Here are two copies of Gyromite for the NES

They look the same and are both five screw versions (the five screw vs three screw variants will have to be explained in another blog down the line)... so why if they are the same do the boards inside look so different??

Well the answer is actually an interesting piece of Nintendo history. The one on the left is a normal everyday NES board. It is the one of the right that needs explanation. There was one Christmas when Nintendo did not have enough NES boards in order to make all the games they needed to make. There was however plenty of Famicom boards. They were able to put the NES game on fami boards but they could not just put a famicom board into an NES case because the pin connectors are different sizes. So the game itself is the top part, the black section is an adapter, and the bottom is the connectors for an American NES.

While there have been several unofficial famicom/nes converters, this is the only one that nintendo ever made (they just never wanted you to know about it). The reason they didnt want you to know about it is also the reason that they were so short lived. People that knew what was going on could open up the game (the five screw games such as these just used a Flathead screwdriver to open) then you could take out the top section which was the game. You could then use that top section in any other cartridge with the adapter in it (it would just be annoying to switch it out). You may be asking why would you want to do that? Well this was back in the day when many retailers didnt quite understand the rules that should be in-place with people who return video games. So someone could take out the top section of the board and return the rest to the store by saying it doesnt work and get a new game.

The carts with the adapter is more valuable than the same game without the adapter (but not that much more). The reasons they are more valuable is it can be the key to play famicom games on a NES, and its an interesting piece of history.

If you want to look for a copy (you may have one sitting in your game stash) there are a few rules to go by. First off it has to be a Five Screw game (This mean that when you look at the back of the game there are five screws. Second it has to be a tad bit heavier than most any other nes game. And third it only happened with some games so it has to be a game from this list.

1942

Clu Clu Land

Donkey Kong Jr.
Duck Hunt

Elevator Action

Excitebike

Golf

Gumshoe

Gyromite
Hogan's Alley
Mike Tyson's Punch-Out!!
Pinball

Raid on Bungeling Bay

Rygar

Soccer
Stack Up
Tennis
Urban Champion
Wizards and Warriors

Wrecking Crew

If you are going to try to find one then good luck!!! I hope someone found this interesting!

I can't believe how much I like playing Bully... its great... Im actually at work or out some place and I just keep thinking "Man I wish I was home so I could play some more" and only a handful of games have done that for me before. I got it about two weeks ago and the first week I made it to chapter three (I think there are five chapters). Now Im on chapter four. I would have beaten it by now but I have worked 88 hours in the last 8 days. Im taking a trip to Memphis tomorrw and while I shold be excited I just keep thinking "Dang it, I want to play Bully". I havnt done a review on gamespot yet but I think once I finish it I'll write one for Bully.

Ok this isnt a blog post really... just an FYI I updated my nes games list... its growing pretty well...