I hear there are mods you can do to a Top Loader that takes the lines out and adds composite jacks to it. I am considering getting it done, but just have to find somebody to do it that guarantees the lines are gone. Plus I have trust issues with people that aren't on this board.
I wander if you can take a famicom toploader and replace a 60 pin connector with 72 pins, will it work? Does anyone know if there also an adapter to play 72 pins nes games on 60 pins famicom? So you actually get a famicom toploader to play European and American nes games.... Or am I full of bull....
Eh, Nintendo is rarely helpful with anything they made over 15 years ago. I certainly wouldn't hang on their word over prototypes.
Concerning the AV Top Loader, I believe it's real. One possible explanation I've heard is that people complained to Nintendo about the RF quality/RF only connection, so Nintendo had these systems sent in and fitted them with Multi-AV ports.
Sounds quite logical and realistic IMO, it's probably happened lots in the industry.
EDIT: Didn't notice somebody already mentioned this explanation. In this case, just hear that I'm backing up that possibility.
Yeah, that is exactly how I got mine. The person who was quoted earlier as being 'the voice of Nintendo' may be some 16 year old customer service rep.
Still, how come after 15 years, this never came to light in the community? And for that matter, Nintendo releasing a system is kind of important stuff. All we have is theories.
I wander if you can take a famicom toploader and replace a 60 pin connector with 72 pins, will it work? Does anyone know if there also an adapter to play 72 pins nes games on 60 pins famicom? So you actually get a famicom toploader to play European and American nes games.... Or am I full of bull....
Replacing a 60 pin connector with a 72 pin connector would be possible. But it would be hard to hide on an AV fami board since there's a lot of rewiring and you'd have to get rid of the expansion port. And there's cart size issues. And the casings look different. I guess you could swap out the casings though!
And yes, there exists 72 to 60 pin adaptors.
Originally posted by: Slash Man
Still, how come after 15 years, this never came to light in the community?
Same reason that people are still "discovering" new 5-screw variations?
It has came to light. Several of us at the campout have seen the boards. There is a part # on it which says it IS an AV out board. Blow up the pics Dain posted.
The system was NOT released to the general public that we know of. But, they were made and distributed through the process of griping about the RF connection.
Still, how come after 15 years, this never came to light in the community? And for that matter, Nintendo releasing a system is kind of important stuff. All we have is theories.
No idea, I don't lurk here and I'm not a collector in the sense that you guys are. I have boxes of loose NES games (a few rare but nothing special) from back in the day.
Mine is going to bunnyboy if he wants it. I'm not here to argue over its legitimacy.
I will absolutely take it, set the price! If you don't want cash, I see you have a PowerPak, how about getting another one or SNES PowerPak? Browse my store
For those that doubt it, I absolutely think it a real Nintendo final production product, not a prototype. It may never have been sold to the general public but nothing I saw in the campout photos points to a proto. The layout of the chips also points to a solution to the bad video problem where the processor buses are right next to the video signal.
I still see no solid proof, as Nintendo actively denies this.
There's definitely solid proof -- I was the one holding it, and we took very hi-res images of it at the campout. It's real guys, now the question is where Nintendo has stashed the rest of them.
I still see no solid proof, as Nintendo actively denies this.
There's definitely solid proof -- I was the one holding it, and we took very hi-res images of it at the campout. It's real guys, now the question is where Nintendo has stashed the rest of them.
Yeah, it def seemed real. There were to many changes to just be a hack. All I ever heard of was mods and that there wasn't a real one out there, but they proved me wrong.
I still don't see the huge deal with them, the normally top loader isn't bad IMO. ~~NGD
Brian requested a story, so here you go. I do apologize that I have a hard time placing dates. I'm 26 now as of Dec 2009. I suspect the NES has been in storage close to 10 years which puts my memory at a disadvantage.
My father was once a jeweler. In my youth we would spend our weekends driving around to pawn shops, flea markets and so forth. He would buy gold and diamonds to resale. As a gesture to spend time with me we would also purchase NES carts. It was a natural progression from collecting coins and baseball cards which we had done prior to that. I can fondly recall that we rarely paid more than $2 a cart unless it was something desirable. Our collection today is probably a few shy of 300. I don't believe we have anything that would be of significant interest. I have the complete MegaMan series, Tengen Tetris, the Aladdin cart with Dizzy and a few other carts that are likely 'mildly rare' around here.
The original top loader I had came from an especially seedy pawn shop that has since closed. I can't recall what we paid for it. I'm sure it wasn't much. My father loved to haggle on everything we purchased. What I do remember is that we had them plug it in for testing. I was distraught with the vertical lines but we purchased it anyhow because I hadn't seen a top loading NES prior to that. I took it home and experienced the same vertical banding on my TV. I can't recall what inspired me but I called Nintendo to see about having it repaired. They had me ship the system in. I don't believe I was promised a replacement. What I received in return was a brand new system with the option for AV output. You can imagine my bewilderment to receive a new NES directly from Nintendo. I don't know that I knew it was something special, but it was definitely special to me at the time. I didn't really play on it since I had plenty of the older toaster models. Instead I had it on display on my dresser and I later stashed it away as something curious. I tried a few web searches some time ago but couldn't find anything conclusive other than the top loading system supported RF only. I recall writing a blurb about it on my GeoCities page. I can't recall the enough of the URL to dig it up on the Internet Archive otherwise I would try to find it. This is sad coming from someone who remembers their ICQ user ID.
Unfortunately I don't have any of the paperwork for the repair. I imagine it would have been discarded along with the return packaging from Nintendo. I am glad that it was posted earlier in the thread because I found myself excited looking at an invoice.
It was a post on NesDev that sparked my memory. I'd started lurking on there after being enamored with the NES PowerPak. It may have been the fact that the original poster used the word 'alleged' that got me going. I knew that I had the exact same system but I didn't have any proof other than my word. My parents live across state and admittedly we don't see them as often as I'd like. When we went over there this past weekend I made it a point to look for it. My mother and I spent around three hours looking through boxes. To add to the drama of the hunt it was in one of the last. I was extremely relieved to find it. It was even more of a relief since my Saturn, Genesis and other consoles were completely missing in action. I did manage to find a couple of sealed SNES titles along with a very minty original Super Nintendo.
If there's anything else you want to know feel free to ask. Hopefully this made for a decent read.
Thanks for the story Kyle, that does flesh out the history well
Thanks. Oh, and it's as good as sold to Brian/bunnyboy. Like I told him I would have never sold this to a private collector. I'm a big fan of the PowerPak and I wanted him to have it. Thanks to everyone who PM'd me. I won't disclose the price unless he wants to.
Very nice story. Thanks for sharing that read Kyle, and it's good you sold it to Brian...looks like you found the perfect guy to give it to. Glad you're happy with it!
The AV mod that is going around has a circuit that is made using 2 parts from the toploader's board to recreate a nice Composite out. Now Brian should see about figuring out a way to mas produce these circuit chips and sell a mod kit. If it could be done, there is only 4 wires that need soldering to the board and of course the case mod for the jacks.
This might be the easiest way to achieve AV out. I have tried to do this mod, and cant seem to get it right. If i could get a prefab board, i know i could solder the 4 wires needed no problem.
Comments
I hear there are mods you can do to a Top Loader that takes the lines out and adds composite jacks to it. I am considering getting it done, but just have to find somebody to do it that guarantees the lines are gone. Plus I have trust issues with people that aren't on this board.
Check it out.
I still see no solid proof, as Nintendo actively denies this.
That letter you posted didn
Eh, Nintendo is rarely helpful with anything they made over 15 years ago. I certainly wouldn't hang on their word over prototypes.
Concerning the AV Top Loader, I believe it's real. One possible explanation I've heard is that people complained to Nintendo about the RF quality/RF only connection, so Nintendo had these systems sent in and fitted them with Multi-AV ports.
Sounds quite logical and realistic IMO, it's probably happened lots in the industry.
Yeah, that is exactly how I got mine. The person who was quoted earlier as being 'the voice of Nintendo' may be some 16 year old customer service rep.
I wander if you can take a famicom toploader and replace a 60 pin connector with 72 pins, will it work? Does anyone know if there also an adapter to play 72 pins nes games on 60 pins famicom? So you actually get a famicom toploader to play European and American nes games.... Or am I full of bull....
Replacing a 60 pin connector with a 72 pin connector would be possible. But it would be hard to hide on an AV fami board since there's a lot of rewiring and you'd have to get rid of the expansion port. And there's cart size issues. And the casings look different. I guess you could swap out the casings though!
And yes, there exists 72 to 60 pin adaptors.
Still, how come after 15 years, this never came to light in the community?
Same reason that people are still "discovering" new 5-screw variations?
The system was NOT released to the general public that we know of. But, they were made and distributed through the process of griping about the RF connection.
Still,
how come after 15 years, this never came to light in the community? And
for that matter, Nintendo releasing a system is kind of important
stuff. All we have is theories.
No idea, I don't lurk here and I'm not a collector in the sense that you guys are. I have boxes of loose NES games (a few rare but nothing special) from back in the day.
Mine is going to bunnyboy if he wants it. I'm not here to argue over its legitimacy.
For those that doubt it, I absolutely think it a real Nintendo final production product, not a prototype. It may never have been sold to the general public but nothing I saw in the campout photos points to a proto. The layout of the chips also points to a solution to the bad video problem where the processor buses are right next to the video signal.
I still see no solid proof, as Nintendo actively denies this.
There's definitely solid proof -- I was the one holding it, and we took very hi-res images of it at the campout. It's real guys, now the question is where Nintendo has stashed the rest of them.
I still see no solid proof, as Nintendo actively denies this.
There's definitely solid proof -- I was the one holding it, and we took very hi-res images of it at the campout. It's real guys, now the question is where Nintendo has stashed the rest of them.
Yeah, it def seemed real. There were to many changes to just be a hack. All I ever heard of was mods and that there wasn't a real one out there, but they proved me wrong.
I still don't see the huge deal with them, the normally top loader isn't bad IMO.
~~NGD
I don't read PMs!
Make an exception.
^ Well if he can work out a nice way to do AV with a toploader by studying the board then we all win
just staple an av cable to the system it'll probably work
My father was once a jeweler. In my youth we would spend our weekends driving around to pawn shops, flea markets and so forth. He would buy gold and diamonds to resale. As a gesture to spend time with me we would also purchase NES carts. It was a natural progression from collecting coins and baseball cards which we had done prior to that. I can fondly recall that we rarely paid more than $2 a cart unless it was something desirable. Our collection today is probably a few shy of 300. I don't believe we have anything that would be of significant interest. I have the complete MegaMan series, Tengen Tetris, the Aladdin cart with Dizzy and a few other carts that are likely 'mildly rare' around here.
The original top loader I had came from an especially seedy pawn shop that has since closed. I can't recall what we paid for it. I'm sure it wasn't much. My father loved to haggle on everything we purchased. What I do remember is that we had them plug it in for testing. I was distraught with the vertical lines but we purchased it anyhow because I hadn't seen a top loading NES prior to that. I took it home and experienced the same vertical banding on my TV. I can't recall what inspired me but I called Nintendo to see about having it repaired. They had me ship the system in. I don't believe I was promised a replacement. What I received in return was a brand new system with the option for AV output. You can imagine my bewilderment to receive a new NES directly from Nintendo. I don't know that I knew it was something special, but it was definitely special to me at the time. I didn't really play on it since I had plenty of the older toaster models. Instead I had it on display on my dresser and I later stashed it away as something curious. I tried a few web searches some time ago but couldn't find anything conclusive other than the top loading system supported RF only. I recall writing a blurb about it on my GeoCities page. I can't recall the enough of the URL to dig it up on the Internet Archive otherwise I would try to find it. This is sad coming from someone who remembers their ICQ user ID.
Unfortunately I don't have any of the paperwork for the repair. I imagine it would have been discarded along with the return packaging from Nintendo. I am glad that it was posted earlier in the thread because I found myself excited looking at an invoice.
It was a post on NesDev that sparked my memory. I'd started lurking on there after being enamored with the NES PowerPak. It may have been the fact that the original poster used the word 'alleged' that got me going. I knew that I had the exact same system but I didn't have any proof other than my word. My parents live across state and admittedly we don't see them as often as I'd like. When we went over there this past weekend I made it a point to look for it. My mother and I spent around three hours looking through boxes. To add to the drama of the hunt it was in one of the last. I was extremely relieved to find it. It was even more of a relief since my Saturn, Genesis and other consoles were completely missing in action. I did manage to find a couple of sealed SNES titles along with a very minty original Super Nintendo.
If there's anything else you want to know feel free to ask. Hopefully this made for a decent read.
Thanks for the story Kyle, that does flesh out the history well
Thanks. Oh, and it's as good as sold to Brian/bunnyboy. Like I told him I would have never sold this to a private collector. I'm a big fan of the PowerPak and I wanted him to have it. Thanks to everyone who PM'd me. I won't disclose the price unless he wants to.
This might be the easiest way to achieve AV out. I have tried to do this mod, and cant seem to get it right. If i could get a prefab board, i know i could solder the 4 wires needed no problem.