NES Top Loader and Castlevania III weirdness

[eatenbygrues]

Good gentlemen of digital press I am having a most peculiar issue. Sometime ago I purchased a NES top loader (as in the NES-101, the official top-loader with the dogbone controllers and not some HK knock off). The only thing notable about it is that it's got an AV mod.

Now I have around 30 NES games and they all seem to work flawlessly (besides the nasty vertical lines the top loaders are notorious for) except for one. Castlevania III. I purchased a copy a while back, got it home and was treated to a nice dark green screen. Shit. So I cleaned it quite thoroughly, tried it again, no dice. So I figured "Hey its just a broken copy". So this past week I managed to get another copy of Castlevania III and it was in quite good condition. Same exact deal. I took it apart and cleaned it (it was already pretty clean in the first place) and was met yet again by arch nemesis the dark green screen.

Doing some research online it looks like this 'green screen' is what you get when you stick C3 into a knock-off console like the yobo or retro-duo. I just want to re-iterate that this is an authentic top-loader. I even opened the case up in a bout of paranoia to make sure someone hadn't shoe-horned a HK model into it (I'm not really sure why they would do that seeing as I got this thing pretty cheap in the first place. Not a very good scam if you ask me).

So any ideas? Is this a compatibility issue? Am I just unlucky in choosing copies of Castlevania 3? Did something get fried by the AV mod? Perhaps Dracula himself has cast his icy gaze upon my top loader and rendered it mute? Regretably I don't have one of the original grey boxes to test out the game (but I'm definitely picking one up soon).

EDIT: I just realized I posted this in the wrong forum. If a mod could move it to the technical discussion forum I would be most appreciative.

[super nes]

I think i read somewhere that castlevania III isnt compatible with a top loader. I cant find where i read it from now.

[Diosoth]

I think i read somewhere that castlevania III isnt compatible with a top loader. I cant find where i read it from now.

If this is ture, it makes all the complaints about modern clone systems rather obsolete, if even an official Nintendo hardware release has issues. I ownder if other Yobo problem games have toploader issues?

[duo_r]

if this is true I am happy I sold my top-loader and kept the original model!

[skaar]

Someone here should be able to test the C3 incompatibility.

[Astrocade]

It plays well on both my NES toploader and my toaster.

[DigitalSpace]

I think i read somewhere that castlevania III isnt compatible with a top loader. I cant find where i read it from now.

Works just fine on mine. You're probably getting the top loader mixed up with the clone systems.

[eatenbygrues]

Anyone know if there are multiple revisions of the top loader?

[Aussie2B]

Geez, guys, don't be so quick to jump to conclusions. I play CVIII on my top loader all the time. I've never had any compatibility issues with it at all, with my 150+ NES games.

[Draven]

Same here. Never had a problem with any game on the top loader, including those that my Gen Nex couldn't play.

[The 1 2 P]

There is a list of games that are incompatible with yobo toploaders but I'm not sure about a list for the official Nintendo top loader system. But honestly I wouldn't be surprised if there were a small handful of games that had problems with it.

[Icarus Moonsight]

Then shouldn't an AV-Fami have problems with Akumajo Densetsu? Cause, it doesn't and the sound chip in the Famicom version is better than the dumb-down chip we got in CV3... I've never had problems with my topper other than the usual bad RF. That is also no fault of game compatibility.

It's an issue with the specific system, if anything.

[ShinobiMan]

My top loader never had problems with any licensed games. I seem to remember some Color Dreams carts having trouble, or even getting stuck in it. Pesterminator was trapped in my NES for a month once! Too bad the game wasn't that great.

[MachineGex]

I am guessing whoever mod'ed the toploader may have made a mistake. Seems to be the only thing that makes sense.

BTW..the OP said he is absolutely sure it is not a clone system, it is the NES 101, so Im pretty sure he isnt mixing up what kind of system he has.

[SparTonberry]

Then shouldn't an AV-Fami have problems with Akumajo Densetsu? Cause, it doesn't and the sound chip in the Famicom version is better than the dumb-down chip we got in CV3... I've never had problems with my topper other than the usual bad RF. That is also no fault of game compatibility.

It's an issue with the specific system, if anything.

My authentic AV Famicom won't play my US CV3.
Someone suggested the converter is at fault.

CV3 and AD used different mappers.
I'm not sure if CV3 used it, but CV3 used an advanced PCB with some extra memory and video capability.
Whereas Akumajo Densetsu's only addition capability was the sound chip, I think.
(though the MMC5 in CV3 had some additional sound capacity, the NES was physically unable to use it)

[eatenbygrues]

Yeah I can even post photos if someone wants, but I'm quite positive it's a NES101 and not one of the knock offs. Now I opened it up last night and whoever did the mod to it (it was already modded when I purchased it) did a really sloppy job of it, so it wouldn't surprise me if they did some other damage to it.

Does the top loader have a lock out chip like the toaster does? I don't recall ever hearing anything about that, but if it does have one this seems like the kind of thing it would get caught up on.

Thanks for all the feedback, I have already got a toaster in the mail and I'll probably just stick with that as it doesn't have any of the video issues the top loader has.

[Aussie2B]

My top loader never had problems with any licensed games. I seem to remember some Color Dreams carts having trouble, or even getting stuck in it. Pesterminator was trapped in my NES for a month once! Too bad the game wasn't that great.

Yeah, the one thing I have had trouble with is the variance among circuit board thicknesses. A few games have contacts so thick that they really don't want to be jammed into a top loader. I was never able to get Dance Aerobics in mine, at least not without applying more force than I felt comfortable with.

[ProgrammingAce]

Does the top loader have a lock out chip like the toaster does? I don't recall ever hearing anything about that, but if it does have one this seems like the kind of thing it would get caught up on.

There is no lockout chip in a top loader.

[jperryss]

Now I opened it up last night and whoever did the mod to it (it was already modded when I purchased it) did a really sloppy job of it, so it wouldn't surprise me if they did some other damage to it.

I'd probably be leaning more towards that at this point.

BTW I have an official toploader that was recently A/V modded (obviously not all A/V mods are the same, but whatever) and I just booted up CV3 with no issues.

[TurboGenesis]

Well for what its worth,
I just played through the first stage of Castlevania III: Dracula's Curse on my Top Loader and it played without issue.

Of note: my system is bone stock.

I think I will go on and finish my game now LOL

[ApolloBoy]

My authentic AV Famicom won't play my US CV3.
Someone suggested the converter is at fault.
It must be the converter, because CV3 works fine in my AV Fami.

[Rickstilwell1]

I have something interesting to add.

I have had 2 different copies of Dragon Warrior for the NES.

One of these copies would work in the front-loader, but not in the top-loader.

The other copy would work in both just fine.

I sold the copy that only worked in my front loader because I wanted to be able to use either system.

This means that the game cartridge itself probably had different revisions.

I wonder if that is the case for Castlevania III?

[eatenbygrues]

Well I got my toaster in, and it was in fact the top loader. Both copies of C3 work just fine in it. (gotta replace the 72 pin though, damn)