When someone mentions a Famicom converter, they're talking about one of two converters. Either a converter that takes NES games and makes them playable on the Famicom or a converter that takes Famicom games and makes them playable on the NES. The Famicom is 60 pins, while the NES is 72. So, in order to play games from one system onto the other, you need a converter.

They run about $10-15 bucks on eBay.

You can use it with any NES system, I think, though sometimes you have to be creative because the converters and Famicom games are short when compared to NES. Some come with a ribbon so that you can easily pull it out of the frontloader. What I do is just keep the screws off my frontloader so that I can take off the top cover, that annoying silver cover and the black springy cartridge holder inside. Then I just connect the converter directly to the pins inside the NES, and of course, the game to the converter.

ThaDuke wrote on 11. Oct 2006 at 02:52:


Yes. Sometime you can find them cheap. The problem is that not all the black box games, like Gyromite, came with the converter inside. Only way to know for sure is to open up a black box cart before buying it, but you can also try a weight test, which is to say, carts with converters inside weigh more than the other NES carts. I still haven't found one, but I haven't really been looking too hard.

As to your other question. I don't know. I often adjust the contacts within the NES so that there's a bit more guaranteed friction. I'm sure it does some damage -- the tighter it is, the more damage is should cause. I think there are ways of protected the game contacts -- don't recall the specifics.

ThaDuke wrote on 11. Oct 2006 at 02:52:


It will a little bit (tin is harder than gold, referring to the plating on the NES connector and carts).  Jam your least favorite cart in there about a couple dozen times and it should be ok, if you're worried about it.  New connectors are like that too, a really tight fit.  In fact you don't even have to press the cart down with the spring thing, until you've swapped enough carts to break it in.

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Yep, I've got one thanks to someone on the forums here (forget the name at the moment).  To add to what JC said, rumor has it that every Stack-Up cart has one of those, but I've never seen that cart anyways.

As for the weight thing, I've heard that doesn't work too well.  Maybe if you're really good at weighing stuff or have a precise scale, heheh.

There are three ways to find Gyromite adapters. I don't know if these work with other Black Box carts but I assume #1 and #3 will work with most since they're all simple chipsets and they have to do with weight/balance.

First is weight: with adapter is 4.1-4.2 oz, without is 3.5-3.6 - this is barely perceptible with your hands and since boards vary in size and weight, even comparing a random gyromite to another 5-screw in the same bucket you may not be able to rely on your results. It's good if you get a lot and have a postal scale and don't feel like reaching for your screwdriver.

Second is visual: The non-adapter's "Robot Series" logo is a very violet, deep purple. The adapter logo is a lighter purple, more Royal, with more blue in it. The blues on the non-adapter cart's "Gyromite" text (front and end) and sprite-art background are a deeper more primary blue, and on the adapter cart they're a lighter sky blue. This test takes a trained eye but I can spot it every time after seeing one next to another. This test falls apart if the cart gets sunfaded or dirty though, which brings us to the surefire test to find Wild adapter Gyromite carts.

Turn the cart label-down and balace it on your finger like you were going to spin it as a basketball. Your fingertip should be touching the label, and the Magic Spot for the test is between the "Robot Series" logo and the "Nintendo" red oval logo. Horizontally, your finger will be directly centered above the embossed arrow in the cart plastic, in the black space between these logos. An adapter cart will balance, a non-adapter will topple forward.

Works every time
 -Dan

I can tell if they have an adapter just buy holding a Gyromite.  I must have a gift   I once made 5 bucks at a flea market from a vendor because of this.  We got to talking about them and he said he couldn't tell a difference.  I said I could and he called bullshit.  We picked 10 Gyros at random and I said which ones had them, and which ones didn't.  Then we opened all 10 up and I got all 10 right I Pointless story, yes, but I made 5 bucks for doing nothing

I still don't understand why these games came with the converters. You would think that Nintendo would have stopped this immediately!

Anyways, how does the graphics and sound compare on the Famicom disks? Even though they may have had slower load times.

I'm pretty sure the disk system graphics and music are the same? I don't own one yet. I think the point of the disk system was to give gamers a way to save their progress in games. So that's the only major difference in choosing to buy a disk over the cart. Of course, there are many disk system-exclusive games.