Nintendo Famicom: AV Mod and Disk Drive 

Great video! I'm a big fan of Dr A's mod, it's so much easier than the previous method that I was doing a few years back when I was modding and selling these. The Famicom is such a fun system to collect for - the cartridge and box art looks awesome on the shelf and they're quite cheap to pick up from the Japanese auction sites, particularly in job lots. I do have a working disk system but it's basically an ornament at this point as the Everdrive can run all the games and is much faster and more reliable!

You did a cracking job with that. It's always ace to see another Famicom getting some love! 👏👏👏

I appreciate the tidbits about the history of the NES in Australia! As a millenial Australian (born 89) I experienced the NES in my childhood as the older console that came before the SNES/N64 I grew up with. I did get to play it when I was young in the same way some kids today probably end up playing an Xbox 360/early PS4/XBONE, but I missed its heyday.

The Famicom is my favourite console of all times. I even made a handheld with the original board out of it, so I can play it on the go.

Interesting hearing the FDS sound differences in the copy of Castlevania 2 you showed off. Also of another note, the number of blinking stars on the SMB2j start screen is the number of times that copy has been beaten (up to a max num of stars that eludes me at the moment). Overall super happy to see more FDS love here! To represent I've a couple of Twin Famicom systems and some wiring I did so I can read and write those cute little disks.

Here in England the consoles were a distant second in gaming until the Mega Drive and SNES hit. You probably didn't need to be told that, but who knows. The great thing about C64 and Spectrum gaming was that budget tape titles(both of the shovelware and greatest hits variety) would go for £1.99, later £2.99, a pop, so even as kids we could grab a new game every week or two.

It was Simon's Quest (castlevania 2)

I still have my childhood Nintendo. Now in adult life I've been interested in getting Famicom version, especially with a disk drive. I love the red and gold color scheme. P.S. nicely done on your Famicom AV mod and disk drive system restoration. Game on!

Famicom and PS1 are two most important consoles in the video game history.

Someone had been inside the system before. The RF board should have four screws holding it onto the top shell and gamebit screws were not used until the Super Famicom, and this is an older Famicom.

Impressive you have that stuff.

Really interesting. Apart from "that one weird kid" that had a father who brought a famicom back from a business trip to Japan and it didn't work over here, everyone I knew had a MasterSystem or II and noone wanted to admit they still secretly loved their 2600. Really enjoyed the video. Thanks!

I have a Famicom AV personally. Works great!

Another great video! I played a lot of Nintendo back when. I never really encountered Sega myself until Genesis came along. Love seeing the guts of the Famicon, so deceptively simple...

I'd say most people who were into home console gaming during the nineties in Australia had their first exposure to both systems via places like BlockBuster video. Hiring games out for a night was a better alternative to paying full price for some game which may not be as fun as first thought.

26:58: オマチクダサイ (Omachi kudasai) means "One moment, please", or slightly more literally: "Please be patient".

I must admit when you first showed me the Famicom I also thought of a word that starts with C... Cute of course, not that other word you keep saying 😉

Never seen any of your videos before, but I enjoyed this. great video.

Great job. Andrew's Power Vamp mod is great, my Famicom would just be an ornament on a shelf without it!

What's funny in my neighborhood growing up the master system was very popular in my household we had both and most friends that I had had both as well we loved both systems there are great games for both!!! I'm from Utah BTW !!!

Our NES is a piece of art. I don't know about the Famicon...Eyesore? Gumdrop? Jolly good vid.

7:43: I wonder if anyone has ever come up with a mod to turn the hardwired controllers into detachable controllers, and if there's perhaps even a modding kit available somewhere. Since the controller cables are not actually soldered to the PCB and are removable internally, it might even be a reversible mod, and it would give you slightly more cable length. I don't have an actual original Famicon, but I imagine it shouldn't be too hard to design and and 3D-print sockets that could be wired up with an additional short internal cable and would expose the same kind of pins that are on the PCB in place of the cable grommets, just outside the case.

This video really brought out all the nostalgia feels

I would never have guessed the Famicom Disk System was a belta loada.

Love the Mitsumi Quick Disks! So cute. (Though not that capacious.)

I have the Famicom Toploader and an Everdrive N8 Pro. I also have a Rad2X Cable for mine. I love The Legend of Link from Infidelity and Pac Man Championship Edition.

Not overly surprised the Famicom had a disk drive, as the NES version of Wrecking Crew had a level editor - and no way to save the custom levels!

I had no idea my local Miranda Westfield was the first EB! It's still there. I never had a NIntendo or Sega, went straight from my 2600 to my ST. Got paid out a lot at school for being a "computer nerd" when everyone else had consoles.

Very nice, Good job on the restore. The picture looks way better. Never knew there was a Floppy drive for it. I mainly remember they had a cool robot that you could get as an accessory. There was also a glove that acted as a controller. I was one of the few people that had a master system instead of the NES. It only happened because everywhere was sold out of the NES. So I ended up getting the SMS instead. I was disappointed at first until I realized the graphics were better, and the games were pretty sweet.

Cool stuff! I actually never knew there was a disk drive thing for the Famicom! I never played on one though.It wasn't really a big system in my younger years.

Absolutely amazing! ... as usual, sir! :D

Is that an Armatron on your tshirt? Never had a Nintendo but I did have an Armatton as a child!

That Back Office board is ace! I've done a rough and ready print on Thingiverse to cover up the gaps in the case a bit. Not a work of beauty but better than nothing. Oh hey, I see he's now including one. Nice.

33:51: Am I the only one to think that Wonder Boy's titular character looks like a young Ron Jeremy?

You are 100% correct in your assessment, the Famicom is indeed cute.

A man after my own heart, chain-drinking McDonalds.

When I sold NES systems at Kmart in Canada, parents always wanted "tapes" for it. They never called them cartridges so Yeah, that VCR like mechanism was successful.

I've got to say, the Famicom is a very lean machine. Very optimized in terms of materials and space. Esthetically, I prefer the NES design though.

That was a great video Mr. Lurch. Also what is this "sun" thing of which you speak?

if i remember some Nintendo games had the Famicom convertor in some but i could be so wrong

Just used my armatron....nice shirt btw

Those disk drives would drive me crazy, heh, hehe... Yeah, bad pun ^^; It seems the noise creating the jailbars comes from the trace right under where the video signal from pin 21 goes to the base of transitor Q1 2sa937. I first tried filter caps for the GPUs VCC, but that didn't do anything. Only when i desoldered Q1, bent pin E and C back, B forward, soldered it back in, with the base now poking up towards the sky and connecting the top of pin 21 to the base of the transistor (The top of the leg first needed cleating, cause solder didn't stick to it) i got a 99% jailbar free picture. But yep, those chips are a bit fragile, but i think it was worth it.

I'd say the most iconic was the Atari 2600. ;-)

great Video, love your laid back style, bit like a pretend Australian i know LOL

What kind of crt are you using there? I'm thinking about buying a av-modded famicom but I'm concerned about the color issue. I live in Sweden and I have a Sony Trinitron crt with rgb scart input. But of course, I won't be able to connect a famicom via the scart. The question is wheter the games will display in black&white or in color. Seems like there is color for you. The seller states that it will be in B&W on some older tv's...

Mods famicom... then plays it on an LCD instead of CRT when said CRTs are in the background. Its like making great wine and then drinking it from a water bottle cap.

If you are not playing with the jail bars on the screen you are not getting the real experience. Just saying.

you should try the computer stuff for that Famicom

Kid Icarus was worth the video, u never played yet u start level 2 lol

The loading screen for Castlevania or Akumajou said オマチクダサイ, Please Wait. ドラキュラII 呪いの封印 Dracula 2, Curse of the Seal. ビーメンヲセットクダサイ。 Please set Side B (Means to turn the Disk over) ゲームスタート プレイヤー３ Game Start Player 3 The Disk System has a habit of loading, this was changed in the West. Mario Bros 2 was never released in America due to being perceived as too difficult and Doki Doki Panic was reskinned as Super Mario Bros 2. In Japan, Kid Icarus is known as 新光の神話パルテナの鏡, New Light Myth: Palutena's Mirror.

The Original Famicom's design is cute but very toy-like, however I tend to perfer the North American Nintendo design since this is the one I grew up with.

mmkay stan

NICE CONTENT!