Should I do this to my Super Nintendo?

Submitted by ImProbablyInJail t3_11ar1qj in gaming

I keep seeing these people show how you just have to use pliers and wiggle the little tabs out of the console to play super famicom games. I saw a game on eBay going for less than it usually does, but it’s for a super famicom. Is taking out the pieces worth it? Does it even work?

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themeatbridge t1_j9tkwqt wrote

Edit: Oh fuck me for skimming the post. You said "Super" which means I'm an idiot. Yes, the Super NES had two little plastic tabs that prevent you from inserting Super Famicom carts. I recommend flush-cutters over pliers, or again you can just buy an adapter if you're concerned about breaking the plastic.

The metal tabs are the contacts in the cartridge slot. In the NES, there is a known defect where they flex away from the carts with use. If you remember blowing into your old carts, that's because Nintendo of America was aware of the problem but did not want to issue a recall.

The solution that worked most of the time was to remove the cart and reinsert the game, hoping it would make better contact the second or third try. But they didn't want to tell people that, so they social engineered a solution by suggesting it was dust on the terminals.

Pulling the tabs a bit to bend them out improves contact with the terminals, but be warned you run the risk of breaking the tab off and destroying your Nintendo. I don't recommend doing it unless you frequently get the purple flashing screen of sadness. There are also some hobbyists that will do this repair for you (in exchange for money, of course).

The Famicom had a different slot design that did not suffer the same problem. In fact, it has a completely different sized carts with fewer terminals. You cannot (easily) modify an American NES to fit Famicom games by messing with the metal tabs.

You can get an adapter, or even make one by acquiring and sacrificing specific NES carts that were basically Famicom internals with an adapter built in. I would recommend buying a proper adapter and skip the DIY stuff. Famicom games will play on the NES with no modification on the system required.

TL/DR: No, you shouldn't do that, because that's not how you play Famicom games on an NES. You might want to do it if you get purple screen.

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Extreme-Leadership78 t1_j9tr7p2 wrote

It's not to hard to do just watch a yt vid. I have a few Famicom games. Much better on a retron though with a language pack.

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murfi t1_j9v9h0d wrote

couldn't you just remove the screws from the cartridge and insert the pcb directly?

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