design other than blatant nostalgia.
Even the SMS looked like a crazy ass cassette player but at least it had proper size carts and didn't look like it was compensating for something.

Here are some pics of the SNES prototypes. They were already settled with the purple palette, but by god didn't they look better than the final lego skyscraper it came to be. The Super Famicom and EU SNES manage to keep their style, with clean, round lines.

>>463412
Something interesting I found:

This is the back of a CVIII cart.(US version) By this point (1990) all new carts made no longer had the pins intended for the expansion slot. However, CVIII curiously has pin 54 intact, which is used for EXP 6. Did they plan an add-on to add the VRC6 sound to games like this later on? Who knows.

>>461870
>>462940
You have three official options:
-AV Famicom (uses NES controller ports)
-third-party expansion-port controller with longer cord (the Hudson Joycards are very nice)
-Twin Famicom AN-505 model (which has NES-length controller cables)

Other than that, there's mods...but the best bet is an AV Famicom.

>>462890
AV Famicom took the original NES and fixed everything that was wrong with it. It looks ugly as shit, at least to me, but it's a wonderful piece of hardware and the NES can't compare. The NES-101 was based on that, but NoA are cheap fucks and decided to make it RF-only because NoA likes to give budget latecomers to their consoles the shit end of the stick. (NES-101, SNES Jr, Late N64 models, Late GCN, GCN-less Wii/Wii Mini...)

>>463361
I know, Anon, I know... It's actually one of the major reasons I went with Famicom rather than NES when I was recently going through my classic consoles and upgrading my setups and collections. I still have an appreciate my NES, but my Famicom can play the NES's entire library and then some. NES has nothing over Famicom other than sheer nostalgia.

>>463757
>Late N64 models

What?

>>463238
>>463242

The bushes may be pallet swaps of the clouds, but he's not falling to his death in that pic. That image isn't possible in the actual game itself. The fireball can't pass in front of and Mario is positioned at an angle which would be impossible in-game. Also, the added motion lines imply that he is running or jumping from a low angle to a higher elevation. If he was falling to his demise, it would be from a different angle.

It's a nice meme, but he's not really dying in that pic. He's leaping into action. It's with only mild embarrassment that I say him "walking into the castle" was my interpretation of the pic from when I was a child.

In any event, he's not dying.

As someone that already has a genesis and snes(so i wouldnt need anything that plays all 3), and is not willing to spend over 100 bucks for an AV Famicom, what would the best nes clone be? Do any support famicom carts? maybe through an adapter?

>>463863
There's the retron 5 which plays nes and fami natively, or there's the retro duo which for some reason doesn't have the problems that all the other famiclones have (no castlevania 3, no paperboy)

>>463481
>Seriously, guys like >>463213, I will never get why you keep liking the in-your-face western console and cartridge design other than blatant nostalgia

Like I said earlier, Nintendo was trying to appeal to American aesthetics, particularly 1980s American aesthetics which favored the "kick butt" SMB cover.

>>461832
See again with SMB3. The Japanese version has very busy, fanciful cover art while the plain-looking US cover says simply "Let's get down to business. No further words need to be said."

>>463786
Older models of the N64 were actually capable of RGB output. Nintendo combined chips and removed components from the motherboard in later revisions, disabling things like RGB along the way in the name of cost-cutting. The transparent-shelled ones were also a bit more fragile than the solid-colored ones. Granted, N64's revisions were probably the most minor out of all of Nintendo's cost-cutting revisions, but it's still there.

>>463267
if one were to obtain this does it require any modding for getting it to work in north america? seeing it's from Japan

>>463876
oh jesus, as cool as it sounds that retron 5 looks like a fucking hot mess lol. does the retro duo play famicom games through an adapter? it is such a shame the prices for original hardware seem to be so overinflated. i love the nes but its more expensive than just about every console used from last gen back with the exception of the neo geo. a bit crazy to me. ill never understand why nintendo doesnt release their own retro clones. they could make millions so easily.

I like the design of the big cartridges though, compared to the original jap carts. I also like how you had to push down the carts just like you did with a normal VHS tape in a VCR.

>>463908

>>463924
I know the original Famicom needs a proper AC adapter or a step-down converter. Not sure if the AV does (since I don't have one), but it's likely. I'd look this up if I were you.

If you meant playing US NES games, though, then you don't need mods - you just need an adapter. They're cheap and easy to pick up from just about anywhere.

>>463942
>>464015
>>461832
fuck the japanese artwork looks so much better. and dem fucking carts man, dem fucking carts

>>463481
The problem I have with the eastern versions of the NES and SNES is that they really do look like toys for children. Regardless of if they really are or not, I like that the western versions of the NES and SNES project a more serious look, as if they were actual pieces of hardware and not playthings.

>>464072

>implying hypothetical mega-man variant wielding a laser pistol isn't fucking awesome

>>463942
>>464015
>>464072

Nice.

I love the "show me everything" versus "less is more" comparisons.

>>463949
AV Famicom uses the same adapter

read the following if you have any more questions, or just go ahead and buy a AC adapter that supports the genesis model 1

http://www.famicomworld.com/forum/index.php?topic=6933.0

>>464095
left: kawaii desu uguu i'm chibi
right: holy shit i'm a fucking huge ball of pink look at me im sucking up the entire universe

>>464095

lol. Japanese Kirby's cover looks like a pillow case.

One case where the cover art was essentially unchanged. Kind of too bad as one half expected an anime looking Simon Belmont running from a cartoony Dracula or other baddies

>>464119
the cartridge literally looks like it was designed by a 5 yo girl

>>463928
>http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ptgaCJSF7j8

Depends on were you look at it, Ebay has gonne donw the toilet because of the resellers and "rarers" and douchebags than want to rip you off.

>>464121

Actually, I couldn't help but notice how omitting the background border changes up the image. The first looks rather anime-ish, very similar to a series called JoJo. The second one, which for the most part lacks the red, yellow, and blue skies resembles a sort of Conan the Barbarian-esque Frank Frazetta piece.

>>464136
That's fuckin' kawaii nigga!

>>464136

It looks like a big piece of gum. I feel like I want to bite into it.

...

Why didn't the makers of Bubbletape ever release a Kirby themed line of gum?

>>464136
Nigga that's kawaii.

>>464148
The american one just looks awkward. The Nip one isn't exactly some paragon of good box design but the american one just looks weirdly busy.

>>464121

Same poster as >>464141 . Another thing about the difference in covers, the first one says "adventure" whereas the second one says "horror." In both cases, we're presented with Simon Belmont staring down Dracula and his castle, but the first one has a wide frame and two pillars of earth which put things into perspective and give the implication that challenging Dracula is the end of a long quest.

The second one simply has Belmont staring down Dracula and his scary-ass castle. Here it is, the fight to the finish. Are you man enough to battle the Prince of Darkness?

>>464179
American one looks better, but they both have dumb names.

>>464059
>NES and SNES project a more serious look
Actually, my point was sort of that they didn't. The only thing keeping the PAL SNES and SF from being "serious" is the 4 colors pattern on the logo which reflects on the controller. Otherwise, and this is my opinion, the Famicom looked like hi-tech in comparison to the blocky NES that could be easily labeled as "kids' stuff" by any adult who worked on computers.
The SNES didn't do much in comparison, while it's true it's way more close to the original console than the NES-001 got, it was still clubbered with water gun-like contraptions many kids seemed to like. While the SF is just what it is, a piece of tech with a case.

>>464209
They're both sweet.

>>464136
Shut your mouth, I like pink. Besides, it's Kirby's color.

>>463942
American Zelda cover wins by a mile

Looks classy as fuck

20/10 would buy again

>>464193
Tempted to go for the Japanese version. The North American version definitely represents what is in the game accurately, but comes off as a bit lazier.

>>464262
They're both pretty cool.

>>464258
Am I the only one who just loved the early nes games with actual sprites on the cover?

I thought it looked badass as fuck and showed off really well

With artwork you don't know what you're getting sometimes

This was specially a big problem during the atari years, the artwork looked bad fucking ass and then you plugged in the game and it was a bunch of fucking squares and dots

>>464258
I wonder if they really thought some stupid fuck would mistake early games having drawings depicted on the cover as actual game footage.

>>464276
Most people wouldn't get sold on just squares and dots, hence the badass artwork.

>>464237

I like how Link to the Past took the "less is more approach" and it still wasn't less enough for the western version. Maybe they just changed things a bit on principle or because they had a chance to do something unique?

I imagine there was probably a designer involved who got paid for making a western/US version, so they would have changed it even if it had been perfect.

>>464291
And I think that's why Nintendo used actual sprites for their early NES games

It's just sitting there screaming "look look the sprites in this game look like actual fucking things not just stick figures!! LOOK!"

>>464275
>>464262
>>464209
>>464193
>>464179
>>464148
>>464121
>>464095
>>464072
>>464015
>>463942
Man oh Man, could you at the very least use larger (or better quality pictures?

>>464275

The one on the left says "Yoshi is kawaii~!" whereas the one on the right says "Yoshi is cute, but the world is dangerous!"

last one

>>464325

more here
http://boxvsbox.tumblr.com/

>>464276
>This was specially a big problem during the atari years, the artwork looked bad fucking ass and then you plugged in the game and it was a bunch of fucking squares and dots
I'm so sorry electronics doesn't deal with magic. Otherwise you wouldn't have got the fucking squares and dots. Really, it's like you're projecting the image of 3 year old kids doing the customers on their own and then they complain about false advertising.

>>464194

The Japanese version has a generic name. The US version has an awesomely bad name.

I do think it's interesting though how the protagonist changes. In the Japanese version, he's a Japanese guy with long hair. In the US version, he's a white guy with short hair. Same outfit though.

I think the sprites more closely fit the US version, though it's possible that they were modified.

>>461879
>Nintendo hair curler

>>464159
i just noticed that they both depict the same scene, just drawn differently

>>464330
So that's the reason behind the shit size.

>>464420
Yup tumblr gotta hate them.

>>464285
>some stupid fuck would mistake early games having drawings depicted on the cover as actual game footage.

Someone has probably done that. Had to. I just know it.

>>464462

>>464285
It didn't stop Atari at all.

>>464558
Atari boxart was fucking great.

>>464575
It really was. They put so much effort into that art and it looked fucking awesome.

All that 70s realism.

>>464558
I always loved those atari games that made absolutely no fucking sense unless you had the instruction manual

Take raiders of the lost ark for example, the Indiana Jones game

This little fucking dot is the staff that you need to open the gate to find the other little dot that represents the scarab you need to get to enter the cave where the ark is

That squiggly line? Oh that's a snake avoid that

That black stick figure is the bad guy avoid that

>mfw playing Atari games without an instruction manual back in 1987

>>464325
>>464136
oh hey those look familiar

>>464618
Max jelly bro.

>>464618
Kirby looks like a starfish there.

>>461879
>dose gamepads
jizz jizz jizz I want them so bad right now
I want that whole setup so bad right now, I don't even care if it's functional or not

>>464601
Even fucking E.T. becomes somewhat playable (still mediocre) if you know what you're supposed to do.

>>462153
spend 1/10th the price, get a regular one
and paint it red
done.
I saved you a lot of money.

>>464209
I've seen these at useful resolutions and the US version is better just because Ralph has a HURR face in the Japanese version.

>>462276
that really isn't a fair comparison at all.

>>462727
I have an NES Satelite, which is a 4-player infrared hub, and it works really nicely. I can set up my NES on top of the TV, plug the receiver into the controller ports, and just break out the satelite on the other side of the room when I wanna play. No cables running across the floor for people to mess with!
It still fucks up your game when people walk in front of the TV though, but it's not like you can see what's going on anyway.

It takes SIX C-size batteries though, and it has a power-on time of about 10 hours
so I can't imagine how long tiny gamepads would last with significantly less battery in them.

>>463794
no no no... there's a few sites outting him and the location being a castle... he is falling to his death. but hey pretend whatever I dont care

>>464095
The one on the right is pretty fuckin' cool.

>>464179
Bad dudes > Dragon ninja

>>464275
The Murkan one looks better.

>>464015
Kinda a tossup there for me. The Japanese box art looks good, but the American version is really neat too.

>box art will never be this cool again

>>464740
It was almost certinally just designed to look aribtarily "cool" anon. There is no real in depth they probably didn't even think twice that it seems kinda like he'd be falling but the general composition suggests that it was meant for him to be jumping through the wall or blowing it up to get through. Nevermind that it's impossible, it probably just looked cool so they went with that.

In other words, you're assigning intent simply because from the point of view of someone who plays the game it seems to be the only "rational" option.

>>464642
Those gamepads are sexy as hell. Since the NES is out of patent, do you suppose those prototype gamepads are as well? Someone who is good at building stuff should make USB versions of them.

well. i guess "mediocre" is an upgrade.

really really really should have been a damn arcade game. would have been perfect.

wow what the hell i mean e.t. fuck you comment box

>>464794
Bluetooth would be good too.

>>464782
aight whatever ill let you think what you want since I have amstrad cpc games I am playing and prefer to keep the arguement nil.