Mysterious circuitry hidden inside Famicom to Nes Adapter: Game converter US-72

I just acquired an adapter to play Famicom games inside an NES.
The thing works pretty well and comes with a nice casing and a ribbon to help taking it out of the system.



But the funny thing is there is little opening inside the connector with a window where you can see some hidden circuitry. I can see at least 2 transistors, 2 resistors and 1 ceramic cap.
AFAIK you do not need any extra parts for these adapters. The "official" gyromite one did not have any. So no need to say this has gotten me curious and I want to see inside it asap!



Problem is I cannot figure out how opening yet. There are no screw on this thing!! Looks like they glued it shut! I cannot see any evidence of screws hidden under the labels. I do not feel like peeling the labels needlessly or breaking it just to see inside. Anyone has opened one like that before?

 

that is interesting indeed, long ago I opened a honeywell converter and it does not have that kind of circuitry.

 

Given a chance I will have to dig mine out and have a look-see.

 

If it's anything like the Chinese Famiclone carts I have then it uses plastic snaps that can be unhooked with a bit of force. Being made in Taiwan I bet it uses those locking plastic snaps. If it is glued shut then super glue will fix it should you open it up.

 

Not so mysterious--cheap converters don't have CIC key clones in them; instead they zap the lock CIC in the NES with a negative charge pump to prevent it from resetting.

 

I have used this technique to open famicom carts, maybe the adaptors are the same. http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=LgCiAOmgeFc

 

Oh I see. I thought the Famicom used the cic too but apparently this thing is only in the NES.
I had looked at pics of the gyromite adapter but had not seen the CIC chip as they were all on the reverse side.
Thanks for the explanation
http://wiki.nesdev.com/w/index.php/CIC_lockout_chip

In the meantime I managed to open the damned thing. Turns out it is using self locking clips in an isolated spot. Basically they made the blasted thing pretty much impossible to take apart without damaging or breaking the clips.
Damn Taiwanese!

So here is the not so mysterious circuit if anyone is intereste, both transistors are 2N3904.

 

Yep, that's definitely a knockout circuit for the lockout chip. I think Camerica and Color Dreams/Wisdom Tree used a similar circuit in their carts as well.