Beginner's Guide to Buying Famicom Games
I originally wrote this article as an eBay Guide. Click here to see the guide on eBay.
I Want To Play Famicom Games!
You've thought about it for a while now. You've seen the cool Famicom games that came out in Japan but never saw the light of day elsewhere. You know you want to play them, but you're not 100% sure about buying them. Nothing is worse than getting a game only to realize you can't actually play it! Hopefully this guide will clear up a bit of the confusion you may have. I'm far from an expert, but I do know what it takes to buy Famicom games from eBay and enjoy them, so this guide will be enough to get you started.
Part 1 - What Can I Play Them On?
The obvious answer to this question is "A Famicom", but as it turns out you actually have a few options here. Let's go over them (or skip ahead to #2 if you've sorted this part out on your own):
Option 1: Buy a Famicom
This is the most basic answer I can give, but there are some catches to this process. First of all, Famicoms can be kind of expensive. Second, in most cases they will have to be shipped to you from Japan, meaning higher shipping prices than a local dealer. Also, you have to be careful about what type of Famicom you buy. Here are some things to ask yourself before placing a bid on one.
Has the Famicom been tested? Due to the fact that your potential Famicom has seen many years of either play or storage since it was created, there's a chance something has caused it to stop working in that amount of time. Do not buy a Famicom that hasn't been tested before being sold, or else you may end up disappointed.
Does it come with any games? Have they been tested? Depending on the games, you may be getting a better deal than you think. Compare the price of a stand-alone Famicom plus the price of those games to them packaged together. If they're games you're interested in, you may want to go that route, even if you had planned on waiting to buy that game later. However, as with the system itself, you *may* want to make sure they've been tested (we'll talk about non-working games later).
Will I have to use an RF adapter, or does it have AV outputs? This is a big one. As far as I know, the original Famicom was never made with AV outputs (these are the yellow and white or red cables), only with an RF adapter (the kind that hooks in where your cable goes). Regardless, most regular Famicoms will come with the RF adapter. Though you can usually get the Famicom to work with your TV this way, it can be a very finicky process. I have read many reports on how the Famicom functions with US TVs: Some TVs will not pick up on the Famicom's signal at all, some will only work with an American RF adapter, some channels work and some don't, older TVs work better than newer TVs, etc. Don't get me wrong, depending on your TV you very well might have it working the first try, but it is definitely something to keep in mind. In my personal experience, my Famicom (with an LCD HDTV) didn't appear on channels 2, 3, 4 or any of the lower channels. It did however show up on channel 95. If you go this route, make sure to test every channel. Don't assume it doesn't work just because it's not on the channel it should be.
If you don't feel up to the task, you have two other options. The first is to buy an AV Famicom. This is identical to the toploader NES that was released in the United States. This option will prevent you a lot of problems, but adds two more. The first is that the AV Famicom tends to be more expensive. The second is that if aesthetics are a big factor for you, you do not get the same feel from the AV Famicom as you do from the original. You will find that it is much closer to the NES's "grey block" look than the Famicom's white/gold/red scheme. However, if you can afford it, it may cause less problems for you in the end.
The second option is to turn a regular Famicom into an AV Famicom. This is for those of you who are good at fiddling with electronics, and the instructions can be found fairly quickly by searching for "AV Famicom modification". The obvious con here is that not everyone is comfortable with or able to do this type of modification. However, there is still hope, as you can sometimes find such a Famicom already modded available for sale on eBay. It is often a bit more expensive than a regular Famicom, but in my case (as this is the path I took) it was still much cheaper than an official AV Famicom as well as being well worth the extra money.
Option 2: Use a pin converter with an NES
This is a good option for those of you who already have an American NES, but just want to play Japanese games. Pin converters plug into your NES like a cartridge, but allow for a Famicom cartridge to be plugged into the top. This is a very painless way to play Famicom games, as both NES systems and pin converters are fairly affordable. Let's go over a few of the concerns with pin converters.
Will I need to buy an NES? It's important to take into account the fact that you may have to purchase an NES, as that will affect your final price. Even if you own an NES, make sure it works before investing in a pin converter. If it's been sitting in the basement for a while, it may have gotten damaged. If you are buying an NES, follow this same rule (and the same rule from option 1): Make sure it works before buying anything! If you decide not to go the eBay route for this, flea markets and yard sales are great places to get a cheap NES, but ask if it's been tested (or better yet ask for a demonstration) before committing.
What kind of pin converter do I need? You will need a 60 to 72 pin converter. On the surface it's easy to confuse this with a 72 to 60 pin converter, but think about it this way: you need to convert your 60 pin Famicom game (which is smaller than an NES cartridge) TO the larger 72 pin NES system, and not the other way around. Though, if you decide to buy a Famicom, you may want to look into a 72 to 60 pin converter, as this could allow you to play your US NES games. Keep in mind that these converters are harder to find.
What if I don't want to pay that much for a pin converter? There is one more option, but this one requires a sort of scavenger hunt. Some copies of old NES games, most notably Gyromite, needed to be rushed to stores in time for Christmas. However, Nintendo couldn't quite meet the production demands, so they used the Famicom boards they already had and included pin converters. It's a bit tricky to identify these carts, but if you're really interested search online for a list of games that included these, as well as tips for identifying them (most notably is that the bottom of the cartridge will be significantly heavier than the top). It's a much less reliable method, but if you have the energy to go looking through second-hand game shops for them you may get a good bargain out of it.
This is a good option if you've already got an NES collection built up and simply want to add to it, and doesn't have a lot in the way of cons. However, one thing you might want to take note of is that the NES does not feature the microphone, so a very small percentage of games will not be playable in this manner.
Option 3: Buy a Famiclone
Famiclones are, as you may have guessed, Famicom clones. You can buy Famiclones that can play either US or Japanese cartridges, though I've not seen any that can do both (not that this means there aren't any). This may be a cost effective alternative to options 1 or 2, however keep in mind that many of these are very poorly made, and may not function as well. This option's mertis are purely up to you.
Part 2 - What About The Games?
Well, once you've gotten your Famicom situation sorted out, it's time to get to the good part: buying games! This is actually a fairly painless process for the most part, but for those just getting started, there are some things you may want to know.
Where do I find Famicom games? eBay, it seems, is the best place for someone outside of Japan to find Famicom games, which typically come from sellers IN Japan. However, if you choose to go a different route, you may find import game stores both online and otherwise that carry Famicom games. When searching on eBay, make sure that you're looking at international and store listings, or else you're likely to not find as much. Also, unless it is part of your game title you may want to add "-super" to your search in order to weed out Super Famicom games. I found this to be a great help to narrow down the listings.
Does this mean I may HAVE to order them from Japan? Depending on where you live there may be local used game shops that carry imports. There are also US-based sellers on eBay or otherwise online that sell Famicom games. However, in my experience I have only been able to find the games I want from Japanese sellers. Don't worry though, because due to the small size and weight of Famicom games, shipping is incredibly low, and you can often pick a faster shipping method than the default if you want them sooner. Don't let the fear of paying import prices scare you, you can definitely buy Famicom games from Japan on a budget. A great tip here is also to look at the seller's other items, as you may find another game you want and can combine shipping for a very small additional price.
How do I know what games to get? This is kind of tough. Sure, you have a few titles in mind, but what else? It's always great to have a decent library of games for any system. But how do you find more games? One way is to simply look online for top 10 lists or other sorts of lists of the best Famicom games. However, these may be highly subjective. So, use these as a springboard to look into them further, to see if they sound like something you'd like. A great idea is to watch Youtube videos of the game in question in order to see what the gameplay looks like. If it looks good to you, get it. One of the nice things about the Famicom is that aside from the rarest and most famous games that you probably already looked into, most games are only a few dollars each. Don't be afraid to try a game you aren't 100% sure about!
What if I can't find the game I want on eBay? I had this problem a few times too. One of the biggest differences in whether or not I found a game was this: search for every variation of the game title. One of the side effects of buying Japanese games is dealing with Japanese names. Japanese titles can often be spelled differently outside of their native alphabet. Here's an example: say I wanted to buy Takeshi's Challenge for the Famicom. Being the proud, foolish American that I am, I immediately type in the English name just like that: Takeshi's Challenge. Nothing comes up. Oh, well I suppose I should have tried the Japanese same. So, I look it up online and see Takeshi no Chousenjou. I put that in, but perhaps still nothing comes up. There were plenty of copies of this game made, so how is it that I'm not finding it? As it turns out, I find it by trying Takeshi no Chosenjo. Because of the alternate spellings, I was almost led to believe my game wasn't available. Try every possible spelling of the game you know, or try searching just for a single word with a concrete spelling (in this case Takeshi) and limit the search to video games. Chances are you can find the game you want. If you still can't find it, start looking through the eBay stores of people who sell other Famicom games--sometimes titles are mispelled in the listing.
I got the game I wanted, but it doesn't work (even though the auction listed it as tested)! It's very likely that the seller wasn't lying. NES and Famicom cartridges are both notorious for not working, or not working all the time. This is how the famous technique of blowing into cartridges came about. However this doesn't always work (not even if you tap it against your head a few times for good luck!). This is because it's not always getting all the dirt off of the pins. The best solution to this is Windex. Get a little bit of Windex on a Q-tip (soft cloths meant for cleaning screens on electronics have also worked for me for this) and wipe the contacts clean. Then, BEFORE TRYING THE GAME, make sure to dry them off. This has worked on even the least reliable (or completely unusable) cartridges I've owned, and could save you from wrongly accusing a seller of lying.
How do I know if a game requires me to know Japanese? This one was a big issue for me at first, as I was buying a few titles that I had never played before but had still heard of. It would be incredibly disappointing to buy a game just to be unable to play it due to a language barrier. Luckily, many Famicom games hardly have any text at all. Still, with games like RPGs language can be very important. So how do you know ahead of time if you can do it? Again, I suggest watching Youtube videos of the gameplay. You can find at least one video of almost any Famicom game out there, and watching a bit of the gameplay is the best possible way to see if you would be able to handle it on your own.
What about this weird floppy-disk looking game? How is my Famicom supposed to play one of those? These games were made for the Famicom Disk System, which is an add-on to the Famicom. You will not be able to play these games without the Disk System, which can often be just as much if not more than the Famicom itself. However, if you're willing to buy one, you will find that you'll have many more games available to you. KEEP IN MIND, many games that were released for the NES as cartridges were only on the Famicom with the Disk System, most notably The Legend of Zelda, so find the Japanese copies of the games you want before getting your Famicom, to avoid future heartache when you realize it was only on the Disk System.
Conclusion
There are plenty of great Famicom-only games out there, and there are many ways to play them. Go out there and go for it! If you have any other quesitons, I would be happy to try to answer them (or point you towards someone that could) and add them to the guide. If you know more about Famicoms than me, feel free to correct anything on this guide and send me a message about it. As I said, I'm no expert, and many of this is based on personal experience. Hopefully it's been helpful!