Konami VRC6/VRC7 Famicom games playable on NES?

[Yukima]

Not sure if this is the right section to ask this, but it's been bugging me for days. I'm thinking about getting an NES or Famicom system, and I was wondering about the NES's compatibility with Famicom games with special chips, especially those made by Konami and have special sound chips like the VRC6 and VRC7 - most especially, Lagrange Point (it contained the VRC7 and had sound quality on-par with 16-bit games)

Is the NES or NES 2 hardware capable of playing Lagrange Point? I did some research on this, but I couldn't really find an exact answer. From what I found out, the cartridge is taller than the usual Famicom carts due to the extra chip, making it impossible to fit into a toaster NES with a 60-72 pin converter. There was mention of possibly getting it to work with a Game Genie plus a converter, but apparently no one tested this idea or confirmed it. Does anyone know? Also, I saw a video on Youtube where someone actually did get it to fit by removing the cartridge casing, but there was also mention of actually modifying something inside the NES to get the sound to work properly. Modifying what exactly, no one explained. Again, does anyone know? And would the result be the same if it was an NES 2?

I kinda hope that the NES can play this game somehow, because I really do want to play it, even if it's entirely in Japanese... I COULD just get an AV Famicom so I won't have to worry about compatibility, but it's probably ridiculous to get it just for ONE game (and there happen to be 2-3 NES systems lying around at my local retrogaming shop at any given time, so...)

Hopefully someone here knows something!

[eSPy]

hmm good question.. ive got a copy of Lagrange Point as well but have never actually played it because i just have a regular nes and havent tried a converter.

edit
some interesting info on different carts and pins though here. looks like a converter wouldnt work as there are some differences between the pins that even the converter would not address.
http://powet.tv/2008/04/24/famicom-dojo ... -and-pins/

[Yukima]

If you link the pins mentioned on the cartridge converter with a little bit of wire and some solder, you can get the sound co-processors to work on an NES, but as far as I know, the Top-loader NES doesn’t work, and maybe never will work, with any sound co-processors as some pins are missing on the slot, since, from what I can tell, all expansion hardware present in the Front-loader NES was removed from it(as well as A/V… yuck… but that’s an entirely different story).

eep... Darn, I guess it wouldn't work, then. Oh well - I'll probably just hunt for an AV Famicom then, unless I can find someone to mod an NES or something (probably pointless to do for just one game, heh ) At least with a Famicom, I wouldn't have to worry much about blinking screens or blowing into the carts to get them to play!

[scrotumwound]

i got a messiah nex it plays nes and famicom games
might be cheaper alternative than buying a famicom
and you could get more use out of it

[Mod_Man_Extreme]

i got a messiah nex it plays nes and famicom games
might be cheaper alternative than buying a famicom
and you could get more use out of it

The Nex is only compatible with non expansion chip games, and still very few other games at that as it uses "NES On A Chip" tech instead of the actual hardware.

[eSPy]

been lookin around to see if i could see anyone reporting it working on any other systems than an original famicom and found this:

the sound emulation on the NEX is OK, it sounds like it is making the bass too loud...even so, this is probably the best music i've ever heard in an NES/famicom game.

http://www.digitpress.com/forum/showthread.php?t=69953
sounds like hes playing it alright...but unsure about the sound issues. possibly to do with the extra chip? wouldnt have thought it would work at all... oh well.. will keep looking for more info. this thread has really got me wanting to play this game. too bad it has yet to receive any type of translation (that i know of)
http://www.digitpress.com/forum/showthread.php?t=69953

[Yukima]

been lookin around to see if i could see anyone reporting it working on any other systems than an original famicom and found this:

the sound emulation on the NEX is OK, it sounds like it is making the bass too loud...even so, this is probably the best music i've ever heard in an NES/famicom game.

http://www.digitpress.com/forum/showthread.php?t=69953
sounds like hes playing it alright...but unsure about the sound issues. possibly to do with the extra chip? wouldnt have thought it would work at all... oh well.. will keep looking for more info. this thread has really got me wanting to play this game. too bad it has yet to receive any type of translation (that i know of)
http://www.digitpress.com/forum/showthread.php?t=69953

Hmm... and this is on an NEX? I wonder if it would work on the other famiclones like Retro Duo or Yobo. If one of those other famiclones work with Lagrange Point, and if they're really cheap, I'd probably get one instead of a Famicom... unless I find a Famicom that comes with a working Disk System! There's another retro game shop not far from my house that has a Retro Duo on display and the customers can play on it, so the next time I get a chance to go, I could ask the shop owner if I can test the game! (I probably won't get to go for about 2 weeks, though... )

[eSPy]

sounds like a plan! if you do manage to get over and test it, im sure theres a few people here that would love to know what happened!

[Yukima]

Hey, haven't been back to this thread in a while - turns out that what that game shop had on display was a FC Twin and not a Retro Duo... and I don't have a FC to NES converter. So no Lagrange Point testing for me.

But I did find something else that was very useful when browsing the Net one day! There were a few people on the NESDev forums talking about this very topic, and even outlined a method to mod an NES to fully play sound-chipped games (involves soldering!!)

this mod (a 100K resistor in series with a 4.7uF non-polarized cap) gives you sound input on pin 18 (EXP). If you combine it with a modified Famicom->NES converter, you can get sound from Famicom games that have a sound chip. Just solder a wire from the Famicom side pin 46 (sound out) to NES pin 18.

Discussion about the mod was at the following links:

http://nesdev.parodius.com/bbs/viewtopic.php?t=182
http://nesdev.parodius.com/bbs/viewtopi ... 2533b07fbc

So it is possible to mod the NES to play carts like Lagrange Point! Unfortunately, you'd have to also mod the FC/NES converter for the sound to output correctly. Not sure if anyone's tried THAT...

I guess for the less electronically-inclined, hunting for an NEX, Famicom or Famicom AV would be better.

[Hobie-wan]

Hey, haven't been back to this thread in a while - turns out that what that game shop had on display was a FC Twin and not a Retro Duo... and I don't have a FC to NES converter. So no Lagrange Point testing for me.

But I did find something else that was very useful when browsing the Net one day! There were a few people on the NESDev forums talking about this very topic, and even outlined a method to mod an NES to fully play sound-chipped games (involves soldering!!)

this mod (a 100K resistor in series with a 4.7uF non-polarized cap) gives you sound input on pin 18 (EXP). If you combine it with a modified Famicom->NES converter, you can get sound from Famicom games that have a sound chip. Just solder a wire from the Famicom side pin 46 (sound out) to NES pin 18.

Discussion about the mod was at the following links:

http://nesdev.parodius.com/bbs/viewtopic.php?t=182
http://nesdev.parodius.com/bbs/viewtopi ... 2533b07fbc

So it is possible to mod the NES to play carts like Lagrange Point! Unfortunately, you'd have to also mod the FC/NES converter for the sound to output correctly. Not sure if anyone's tried THAT...

I guess for the less electronically-inclined, hunting for an NEX, Famicom or Famicom AV would be better.

Neat. Unfortunately the pictures are long gone since that thread is so old. Not having any carts that would need it I doubt I'd ever do it though. I do have a Nex, but again, I don't have a cart that I could test with.