What is the reason the aftermarket 72 pin connectors for the NES perform so poorly?? Is there a cheaper/less conductive metal used? What else could the reason be?
What is the reason the aftermarket 72 pin connectors for the NES perform so poorly?? Is there a cheaper/less conductive metal used? What else could the reason be?
Yeah, you hit the nail on the head. Cheap materials coupled with a poor (original) design. Sucks :/
Get a top loader. Mod it to work with A/V cables. Problem solved.
That's what I've got for the last few years, RCA mod, stereo separation wheel mod, and a little led under the power switch so it glows red.
Or better yet, Retron5. So many advantages its crazy.
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Or just clean the original connectors. I avoid consoles with replaced connectors.
+1. I've gotten pretty good at cleaning the original ones with a toothbrush and rubbing alcohol. If they are really bad I'll boil them. Then they work great. Cheaper than buying and modding a Top Loader.
Pat and Ian nail it out of the park with there comments on the Top Loader. If you're a "big boy" you should be able to keep your toaster working as good as a Top Loader.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=5NQZeSQwU9s
Last edited by genesisguy; 10-20-2014 at 11:34 PM.
I won't buy one without an original connector either. I find the old ones can always be rehabbed if they have not been damaged horribly by abuse or other means. Usually all it takes is a good cleaning with an original NES cleaning kit (or a thin glasses rag pulled tight over a credit card) to get the crap off with 91% isopropyl alcohol, and then using a safety pin to pull the lower pins upwards to make them more tight.
Actually you can, just not sure how to do it. I think the idea is that you make your own bogus IPS file, but instead, it tells the system to fire up a ROM that's put on the SD card and then it works. It's clunky and not worth it, but it can be done. Ofcourse you could just totally hack the damn thing and load retroarch on it and fire up whatever ROM you want in place of the R5 OS being there.
I remember hearing about the boiling of the 72 pin connector, and something about getting rid of the lockout pin (I think thats what its called.) can anyone point me to some kind of instructions on how to do all that?
The videos on the pin thing are kind of annoying to watch, just find a static good clear picture. There's this one small chip on the board, the pin #4 you just need to snip or pop off the board and bend away from it, and then buy buy flickering pain in the ass issues with loading games -- BONUS PERK, PAL games work just like on a top loader since it doesn't have that chip. The other, boiling works, but for the time involved I'd rather sit with the pin like I said before and realign them myself and use the cleaning kit(or thin glasses cloth over a card) to get the funk off as it's faster.
Boiling takes 10 mins. I've tried the bending with a pin. Now that's time consuming. My first couple I tried were all uneven looking, even once I got better at it they were never perfect. You can also over bend if not careful. If you got big hands like me it's a PITA. For some reason the boiling pops the pins back up at a nice even level and I've never had any issues over it.
I looked up the boiling of the 72 pin connector, and seems fairly simple. Now do you guys think that having some rubbing alcohol boiling in with the water would help clean it better, or would it just boil the alcohol out of the pot and not make a difference? or cause more harm than good?
I wish I had known to just boil the original pin connector, I had mine replaced in my original childhood NES, ever since theres been problems. I replaced it more then once now, and I gave up. I bought a Retron 2 and it works great for NES. I had a Retron 1, but it developed this problem where the intro screens would flicker very fast for some reason. And it wasn't the games, cuz it did that with a lot of games.
My retron 2 won't play SNES games very well, I got Super Mario Kart the same day, which I hadn't played before, and when I popped it in the REtron 2 it was all rainbowy. My first thought was maybe the game was defectve, cuz the system was brand new. Then I thought, maybe this is psychedelic Mario Kart. But then I put in Mega Man X which I know works fine on my SNES, and it had the same rainbow effect. So it doesn't play SNES games well.
I shoulda just returned it for a new one, but the store I got it is 40 mns away and it's been such a gamble just to find a machine that will play my NES games without problem, that I'm afraid to give up the system I finally found works. So it doesn't play SNES games, I have an SNES that's never had problems, screw it.
I've never had problems with any of my other consoles like I've had with my NES. It can't just be age cuz my Atari 2600 jr works great and that was released in '86. And my Colecovision works great too, which I heard on here is hard to come by. U gotta blow on the games a few times sometimes, but that monster with the huge AC adaptor is still kickin'
I'd recommend the Retron 2 just from my own experience, it'll be cheaper then buying and modding a toploader, theres no deathgrip on the games, either. But u may hafta wait till u actually find one that functions right, cuz like I said, my retron 1 sucks, and my retron 2 plays my SNES games in psychedelic mode.
Plus, the Retron 2 is the exact same experience as an original NES system. It has AV cords, and u can use ur original controllers. Which is good if u have a drawer full of NES accessories.
I've had issues with NES controllers, too, actually. Theres one that's my favorite, and I have some more, theres one u can't move left, and I think thats one I played with as a kid sometimes, I remember playing Super Mario Bros and not being able to move left. Ridiculous, obviously, but it did add an extra layer of challenge, oddly enough. If u missed a box cuz u went too far, or the screen scrolled too far, thats it, u were screwed.
OK, I want to vent a little about the NES top loader. Unless you have some nostalgic attachment to it, why would you own one. Is it seriously that much better than a toaster. I grew up with a toaster, I'll stick with the toaster, and never have problems with mine. I just don't understand why people abandon what they grew up on and go to the top loader; or worse by these Retron things. Never understood not playing on original hardware.
Rant done.