Nintendo Famicom -

[trip2themoon]

I just ordered the Famicom version of Megaman 5 as I recently found a Famicom clone going cheap that will work on a PAL TV. I was wondering though if NES and Famicom games are region locked (8 bit Sega games aren't) and if they're not is it possible to play Famicom games on a PAL NES? Recently found a huge stack of Famicom games going real cheap too and I have my eye on that. Any info would me much appreciated. Cheers .

 

[Watcher]

Old cartridge based games aren't "region locked". They were only "locked" in that their cartridges were usually designed differently.

There are adapters you can buy that allow you to fit a Japanese cartridge into an NA/PAL console. For that some online retro gaming stores sell them.

http://www.ebay.com/sch/sis.html?_kw=NES CARTRIDGE 72 TO FAMICOM 60 PIN GAME SYSTEM NINTENDO ADAPTER CONVERTER

However you have to bare in mind some of them require you to open the case up replace part of the circuit board. And some of them are legit adapters you just stick the game into. So you have to do your own research.

 

[trip2themoon]

Awesome, thanks Cuddlebug, with a bit of luck though I'll get the Famicom clone for a decent price but it would be pretty cool to use the Famicom games on my NES.

 

[Pickle Man]

Actually the original NES had an lockout chip (mostly for pirate and unlicensed games) so PAL game wont work on american system and vice versa unless you disable the chip. But the top loader NES system didn't have a lockout chip so no problem there. But to play famicom games on a nes, you need a adapter/converter like this.

Also be warn, the famicom and American NES play as the same speed while a PAL NES play as a much slower speed so it might effect some of your games because of it.