Nintendo World Championships NWC

[hudini16]

Hey Guys,

I'm looking for anyone that has a grey or gold NWC cart. I am compiling a database of all the NWC carts out there.

I already have about twenty that I know about, so if you have one or you have friends that have one, please get in touch.

It has been said that there are only around 120 of these about, but there has been speculation that that the number is more likely in the 300's, so there are quite a few out there that nobody knows about.

Thanks,
Jack

[boatofcar]

Talk to rbudrick. He's already on it.

[Mayhem]

Heh, he probably has hopefully... Anagrama and myself sent him here to speak to him :)

[PingvinBlueJeans]

It has been said that there are only around 120 of these about, but there has been speculation that that the number is more likely in the 300's, so there are quite a few out there that nobody knows about.

I'm not so sure about that. The highest number grey cart found is #343, which means that Nintendo probably made as many as 500 of them originally. However, only 90 greys and 26 golds were supposedly given out. A few more may have slipped through the cracks and gotten out, but most of them were disassembled/destroyed by Nintendo. If the entire run of 400-500 of them had gotten out into circulation, you'd see them popping up a lot more often than they do. Only about 25 greys and less than 10 golds have been located, so this reinforces the fact that very few of the carts that were produced actually made it into circulation, and even fewer survive today.

[rbudrick]

The idea that they were destroyed is only speculative, but probable, as there's no known proof so far to support this.

Iirc, on last count, 11 or 12 golds have been discovered, but I don't have pics of one or two of them (one guy has his in a safe deposit box, the other is in Norway). I believe I have pics of 10, based on extremely subtle differences in their appearances, but admittedly, it's tough to be sure. I'm 90% sure I'm right, though.

-Rob

[XYXZYZ]

Can't Nintendo confirm how many were produced?

[Terminusvitae]

Hey Guys,

I'm looking for anyone that has a grey or gold NWC cart. I am compiling a database of all the NWC carts out there.

I already have about twenty that I know about, so if you have one or you have friends that have one, please get in touch.

It has been said that there are only around 120 of these about, but there has been speculation that that the number is more likely in the 300's, so there are quite a few out there that nobody knows about.

Thanks,
Jack

Errr...I really hope you're fully aware of what you're doing and I FERVENTLY hope you won't be making this information public. Doing so would be putting a nice bullseye on every person who identifies himself as an owner.

But, hey. I'm the paranoid type.

[phreak97]

the only bit youd have to keep secret is the actual owner..
best of luck to you.

[ice1605]

Can't Nintendo confirm how many were produced?

They could, but there is no reason for them to, so I highly doubt that they will.

[Carey85]

Could the owners of said NWC carts also please include your home address so that I may come and knock you in the head and take your loot?

[spoon]

I was wondering if anyone at retrosub was keeping a list of all of the people that have bought a Repro cart? I noticed mine was numbered 230.

There is a list of the winners of each age group at each city in the booklet that came with the repro. Also, it has tips by Thor Ackerlund and the guy that came in second. Has a list of the top 5 finishers as well.

[AcePuppy]

I was wondering if anyone at retrosub was keeping a list of all of the people that have bought a Repro cart? I noticed mine was numbered 230.

There is a list of the winners of each age group at each city in the booklet that came with the repro. Also, it has tips by Thor Ackerlund and the guy that came in second. Has a list of the top 5 finishers as well.

Bunnyboi could answer that for you, but I guarantee you if the names are being kept they won't be released for privacy issues, unless someone comes out themselves, saying that they bought one.

[phreak97]

thats something i've always wondered.. all the nwc carts look dodgy, how do you tell if theyre real or repro when buying?

[spoon]

Well, the repros don't have the switches and come in a blue case. I would think it would actually be pretty hard to make a fake nwc cart.

[rbudrick]

The repro carts are quite unmistakeable. No way you could flub it.

I wrote the manual for the repro, by the way. Unfortunately 1.5 pages got cut out of my final design, and a couple typos got through, but oh well.

-Rob

[Mark30001]

There's one on eBay now, though the sticker looks strange:
http://cgi.ebay.com/ws/eBayISAPI.dll?ViewItem&item=220187192931

[udisi]

That's actually just a reprint piece of paper of the sticker. that particular cart had it's original sticker nearly torn off. They don't know the number of it or anything.

[MarioMania]

if they reprint the paper. Does the value go down

[PingvinBlueJeans]

if they reprint the paper. Does the value go down
Yes...quite a bit, but that hasn't stopped the seller from asking twice what it's worth.

[phreak97]

what makes it so hard for the reproducers to add in the little bank of dip switches? i dont mean to make a closer copy, i mean just to make it playable just as the original is.

what does a nwc repro go for? id be interested.. where are they sold also?

[Cornelius]

Retrozone makes them (www.retrousb.com). They are usually sold out, but if you watch here, someone usually posts when a new batch is for sale, and if you are quick you can snag one. They sell them for $45.

[PingvinBlueJeans]

what makes it so hard for the reproducers to add in the little bank of dip switches?
That would probably cost quite a bit more.


i dont mean to make a closer copy, i mean just to make it playable just as the original is.

Yes, that would be nice, but the fact is, it would indeed result in "a closer copy" and make it that much easier for someone to swap out the blue cart shell with a standard grey or gold and try to pass it off as legit. It's just not worth the headaches.

[DreamTR]

You can make a repro to look EXACTLY like the gray and gold carts. It's the BOARD that you can't replicate.

[bunnyboy]

The board can also be replicated exactly. Finding correct chips is slightly harder, and the right dip switches may be the hardest. Things like the gold label would be very easy to fake to a degree that nobody could tell the difference in photos, and only a direct comparison in person would work. All together it would be far more work than just stealing photos and never shipping, like the recent ebay auctions by illsellwutevruwantme2 (http://cgi.ebay.com/ws/eBayISAPI.dll?ViewItem&rd=1&item=170181979071) (complete fraud!).

With the prices these and other carts like SE get, every one that can't be traced should always be considered suspicious.

[phreak97]

does anyone know who i might talk to to find out where (or if its possible) to connect dip switches into a standard repro cart? i think it would be an excellent mod.

finding the original style dip switches was the problem i was thinking of too. the original carts all have good quality non-hack-looking boards then? i didnt know if they were made in a proper production run or not.

[bunnyboy]

does anyone know who i might talk to to find out where (or if its possible) to connect dip switches into a standard repro cart? i think it would be an excellent mod.
Not possible on the current repros without reprogramming the chip. It is hardwired to the correct contest time inside the CPLD.


finding the original style dip switches was the problem i was thinking of too. the original carts all have good quality non-hack-looking boards then? i didnt know if they were made in a proper production run or not.
Many hundreds were produced, so it uses a full pcb (http://tripoint.org/kevtris/mappers/nes_custom/NWC.jpg). There are tons of small things to look at in a fake like inside corner radii, fonts on silkscreen, chip date codes, etc but all those require you to physically have the cart and open it to look at the board.

[rbudrick]

Even if you took the PCB out of a grey and tried to make a gold out of it, I could tell, but I'm not going to tell you how, because some dick may try to capitalize on it. Of course, if one was knowledgeable enough, it could be possible to fool even me.

Once I get pics and backstories from all the golds, it will definitely be impossible then. Of course, there's about 15 more to find and that may never happen.

-Rob

[phreak97]

15 more known? or have all released to the public been accounted for? do i need to give up hope of finding one in a box of garbage for $2 somewhere? :P

another question,
why are there gold and grey carts?

[spoon]

Not sure how accurate this is, but, here ya go

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Nintendo_World_Championships