NES 101 with the A/V port, how rare, how much?

[camarotuner]

Let's say I'm crazy enough to foot the bill for one. Am I talking financing a lung or my whole house? Does anyone have better information on their actual rarity? I know "rare" gets tossed around a lot in any hobby but are we talking they made a few thousand, hundred, dozen? Any sales records? Thanks for any heads up you guys have.

[Schiggidyd]

I second this, how many were made?

[Leo_A]

As far as I know unless some major revelation has came about to tell its story along with a warehouse of such units to purchase, it's all mostly guessing based on perhaps one person's experience (Something about sending their unit into Nintendo to be serviced with the complaint that it didn't output composite video like the earlier NES model could) with just a handful of known examples out there.

In other words, look for something else to purchase since it's not something you're going to be able to bring up on eBay and just buy any old time.

[camarotuner]

In other words, look for something else to purchase since it's not something you're going to be able to bring up on eBay and just buy any old time.

Now what fun would that be? I'm trying to find out if it's even worth having the funds available when one pops up or if there is a sale history on the item. If when they pop up they can be had under the 1500 dollar range I'd be a player. If when they show up they go for much higher than that I'll simply concede that I'll most likely never own one. But since I've never seen anything about actual rarity or price I figure this was the best place to ask.

[j_factor]

If Nintendo can add an A/V output, so can you.

[theclaw]

We don't know. So few recorded sales or owners ever occur, there is no price consensus.

[Gameguy]

If when they pop up they can be had under the 1500 dollar range I'd be a player.
You'd seriously be willing to pay $1500.00 for one? I'm hoping to find one of these too but no way would I pay near that much for one.

As for the regular top loaders there were a couple of different versions, one had better quality video than the other.

[camarotuner]

You'd seriously be willing to pay $1500.00 for one? I'm hoping to find one of these too but no way would I pay near that much for one.

As for the regular top loaders there were a couple of different versions, one had better quality video than the other.

It'd be a cornerstone piece to any NES collection. So yes I'd be willing to go up to that amount if I have the chance to. But as with any "collectible" purchase I'm not going into debt to pay it so it'd be A) it's for sale and B) I have the cash. So I think I'll make sure I have cash on hand in my play account and if one pops up I'll take a shot at it.

Oh and yes j_factor I could just have ports added, or buy an a/v famicom and use a converter. That's not the point. It's about having the rarest toy/s. If it wasn't I'd just play everything on an emulator and save myself tons and tons of money.

But yeah definitely looks like this one's going to take me quite some time to track down. If I ever track it down.

[j_factor]

Oh and yes j_factor I could just have ports added, or buy an a/v famicom and use a converter. That's not the point. It's about having the rarest toy/s.

Is there some foolproof way of distinguishing between a toploader with Nintendo-installed a/v and one with consumer-installed a/v? I've not heard of that before.

[camarotuner]

Is there some foolproof way of distinguishing between a toploader with Nintendo-installed a/v and one with consumer-installed a/v? I've not heard of that before.

Yes, I've seen pictures of the back of a factor a/v top loader and I find it extremely unlikely someone can make a factory rf look like a factory a/v without leaving evidence of fabrication. Of course I'm still researching it but there was a great video on the 101 on retrowaretv showing a factor a/v unit too. Looks like you'd need to not only take the a/v port off the snes but fab up a new backing piece as cutting and inserting wouldn't look right?

[treismac]

...there was a great video on the 101 on retrowaretv showing a factor a/v unit too. Looks like you'd need to not only take the a/v port off the snes but fab up a new backing piece as cutting and inserting wouldn't look right?

Link please.

[camarotuner]

Link please.


http://retrowaretv.com/the-gaming-historian-nes-2-top-loader-model-nes-101/

[Duke.Togo]

From the pics shown I see no way to verify that is a NES 2 with AV out. The first shot that zooms out (3:38) even looks like an AV Famicom, notice that there is no "hump" for the cart slot. The second zoomed out shot has no top shell, so could easily be an AV Famicom.

I believe if these were actually done, Nintendo would have used the AV Famicom bottom shell with an NES 2 main board with the video encoding section replaced with the AV Famicom version.

I'd love to see some real, authentic, and verifiable pics of one of these.

[Gameguy]

There are pics online, there were a couple of videos too at one point but those were taken down. I'll post various threads already posted elsewhere about this console. Plenty of pics. One person has claimed to buy one of these new in store, he didn't need to ship it to Nintendo to have the board swapped out.

http://www.nintendoage.com/index.cfm?FuseAction=Users.Photos&User=Dain&Album_ID=295#id295
http://forums.lostlevels.org/viewtopic.php?p=23744&sid=4940084d3d0213436d28b32831c878c6
http://nintendoage.com/forum/messageview.cfm?catid=5&threadid=21008
http://www.atariage.com/forums/topic/152267-nes-top-loader-av/
http://www.nintendoage.com/forum/messageview.cfm?catid=8&threadid=49364

What I really love seeing is that letter from Nintendo when someone sent their console in for the board to be swapped, it's from Nintendo Canada and the guy who got it was living in Canada! I have a shot at finding one of these systems in Canada!

[Enmity]

http://www.ebay.com/itm/NES-101-video-add-on-board-for-top-loader-Video-Audio-out-NES2-/170904749669?pt=Video_Games_Accessories&hash=item27cab78665

$25 and a little work.

[Duke.Togo]

There are pics online, there were a couple of videos too at one point but those were taken down. I'll post various threads already posted elsewhere about this console. Plenty of pics. One person has claimed to buy one of these new in store, he didn't need to ship it to Nintendo to have the board swapped out.

http://www.nintendoage.com/index.cfm?FuseAction=Users.Photos&User=Dain&Album_ID=295#id295
http://forums.lostlevels.org/viewtopic.php?p=23744&sid=4940084d3d0213436d28b32831c878c6
http://nintendoage.com/forum/messageview.cfm?catid=5&threadid=21008
http://www.atariage.com/forums/topic/152267-nes-top-loader-av/
http://www.nintendoage.com/forum/messageview.cfm?catid=8&threadid=49364

What I really love seeing is that letter from Nintendo when someone sent their console in for the board to be swapped, it's from Nintendo Canada and the guy who got it was living in Canada! I have a shot at finding one of these systems in Canada!

OK, now this shows more promise.

[123►Genei-Jin]

The youtube links on those pages seem to be outdated, I'm guessing at least one of those links is for this video:


http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=mEhNt5q7Hl0

[SparTonberry]

Is there some foolproof way of distinguishing between a toploader with Nintendo-installed a/v and one with consumer-installed a/v? I've not heard of that before.

Well, a consumer-installed mod would probably use standard RCA jacks, while Nintendo used their proprietary AV port (like the AV Famicom, which used the SNES/N64/GC cable).

[thegamezmaster]

Too bad you can't just get the pcb with the A/V jack. Anyone know where the Nintendo board can be bought?

[BlastProcessing402]

Until a few years ago, I didn't even know that top loaders came in an RF version. The only one I'd ever seen in person had the A/V port, so I just assumed they all did. I had no idea it was rare at the time.

[Gameguy]

The youtube links on those pages seem to be outdated, I'm guessing at least one of those links is for this video:
The video you posted is different from the other older videos, I saw those before when they were first posted and it was basically someone who hooked it up to a TV to show that it was real. The newer video you posted is much more detailed.


Well, a consumer-installed mod would probably use standard RCA jacks, while Nintendo used their proprietary AV port (like the AV Famicom, which used the SNES/N64/GC cable).
I did see someone mod a system using a port from a SNES so it would look neater, but it didn't look that perfect as it was homemade but it's something to keep an eye out for. You never know what some people might try to do.