How do you collect?

How you like to collect your games?
-cart only
-boxed
-complete

If you ask me i'd have to say complete, if that's not possible i'll buy the cart first and then get it complete later.

How you like to collect your games?
-cart only
-boxed
-complete

If you ask me i'd have to say complete, if that's not possible i'll buy the cart first and then get it complete later.

Complete is obviously the best, but that's getting harder and harder to do... It is sometimes possible to get just the manual or just the box without the game, and I usually jump at the chance-- often the seller doesn't realize that the value is NOT that much less without the game, as the game is far more popular than the box or manuals...

--
Derek

Ja true, well if i know i could need it i buy it too,most of the time i search on complete but if not possible i go seacrh for carts or box/manual.

In the past, I've had best luck getting great deals on complete games at garage/yard sales and occassionally auctions and flea markets. That's starting to become more rare. Ebay is typically a bit over-priced for most things, IMO...

--
Derek

Ebay is a pain man, i have to buy most things on the net and ebay is one of them, i started collecting last year and bought 125 things by now and sold some stuff.

Be glad you still have pawnshops,yardsales,thriftshops,shit loads of 2nd hand stores and not to forget fleas,damn you guys are lucky.
But we have pal only's and that's a good thing, i traded some cool stuff for pal only's,so glad for that!

Yeah-- quite a pain. I just wasted all afternoon posting a bunch of stuff on Ebay. No NES stuff, but it just takes forever-- writing information about the stuff, etc... It should pay off in a week when I start getting paid for the stuff, though...

--
Derek

i buy whatever, though i usually go with whatever is cheapest(although i want a few complete)

carts all the way, I play them, no point in just hoarding games for the sake of having them, they were created to enjoy through interactivity, not staring at a giant stack of them.

that's not to say I wouldn't take completes, but I'd be opening them up and playing.

Well, as a collector, most of mine are in a stack. I do like to play them when I get a chance, but the boxes and manuals aren't usually played with, so I like to collect those, even if it's without the cart-- it's much easier to find just the cart later...

--
Derek

i dont mind how they come. i just want them in good condition, perfering the manual with it. then i get a game that i like and collect the whole series of that game. (its Megaman for me right now).
i've got the aniversary collection, but i want the actual cartriges. so far, i have Megaman 1,2, and 6. )

I still have to get some Megaman's too, but those you can always buy.
Getting the series complete would be cool .

*sigh*

I, too, only have a couple of Megaman games. Part two and six, to be exact. Is it just me, or does everybody in the world have part six?!? It must be very plentiful. I'll have to check some of those rarity sites that are linked to here. Anyway, I really want part one and three.

I think 6 was only released in the US, anyway those aren't hard to come by, but they costs you some money.
I try to buy the rarer ones first and then the rest.

I think 6 was only released in the US, anyway those aren't hard to come by, but they costs you some money.
I try to buy the rarer ones first and then the rest.

Most of the time, I don't find too many rare games. Without a credit card, it's hard to do on-line shopping. Luckily, there's a couple of retro gaming stores near my place, 'bout half hour drive. They usually don't have to much in rarities, though.

Well at least there are some gameshops dude, here i have to go on the net or to the flea, and the flea's don't have anything normal.
If your looking for PAL only releases i can Hook you up once in a while, if you could arrange some NTSC releases only we could trade in the future.

I'm kind of new at this, what exactly is PAL and NTSC?

PAL= European version NES Games,some are only released in Europe and never in the states.
MTSC=USA version NES Games,same here,some are only released in the USA and not in Europe.

Do they both run on the same system, or were there different guts inside the two?

If you cut out the lock out chip in the console you can play most of the games, some don't work most do.

WOW! Learn something new everyday. Exactly where is this 'lock-out' chip?

The lockout chip was Nintendo's way of making sure people got licences to produce games. Some companies such an Tengen found ways to get around it. the Japanese Famicom doesn't have a lockout chip, which is why their carts are only 60 pin. also, if you get the famicom to NES adaptors, they usually contain the lockout chip which is why they allow games to work.

as for the location of the chip, I believe it's labeled as 'CIC' on the NES motherboard, I'll crack mine open tonight (again ) and see if I can give better directions.

Now, doing stuff like that makes me nervous. Exactly how would you "cut it out?"

From the little bit of research I've done, you cut pin #4, and solder wires from it to two different places, but don't go trying it based on that

Heck, I haven't soldered anything for over 10 years, I wouldn't even THINK about attempting it! Cool to know, though. Thanks!

No you don't have solder,check this link and then you will know what to do!

ah, but it makes some games unplayable... not worth it in my opinion...

It plays all ntsc games, but not all pal games or not all japanese games,but most of them.

perhaps if I were to ever find a large cache of PAL/FC games I'd consider it on a spare NES, but not worth the trouble if you don't have the carts...

I'm kind of new at this, what exactly is PAL and NTSC?

NTSC and PAL are video standards. Europe uses PAL, and North America and Japan use NTSC. This is video-wide, and not just NES or video-game consoles... If you get a chipped NES, the screens should look squished or not fill the whole screen, I believe...

--
Derek

the difference I have seen from a few DC games I have with a PAL/NTSC selector is that PAL is 50Hz, while NTSC is 60Hz, our televisions are designed for that signal, and 50 Hz will looks scrambled or not fit properly on the screen here.

Yeah some are playable and some you can't even see the game properly, but still that is a small amount of games that give this problem.

But what games would those be? Anything important?

Here's a list of games, but there are some more.

Asterix (Infogrames) Background severely corrupted on NTSC console, making the game unplayable.
Balloon Fight (Nintendo) On NTSC console, the upper portion of the background starfield on the Balloon Trip is partly stationary.
Battletoads (Tradewest/Rare) Graphical corruption on NTSC console. Also, the main game plays at about half the normal speed -- in alternate frames the background is all black, which means that the screen flickers.
Battletoads/Double Dragon (Nintendo/Tradewest/Rare) Graphical problems on NTSC console. On the character selection screen, the background jitters up and down (sprites remain stationary), and the top part of the screen flickers. The main game plays at about half the normal speed -- in alternate frames the background is all black, which means that the screen flickers.
Blades of Steel (Konami) Title screen split occurs in wrong position on NTSC console.
Bram Stoker's Dracula (Sony Imagesoft) Title screen music does not play on NTSC console. However, you can hear it by manually selecting it in the sound test.
Castelian (Storm/Triffix) Some title screen corruption on NTSC console.
Cobra Triangle (Nintendo/Rare) Title screen corruption and score panel "jumpy" on NTSC console.
Digger T. Rock - The Legend of the Lost City (Milton Bradley/Rare) This game uses the AMROM board; "bus conflicts" are possible. Graphics are severely corrupted on NTSC console, making the game unplayable.
Double Dragon III - The Sacred Stones (Acclaim) Game hangs on NTSC console.
Dr. Mario (Nintendo) Some graphical corruption on NTSC console.
Dropzone (Mindscape/Eurocom) Graphical problems on NTSC console.
Elite (Imagineer) Graphics are severely corrupted on NTSC console, making the game unplayable.
Flintstones, The - The Rescue of Dino & Hoppy (Taito) On NTSC console, screen flashes white during basketball games. There are other glitches too.
Gauntlet II (Mindscape) Scrolling problems on NTSC console.
High Speed (Tradewest/Rare) Hangs when run on NTSC console.
International Cricket (Beam/LaserBeam) Title screen is corrupted on NTSC console
Jimmy Connors Tennis (Ubi Soft) Gameplay speed is probably adjusted for PAL 50Hz frame rate. Ball bounces strangely on NTSC console.
Joe & Mac: Caveman Ninja (Elite) Does not work properly on NTSC console. The game seems to play okay, but after the game is over and you return to the title screen, starting another game causes the console to lock up during the game intro sequence. The screen flashes on and off, though the music still plays.
Kick Off (Imagineer/Anco) Does not work properly on NTSC console: menu screens flicker when controller is moved, in-game playfield is corrupted & flickers.
Krusty's Fun House (Acclaim) Graphical problems on NTSC console.
Lion King, The (Virgin) Does not work properly on NTSC console. Title and option screens "jitter", and the in-game graphics flicker violently.
Mission: Impossible (Palcom) Some graphical problems on NTSC console. Screen flashes when talking to people, game over/continue text jitters.
PinÂ·Bot (Nintendo/Rare) Hangs when run on NTSC console.
Rad Racer (Nintendo/Square) Track graphics are severely corrupted on NTSC console.
Rush'n Attack (Konami) Scrolling problems on NTSC console.
Silent Service (Konami/Rare) Corruption on title screen on NTSC console.
Solar Jetman (Nintendo/Rare) Minor graphical glitches on intermission screens on NTSC console. Otherwise seems to work okay.
Star Wars (JVC/Beam Software) On NTSC console, status bar flickers, there is some slowdown and minor graphical corruption.
Super Mario Bros./Tetris/Nintendo World Cup (Nintendo) Does not work properly on NTSC console; selecting some games returns to the menu screen instead of starting the game.
Super Off-Road, Ivan "Ironman" Stewart's (Tradewest/Rare) Some graphical corruption on NTSC console.
Tecmo World Wrestling (Tecmo) Second screen split on "VS" pre-game screen occurs in the wrong place on NTSC console.
Time Lord (Milton Bradley/Rare) Severe graphical corruption and invisible graphics on NTSC console.
Trojan (Capcom) Scrolling glitches and some flickering on NTSC console.
Wizards and Warriors (Acclaim/Rare) Graphical corruption on NTSC console.
Zelda II: The Adventure of Link - Zelda II: The Adventure of Link (Nintendo) Minor title screen glitches on NTSC console

Cobra Triangle (Rare) The graphics all messed up in game and then crash on PAL console.
Final Fantasy (Sunsoft) Has text scrolling problems but can still be read on PAL console.
Ice Hockey (Nintendo) Title screen is corrupted on PAL console.
Jaws (LJN) Severe graphical problems on PAL console.
Karate Kid, The (LJN) Title screen is corrupted on PAL console.
Micro Machines (Codemasters) Crashes and resets on PAL console.
Ninja Gaiden (Tecmo) Does not show intro sequence properly on PAL console.
PinÂ·Bot (Nintendo/Rare) Graphical corruption on PAL console.
Predator (Activision) Problems with score line on PAL console.
Rad Racer (Nintendo/Square) Track graphics are corrupted on PAL console.
Sesame Street: ABC & 123 (Hi Tech Expressions/Rare) Graphical corruption on PAL console.
World Champ (Romstar) Screen split in wrong position on PAL console.
Zelda II: The Adventure of Link - Zelda II: The Adventure of Link (Nintendo) Title screen and status line are corrupted on PAL console.

I found 2 more games NTSC that don't work well on PAL systems:

Mendel palace, game starts up when you select a castle screen freezes and turns black.
Nightmare on Elmstreet,game is still playable but from half till upper part screen goes wild when walking or jumping or punching.After a while it gets mega annoing.

but all NTSC games work properly on an NTSC console, correct? I've heard of two games that don't work after clipping the lockout chip.

FireHawk, and some other one I can't remember...

That can be true dude, i dunno for sure,i don't own firehawk.Do you have a spare Nes?if you don't chip it you can still play the games on another console.

Well, I have two right now, one is clipped, one is not. I may have to give the non-clipped one away. but I'm sure I'll come up with another sometime.

Yeah man that's not so hard,i own a couple,some are clipped some aren't,better to keep some unclipped to keep them in original state.

exactly, that's why I'm keeping my clipped one as a hacking NES, as I've stated a few dozen time I plan on trying that overclock on it soon, (Metroid REALLY needs it)

Sometime in the near future, I'm going to get another NES to try some of this stuff with. I'd really like to experience some of the stuff that's abroad. It'd be fun to mess with the NES's guts, too!

I need to have a spare one, I take everything apart, and I can't resist messing with the guts. I need to find some PAL release games to take advantage of the clipped NES though.

That shouldn't be too terribly difficult. The web is quite expansive. Finding certain games that you would want might be a bit difficult, though.

Well, I generally have to avoid buying from stores, the Canada/US customs usually like to slap a large tax on things coming across unless they're delcared as a gift.

My recent aquisition of those 22 carts was delayed by over a week because the guy at UPS marked the value of the package wrong and there was a $50 customs charge on the package. It was only resolved when UPS faxed an updated invoice to the delivery company here.

In the end, if you ship anything across the Canada/US border, remember to check the little 'gift' box.

It makes you wonder why they even have such a tax. If it's as easy as checking a box, then there's no point! Probably to fool the foolhardy, I guess...

Well, you're not SUPPOSED to check the box unless it really is a gift. and that way the collect huge ammounts of money. But seeing as they have no way of knowing if you send a money order or cheque to the person a few weeks before the package comes across the border checked as a gift, it's pretty easy to save yourself big bucks that way. But of course marking it as a gift only exempts you from taxes on packages of lower value, if you were shipping a $3000 computer or something that would still be taxed.

from my experience, USPS is exempt from the tax if the value is under $60, and $200 if it's marked as a gift.

UPS on the other hand only gets $60 if it's marked as a gift...

That's good info to know for the NES collecting community. Maybe you should start a thread about that or something. Different ways around taxes for shipping to and from places?

I think it should be kept more on the down-low, as I think it would be considered Tax evasion, or fraud, which is illegal

Oh yeah, good point! Wasn't using my head..... Although telling people, and actually getting caught doing it are two different things

heh, true but I think we should just leave it as is, people can find it in this thread, and know about it. I don't know if the same things apply for other borders but I would assume there are similar taxes.

I'm not sure there are any other Canadian members on this forum actually...

I just grab what comes my way.

just to add, these are the games ive found so far(ntsc games) that dont work on an ntsc nes after the chip has been cut:
Super Mario Bros. - acts like the start button doesnt work
felix the cat - acts like the start button is stuck
faria - acts like the start button is stuck

im sure there are many more, so the solution is to avoid pal games, or have 2 nes's Hooked up like i do / use a toplaoder

i collect mine in all ways opened plastic boxed whatever but no doubt i only play the open ones