Look for this when buying Famicom Disk System games 

I wonder how easy it is to make your own Famicom Disks with off the shelf parts... We should be able to copy these games and still be able to use them without wearing out the original disks!

I actually got a blue fax disk with Super Mario Bros 2 with the official label on one side and Galaxian on side B with an official label. My original Yuke Kojo Doki Doki Panic still works and has my save game progress form what, maybe 12 years ago or more fully working. I also have a few disks coming in the mail in a few days that have potential to be treasures or completely worthless. I think part of the Famicom Disk System is the fun that you never know what you'll get.

Thank you for this video! I have just purchased my very first FDS game (Nakayama Miho no Tokimeki High School / 中山美穂のトキメキハイスクール) and have yet to receive it. Buying this game has made me interested in starting to collect for this probably very underrated add-on for the Famicom and this video has pointed me to some of the negative (or positive) aspects of buying these disks used after so many years. That does make it a bit more of a gamble, which could be nice, though... One thing I would like to ask, is where did you get the console you played the games on? It's a Twin Famicom, you say? Where can they be purchased? Do keep in mind that I do live in the Netherlands... Thank you for the video and hopefully for a reply!

I love the fact that even buying a game is a risky adventure!

I have the NES version of that Family Computer Othello game.

You would assume Nintendo did write-protect the sides with games on it but given there were also Disk Kiosks around, they might have not done so for the sake of comfort, so everyone could just pick up whatever game they like. On the downside, this also opens quite the chance for scammers on places like eBay.

FDS games are organized as sequential files and have no "bad sectors", it can be a alignment problem. Evidently, cartridges are sturdier, but disks and systems are not as frail as some people may make you think. FDS games are a joy to collect and play, and they can be rewritten with a bit of effort if needed.

I picked up 5 FDS games (SMB2, Castlevania, Metroid, Zelda 1, Zelda 2) recently after getting the unit and pretty much have had nothing but trouble. SMB2 works fine for how far I can get into it, Castlevania freezes when loading the stage post the Mummy boss, Zelda 1 wont load anything on side B (may very well be blank or another game entirely), Zelda 2 works fine but wont save any progress despite claiming it *has* saved (not sure if this is how it is supposed to be because my Everdrive-N8 does the same thing with the ROM), and Metroid gave me errors while saving to the first slot, but I accidentally wiped the saves and now it works fine. I learned later that the games are delicate and are, well, old and don't last over 30 years. I did want to play Zelda through on it's original incarnation, but alas this way is just way too finicky. It sucks.

Famicom dojo rules

The Super Mario Bros. was already written on the label (by machine) but he hand wrote "Othello".

I have no idea, I imaginge it's somewhere between replacing a DVD Drive belt and a Tape Deck belt. Google "belt-replacement-adjustment".

My Super Mario Bros Disk came with Super Mario Bros 2 on side B. This would have been cool, if I didn't already have a SMB2 disk.

As someone who is close to completing a US NES set and is looking more and more into Famicom exclusives, I am, and have always been, extremely hesitant to get into Disk System stuff. I will buy and play cartridges all day, every day, but the finicky nature of floppies and the potential cash needed to shell out for some of its titles, is a huge turn off for me to consider focusing on it. Its a shame not that many of the games for it got later cartridge re-releases.

I buy from mass auctions and from store that sell games on the cheap because they have no hardware to test them themselves. It's a good way to find treasures, but there will be some duds too.

I usually watch for disk games that have been tested with pics and show the correct game

Yes, but the legality is in question. You can mod a system to copy games. There is also a bootleg piece of software called "Disk Hacker" that could let you make copies on unmodified hardware.

I have a FDS version of Zelda 1. Side A loads up fine, but side B gives ERR 27 (Error 27). My Twin will load all my other disk games perfectly, but for some reason not Zelda's B side. I have tried to load it on the normal BIOS screen and gets the regular A, B, side error 07. So I don't know if its broken or been magnetised.

I should get back into my fds

I love the Famicom and many of games released for the FDS, but I absolutely HATE the FDS hardware itself. Over the years Every single FDS and TWIN Famicom I've bought have failed, and eventually every FDS disk I've owned have also developed bad sectors. If the hardware wasn't so unreliable, I'd love to collect like Vinnk here, but I've been burned too many times while consistently finding luck with the cartridge based games.

you know you can use an original famicom disk system to rewrite disk although some require modification some more than others to circumvent the write protections nintendo put in after time only the earlier famicom disk systems have no copy/write protection.

Would be nice if someone got the rights to manufacture QDs and got a factory to do it so we could use FDSSticks to write our own games. :P

Is there any modern way to write FDS games onto a disc?

where do u go to get ur famicom disk sytem fixed? my belt for the drive is broken

Hop over to Famicom World and have someone rewrite those disks for you. Restore that Zelda!

Yo Sean n vinnk I bought used discs with 3 labels on some of them. Wanted Castlevania got lunar pool

FDSStick will let you rewrite disk with whatever you want.

Is the person who wrote "Super Mario Bros" and "Othello" some kind of scribe? His penmanship is amazing.

@Famicom Dojo: I will never go into buying a disk system and disk system game, because first too expensive, because you have to buy the console, plus the Disk system that cost the price of another console, it might cause even more to buy a referbish Family computer console that have coposite, or it might cause even more if it his referbish to have HDMI out put. If the Disk system does not come with his own power cord, it will be hard to found one. And the store near the place I live in does not sell C battery, neither D battery, only tripple A double A and 9 volt Special batteries for mini portable camera. And the circle battery for watchess car remote. If does issue does not come up, then buying a game that his not the actual game you bought his called a scammed, and to go against the scam, I would have to buy an old computer that can run window 95, to run a program on it so I can rewrite the game disk to the game it his supposed to be, or a diffrent game that I prefer, it would also need to buy a special cable to connect from computer to disk system so it could rewrite your prefered game into the disk, and the one that don't work, they will work after you write a new game on it. Disk system easily breaks, except for properly referbish one, disk game easily break. So It would cost me to mush money. Some one can send me one for free, I don't accept free gift from my fan because I would not know where it come from, the reason why they could send it to me for free, could be because they stole it, and they want me to be considered the one that stole it. This his why I never show my mail address.

I wonder what Nintendo would say if you mailed them a bunch of FDS Diskettes and asked for some games.

Don't think,ive ever ended up getting a different FDS title that is sold.Often i try to buy complete and not loose.I have ran into a defective game twice years ago,but the seller was good enough for a refund.

is it hard?

What system is that called

Would the Disk Writer secretly write a free game on the backside if the game only used one side?

exciting soccer. Hmm, I wonder it it's at least good?

Search for a replacement belt and do it yourself? It's not like it involves soldering.

is there any way to restore those games? like find an old computer with a floppy drive?

with fds be ready for refund

FDS bootlegs busted!