View Full Version : Famicom Disk System
So how many of you guys have one? I was thinking about picking one up and wanted to know whats a good price, and is it woth it? :hmm:
Cmosfm
08-17-2004, 03:34 PM
I have one!
A good price? Hmm, first of all your best bet is to wait for a bundle package on eBay with the Famicom, the Famicom Disk System, and games for both. Try to find a nice set that has boxed systems because the system boxes look very nice and it usually doesn'y dramatically up the price. I bought my Famicom, FDS, and about 30 games total for approximately 300.00 shipped...which is about the acceptable price for the bundle. A working complete FDS usually goes for 100.00 plus shipping, a complete working Famicom is about 50.00-75.00 plus shipping, and the games can range anywhere from a few bucks to 10.00+. Remember you have to have the Famicom to work the FDS though.
Also be sure to get EVERYTHING you need...The Famicom system with OFFICIAL AC adapter...can't use a DC adapter or you won't have a working system anymore. Controllers are hardwired to the system and attach to the sides. The FDS has a few essential parts, first is the RAM cart which hooks into the Famicom and to the FDS. Second, be sure to get an AC adapter with the FDS as well, because in some brainstorm Nintendo of Japan thought it would be a great idea to make the FDS run on C BATTERIES! You don't want batteries, you want the AC adapter.
Now, one big thing you need to worry about, the FDS has a drive belt...and the drive belt breaks...VERY EASILY. Never, not under any circumstance, buy a FDS that does not say "WORKING", if you get one that says "not tested" you are going to get one with a broken drive belt. The drive belt is easy to replace though, but you have to find one first, and it's gonna run you about 20 bucks plus shipping.
Another problem, 9 out of 10 FDS game lots on eBay are pirates. You have to learn to tell the difference. Official FDS games come in 2 colors - the most common is yellow, and there are quite a few blue as well. On the bottom of the disk you will see the word NINTENDO etched into the disk...
THESE ARE OFFICIAL DISKS:
http://jeux.video.tripod.com/fds_disk.jpg
http://www.geocities.co.jp/Stylish/8684/sealed.jpg
THIS ISN'T:
http://www.atarihq.com/tsr/fds/electrician-p.jpg
Note the disks are also prone to many many "Disk Read Errors" and lots of the disks do not work anymore. I've only gotten a few that didn't but that's just because I decided to take a risk and buy an Untested lot cheap!
Famicom carts are also prone to many pirates, but I'm not getting into that now....too detailed.
Most likely you will purchase it from Japan and have to pay the high shipping...PAY FOR EMS SHIPPING...it's a good bit higher but believe me, After you lose an expensive package via Air Mail, you'll wish you paid the extra 30 bucks. It comes with insurance and gets to you much faster.
Now, is it worth the 300.00 or more admission price? I'd have to say a very enthusiastic YES! I personally love my FDS, my Famicom, and all the games i have for it. Not only does it have some GREAT games, but it looks cool too! Plus...get ready...most games have a SAVE FEATURE and the system has an upgraded sound processor! Everyone that comes over your house will not only get a kick out of it, they'll want to play it too...so I recommend it, highly. Keep your eyes open on eBay, find a nice lot, and if you aren't sure about it...drop me a PM...I will give you some advice on if it's worth the price, if the games are pirates, etc. etc.
And just for the hell of it, here's a list of MUST. BUY. Famicom Disk System games...
Bubble Bobble (just for the save game feature. :) )
Dirty Pair - Project Eden (based on the Anime)
Electrician (killer graphics!)
Super Mario Bros 2 (The US Lost Levels)
Dream Factory - Doki Doki Panic (The game the US SMB2 was hacked from)
Twin Bee (3 PLAYERS!)
Plenty more as well, just not recalling off hand. :)
MegaDrive20XX
08-17-2004, 03:36 PM
How about the twin famicom systems? Are those reliable? Has the FDS and Famicom built in one system
Cmosfm
08-17-2004, 03:42 PM
How about the twin famicom systems? Are those reliable? Has the FDS and Famicom built in one system
Just as reliable as the original model...both have those tricky disk drive belts though. :o
davidleeroth
08-17-2004, 07:02 PM
I have one. I already had a Famicom when I bought a loose disk system from eBay. I could be dreaming but I think it was $25 then. The RAM adapters for it cost 300yen in Japan so I got one from there plus some games and after that I had a working setup. :)
I never got around getting a PSU as it gets very little use and the batteries don't seem to wear too fast.
Ed Oscuro
08-17-2004, 07:31 PM
Geh, forums were eating my posts earlier.
I would go with the Twin Famicom just because it doesn't look goofy like a FC + FDS combo, but even so nothing with FDS games is very reliable. You'd need some serious hacking knowledge to restore corrupted disks, and serious patience to open and replace a drive belt that's crusted and stuck to the mechanism (though it is apparently quite possible). It may be the case that the original FDS is easier to open - I wouldn't know about either, since for the moment I'm keeping my only Sharp Twin in its box.
The plus side to a Sharp Twin is that you can always play regular FC games on it, so you won't feel your purchase is a total waste should all your disks turn out to be bad :D
wow...thanks for all the info guys!
A special thanks to cmosfm! :D
tooasianguys
08-17-2004, 09:54 PM
Click on this link if you want to see pics of my Twin Famicom. I own a red one, which is considered "harder to find" than the black, but both are equally considered collectibles. I also own a Gameboy Light, which was only released in Japan. It's basically a Gameboy pocket with an Indiglo backlight-so in reality the Gameboy Advance SP was NOT the first Gameboy to feature a true backlit screen. If you want pics I'll send them to you. PM me.
http://lengung.typepad.com/photos/rare_collectibles/index.html
Very cool pics! 8-)
So how much would one of those go for on ebay?
gamergary
08-17-2004, 10:07 PM
Twin Famicoms rarely show up on ebay. If you look around you can find twin famicoms for $160 plus shipping. That is how I'm going to get mine since I'm not going to waste money on a fds and find out it is not compatible to my famiclone.
Whats a famiclone?
Sorry im new to the whole famicom and fds scene LOL
Ed Oscuro
08-17-2004, 10:25 PM
I own a red one, which is considered "harder to find" than the black, but both are equally considered collectibles.
A question - have you been looking in the STF market for a long time, or are you just guessing at this?
I've been told that the black/red is harder to find than the black/GREEN (though make no mistake that was GameChoice.com.hk, AFTER they shipped me a black/red instead of the pictured black/green), and I've also read that the black units came later than your red unit (which look goofy, I hope you don't mind my saying so). I'd assume the black/light blue units are rarer than these others, the "Fire" units rarest of the regular STF units, and of course the Sharp FC Titler units are in a league of their own in terms of rarity.
tooasianguys
08-18-2004, 01:19 AM
I own a red one, which is considered "harder to find" than the black, but both are equally considered collectibles.
A question - have you been looking in the STF market for a long time, or are you just guessing at this?
I've been told that the black/red is harder to find than the black/GREEN (though make no mistake that was GameChoice.com.hk, AFTER they shipped me a black/red instead of the pictured black/green), and I've also read that the black units came later than your red unit (which look goofy, I hope you don't mind my saying so). I'd assume the black/light blue units are rarer than these others, the "Fire" units rarest of the regular STF units, and of course the Sharp FC Titler units are in a league of their own in terms of rarity.
To answer your first question-I only stumbled onto my Twin Fami on eBay by accident while searching for a FDS. I thought I was buying a Famiclone but I ended up doing some research and found out it was quite rare. SO I'm by no means an expert, but I have talked with friends with Japan, Taiwan, and Hong Kong, and from what I gather from them the black/red are rarest, black/green units were released after but were also produced in greater numbers(greater being relative since they were still made in very small #s). Titler units are definitely a collector's item.
Tank - to answer your question, "Famiclones" are systems made to play Famicom games made by small companies(think mom and pop shops), but the designs vary and they are not "licensed" by Nintendo. In Asia, patent laws are not as strict as they are in the West, so if someone else has a great idea you can capitalize on it. Thats why all the bootleg stuff you see out there is generally from Hong Kong, Taiwan, and Korea. Some famiclones actually look a lot nicer than the original Famicoms...which are pretty ugly in my opinion.
And yes, the red twin fami's are ugly, but beggers can't be choosers!
Ed Oscuro
08-18-2004, 01:35 AM
...I have talked with friends with Japan, Taiwan, and Hong Kong, and from what I gather from them the black/red are rarest, black/green units were released after but were also produced in greater numbers(greater being relative since they were still made in very small #s). Titler units are definitely a collector's item.
Your reply makes me think you don't know of the *real* black/red unit, which has a black case with red trim - reverse the colors on your unit. Thus,
And yes, the red twin fami's are ugly, but beggers can't be choosers!
See, we can have our STFs, and if U can eat plastic, eat them too! ;D
Really though, I gather it's like this (commonest units first):
Red w/ black trim (AN-500?)
Black w/ red trim (AN-500B)
Black w/ green trim
Black w/ BLUE trim (yes, different somehow from black/green.)
Orange case (turbo switches on the controllers; white bad background with a blue stripe; same deal on the cartridge slot. Instead of the round bit on the left side of the cartridge slot, there's more of this white and blue plastic inset which runs to the left side of the case top.)
...
Sharp Famicom Titler (S-Video and the rest really is pretty well known)
Cobra Commander
08-18-2004, 04:13 AM
Do those Twin Famicoms use the same funky type RF adapter that typical Famicoms use?
I'm trying to save up and buy one of these things. My current Famicom is dead and I'm dying to play some Doki Doki Panic on a real TV.
The_EniGma
08-18-2004, 04:56 AM
IF you are to get the Devil Red Famicom take in to consideration how flimsy the disk trays are.... u must be very fragile with them or they will break
gamergary
08-18-2004, 07:11 AM
A famiclone is a pirated famicom system made to look like the original famicom or to look like a playstation or xbox (even a penguin) etc.
Cauterize
08-18-2004, 09:30 AM
www.emugo.com stocks them if you wanna buy one (i think, dont hold me to it, im gonna double check now!)
Cauterize
08-18-2004, 09:37 AM
yup they are.. direct link is http://www.vanillaicemedia.com/ebay/vgc.htm for all you lazy gamers! have fun!
rbudrick
08-18-2004, 12:54 PM
http://www.digitpress.com/forum/viewtopic.php?t=32763&highlight
Anyone interested in finding out more about how to back up your non-working fds disks and how to copy them (I think there's a good amount of info on FDS maintenance there too) should look at this ongoing thread. There should be a big piece of good news coming up soon in that thread.
-Rob
Ed Oscuro
08-18-2004, 06:45 PM
Awesome. I'd love to have some hardware to fix up discs with :rocker:
I just recently saw a box for a Twin Famicom, and couldnt find "Nintendo" anywhere. Are the Twin Famicom a liscenced Nintendo console? :o
Cobra Commander
09-05-2004, 02:53 AM
And does the Twin Famicom use RF or AV cables to hook up?
Anyone know?
y-bot
09-05-2004, 03:19 AM
@Cobra Commander-The Twin Famicom has A/V for sure and I think it has RF as well. Mine is in storage right now but I have definitely hooked it up to my Commodore monitor.
@Tank-The Twin Famicom was marketed by Sharp but I am sure it is an officially licensed Nintendo product.
y-bot
Ed Oscuro
09-05-2004, 03:54 AM
Yeah, the Twin is a licensed console.
I'm not sure on the video outputs the Twin has, as mine is also sitting in its box...nothing more sophisticated than A/V, though.
Jincman
01-20-2005, 12:20 PM
Does anyone know of a good list of FDS disks?
Which are blue and yellow?
Double game disks?
FABombjoy
01-20-2005, 01:11 PM
Also be sure to get EVERYTHING you need...The Famicom system with OFFICIAL AC adapter...can't use a DC adapter or you won't have a working system anymore.
I use a Genesis model 1 adapter (9v, 1.2a model) with my Famicom and it seems to have no complaints.
Cobra Commander
01-20-2005, 01:23 PM
Has anyone tried to hook up an FDS to ones of those toploading famiclones?
If that would work, I'd be most happy.
Cobra Commander
01-21-2005, 12:52 AM
Anyone at all?
Ninja Blacksox
01-21-2005, 01:00 AM
Has anyone tried to hook up an FDS to ones of those toploading famiclones?
If that would work, I'd be most happy.
Not me, no.
But it works. I've seen a shot of it.
Also, my Famicom Twin has A/V outputs.
If only I could fix the damned belt!
-A Boy
Aussie2B
01-21-2005, 01:04 AM
Maybe it's just me, but the FDS seems like it's more trouble that it's worth. o_O I'd still like to have one, though. :P
Cobra Commander
01-21-2005, 01:41 AM
Yeah it does doesn't it?
But I want one so bad. It's just that back in grade all those years ago in the 80's, the FDS was legendary. The very thought of playing Doki Doki Panic and "the lost levels" just totally blew the minds of all the kids who saw the screenshots in various magazines. I will play them before I die....or turn 30 whichever comes first.
Dimitri
01-21-2005, 03:05 AM
Does anyone know of a good list of FDS disks?
Which are blue and yellow?
Double game disks?
Yellow disks are games that were published in retail packaging, with case, manual, etc... You can tell a sealed game by the golden Diskun sticker holding the case shut. Blue disks were disk writer disks -- you'd buy a blank disk, then have games written to it at a convenience store or such for about 500 yen each. Some games only filled one side of the disk so you could put a game on each side -- I doubt there were any retail double-game disks, though. Conceivably, games could span multiple disks, but I'm not sure if there were ever any games like that. I think sometimes you'd get a manual with your game when you got a disk written, but I'm not totally sure about that...