Odd NES Dragon Buster

[R.Sakai]

Hey everyone,

Been reading up on import famicom stuffs lately, and realized a cart I have isn't quite what I thought it was :)

Quite a few years ago, I picked up this copy of Dragon Buster for the nes from one of the local used game stores.

It was obviously not a US game, It's a white case, similar in shape to a standard US cart. It has a rectangle shaped sticker inset in the cart (same as what I've seen on a normal famicom cart), the back had what would look like a normal 'warning' sticker with 'entertainment computer system' at the bottom, with an inset in the top of the cart for a label (that was missing), like a normal us game.

As I've never been 'into' nes stuffs, and had never actually seen a famicom cart, I figured it was just some cool import thing. I'd asked the guy at the shop about it, and all he really had to say was that it only worked on some peoples nes' and if it didn't work on mine, bring it on back.

Well, took it home, popped it in....and nothing. So of course, what do you do with a broken item? take it apart :)

Inside, was what I guessed was a normal nes rom, with another adapter piece loosely attached to the rom. So after messing around with it, the adapter piece was on backwards it seemed. One of the chips on the main rom board even has this cool little plastic window looking at some little chip with pins coming out.

The game works great, and all the text (Which as far as I remember, was just the title screen) is in English, copyright NamcoT. So it didn't seem like some knock-off.

There's no writing on the hardware, except for the adapter piece which has 'Super-Main' printed in the plastic on it's pin-bridge thing.

I'm working on getting pictures of it at the moment (Can't find the memory card for the camera :( ) if anyone wants to see what it is.

So, any clue on this one?

[R.Sakai]

...And here's the pics.

One of the things I noticed as I was putting it back together, is that the plastic stand-off things where the pins from the adapter would stick out of the cart are molded to what seems to be specific to fit the adapter, the normal rom by itself wouldn't 'fit'.

[swlovinist]

It looks like a nice pirate cart to me. I dont think it is a proto. Just my opionion, but nevertheless, a nice addition to a game collection. I would personally keep it in a collection, due to it being a unique piece. A pirate cart using famicom guts. Unique, but may not be worth a ton.

[theChad]

Yeah, that definitely looks like a pirate. All the protos I've seen at least matched the regular NES-style cartridge, but I'm relatively new to that game so I don't want to shut down any other possibilities.

[Zoe F]

Absolutely a pirate. There was a pirate company who released games with that cart type and back label. Here's an example:
http://www.nintendoage.com/index.cfm?FuseAction=NES.View&egID=9002&lgID=9002

[R.Sakai]

Well...bummer, hehe.

I never figured it to be a proto or anything that cool, but always wondered about it :)

So, I guess the next question is, what exactly is the deal with the hardware in this thing? Is it a copied FC rom with a US adapter then?

I remember reading about really early nes games using an import adapter of sorts (Sector Z was noted) just to get games to market quick in the states.

But, hey, I know there were tons of pirate carts, but this one wasn't listed in that NintendoAge database, So now I feel special :)

Either way, thanks for the info on this one!

[Blitzwing256]

still a neat find, and you can use that adaptor to play famicom games on your us nes if you feel so inclined.

[squirrelnut]

So, I guess the next question is, what exactly is the deal with the hardware in this thing? Is it a copied FC rom with a US adapter then?

I remember reading about really early nes games using an import adapter of sorts (Sector Z was noted) just to get games to market quick in the states.


You nailed that one. One of my copies of something or other has that adapter.

[Cornelius]

This is pretty cool. It makes me wonder if the game always had the adapter on wrong and it has been passed around in non-working form, or if it got switched at some point. I have a similar Castlevania cart that I never opened because it works fine, but maybe I'll check just so I know.

I seems the adapters themselves can be worth around 20 bucks, if that matters to you.

[murdoc rose]

pirates are always cool because they are cheap and stand out.

[mrmark0673]

That cool window on that chip is a UV window on an eprom, too much UV light can damage your game. I suggest putting a sticker over it to protect your game in the future.

Neat little pirate and a pretty fun game, nice find.