WTB: different version of Super Mario Bros. 2 cart & others

[Terminusvitae]

Specifically, I'm looking for the cart version that has a straight row of connector pins, rather than the typical gap in the center of the pins' platform. I need this particular cart for a project.

P.M. me if you have one! Thank you!

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I'm also looking for spare carts of these games:

1943
Bo Jackson Baseball
Commiefornia Games
SMB/DH (for my Frankensteining)
SMB 2 (regular pin configuration)
SMB 3
Ultima: Exodus
Ultima: Quest of the Avatar
Ultima: Warriors of Destiny
Zelda
Zelda 2

[AB Positive]

Ooooh. I know what you're after. I don't have one but if you get one and are successful let me know so I can try later myself.

[Terminusvitae]

Sure thing! I'll be keeping my eye out everywhere I go as well as checking on-line.

[Cornelius]

well, 4 of the 5 copies in my house aren't what you are looking for. the 5th is a pain to get to, so I don't know.

I just gotta know what the project is, though!

[Sabz5150]

Specifically, I'm looking for the cart version that has a straight row of connector pins, rather than the typical gap in the center of the pins' platform. I need this particular cart for a project.

P.M. me if you have one! Thank you!

I'll see if my PnT has it. They had one a few months ago.

Your project wouldn't happen to start with "Final Fantasy" and end with "III" would it? ;)

[Terminusvitae]

Heh heh. Well, kinda, as lame as it probably sounds. I'm saving up for a burner (eventually) and in the meantime I'm practicing my admittedly poor soldering skills on all the dime-a-dozen SMB/DH and battery-save carts, much in the vein of how Dr. Frankenstein's early years no doubt went in stitching together corpses in horrid configurations and with abominable technique to perfect the art.

Right now, I've just been using NESreproduction's donor cart lists as a rough guide of what the most common "useful" carts are and have been gathering them up from flea markets, pawn shops, and the occasional (rather chilly) garage/yard sale. Essentially, I'm just trying to build a stock of them so that, even if I never go commercial with it, I can at least make a few repros for myself and my friends, who are all currently jealous that I have a working NES.

Unfortunately, since I haven't yet been able to find a more complete or detailed guide to donor carts and their categorical uses, I'm just fishing with chainsaw, so to speak, and trying to get my hands on as many different varieties of boards and chipsets as possible, just in case another use for, say, the SMB2 cart arises (or, in a stroke of divine intervention, my meager ability manages to DISCOVER one) and I can have one or more on-hand to make use of it.

So, the "too long, didn't read" version is: FF3j is one of the things on my eventual schedule, but for right now, I'm just trying to build stock. And rest assured, this is one of those carts that WOULDN'T become a victim of my soldering sadism. ;)

[Sabz5150]

Heh heh. Well, kinda, as lame as it probably sounds. I'm saving up for a burner (eventually) and in the meantime I'm practicing my admittedly poor soldering skills on all the dime-a-dozen SMB/DH and battery-save carts, much in the vein of how Dr. Frankenstein's early years no doubt went in stitching together corpses in horrid configurations and with abominable technique to perfect the art.

Right now, I've just been using NESreproduction's donor cart lists as a rough guide of what the most common "useful" carts are and have been gathering them up from flea markets, pawn shops, and the occasional (rather chilly) garage/yard sale. Essentially, I'm just trying to build a stock of them so that, even if I never go commercial with it, I can at least make a few repros for myself and my friends, who are all currently jealous that I have a working NES.

Unfortunately, since I haven't yet been able to find a more complete or detailed guide to donor carts and their categorical uses, I'm just fishing with chainsaw, so to speak, and trying to get my hands on as many different varieties of boards and chipsets as possible, just in case another use for, say, the SMB2 cart arises (or, in a stroke of divine intervention, my meager ability manages to DISCOVER one) and I can have one or more on-hand to make use of it.

So, the "too long, didn't read" version is: FF3j is one of the things on my eventual schedule, but for right now, I'm just trying to build stock. And rest assured, this is one of those carts that WOULDN'T become a victim of my soldering sadism. ;)

Soldering is an art. Anyone can tell you how to do it, but the true skill is acquired, not taught.

[Terminusvitae]

Soldering is an art. Anyone can tell you how to do it, but the true skill is acquired, not taught.

Yeah, and my artistic skills are, in a word, hideous, unfortunately. But, I have plenty of solder and cheapo carts, so I will keep plowing forward.

[Sabz5150]

Yeah, and my artistic skills are, in a word, hideous, unfortunately. But, I have plenty of solder and cheapo carts, so I will keep plowing forward.

And that's how you learn. You'll get the hang of it before you even know it :D

I'd recommend getting a soldering station. It doesn't have to be fancy, just something better to rest your iron than the tiny piece of sheetmetal that they include in the iron's package. Flux and desoldering braid are also nice to have.

[Terminusvitae]

And that's how you learn. You'll get the hang of it before you even know it :D

I'd recommend getting a soldering station. It doesn't have to be fancy, just something better to rest your iron than the tiny piece of sheetmetal that they include in the iron's package. Flux and desoldering braid are also nice to have.

Hmmm...good idea. I'll see what I can rustle up!

I'm also going to be hitting some flea markets tomorrow, so we'll see what I can find that would work for donors for other kinds of games, as well. Either way, I'm definitely in the market for as many of these "special" SMB2 carts anyone can dig up.

[Terminusvitae]

*bump*

I've added some other carts I'm looking for, since there's a dearth of them in this area--I buy just about all of them.

[nintendoeats]

Ca you possibly post a picture of what you mean? I may have one.

[BIGMIKE]

i got a few of those.

smb3
zelda
both ultima's

[Terminusvitae]

Ca you possibly post a picture of what you mean? I may have one.

Well, I had to do an image search since my NES stuff is unavailable right now. This is just to illustrate how the pins are supposed to look.

This is the "normal" pin configuration for an SMB2 as well as most NES:

http://i233.photobucket.com/albums/ee65/Terminusvitae/rctkrom00.jpg


And this is the configuration that some SMB2 carts have, as well as other NES releases, though I need it only in SMB2 right now:

http://i233.photobucket.com/albums/ee65/Terminusvitae/60p_72p.jpg

Just as a description, the first shows a gap in the center of the configuration, while the second is a contiguous row of pins. The latter is what I need.

[Sabz5150]

It would be interesting to see exactly what the difference in the two is outside of the unused pins being present or missing.

[Terminusvitae]

It would be interesting to see exactly what the difference in the two is outside of the unused pins being present or missing.

It certainly would be...as soon as I can get my hands on the full-set version, I'll at least compare the guts of the two and see if there are any obvious differences.

[nintendoeats]

Well, Iv'e got one. If you haven't found another I would be willing to part with it.

[Terminusvitae]

*punt*

Back to the top!

[Terminusvitae]

It's been over 24 hours, so I'm bumping it again. ;)

[Tupin]

If I recall correctly, the extra pins were taken out after NOA realized that they were never going to use the expansion port.

[Terminusvitae]

That makes sense, and it would explain why the two carts I'm working on now, Balloon Fight and Shadowgate, have different pin configurations. I certainly don't recall seeing the extra pins in any carts from the late '80s onward.

I just with that pawn shop wasn't trying to gouge customers...that used to be a favorite place of mine, but I can't justify buying things from there as long as they're still employing that kid with the avaricious eyes.

[Tupin]

That makes sense, and it would explain why the two carts I'm working on now, Balloon Fight and Shadowgate, have different pin configurations. I certainly don't recall seeing the extra pins in any carts from the late '80s onward.

I just with that pawn shop wasn't trying to gouge customers...that used to be a favorite place of mine, but I can't justify buying things from there as long as they're still employing that kid with the avaricious eyes.
Basically, once Zelda was released, Nintendo's plans for the expansion port (Disk System) were pointless.

[Sabz5150]

If I recall correctly, the extra pins were taken out after NOA realized that they were never going to use the expansion port.

With that in mind, what exactly were their original purpose? From everything I can see looking at the boards themselves, there really isn't an electronic/mechanical purpose to them... just the extra dozen pins going from 60 to 72.

Now if the version of the FDS that was bound for the States used them for some sort of a makeshift passthrough cart to enable the FDS, then that makes sense.

[Tupin]

With that in mind, what exactly were their original purpose? From everything I can see looking at the boards themselves, there really isn't an electronic/mechanical purpose to them... just the extra dozen pins going from 60 to 72.

Now if the version of the FDS that was bound for the States used them for some sort of a makeshift passthrough cart to enable the FDS, then that makes sense.
Yeah, the advantage in an American Disk System would have been that you could use a cartridge and the Disk System at the same time.

[Terminusvitae]

Hmmmm...very interesting, indeed...

I'm still in the market for all of these, of course. I have a few deals closing, but I also want to build stock. :)

[Terminusvitae]

Well, now. THIS is an interesting development.

One of the people who works in the same building I have the store in just brought her NES (with ROB) and several games, since I told her I could probably get it all working again. She said that she'd probably be more than happy to let me have everything (including a box full of carts she still has back home), since she knows I'd get good use out of it, for a heckuva low price.

Included just in the game she brought in is the SMB2 cart I need (woo!), several candidates for a Famicom converter, and they're all boxed, with most of the manuals included, as well.

[Sabz5150]

Most excellent!

Of note, I traded a famipirate for a copy of FF3 for the Famicom (Thanks, AB!) just to see what's up with the game needing odd bits and pieces to repro.

http://www.enginevoodoo.com/images/collect/ff3j.jpg

There it is. It doesn't use those center pins for any reason (they aren't connected on the adapter), so I am guessing it's that mapper. Crack open that SMB2 and snap a pic. :)