Anyone know how to open Famicom carts with tabs??

[CastNoShadow]

I've got a couple typical Famicom carts that use tabs instead of screws. I would like to open them, but don't want to break the tabs. Does anyone know a safe way to do this without damaging the cart?

[Superman]

I never heard of a cart that has only tabs and not screws. Then again, I don't have that many famicom carts.

Any pictures?

[rbudrick]

Pretty much all famicom carts just snap together on two tabs located about a half inch up the sides of the cart. There's no prefect technique, as the plastics of the carts are of varying quality and age has made many brittle.

The best technique I've found is to take one of those small precision flathead screwdrivers (not too small, though) and get it between the two halves about where you think the tab is. Push gently inward while seperating the two halves of one edge. Iirc, the bottom half holds the tab, so sometimes getting a finger in the edge connecter end and pushing on the inside edge of the top half outward will help. Reverse this if I'm wrong and the tab is on the top half. It may feel like you need three hands to use both techniques at once, and you may just need one or the other. The other side will be easier, as you will probably just be able to use the second technique.

No method is foolproof, though. I've broken a few FC cart tabs in my time, and sometimes it's inevitable.

-Rob