Thinking of Buying an NES

[marlowe221]

I never owned one as a kid back in the 1980s/early 90s. I went straight from an Atari 2600 to the SNES. A friend of mine from school had one that lived in my neighborhood and we played the hell out of it.

What should I be on the look out for when buying a NES? Is it OK to buy one that is advertised as having a new 72-pin connector or should I look for one that is all original? Any other "gotchas" that might catch the unwary buyer?

On the other hand.... is fooling with the hardware still worth it? I do have a CRT television that I use for my Genesis/SNES/PS2. Would a good emulator w/an original controller be better at this point? The Virtual Console perhaps?

Any advice from the NES experts would be both welcome and appreciated!

[samsonlonghair]

Avoid clone hardware like the retron1.

I have no problem whatsoever with a replacement 72 pin connector. In fact, I recommend you install one if the NES stops loading cartridges. Some here will disagree with me, and I respect that opinion, but I personally have had no trouble with my replacement 72 pin connector.

Many old NESes have yellowed with age (not as bad as SNES, but the same basic problem). If this is a problem for you, make sure you take the time to inspect the console before you buy.

Inspect the audio/video output on the side to make sure it's stable. By the way, the NES only outputs mono sound. Consider this when you incorporate it into your entertainment setup.

Grab an official "dogbone" controller if you can find one at a reasonable price. These are more comfortable than the standard rectangle controller. Again, avoid dogbone clones.

Expect to pay forty to fifty-five dollars for a working NES.

[SpoonyBard]

Connectors aside, they're pretty reliable machines. New 72-pin connectors are known to have a much tighter connection than originals, making games a little harder to remove and potentially damaging the pins on your games.

If you have the option i'd advise picking one up with an original connector and cleaning it up yourself if it's giving you problems. If you can't get that to work, you can always buy a new connector. They're incredibly easy to replace.

I like the original hardware myself. The games are typically cheap and very common. However, a few pieces in the library can get a bit expensive. Emulation can certainly be a much more viable option if you're looking for certain titles or working on a budget.

My opinion. Buy an NES, get a Zapper and Gumshoe. Enjoy it on your CRT.

Then load up Famicom Contra on your emulator.

[mas]

I also suggest going on YouTube and other sites and get the top 25 or top 20 games of all time.
Its going to cost about 15-25 a game. Just take your time and get a game here and there. Look on craigslist and yard sales. Avoid flea markets. Nothing but resellers here in my area.
You can also grab lots on eBay. Thats a fast way to get games. And if you have a retro store, do what I did and trade off games you will never play and get trade to get some gems.
As soon as you get the game clean it with a qtip and rubbing alcohol.
Check on the nes guides here on racketboy also. That was a big help for me.

[Ziggy]

I recommend getting an Everdrive N8, or the NES Power Pak (if you can find it used at a good price, since the N8 is better). With one, you'll be able to play a ton of games right away. A shorter list are games that cannot be played. Plus you'll get some benefits like built in Game Genie support, being able to play hacks, fan-translations and Famicom Disk System games. Also, any one will tell you that the NES is a little wonky when it comes to games with battery backed saves. With the N8 or PowerPak, you wont have to worry about losing save data like you would with real carts.

The cost of one might put some off. But let's say you bought 10 of the best NES carts at $10 each. Well for that money you could of bought the flash cart and have way more than 10 games to play, plus all the extra features they offer.

[CRTGAMER]

Definitely get a NES that has ORIGINAL connectors. Replacement connectors tend to be inferior and grab the cart even in the up position. NEVER USE A GAME GENIE, which has a thicker PCB connector that will ruin the console 72 pin connector. I also advise against leaving a cart plugged in when not in use due to the pins stay bent apart might retain the bent metal prong "memory". This is a worse situation on the NES due to the nature as how the pins bend when the cart is pressed down.

For an inexpensive start, hunt down an older Gyromite game that has the Famicom adapter inside. Pick up a couple of multigame bootleg Famicom carts to get a good round of games including Tengen Tetris which is usually labeled as Tetris 2 on the game menu.

[flojocabron]

I finally made it home, so now I can post! I saw this thread at work but I didn't have enough time to post my thoughts.

I say get a clone console, if you can find it cheap. But keep a lookout for original hardware.

There is a small list of incompatible or buggy NES games on clone hardware.

See if a game you like is on that list. If it isn't, then get a clone system while you save up for the better original one.

Clone hardware has less than optimal sound as well. Did you remember how the NES sounded when you were little? Did you care about it back then? How about now? Some NES games' color is a little off too. Purists want it to be original. But if you dont have much nostalgia for an old game and just want to play it, Clone it baby.

Keep an eye out for original NES parts when you go games hunting too. As long as the controller wires aren't frayed, NES controllers are quite robust.

Familiarize yourself with how NES power plugs look like. If you go to the flea markets, NES plugs can still be found mixed in with random cords and cables. RF cables can be pretty common too, just watch out for noises inside of them. They may not work. Or just
get a regular AV cable.

I've said it before, ask friends or family members if they have any old games. In some old attic or garage there may be some NES games hidden there.

$0.02

[marlowe221]

Well, I bought one!

I received the blessing of the wife - always an important step when adding a console to the family - on the condition that I buy a copy of Tetris for her to play on it.

So I ordered one on ebay last night with Super Mario 2 (an old favorite of mine), Tetris, and NES Open. It has two controllers and the power adapter and A/V cable. I believe it has the original 72-pin connector. Expect a thread from me asking how to clean one soon.

I'm sure I over-payed a bit but it has already shipped and it will be here before Christmas. My wife and I both have a few days off for the holiday and we will be able to spend a little quality time with it.

Sadly, most of the games I am going to want for it are likely to be expensive. I gotta have the original Legend of Zelda in the gold cart!

[Tanooki]

What do you consider expensive? $20-30 shipped loose in gold not being beat up. To me that's high, but I'm old school having bought all these games since the last half of the 90s when most things up until maybe 4 years ago were stupid cheap to reasonably priced except for a few true honest select rares, not fake rares for more reseller bucks.

I'd consider if I were you so you don't get whipped, put $100 to the side or so, and just buy up some solid ebay lots. Even if you get some undesirable stuff, you may end up liking it, and it would pay off in spare parts(shells and screws) if you needed them or fluff to throw in another lot to sell off the junk you don't want with a spare system. Buy and flip or get burned is pretty much it now, so you do that to break even or minimize the damage.

[SpoonyBard]

I've bought quite a few copies (even recently) of the Zelda gold cart for under $5 a piece. As long as you're patient, you can get most NES games for really affordable prices. They're abundant, and people still have tons of them in their attics and basements that they want to get rid of.