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Arasoi
06-21-2010, 10:13 PM
I'm hoping this will become a thread where people share their custom NES consoles. Whether the modifications are functional or cosmetic, enjoying your classic games in a new way is always fun.

http://i115.photobucket.com/albums/n310/Protogem/NES002.jpg

As someone who has enjoyed collecting and playing NES games since childhood, and later Famicom and Famicom Disk titles, over the last year or two I've been looking into modifications for NES/Famicom hardware to increase quality/compatibility/ease of use while retaining a nostalgic feel.

Starting with a regular stock NES toaster deck and performing mods directly myself or through a professional source I've achieved the following:

(1) Disabled lockout chip and new 72 pin connector:

Games work with little difficulty, making good pin contact and no more blinking power LED and flashing screens.

(2) RGB output and resistor mod for compatibility:

Replacing the stock PPU with an RC2C03B/G (acquired from a playchoice 10 pcb, famicom titler, or vs duck hunt/vs tennis romsets) and amplifying the signal will provide a sharp RGB picture output. The picture output is sharp and clear through a scaler unit to VGA, or on a dedicated 15khz RGB monitor. An additional 68pf capacitor mod will increase compatibility from most games to nearly all of them.

http://i115.photobucket.com/albums/n310/Protogem/Ashtar_RGB.jpg

(3) Multiple video format output and cable compatibility:

http://i115.photobucket.com/albums/n310/Protogem/NESguts.jpg

RGB is great, but I like to take my NES deck when I travel and none of my friends have RGB monitors. So the amplified RGB output is run through a JROK 4.1 encoder, which provides additional video output of component, svideo, and composite to work on multiple TV types. The mono output is also duplicated to proper white/red audio jacks.

Standard connector types are used. The RGB passthrough and an additional mono sound output are hooked to an 8 pol DIN connector, using the Genesis 1/Sega Master System pinout. It is compatible with any off the shelf RGB SCART cable for Genesis/SMS.

http://i115.photobucket.com/albums/n310/Protogem/consolerear.jpg

http://i115.photobucket.com/albums/n310/Protogem/Videocomp3.jpg

(4) Powerpak compatibility:

http://i115.photobucket.com/albums/n310/Protogem/Video019.jpg

The retrousb Powerpak provides improved Famicom Disk System functionality, and the ability to play english translated versions of the RPG carts I own on real hardware, as well as rom hacks. If you're planning to travel with your NES deck, it's quite a handy accessory to have as well.

The powerpak does not normally work with an RGB modded NES, but by replacing the 74LS373 chip with an 74HC373 full powerpak compatibility can be achieved. In addition, soldering a 47k resistor between pins 3 and 9 of the NES expansion port pins will enable full functionality from Japanese mapper chips like the VRC6(Akumajo Densetsu, Madara) and full sound channels from FDS titles.

http://i115.photobucket.com/albums/n310/Protogem/Video018.jpg

http://i115.photobucket.com/albums/n310/Protogem/Video016.jpg

(5) BLUE power LED mod

http://i115.photobucket.com/albums/n310/Protogem/blueled.jpg

This one is mostly for fun.

Overall I feel the mods and powerpak have produced a versatile system that is capable of meeting most NES/Famicom related needs. There are a few additional items/mods I am considering however:

Dual PPU mod: There are still a small handful of games that do not function properly with an RGB modded NES/Famicom. It should be theoretically possible to stack the original PPU on top of the RGB one and wire the power to a switch for those games. This would also restore RF output, for what thats worth. An additional mod to switch the LED between red/blue depending on the PPU in use should be possible as well.

"Stereo" sound mod - There is a mod to split the NES sound channels to left and right audio sources to create a simulated stereo effect. I've heard the results of this mod but I wasn't impressed. NES games weren't meant to be heard in that manner and it often requires tuning for different games.

HES Unidapter - This would provide ease of use in hooking up my physical famicom carts and famicom disk system/disks. For now I'm satisfied with transferring my physical Famicom/FDS collection onto the powerpak.

15 pin Famicom accessories - Items like the Japanese Zapper, the whack a mole pad, controllers, etc for Famicom are not compatible with this system yet. Someone has been talking about releasing a dongle that attaches to the expansion port to resolve this, but I don't think any are available as of yet.

Does anyone else enjoy modding their NES? Share your ideas or modifications here.
Arkhan
06-22-2010, 12:21 AM
If you watch my CCAG video (not trying to plug it)

eventually you will see a Battletoads NES

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=oBJ9N8rq9ds

it is awesome as fuck.
Thrillo
06-22-2010, 02:11 AM
The stereo mod is awesome if you take the time to build and tweak a circuit to mix the two signals (plus mono) via potentiometers. The stereo is far too seperated if you just run the lines straight out without any mixing, and yes, it sounds awful that way.

Sure stereo isn't the way the games are meant to be heard, but neither is RGB the way they're meant to be seen.
Oldskool
06-22-2010, 02:39 AM
Pretty cool stuff, your nes is much like the one that was up on Ebay recently, last I seen it was well into $300+ dollars. Not sure what it ended at however.

I have been planning on getting a Genesis RGB/SCART cable for my Genesis, and running it through an RGB/SCART ---> Component converter/scaler. Which one are you using? Also, are you getting sound output through your RGB/SCART, or are you just doing video? The converter I have my eyes on is only for video, I am trying to find a good converter/scaler that also outputs audio.

Are you sure this shouldn't be in the tech section?
Arasoi
06-22-2010, 02:58 AM
The stereo mod is awesome if you take the time to build and tweak a circuit to mix the two signals (plus mono) via potentiometers. The stereo is far too seperated if you just run the lines straight out without any mixing, and yes, it sounds awful that way.


This sounds interesting, my understanding was that it just separated them with minimal tuning options. I think I'll look into this further.


Pretty cool stuff, your nes is much like the one that was up on Ebay recently, last I seen it was well into $300+ dollars. Not sure what it ended at however.

I have been planning on getting a Genesis RGB/SCART cable for my Genesis, and running it through an RGB/SCART ---> Component converter/scaler. Which one are you using? Also, are you getting sound output through your RGB/SCART, or are you just doing video? The converter I have my eyes on is only for video, I am trying to find a good converter/scaler that also outputs audio.

Are you sure this shouldn't be in the tech section?

The one sold on ebay was made by acem77, who came up with a lot of the modding solutions used in mine, including making the powerpak work in an RGB nes.

Inside my NES is a JROK 4.1 encoder, it takes RGB and outputs component/svideo/composite, and has a passthrough for the RGB. My RGB connector does indeed output mono audio as a stock Genesis model 1/Master System does, seperate from the stereo jacks.

If you want to use the converter/transcoder you found but extract the audio signal I suggest an inline connector such as this:

http://www.connevans.co.uk/store/viewProduct.do?id=856485

Im not sure if this thread should go in the technical section or not.
mrmark0673
06-22-2010, 09:26 AM
Very nice looking system you've got there. Where do you get most of the info needed to perfrom these mods? Nice work!
lotec25
06-22-2010, 05:52 PM
Very nice looking system you've got there. Where do you get most of the info needed to perfrom these mods? Nice work!


I was going to ask the same question. I would like to add the RBG to my Toaster.
Arasoi
06-22-2010, 08:22 PM
Most of the information can be found on these two sites forums:

http://nfggames.com/forum2/

http://nesdev.parodius.com/bbs/viewforum.php?f=9

acem77 can be credited with discovering some of the more obscure mods such as replacing the chip to get the powerpak working in RGB.
Jorpho
06-23-2010, 12:01 AM
Until now I thought RGB involved salvaging the PPU from a VS arcade board. But you can just use a readily available off-the-shelf part?
Arasoi
06-23-2010, 12:24 AM
Until now I thought RGB involved salvaging the PPU from a VS arcade board. But you can just use a readily available off-the-shelf part?

Your assumption is correct, the PPU in my NES was originally form a playchoice 10 pcb. The chips that have the proper color palette are from a playchoice board, or a VS Duck Hunt or Vs Tennis romset.

I've seen a few threads on gamesx and nesdev about reverse engineering the RGB PPU and making some improvements, but I don't think anything has come of it yet.
Jorpho
06-23-2010, 12:41 AM
I see. That's a rather costly thing to obtain, then.
Arasoi
06-23-2010, 12:45 AM
It can be, yeah. There are some great deals on playchoice pcbs or ppus fairly often on klov, and a few other arcade forums with buying/selling subforums.
Purkeynator
06-23-2010, 08:45 PM
After looking at those component, composite, RGB, and S-video shots, I gotta say, composite still looks very good.
Jorpho
06-23-2010, 10:35 PM
It can be, yeah. There are some great deals on playchoice pcbs or ppus fairly often on klov, and a few other arcade forums with buying/selling subforums....Well, really, if there's only one source for the chips, and there's only one particular way to repurpose them, why call it a "RC2C03B/G" at all if no one is going to know what you're talking about?

(Of course, only slightly more people will know what you're talking about if you say "the PPU from a Playchoice 10", but it's something.)
Arasoi
06-23-2010, 11:13 PM
...Well, really, if there's only one source for the chips, and there's only one particular way to repurpose them, why call it a "RC2C03B/G" at all if no one is going to know what you're talking about?

(Of course, only slightly more people will know what you're talking about if you say "the PPU from a Playchoice 10", but it's something.)

*shrug*

"Everything is vague to a degree you do not realize till you have tried to make it precise." - Bertrand Russell

I put in a little edit up top for clarity.


After looking at those component, composite, RGB, and S-video shots, I gotta say, composite still looks very good.

I would agree the composite output from the JROK is pretty good, yes. I feel its a little cleaner looking than the stock PPU's composite output.
Purkeynator
06-24-2010, 12:07 AM
How about an overclock? http://www.racketboy.com/retro/2004/12/experimenting-with-nes-overclocking.html
Arasoi
06-24-2010, 01:12 AM
From the description it looks like a fun hardware mod, but the link to the procedure/details seems to be broken :(