Nintendo's PlayChoice-10 - The Arcade Advertisement

Nintendo created the PlayChoice-10 arcade cabinets in order to show off its NES games.  These cabinets would let you select a game from a menu with up to ten slots and let you play any of the games for a certain amount of time, typically 300 seconds per quarter.  In this blog entry, I will be talking about notable aspects of this system.

Game List :

This site http://playchoice.riemen.net/ and Wikipedia includes Shatterhand and RBI Baseball in the canonical list of PlayChoice-10 games, but there are no pictures of their PCBs and their ROMs are not in GoodNES or MAME.  MAME has an entry for a prototype of Bases Loaded, but the prototype does not include the instruction ROM.  Here is a list of games that have been verified to have been released for the PlayChoice-10 units :

Game Title	Publisher/Developer	NES Release Date
1942	Capcom	11/01/86
Balloon Fight	Nintendo	06/01/86
Baseball	Nintendo	10/01/85
Baseball Stars	SNK	07/01/89
Captain Skyhawk	Milton Bradley/Rare	06/01/90
Castlevania	Konami	05/01/87
Chip 'n Dale's Rescue Rangers	Capcom	06/01/90
Contra	Konami	02/01/88
Double Dragon	Technos	06/01/88
Double Dribble	Konami	09/01/87
Dr. Mario	Nintendo	10/01/90
Duck Hunt	Nintendo	10/01/85
Excitebike	Nintendo	10/01/85
Fester's Quest	Sunsoft	09/01/89
Gauntlet	Tengen	06/01/88
Golf	Nintendo	10/01/85
Goonies	Konami	Not Released
Gradius	Konami	12/01/86
Hogans Alley	Nintendo	10/01/85
Kung Fu	Nintendo/Irem	10/01/85
Mario Bros	Nintendo	06/01/86
Mario Open Golf	Nintendo	09/01/91
Mega Man 3	Capcom	11/01/90
Metroid	Nintendo	07/01/87
Mike Tyson's Punch-Out!!!	Nintendo	10/01/87
Ninja Gaiden	Tecmo	03/01/89
Ninja Gaiden 2	Tecmo	05/01/90
Ninja Gaiden 3	Tecmo	08/01/91
Nintendo World Cup	Technos	12/01/90
Pinbot	Nintendo/Rare	04/01/90
Power Blade	Taito	03/01/91
Pro Wrestling	Nintendo	03/01/87
R.C. Pro Am	Nintendo/Rare	02/01/88
Rad Racer	Square	10/01/87
Rad Racer II	Square	06/01/90
Rockin' Kats	Atlus	09/01/91
Rush 'n Attack	Konami	04/01/87
Rygar	Tecmo	07/01/87
Solar Jetman	Tradewest/Rare	09/01/90
Super C	Konami	04/01/90
Super Mario Bros	Nintendo	10/01/85
Super Mario Bros 2	Nintendo	10/01/88
Super Mario Bros 3	Nintendo	02/01/90
Tecmo Bowl	Tecmo	02/01/89
Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles	Ultra Games/Konami	06/01/89
Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles II : The Arcade Game	Ultra Games/Konami	12/01/90
Tennis	Nintendo	10/01/85
Track & Field	Konami	04/01/87
Trojan	Capcom	02/01/87
Volleyball	Nintendo	03/01/87
Wild Gunman	Nintendo	10/01/85
Yo Noid	Capcom	11/01/90

Statistics and Game Choice :

The statistics for these 52 titles (less than 10% of the NES's licensed library) are interesting.  Nintendo leads the pack with 18 (or 21) titles, followed by Konami/Ultra with 10 titles and Tecmo and Capcom with 5 a piece.  Capcom was far more prolific than Tecmo with NES cartridge releases, but Capcom appeared to be rather conservative when it came to Nintendo's less mainstream hardware like the arcade machines and the Famicom Disk System and advanced cartridge memory mapping hardware.

Even though it was not a publisher, Rare has 4 games on this list to its credit.  Half of Square's non-Japanese NES library is here.  There are no titles from NES stalwarts Bandai or Jaleco (unless Shatterhand was really released) and no entries from Namco.  Atlus was not a very prolific publisher, but it has an entry.  Tengen also has an entry, perhaps two if you count RBI Baseball (which is really a Namco game).  Gauntlet was originally released as a licensed cartridge before Tengen/Atari Games went the unlicensed route.

Interestingly, Metroid and Rygar are on this list. These Metroidvania games are not typically well-suited to the arcade, which lends itself to fast-paced games.  They also tend to take longer to beat than your average arcade game unless you know where to go already.  TMNT is similar in that it is as much of an exploration as an action game.  TMNT was incredibly popular and Metroid was no slouch in the sales either.  Sports games were also popular on the NES, thus they had a decent share of the total.

Most of the games on this list are very well-known and not particularly hard to find in cartridge format. There are a few more obscure titles like Yo Noid, Power Blade and Solar Jetman, but nothing particularly exotic.

Except for the Black Box NES games, which are products of their time, most of the games included on the Playchoice 10 are very good.  There are classics like Castlevania, Contra and Super C, Mega Man 3, Metroid, Mike Tyson's Punch-Out!!, the first two Ninja Gaiden games, all three Super Mario Bros and Tecmo Bowl.  Most of the rest of these choices are solid, with really only Fester's Quest and TMNT being the high profile games that just aren't very good.

Interesting PlayChoice-10 Versions :

Double Dragon - No Tradewest logo on title screen.

Gradius - Has the old Konami logo on title screen and no Licensed by Nintendo of America text, which would suggest that it is identical to the Famicom cartridge.  1942 by Capcom also does not have the Licensed by Nintendo text, but neither does the NES cartridge version either.

The Goonies - This game was never released in a home cartridge outside Japan, so this and perhaps Vs. The Goonies is the only exposure western NES fans had to the game.  The Goonies II was released fairly early in the NES's life, which made its predecessor look rather simple.

Mike Tyson's Punch-Out!!! - This game's PlayChoice-10 board is unique because it has battery on PCB and an SRAM chip which the cartridge editions never had.  This extra hardware allows the game to save the time and round where you beat each fighter.  There is a special screen where you can enter your initials when you start a new game and you see your time in relation to others when you beat an opponent.  Some other NES sports games did have battery backups, but typically they stored more information than just high scores or best times.

Some other material from the cartridge versions has been cut, there are no crowd noises when the game loads and the training cutscenes between circuits cut all animation, only showing the password.

Mario's Open Golf - This is the PlayChoice-10 version of NES Open Tournament Golf.  There is no save battery, so the Club House option where all the stored settings can be accessed, has been removed from the main menu.

Rad Racer - No Anaglyph 3D mode, pressing select does nothing other than make noise.

Arcade Cousins :

Many of the PlayChoice-10 games were arcade ports and must have paled in comparison if the real arcade machine was present in that arcade.  1942, Double Dragon, Gauntlet Gradius and TMNT II would have looked very weak next to their popular arcade counterparts.  The two Contra games, Kung Fu (as Kung Fu Master) Rush 'n Attack and Trojan also came from arcade machines.  Rygar had an arcade namesake and Castlevania had a loose arcade translation, but they were quite different from the PlayChoice-10 games. Obviously, Pin Bot would pale in comparison to a real Pin Bot pinball table, widely recognized as a classic table.

Nintendo also had several standalone Vs. System arcade cabinet machines.  Balloon Fight, Baseball, Castlevania, Dr. Mario, Duck Hunt, Excitebike, Golf, The Goonies, Gradius, Hogan's Alley, Super Mario Bros and Volleyball all had a Vs. System equivalent.  For the early games, the Vs. System versions would often have new features and more graphics compared to the PlayChoice-10 or NES versions.  The Vs. System versions were always harder.

Note that the PlayChoice-10 has a reasonable selection of games throughout the NES's lifespan.  The biggest years of the NES, 1987-1991, are very well represented.  By contrast, the Vs. System had very few games released for it that were released on the NES or Famicom after 1987.  Of course, the PlayChoice-10 had several advantages over the Vs. System.  The PlayChoice-10 PCB could hold ten games, a Vs. System Board could hold a maximum of two.  The PlayChoice-10 offered arcade owners a lot more bang for their buck.

Other Official Previewing Options :

People coming into an arcade would look at a PlayChoice-10 machine and knew it was an arcade NES.  Perhaps they owned some of the games on the menu.  The PlayChoice-10 was intended to give gamers a preview of all the hot new games that were going to be released.  It was an effective advertisement, but because video game rentals became hugely popular in the NES era, it was not as effective as it otherwise may have been.

At World of Nintendo kiosks in malls around the country, Nintendo fans could also sample new NES games from M82 Demo Units without having to pay for time (although the console would eventually reset).  The M82 could hold 12 standard NES cartridges and used a button to select the game and output to a composite monitor.  The Famicom had similar units like the Famicom Box and Famicom Station which used 72-pin cartridges.  Unlike the PlayChoice-10's arcade controls, the M82 used standard NES controllers, so you knew exactly what kind of experience you were going to get.

Instructions :

The PlayChoice-10 cabinets usually used a dual monitor setup like the arcade Punch-Out cabinet. In fact, Nintendo sold a conversion kit to convert Punch-Out or Super Punch-Out into a PlayChoice-10 machine.  These conversions would have two screens of equal size, but there are also dedicated PlayChoice-10 cabinets where the instruction screen monitor is much smaller than the game display monitor.

The lower screen plays the game, the upper screen shows the menu for the machine and, once a game is selected, the instructions are shown and the time remaining for the quarters you entered.  Each game has from one to three screens of instructions.  Pro Wrestling and Metroid use three, but most other games can get the message across in one or two screens.  Ironically, because Pro Wrestling does not tell you which wrestlers use which special moves, it is perhaps one of the least helpful of instruction screens.  Metroid gives you a partial world map (Brinstar and some of Norfair) to help you out.

PlayChoice-10 cabinets also came in an upright and more compact countertop single screen versions.  In these machines, the menu and instructions share the screen with the game.  First you see the menu screen, and when you insert your quarter, you see the time countdown from a 4-digit LED display above the monitor.  You can proceed to play the game.  By pressing the game enter button again you can see the instructions.  This apparently overrides the video from the game or halts the 2A03E CPU's execution.  Hold down enter for two seconds to go back to the game.

Hardware :

The PlayChoice-10 machine uses a standard NES 2A03E CPU but has an RGB 2C03B PPU.  The 2C03 outputs pure analog RGB and has a palette which corresponds roughly to the NTSC-based 2C02G-0 PPU palette.  It does not need to use any color-fringing filtering which gives the NES its 3-line zig-zag pattern with colored straight edges.  The resulting output is much sharper than the home console, but the colors are more garish.  It also loses two gray entries, so games like Paperboy 1 & 2 will be hard to play because you cannot see where the sidewalk ends and the road begins.  Finally, it handles the color emphasis bits in a way that typically turns games that use those bits (The Immortal, Magician) totally white, making them impossible to play.  The PlayChoice-10 also has a Z-80 CPU and additional video display hardware to handle the menu/instruction monitor and the coin mechanism and the countdown timer.

The games themselves come on naked PCBs and connect to the main PCB via a 3 x 32 pin BERG-style connector.  Part of the reason for this large number of pins is because every game has an additional 8KB ROM which contains the game's instructions and a 64-bit serial PROM containing the game's name which also acts as the security device.

The main game hardware is almost always standard and can be found on a NES or Famicom cartridge.  Mappers encompassed are 0, 1, 2, 3, 4, 7, 9, 87, 119 and 206, which are used by good 90% of licensed game.  Some games use Mask ROMs and EPROMs, others just one or the other.  Older PlayChoice-10 PCBs may need a mod to make them compatible with Mapper 4 games, which is an issue with other Nintendo game selecting devices.  With an EPROM burner and some tinkering, almost any licensed NES US game (that was any good and you would want to stand up and play for less than an hour) could be made to play in this machine.

The Forgotten Switch : The Atari 2600's B&W/Color Switch

The original Atari 2600 VCS had six switches to control the various game functions, Power On/Off, B&W/Color, Left Difficulty, Right Difficulty, Game Select and Game Reset.   In the early models of the console, there were six aluminum switches, symmetrically spaced on either side of the cartridge slot, three on the left, three on the right.  Later, Atari redesigned the console to reduce costs and put the left and right difficulty switches on the back of the console and used standard plastic switches instead of aluminum.  Even with this change, there were still two switches to the left of the cartridge slot and two to the right.  This continued into the Atari 2600jr, except that all the chrome switches had been replaced with plastic.  Nonetheless, the symmetry of the Atari 2600 is an aesthetic that has been seldom been so rigorously pursued in a console's design throughout its lifespan.

Atari 2600 Light Six Switch

The standard Atari joystick only had one button and the cartridges were too small at first for title screens, menus and logos.  Changing settings were done by these switches and the program reading the appropriate port.  Only the Power On/Off switch had a fixed function, it was connected directly to the electrical path that powered the console.  The other five switches were each connected to a bit on an I/O port.  The game could do whatever it wanted with them, but by convention the Game Select and Game Reset switches usually did just as they indicated.  While Left and Right difficulty were originally intended to set a handicap for one or both players, human or computer, they could just as easily be used to adjust game characteristics.

Atari 2600 Woodgrain Four Switch

The Black and White switch is the focus on this blog entry.  It is just as important as the other switches, yet too frequently overlooked and left off modern products.  The original intent of this switch was to alter the game to switch its colors when the switch was set to the B&W position.  The player should set it if playing on a B&W TV to improve contrast between the player/missile/ball graphics and the playfield/background.  The Atari 2600 had sixteen choices of colors or hues and eight levels of brightness or luminances.  Typically, when the B&W side of the switch was activated, the program would switch to using the eight monochrome shades offered by the 2600.  Sometimes, it would use more muted colors.  On a Color TV, the B&W choices would come very close to simulating what the image would like on a true B&W TV.  Here are two examples to show when this would be useful :

Combat - Color Switch

Combat - Color Switch on Simulated B&W TV

Combat - B&W Switch

Air-Sea Battle - Color Switch

Air-Sea Battle - Color Switch on Simulated B&W TV

Air-Sea Battle - B&W Switch

However, it is very important to remember that a B&W TV was often the second TV in American households in the late 1970s and early 1980s.  If the parents did not want the kids to hog the main TV with video games, they would hook the system up to a second TV.  Few U.S. TVs had two color TVs during this time frame.  Many kids grew up playing video games on B&W TVs, it is a very important part of retro gaming that too often overlooked.

From 1977 until 1982, most Atari and then Activision (made up of ex-Atari programmers) games used the B&W/Color Switch as originally intended.  In fact, until Atari's silver label cartridges and Activision's special label cartridges, it is easier to compile a list of games that did not use the B&W/Color switch as originally intended.  They are as follows :

Atari/Activision Games that Do Not Support B&W

Atari

3-D Tic-Tac-Toe

Asteroids

Superman

Backgammon

Demons to Diamonds

Super Breakout

Yar's Revenge

Activision

Activision Decathlon

Crackpots

Dolphin

Enduro

Frostbite

Keystone Capers

Oink

Plaque Attack

Pressure Cooker

Robot Tank

Spider Fighter

When it comes to Atari Silver, Children's or Red labels or Activision's Special labels, unless the game was previously released as a text or picture label, it will almost certainly not use the B&W/Color switch as intended.  In addition, relatively few third party games released during the 2600's official lifespan use it.  There are some exceptions, and this is not intended to be a complete list but for illustrative purposes :

Other Companies that Support B&W as Originally Intended

Alien

Star Wars ESB

Bank Heist

Dragonstomper

Frogger

Music Machine

Star Voyager

Seamonster

Space Tunnel

Realsports Volleyball

M.A.S.H.

Malagai

Mega Force

Worm War I

Crash Dive

Revenge of the Beeksteak Tomatoes

Joust

Finally, there are several games that use the B&W switch for a special function unrelated to its original intent. Often it could be used to pause the game, but other games assigned a unique function to it.  Here is a list of games that I have verified :

B&W Switch used for Something Else

Space Shuttle (engine controls)

Cosmic Ark (turn on/off star field on some cartridges)

Fantastic Voyage (pause)

Solaris (inverts planet horizons)

Mouse Trap (removes playfield)

Starmaster (brings up Galactic Chart)

Beany Bopper (pause)

Flash Gordon (pause)

Spacemaster X-7 (pause)
Secret Quest (brings up Status Screen and password)

There are undoubtedly more games than on this list, but it serves as an illustrative example of why the B&W/Color switch should not be utterly ignored.  Devices like the Atari Flashbacks which do not include the B&W/Color switch will not function as originally intended with these games.  

Activision Logo

On a totally unrelated Atari 2600 subject, it is interesting to note how consistent Activision was with its in-game logo.  Activision always displayed its logo "Activision" on the game screen for every game.  In its early games like Fishing Derby, the logo would simply be present somewhere on the bottom of the screen.  For the later games, like Pitfall, the text Copyright 198x would appear, then the Copyright text would scroll up and Activision would appear. On games released near the crash, there would be a rainbow leading into the A in Activision.  The A itself was redesigned, otherwise the logo pixel pattern seems identical :

Scrolling Logo 1982-1983

Scrolling Rainbow Logo 1983-1984

Beamrider is the only game where the Activision logo is not always seen during gameplay from the pre-crash era.   Beamrider was the first game to use the (c) character instead of the word Copyright.  It is also the last time the rainbow version of the Activision logo would be used.  Ghostbusters is unique in that it does not have the word Activision is not using the standard appearance.   After Ghostbusters, the (c) and year would be instantly replaced with the non-rainbow Activision logo, no scrolling.  Also, if the game was licensed from another company, that company's name would appear after Activision's.  

Longest Game System's Media Support

From what I have been able to determine, the Nintendo Famicom was the longest known media-based console continuously produced.  It was released on July 15, 1983 in Japan.  At the end of the console's life, Nintendo discontinued the original model with the RF output and attached controllers and released the new-and-improved Famicom AV on December 1, 1993.  Nintendo stopped manufacturing the Famicom AV in September, 2003.  I am not aware of another console being continuously produced for nine to ten years without a redesign except the Playstation 2 slimline.

While the Sega Master System may have had a longer lifespan in Brazil, I have unearthed no evidence that cartridge-based consoles were manufactured for a continuous twenty-year period.  Moreover, Nintendo also holds the record for hand-held systems. Nintendo released the Game Boy on April 21, 1989 and only discontinued its Game Boy Advance (which is backwards compatible with Game Boy and Game Boy Color games) in 2008.  As Game Boy games are region free, that copy of Super Mario Land purchased at launch would still work in the last Game Boy Advance SP handheld systems sold in North America in 2008.

However, Sony's PS3 is still in production and Sony has stated that it will support it at least through 2015. Even today, the PS3's backwards compatiblity with PS1 titles has eclipsed Nintendo's media support. Playstation games have seen continuous support since 1994 even if the consoles were last manufactured in 2004, because they will work on Playstation 2s and Playstation 3s.

The Purity of RF Output

Before the NES and Sega Master System, all video game consoles only supported RF output.  RF combines video and audio output and modulates those signals into frequencies suitable for an analog TV.

Analog Television Broadcasting

Until the mid 1980s, there were typically only one type of input on an US TV, RF terminals.  There were a pair of screw terminals to attach the cable for a VHF antenna and a pair of screw terminals to attach a UHF antenna.  The VHF antenna mounted on top of the TV and comprised of two telescopic metal rods that could bemoved, a.k.a. "rabbit ears".  People would have to adjust these rods to get the best signal for each channel or invest in an externally mounted antenna.  A typical UHF antenna was just a big, round loop that was not really capable of adjustment.  VHF used channels 2-13 and UHF 14-83.  Typical TVs would have one dial for each.

With Digital Television, the same VHF and UHF channels are used, but the ATSC signals are digitally modulated and are vastly different from the analog NTSC signals.  In the advent of digital TV, analog TVs cannot understand the encoding of the digital signal and these dials are useless as of September 1, 2015 without a digital converter box.

RF Switchboxes

A typical pre-crash (1st and 2nd generation) console came with an RF switchbox with a pair of prongs that screwed into the VHF terminals with the wire for the VHF antenna.  The VHF antenna would have a wire with two prongs on it which would screw into a pair of terminals on the switchbox.  The old-style switchboxes would have a sliding switch with the label TV/GAME.  When the switch was slid to the TV, the TV would receive regular broadcast reception.  When set to GAME mode, the switchbox would block the over the air signals and let the console's signal go through.

The 4-port Atari 5200 and the RCA Studio II use unique RF Switchboxes which also provide power to the console.  Other US consoles use generic switchboxes.

RF Modulators and Channel Select

All home console systems of the first and second generation of video games connected via this method.  Inside each console is an RF modulator that takes video and audio information and modulates them into a signal a TV would recognize as sufficiently similar to a broadcast signal that it would demodulate it into picture (hue, saturation and brightness/luminescence and sync) and sound.  The original Fairchild Channel F used and internal speaker like many of the Pong home consoles, and the RCA Studio II does not output color.  The difference between the TV station and a console was that the TV station typically broadcast over the air and the console sent its information directly through a wire.

Consoles in the US "broadcast" on channels 2 (54-60MHz), 3 (60-66MHz) or 4 (66-72MHz).  Early consoles may not have had a channel selector switch.  The Fairchild Channel F and some heavy-sixer Atari 2600s do not have a channel selector switch and broadcast only on channel 3.  Channel 3 was not typically used by TV stations.  Channel 2 was usually the local PBS station and Channel 4 often belonged to one of the big three network's local affiliate.  Other heavy-sixers and all later Atari 2600s have a channel selector switch, channel 2 or 3 can be selected.  The RCA Studio II, Atari 5200 and 7800 also use channel 2 and 3.  The Arcadia, Odyssey 2, Astrocade, Intellivision and Colecovision allows channel 3 or 4 to be selected.  This would become standard in post-crash systems.

RF Connectors

Even in the early 1980s, some TVs were coming with a screw-threaded coaxial connector instead of the two screws for VHF.  In this case, early TV switchboxes would require a 300 Ohm to 75 Ohm connector.  Later switchboxes, like for the NES, SMS and every console thereafter, would only use coaxial wires.  To connect to an older TV, reverse connector, the 75 Ohm to 300 Ohm connector, would have to be screwed into the VHF screw terminals of an older set.  Even Atari eventually released a coaxial version of its manual switchbox.

Today, unless you rely on OTA transmissions, typically the only thing a TV coax screw will be used for is cable input.  Newer high definition capable cable boxes use HDMI and Component video for the Hi-Def signals. If you are not using this coax for cable, you can typically connect a simple RCA to coax adapter and toss the switchbox.  Some switchboxes, like the ones you could buy from Radio Shack, degrade the signal.  Other switchboxes, like the most recent Atari switchboxes with coaxial wires, do not, so I have read.

Exceptions to the General Rule of RF Availability

No pre-crash console allowed for composite video output.  Mods were not generally known during the pre-crash era or for many years thereafter.  Composite video monitors were seldom found outside of studios and computer monitors until the mid-1980s when VHS players became ubiquitous in US households.  However, composite video and audio may be appropriate for two systems, the Atari 5200 and Colecovision, due to their computer based roots.  The Atari 5200 uses the same chips and behaves similarly to the Atari 400 and 800 computers.  The Atari 800 had a jack that provided composite and separated chroma/luma output. Composite video was found on computer monitors at this time.  Separated chroma/luma is essentially S-Video.  I would strongly advise against an S-video mod because it eliminates the composite artifacting effect that games like Choplifter on the 5200 use.

The Colecovision uses the TMS9928A Video Display Processor, which natively outputs a form of component video which is converted to RF in the system.  The Colecovision only offers RF, but the Coleco Adam, which can play Colecovision carts, offers composite video and audio.  Coleco composite, S-video and even component video mods exist.  Also, the Colecovision is a very close hardware cousin to the MSX home computers, which could support RGB video.  Many MSX games have been ported to the Coleco in recent years.

3rd Generation & Beyond

The NES and SMS switchboxes did not have a sliding switch. Instead, the signal from the console would switch the signals automatically when the console was turned on.  Earlier consoles do not provide the power to cause the switch automatically.  Both also allowed for composite video and audio connections and came with AV cables.  All post-crash systems could provide at least composite video (in their first iteration at least and some require special cables or an adapter).  For this article, the Atari 7800 is a pre-crash system, it was designed and test marketed before the crash.

Of course, I must make an exception to the exception for the Japanese Famicom, released in 1983 and which would become the NES when released in the US in late 1985.  By its date, the Famicom is in the 2nd Generation, but its graphics and sound capabilities are substantially superior to any second generation console.  I recommend that the Famicom be modded to support composite video like the NES, the Famicom AV, the Twin Famicom and the Sharp Famicom and NES TVs.  However, the best mods may require lifting the PPU out of its socket and placing a copper sheath around it, so that is not for everybody.

The Famicom only supports RF output, but the Japanese TV broadcasting used different frequencies than US broadcasting.  The Famicom broadcasts on Japanese channel 1 (90-96MHz) or 2 (96-102Mhz).  In the United States, these broadcast frequencies were and are assigned to FM radio (87.9-107.9MHz).  Japan's FM radio frequencies (76MHz-90MHz) are mainly taken up in the US by TV channels 5 (76MHz-82MHz) and 6 (82MHz-88MHz).

On higher end CRTs sold in the US, channels 95 and 96 tune to the Japanese channel 1 and 2 frequencies, respectively.  No TV manufacturer ever intended that these channels would be used to receive over the air broadcasts.  These channels were a late addition to the US channel lineup and placed in higher end TVs that were intended to be marked in NTSC countries like the US and Japan with only minor changes to the TV's firmware necessary to assign the appropriate channels to the appropriate countries.

The Famicom came with a white RF adapter with some screw terminals.  A (S)NES or Sega Master System/Genesis RF adapter can be used, but you will need to use the switches on the back of the Famicom to switch the input and the channel.

Home Computers

When the Apple II was first released, it had an RCA composite video output jack and a video pin header on its motherboard.  However, most buyers of the device only had a TV set with antenna leads.  Third parties marketed RF modulators that plugged into the header on the motherboard and connected to an external RF switch.  The most popular one was the Sup'R"Mod. II, which came out in a version that broadcast on Channel 3 and another version that broadcast on Channel 33.  This is the only example of a popularly available RF modulator broadcasting on a UHF channel.

When IBM released the PCjr., it believed that many buyers would want to hook it up to a standard TV set.  It designed and released an RF adapter with a special 2x3 BERG connector that was keyed for the Television port on the back of the PCjr.  This adapter took a standard video and audio signal from the PCjr.  The adapter was in a long, silver box and contained both the modulation circuitry and the switchbox circuitry.  It had a "TV/Computer" switch and a Channel Select (3-4) switch.  Unfortunately it only has screw terminal input and output, so you will need both types of converters to use the box on a modern TV and with cable TV input.  This photo shows a fully modernized version of this beast :

IBM had previously released the IBM Color/Graphics Adapter.  This adapter had an RGB monitor output, a composite video RCA jack and a header for an RF adapter.  IBM never released its own RF adapter for the PC.  The RF is 4 pins and is identical to the Apple II header except it does not have the pin or connection for the -5v line.

Matching Transformers

Twin lead connectors require 300 ohm impedance connections.  Coaxial connectors require 75 impedance connectors.  Therefore, in addition to using completely different physical connectors, electrically these signals are not quite compatible.  If you are trying to use one type of connector with another type of connector, you need an appropriate matching transformer, or Balun.  A 300-to-75 ohm transformer, shown in the top of the above photograph, will allow you to connect to a coaxial connector on a new TV.  A 75-to-300 ohm transformer, shown on the left of the above photo, will allow you to connect a twin lead connector on an old TV.  These can be purchased cheaply at Radio Shack.

Conclusion

Prior to the 3rd generation, home video game consoles were often treated as toys and marketed and designed as such.  High end video connections had barely reached into the home.  Higher end-audio was somewhat more common, but there is not a lot of sophisticated music to be heard in the pre-crash era.  The B&W switch on the Atari 2600s was not placed there simply for cosmetic purposes, many game consoles connected to B&W TVs.  Consumers were generally satisfied when they got the system to work.  RF provided a known quantity for programmers, they had to make their graphics look clear with it.  Tiny text and high resolutions lost much of the detail on the modulated signal.  RF was the way these consoles were meant to be seen.  Except where indicated, it is the way these consoles should be played.  Anything better is not true to the classic console experience.

Nintendo Power - When they Got it Right and When they Got it Wrong

When the NES was released, video game journalism did not exist.  Nintendo Power became a hugely popular magazine and practically required reading for NES players.  One did not use it like a movie review column, which would tell you which films were worth seeing and which were worth skipping.  Instead, you subscribed to the magazine to find out about the hottest new games that were to be released.  Nintendo Power began to assign ratings to games with Issue 5, but the ratings were a joke.

I remember salivating over all the great games revealed in its pages every other month.  Most of the time, Nintendo Power gave proper coverage to those games that deserved it.  A game with a cover or a feature indicated, usually, a certain level of quality.  Some games were overlooked, and in this blog I will offer a tip of my hat when the classics are given their due and a wag of my finger when they are not.  I will start by briefly going through the Nintendo Fun Club News and then proceeding to the issues of Nintendo Power published in 1988 and 1989.  During this period, all games with a cover were genuine classics (with one exception), and the coverage gravitated toward good to great games far more often than not.

Nintendo Fun Club News, Issue 1, Winter 1987

Game(s) on Cover : None

Game(s) on Cover : None

Featured Games : Super Mario Bros., Excitebike, Hogan's Alley

Previews : Pro Wrestling, Slalom

Comments : The NES was released in October, 1985 in test markets and nationwide in 1986.  By the end of 1986, the console had been sufficiently successful that Nintendo could put out a newsletter





Nintendo Fun Club News, Issue 2, Summer 1987

Game(s) on Cover : None

Featured Games : The Legend of Zelda, Volleyball, Slalom, Pro Wrestling, Super Mario Bros.

Previews : Metroid, Kid Icarus

Product Feature: NES Advantage

Comments : There is not much to say about issues 1 and 2, they function more as advertisements for games rather than detailing strategy, displaying maps and giving hints and tips.  Nintendo released "Hot to Win at Super Mario Bros." and "The Legend of Zelda - Tips & Tactics" booklets around this time.



Nintendo Fun Club News, Issue 3, Fall 1987

Game(s) on Cover : The Legend of Zelda

Featured Games : Metroid, Kid Icarus

Previews : Mike Tyson's Punch-Out!!, Rad Racer, R.C. Pro-Am, Zelda II: The Adventure of Link

Product Feature: NES Advantage

Comments : Issue 3 is the first issue with a full-page artwork cover.  There will be many repetitions of featured games.  Nintendo was featuring games it was publishing at the time.  Nintendo published games developed by third party developers like Rare (R.C. Pro-Am), Square (Rad Racer) and Irem (Kung Fu).  Advertisements for third party games begin to appear in Issue 3

Nintendo Fun Club News, Issue 4, Winter 1987

Game(s) on Cover : Mike Tyson's Punch-Out!!

Featured Games : Rad Racer, The Legend of Zelda

Previews : Zelda II: The Adventure of Link, Dragon Warrior

Product Feature : Hands-Free Controller

Comments : Issue 4 would begin Nintendo's magazines' long love affair with Zelda II, but Dragon Warrior would not arrive on U.S. shores for almost two years.  The Nintendo Hands-Free Controller was eventually released, but in a more streamlined design.




The Official Nintendo Player's Guide, 1987

Featured Games : The Legend of Zelda, Mike Tyson's Punch-Out!!, Commando, Super Mario Bros., Ghosts 'N Goblins, Top Gun, Double Dribble, Zelda II: The Adventure of Link, Metroid, Rad Racer, Ring King, Gradius, Kid Icarus, Pro Wrestling, Castlevania, Excitebike, Arkanoid, Rush 'N Attack, Donkey Kong, Rygar, Spy Hunter, The Goonies II, Ikari Warriors, Kung Fu

Capsule Reviews : Deadly Towers, Baseball, Golf, Soccer, Slalom, Tennis, 10 Yard Fight, Volleyball, Winter Games, M.U.S.C.L.E., Family Fun Fitness, Stadium Events, Tag Team Wrestling, Karate Champ, Side Pocket, Lunar Pool, Track & Field, Pinball, Balloon Fight, Ice Climber, Urban Champion, Clu-Clu Land, Star Voyager, 3-D Worldrunner, Tiger-Heli, Super Pitfall, Chubby Cherub, Ninja Kid, Spelunker, Stinger, Raid on Bungeling Bay, 1942, Trojan, Section Z, Mega Man, Kid Niki, Breakthru, Karnov, Zanac, Sqoon, Jaws, The Karate Kid, Athena, Alpha Mission, Sky Kid, The Legend of Kage, Renegade, Mighty Bomb Jack, Solomon's Key, Hogan's Alley, Duck Hunt, Gumshoe, Wild Hunman, Gotcha!, Mach Rider, Wrecking Crew, Lode Runner, Mario Bros., Donkey Kong Jr., Popeye, Donkey Kong 3, Burgertime, Elevator Action, Gyromite, Stack-Up, Donkey Kong Jr. Math

Comments :  This publication was much thicker than the Fun Club News issues, and had the ambitious task of "reviewing" every game available for purchase for the NES as released from October 1985 through December, 1987.  When I say "reviewing", I do not mean giving a critical review of the game title but a description of the game in an advertising friendly format.

Games that should have been relegated to the Capsule Reviews sections, in my opinion, include Commando, Top Gun, Ring King, Donkey Kong, Spy Hunter, Ikari Warriors and Kung Fu.  Commando is too repetitive and buggy, Top Gun and Ring King aren't great, and Ikari Warriors and Spy Hunter are poor arcade game conversions.  While classics, Donkey Kong and Kung Fu are too simple for the pages they take up.  I would have instead have given the following games full reviews : 3-D Worldrunner, Ice Climber, Trojan, Mega Man, Wrecking Crew, Zanac and maybe Renegade or Kid Niki.  Mega Man and Zanac are classics that were Criminally Overlooked (Nintendo eventually righted this wrong with Mega Man), Trojan is pretty good for an early Capcom game, and Ice Climber and Wrecking Crew are two pre-SMB Nintendo Classics.

Even in 1987, the number of crap games is fairly disturbing, and many games from the early period simply haven't aged well (most of Nintendo's early sports titles).  The NES would have been better served if garbage like Deadly Towers, Star Voyager, Urban Champion, M.U.S.C.L.E., Super Pitfall and Athena were never released.  Arcade ports were in many cases, Karnov, Spy Hunter, Ikari Warriors, Karate Champ, 1942 rather uninspired.

Nintendo Fun Club News, Issue 5, Feb/March 1988

Game(s) on Cover : R.C. Pro-Am

Featured Games : Ice Hockey, Mike Tyson's Punch-Out!!, The Legend of Zelda, The Goonies II

Previews : Zelda II: The Adventure of Link, Super Mario Bros. 2, Return of Donkey Kong (never released), U.S. Golf (eventually released as NES Open Tournament Golf)

Product Feature : NES Max

Comments : First issue to feature a game published by a third-party developer, Konami's Goonies II.  One of the greatest NES games ever, Contra, was released in February, but you would hardly know about that by reading this magazine.  Criminally overlooked during the transition from the Fun Club News to Nintendo Power.  I like Metroid-style games like The Goonies II alot.

Nintendo Fun Club News, Issue 6, April/May 1988

Game(s) on Cover : Zelda II: The Adventure of Link

Featured Games : Double Dragon, Mike Tyson's Punch-Out!!, The Legend of Zelda

Previews : Super Mario Bros. 2, U.S. Golf

Comments :  Technos' Double Dragon NES port first rears its infamous head in this magazine, there were many better games that could have been featured.







Nintendo Fun Club News, Issue 7, June/July 1988

Game(s) on Cover : Sports Wrap-up 1988 -  Ice Hockey, Rad Racer, R.C. Pro-Am, Pro Wrestling, Mike Tyson's Punch-Out!!

Featured Games : Metroid, Wizards & Warriors

Previews : Super Mario Bros. 2

Comments :  Five of the best sports games for the NES are on the cover.  Wizards and Warriors was a bit too easy because it had infinite continues, but is still a fun game.  This was the end of the Nintendo Fun Club News magazine, its successor, Nintendo Power, would be much larger and better.  More and more third party games were being released, so Nintendo's first party and published titles need not have to carry so much of the slack.

All the covers for and most of the featured games in the Nintendo Fun Club News were classics.

Nintendo Power, Issue 1 - July/August 1988

Game(s) on Cover : Super Mario Bros. 2

Featured Games : Legend of Zelda, Double Dragon

Now Playing : Gauntlet, Contra, Wheel of Fortune, Jeopardy, R.B.I Baseball, Bases Loaded & Major League Baseball

Video Shorts : Legendary Wings, Iron Tank, Gun.Smoke, Rambo, Dragon Power, Metal Gear, Bionic Commando, City Connection, Ikari Warriors II: Victory Road, Star Force, Freedom Force

Poster : R.B.I Baseball, Bases Loaded & Major League Baseball

Howard & Nester : The Legend of Zelda

Comments : Super Mario Bros. 2 was huge at the time, and Double Dragon was a something of a classic even if it wasn't especially true to the arcade.  The arcade game was especially difficult for home console and computer ports to capture.  While classics like Metal Gear and Bionic Commando are relegated to the shorts section, they would get their due in later issues (and Metal Gear came with a map in the box). Contra's relegation to four pages in the Now Playing section utterly failed to do that game justice.  Its a much better arcade port than Double Dragon, in fact, it may be one of those rare games where the home console version is better than the arcade original.

Nintendo Power, Issue 2 - September/October 1988

Game(s) on Cover : Castlevania II: Simon's Quest

Featured Games : Bionic Commando, Life Force, Super Mario Bros. 2, Renegade, R.C. Pro-Am

Now Playing : Golgo 13, Blaster Master

Video Shorts : Xenophobe, Seicross, Superman, Indiana Jones and the Temple of Doom, Lee Trevino's Fighting Golf, 1943, Jackal, Hudson's Adventure Island, Magmax, Donkey Kong Classics, Pac-Man, Defender, Millipede, Joust, Xevious, Galaga

Poster : Bionic Commando

Howard & Nester : Super Mario Bros. 2

Product Feature : Power Pad

Comments : The featured games are all classics (Bionic Commando, Life Force, SMB2) or at least very good (Renegade, R.C. Pro-Am) for their time.  While the AVGN (back when he was the Angry Nintendo Nerd) began his Internet career with a roast of Castlevania II, I still believe it is a very good game despite its flaws.  The graphics and sound are first rate, the open world is vast and the item collection and multiple endings by game time completed are obviously inspired by Metroid.  The stiff controls, enemy hit bounce back, easy bosses and losing all your hearts when you lose your third life.

Like many games to come, Nintendo spread out its coverage of SMB2 into two magazines.  There is alot of crap in the shorts this month, but a classic like Jackal or a very good game like 1943 should have been in the Now Playing section over the middling Golgo 13.  Most of the classic arcade ports are pretty decent, or very good (Donkey Kong, Galaga).

Nintendo Power, Issue 3 - November/Decembet 1988

Game(s) on Cover : Track & Field II

Featured Games : Mickey Mousecapade, Blaster Master

Now Playing : Ultima: Exodus, Legacy of the Wizard, Anticipation, Blades of Steel, Cobra Command, Racket Attack

Video Shorts : Bubble Bobble, Paperboy, Ghostbusters, Tecmo Baseball, Challenge Pebble Beach, Dr. Chaos, Tecmo Bowl, Platoon, Milon's Secret Castle

Poster : Blaster Master

Howard & Nester : Castlevania II: Simon's Quest

Product Feature : NES Advantage & NES Max

Comments : I am no expert on sports games, but if one had to be featured, it is best that it is a Konami title.  I like Mickey Mousecapade more than its reputation would suggest.  Its fairly difficult for a child-oriented game.  Cobra Command should have sent to the shorts section and Bubble Bobble put in its place.  

I have used both the NES Advantage and the NES Max, and I am not particularly found of either.  While I appreciated the trubo fire for Contra, the Advantage's joystick was too imprecise for many games and the buttons could stick.  The circle thing on the Max was not nearly as useful as the features made it out to be.

Nintendo Power, Issue 4 -  January/February 1989

Game(s) on Cover : Zelda II: The Adventure of Link

Featured Games : Wrestlemania, Sesame Street 1-2-3, Skate or Die

Now Playing : Marble Madness, Operation Wolf, John Elway's Quarterback, N.F.L. Football, Tecmo Bowl, Metal Gear

Video Shorts : Friday the 13th, World Games, Star Soldier, Dr, Jekyll and Mr. Hyde, Bump'n Jump, Rampage, Othello, RoboWarrior, Spy vs. Spy, Gyruss, Q-Bert

Poster : Skate or Die

Howard & Nester : Track & Field II

Product Feature : Hands Free Controller, Playchoice-10

Comments : In case Nintendo hadn't covered it enough, this is the first of two features for Zelda II. In my opinion, there are exactly two good wrestling games on the NES, one had been released early in the console's life, and Wrestlemania is not the other one.  I know the WWF was big at the time, but the game sucks.  In addition, two out of three of the football games also suck, but Tecmo Bowl more than makes up for them.  Skate or Die, World Games and Spy vs. Spy were better on the C64.  All-in-all a slow pair of months, which is probably why Zelda II got the cover.  

The Hands Free Controller got a redesign, and its actually fairly usable in practice.  Its certainly no harder to use than the Power Glove or the U-Force.  You can watch a video of it being used here : https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=SKzKp3QGg6M

Nintendo Power, Issue 5 -  March/April 1989

Game(s) on Cover : Ninja Gaiden

Featured Games : Zelda II: The Adventure of Link, Hudson's Adventure Island

Previews : Strider, Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles, Cobra Triangle, The Adventures of Bayou Billy

Video Shorts : World Class Track Meet, Dance Aerobics, Super Team Games, California Games, Taboo : The Six Sense, Nobunaga's Ambition, Desert Commander, Mappyland, Airwolf, Predator, Flying Dragon

Poster : Strider

Howard & Nester : Zelda II: The Adventure of Link

Product Feature : None

Comments : A classic game in Ninja Gaiden, another two part feature.  Hudson's Adventure Island seemed a bit dated by the time it was featured.  The shorts were mostly deserved, but Desert Commander is a decent wargame for the time.  The Koei strategy titles were intimidating and boring back then and have aged very poorly.  

Nintendo Power, Issue 6 -  May/June 1989

Game(s) on Cover : Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles

Featured Games : Ninja Gaiden, The Adventures of Bayou Billy, Cobra Triangle, Life Force

Previews : Mega Man II, Faxanadu, Fester's Quest, Clash at Demonhead, Dragon Warrior

Video Shorts : Super Dodge Ball, Bugs Bunny's Crazy Castle, Fist of the North Star, Kung Fu Heroes, Street Cop, Athletic World, Amagon, Monster Party, Adventures of Lolo, Hydlide

Poster : Mega Man II

Howard & Nester : Ninja Gaiden

Product Feature : None

Comments : TMNT is one game that did not deserve its vaunted status as one of the top ten bestselling NES games.  The game is a flawed effort from Konami, but not without its redeeming features. Unfortunately, its merciless difficulty earned it a reputation as black as its box.  Its biggest sin, in my opinion, is that it didn't have the same feel and tone as the ultra-popular cartoon series of the time.  Fortunately, Konami would improve its TMNT licensed games for the next two games in the series.  

Another Konami game crippled by the difficulty was The Adventures of Bayou Billy.  Unlike Golgo 13, this game did two out of three of its gameplay types well.  Unfortunately, the main gameplay type, the side-scrolling beat-em up, is plagued by stiff controls, too few moves and too many palette swapped enemies.  Life Force is the best Konami game in this issue, and it was already featured back in Issue 2.

Super Dodge Ball, despite slowdown and flicker, deserved better than the video shorts section, as did Adventures of Lolo, Kung Fu Heroes and Monster Party.  Interestingly, there is a "HOT" label next to the listing for Mega Man II in the table of contents, indicating that the editors knew something good was coming. The poster included would also tend to suggest this.

Nintendo Power, Issue 7 -  July/August 1989

Game(s) on Cover : Mega Man II

Featured Games : Faxanadu, Dragon Warrior, Strider

Previews : Robocop, Duck Tales, Who Framed Roger Rabbit, Ironsword: Wizards and Warriors II

Video Shorts : Bad Dudes, The Adventures of Tom Sawyer, Guerrilla War, Defender of the Crown, King's Knight, To The Earth, Shooting Range, Sesame Street ABC, The Adventures of Dino-Riki

Poster : Robocop

Howard & Nester : Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles

Product Feature : Nintendo Game Boy

Comments : Few better games were ever released for the NES than Mega Man II.  Dragon Warrior was a classic and extremely important for JRPGs, but the first game plays like a cross between Wizardry and Ultima II.  The extremely stingy awards of experience and gold made the game far, far longer than it had any right to be, which was essentially the norm of 1980s RPGs, console and computer alike.  Strider is kind of buggy and no patch on the arcade game, but it is interesting in its own right.  Guerrilla War, which like Ikari Warriors was released by SNK, is a great game that deserved a Feature.  Criminally overlooked, and better than all three Ikari Warriors games for the NES combined!  Interestingly, To The Earth was a Nintendo published game, but still relegated to the shorts section.

This issue is the first issue to feature a new Nintendo console, the hand-held Nintendo Game Boy.  In its own way, the Game Boy would be at least as important as the NES for video gaming history.  

Nintendo Power, Issue 8 -  September/October 1989

Game(s) on Cover : Duck Tales

Featured Games : Dragon Warrior, Hoops, Fester's Quest, Who Framed Roger Rabbit

Previews : Willow, River City Ransom, Batman, NES Play Action Football, Tetris (Game Boy)

Video Shorts : Air Fortress, Bad Street Brawler, Casino Kid, Castlequest, One on One, Romance of the Three Kingdoms, Sky Shark

Poster : Batman

Howard & Nester : Mega Man II

Product Feature : Nintendo Game Boy, NES Satellite, NES Cleaning Kit

Comments : Although perhaps not universally acknowledged as such, Duck Tales is a great game made by the team responsible for the Mega Man series.  The game captures the spirit of the cartoon perfectly, the graphics are colorful and cartoon-like, the music is brilliant and the levels are well-designed.  The only knocks against it are the too liberal hit detection and the awkward pogo control scheme.  Its easily better than any of the other featured games.  Fester's Quest and Roger Rabbit are both deeply flawed, but far from worthless, games.  Roger Rabbit does much better than Fester's Quest at capturing the spirit of the licensed material. 

For all those gamers who blew on their consoles to get their games working, advertised here was the NES cleaning kit.  Foolishly, the kit tells the user to use water instead of alcohol to clean the contacts.  Water corrodes contacts, isoprophyl alcohol does not.  

The NES Satellite saw its first mention, and its first supported game was NES Play Action Football. Relatively few good four player games were ever released.  M.U.L.E. may be the best of the bunch, even if it has some gameplay differences from its home computer originals.  Bomberman II is a good game and supports three players and Nintendo World Cup may be the best soccer game for the NES.

Nintendo Power, Issue 9 -  November/December 1989

Game(s) on Cover : Tetris (Game Boy)

Featured Games : Willow, Tetris (NES), Ivan Stewart's Super Off-Road, Ironsword: Wizard & Warriors II, Robocop, N.E.S. Play Action Football

NES Previews : Wheel of Fortune Jr., Jeopardy Jr., The Three Stooges, Stealth Eagle, Godzilla, Shadowgate, Silent Service, A Boy and His Blob, 720°, The Guardian Legend

Game Boy Previews : Super Mario Land, Revenge of the Gator, Castlevania - The Adventure, Motocross Maniacs, Tennis, Baseball, Alleyway

Video Shorts : Goal!, Thundercade, P.O.W., Twin Eagles, Back to the Future, 

Product Feature : Power Glove, U-Force

Comments : For the last issue of the 1980s, a Game Boy game gets the cover art for the first time.  However, the NES version was also featured in the same issue.  Willow is an excellent Zelda-inspired game, another Capcom game that used a license well.  Unlike its predecessor, Ironsword is too unforgiving.  Rare would strike the best balance in the third game.  Robocop was given far too much attention as it is not a very good game.  In fact, none of the Robocop games for the NES are very good, but the sequels are better.  

Unfortunately, although the glorious Game Boy had been released, so too had the infamous Power(less) Glove and U(seless)-Force.  Both are typically fodder for "Worst Video Game Controllers of All-Time" lists. 

Future Issues

If I receive positive feedback, I believe I can continue this series to encompass the remainder of the NES's lifespan.  

Famicom AV: Best Overall Choice for the running NES & Famicom Cartridges

I am a real fan of the Nintendo Entertainment System.  This little gray box is the reason why we still play video games today  We have not forgotten about it, we still enjoy playing many, many of the approximately 750 unique North American games released during the console's lifespan.  While there is something to be said for emulating the games, there is nothing quite like playing on a real system connected to a television screen. 

Using the NES today has one problem, but it is a big one, the gray box (which in enthusiast circles is called the front loader) is terribly unreliable.  Back in the day, the push-in-and-down cartridge slot caused stress on the connectors.  Eventually obtaining and maintaining good contact between the 72 pins of the cartridge and the connector was no longer guaranteed.  If contact was broken, then the game would fail to start or crash.  On pressing the power button, if you saw a blinking screen or a solid screen of one color, that meant there was not good contact between the cartridge and connector. 

Two other issues exacerbated this unreliable mechanism.  First was the NES lockout chip.  The lockout chip inside the cartridge communicated with the one inside the system, and if the could not establish or maintain their delicate serial communications, the system would reset about twice a second.  This meant flashing screens.  Second, children discovered that by blowing on the contacts of the cartridge or system, they could often disperse the dust causing the faulty connection.  The side effect is that the saliva being blown onto the cartridge connector would, over time, corrode the contacts.  Hence more unreliable connections. 

Many companies sell replacement cartridge connectors or refurbished NES units.  There are issues here too.  First, all connectors are not created equal, and many of them are so tight that you practically need a pair of pliers to extract the cartridge when you want to change a game.  Second, the tightness of the connectors causes them to wear out more quickly than looser connectors.  Eventually, the connectors will wear out.  Refurbishing the connectors yourself requires a lot of time and the patience to slightly bend pins back to give a proper connection. 

Fortunately, there are other options.  First is the Redesigned NES, better known as the Top Loader.  The Top Loader was released at the end of the NES's life in 1993 as a cheap, entry level system.  It was a seriously cost reduced design.  Gone is the lockout chip and the unused expansion port.  As its nickname suggests, the cartridge slot consists of a vertical slot and a dust cover.  The PCB is as simplified as it gets without getting rid of any essential components.  Games tended to work much more reliably in the vertical slot, no extra stress on the pins from having to rotate the cartridge to make contact with both sets of pins in the slot. 

Two issues developed with the Top Loader, one major, one minor.  The minor one apparently is that it would not work with certain unlicensed games that relied on the presence of a lockout chip and defeat it before the game would work  I have never been able to confirm this, except for the licensed rarity known as the Nintendo World Championships 1990 cartridge.  The Game Genie's PCB may be too thick to fit inside the slot, and there was an adapter to make it work, but it is now extremely rare. 

The major issue is that the Top Loader has the worst video quality of any official NES-compatible hardware.  Vertical lines run down the screen every other pixel it seems.  This is especially apparent on backgrounds of certain solid colors, which is common on older NES titles.  Add to this the R/F only output, (whereas the front loader has composite video as well), and you have a serious barriers to oldskool enjoyment. 

Before releasing the NES in the United States, Nintendo had already enjoyed great success with the basic hardware, the Famicom, in Japan.  The Famicom and NES are virtually identical from a programmer's perspective.  Hardware-wise, they use different cartridge connectors, the Famicom uses a 60-pin connector while the NES uses a 72-pin connector.  Using US cartridges on a Famicom requires a 72-60 pin converter.  Other disadvantages of using a Famicom is that the controllers are hardwired to the system and the cables are very short.  The cables tend to be approximately 3' long whereas NES controllers are 6' long. Replacing worn out controllers is not as easy as it is for the NES.

The other big issue with using a regular Famicom is that the R/F signal was designed to be tuned to Japanese standards, which are just different enough from US standards to be annoying.  While a regular NES or other console RF system tunes to channel 2, 3 or 4, you need to set your TV to channel 95 or 96 to get the proper frequency for the Famicom's RF signal.  Not all TVs can do that, although more modern ones can more easily.  The Twin Famicom by Sharp (designed by Nintendo) has the same problems but has a Famicom Disk System inside the unit.

More interesting is the Sharp Famicom Titler.  While it has the attached controllers, it also has composte and S-Video outputs.  While they provide a sharper picture, they have graphics issues.  Normal US NES and Famicoms use a 2C02 Composite Video PPU, the Titler and the Playchoice-10 devices use a 2C03 RGB Video PPU.  The Titler has a chip that converts the RGB output from the PPU to S-Video, composite video and R/F video.  The 2C02 cannot output a good S-Video signal because the luma and chroma signals are mixed within the chip.  The RGB PPU generates graphics with some differences from the composite PPU, leading to issues.  The RGB and Composite palettes are generally similar to each other but there are color differences.  The Composite PPU can generate more gray shades than the RGB.  Games like The Immortal will not show graphics on the RGB PPU because they use a feature (color emphasis bits) that works as intended on the Composite PPU (diming the brightness generally) which will give a solid white screen on an RGB device. 

Finally, let me discuss the Famicom AV.  This unit was first released in 1993 or 1994 just as Nintendo was ready to stop producing games for the Famicom.  It is the smallest true Nintendo NES/Famicom device.  Because of its relative newness, you can find them in good shape. 

It uses the Nintendo Multi-Out A/V connector that the SNES, N64 and Gamecube use.  (The RGB and S-Video cables will not output video).  Unlike the first model SNES, it does not have an R/F output, but the Nintendo RF adapter which plugs into the Multi-Out should work.  It uses the same power requirements as a SNES power adapter but the plug which it expects is different.  The system did not come with a power adapter as it was assumed the purchaser would use his or her original Famicom power adapter.  The adapter for a Sega Master System or Sega Genesis Model 1 fits and works perfectly with the Famicom AV.  The adapter's ratings are DC 10v, 850mA, center tip negative.

The Famicom AV is chiefly distinguished by its video quality.  It has the best true composite output of any other NES/Famicom.  With licensed and unlicensed cartridges, the vertical stripes are non-existent.  Even on the front loader NES they can be visible at times.  The audio is still mono as with any unmodified NES/Famicom; each audio outputs jack on any cable will output the exact same sound. 

The Famicom AV has the same two controller ports as found in the NES.  It also comes with two "new-style" (dogbone) controllers.  I personally prefer to use dogbones over the original old-style rectangular NES controllers because they are more comfortable to hold in your hands over an extended period of time and the concave buttons are easier on the thumb than the convex buttons of the old-style controller.  However, the controllers that come with the Famicom AV only have a cable length of 3 feet, NES controllers have 6 foot cables.  Gamers in Japan generally have less room than US, so the cable lengths are shorter.  Top loader NESes came with 1 dogbone controller, but it had a 6 foot cable length. 

The Famicom AV, just like the original Famicom, supports all official Famicom cartridges, including ones that have extra sound hardware within.  It also supports the Famicom Disk System.  However, games that made use of the microphone on the second attached original Famicom controller will not be able to make use of that functionality.  Fortunately, the functionality is not important in any game a non-Japanese person is likely to play.  The Legend of Zelda uses it to kill the Pols Voice monsters, Kid Icarus to lower the shopkeeper's prices.

The more important limitation of the Famicom AV's second controller port is that it does not support the NES Zapper or the Arkanoid NES Vaus Controller.  The reason why is because there are two data lines which are connected on the NES's second controller port but not on the Famicom AV's.  Fortunately, soldering two wires inside the unit can fix this, if you are brave enough to take an iron to the Famicom AV.

Playing NES games with the Famicom AV requires the player to use a 72-60 pin converter between cartridge and console.  These used to be very difficult to find.  60-72 pin converters (they have ribbons attached) were much more common because more people were interested in playing Famicom games in their NES than vice-versa.  However, with the greater availability of Famicom clones, 72-60 pin converters have become more available.  Even so, not all are created equal.  The "Family Converter" works perfectly with all NES cartridges, but it is no longer in production.  More recent converters tend not to connect certain pins on the bus to the Picture Processing Unit & Video RAM inside the NES.  While this is okay for almost all released NES games, 10 games (including Gauntlet, After Burner & Castlevania III) will be unplayable due to graphic errors.  The PowerPak also will not work with cheap converters.  With some soldering and trace cutting on the converter, this problem may be fixable.  

Having explained the caveats, I still maintain that the Famicom AV is the best way to go to play commercial NES and Famicom games.  You will enjoy the best overall experience.