Play NTSC-U SNES reproductions on a Super Famicom?

I'm making a few SNES reproductions by buying the Super Famicom version of a game and swapping over to the English language version of the game so I can play the game in English. I play them on my NTSC SNES, which has had the plastic nubs snapped off so I can insert SFC carts. This works fine for playing both original SFC games, and SFC carts with the aforementioned ROM-swap. But this looks kinda ugly, so I was thinking of buying a SFC and playing them in that instead! I should be able to play my SFC reproductions in a SFC right? Or might there be issues since the ROM is technically NTSC-U?

 

Internally there is no such thing. SNES (and N64) hardware do not recognize the very concept of US, Japan, or Korea. All they see is a CIC chip match.

Lucky for you 1:1 pin adapters exist. Rare yet easy to tell apart, they won't have the additional connections for lockout.

 

So I should be able to pop in my SNES repros and play them without issue? That's what I suspected, since it works in reverse (SFC to NTSC SNES), thanks! What about games that had more complex region-protection like Mario RPG?

 

Is there a particular reason why you're going to so much trouble with this? Cheaper japanese versions? Fan translations?

 

Both!

 

You could also consider an emulation system (like the Retro Duo) which can play SNES and SFC games right out of the box.

 

Ew, clone systems are 'orrible!

 

I own a super famicom and play snes carts on it with an adaptor, problem isn't pins there the same so is cic chip. It's the cart slot. Since sfc carts are a bit smaller sfc has a smaller cart slot and only way to get us games to fit is grinding the sfc cart slots sides but its a huge eye sore and would kill point or value.

 

Better than nothing but I can agree with the sentiment.

 

I think a mod can close this thread now. The answer to "can a Super Famicom play Super Famicom carts that have had their ROM replaced with an NTSC-U ROM?" was "yes", and I've tested it for myself

 

Yup keep Korea versions in mind too. Those already with English will save having to sacrifice Japanese carts.

 

I've never even seen a Korean version SFC game before, I'd bet they're quite uncommon and pricy. The main reason for using SFC games is they're cheap and they often come boxed and complete. I'm not exactly "sacrificing" them, as I'm turning them into a copy of the same game.

 

True. All things in moderation, etc etc. Finding one of those NTSC pin adapters will help.

 

What is the method to do rom swapping for the super famicom games? I want to do some games not everybody talk like Magic knight rayearth, sailor moon another story and romancing saga 3. I like them and have the jap carts. But the only way I play them is the translated rom on an emu. I love to have them in english on a hard media like the jap cart.

 

You'd need to burn the translated ROM to an eprom chip, then you just swap out the old chip for the new. Here's a guide

 

That only is good for those with DIP mask roms. Super Mario RPG uses surface mounted mask roms which requires more finesse and yes there is a guide on there but you shouldn't attempt it unless you are quantifiable good at soldering. I've ripped enough traces to know better now.

On top of that the chips aren't exactly something you'll be able to program in the cheaper programmers either. My GQ-4X doesn't handle them last I checked nor does it handle the chips used in the Dreamcast or Sega Saturn.

 

Yeah, Mario RPG is different, but there's a guide on how to do it at mmmonkey's site, thought installation is more difficult as APE said. As to programming, I let buyicnow.com do that for me for $0.50

 

the soldering is not a problem for me but the thing of programing that is where I fail. I see you mention buyicnow is that a place where you can buy the eprom and they program them for you.

 

My Model 2 SNES consoles don't do S-Video so when I want to make a gameplay video I usually use my SFC. Sometimes I use my Pro Action Replay as a cart adapter but sometimes there are games that don't run even with it disabled. Donkey Kong Country NTSC U 1.0 is one, so when I wanted to show how to turn a ridable character like Expresso or Winky into Rambi, I needed to take the SFC or the cartridge apart. I chose to take the SFC apart. Other times I wanted to prove that I wasn't cheating with the PAR so I recorded a second simultaneous video with the top removed.

 

You might wanna consider the (very simple) SNES mini S-vid mod. Amazing output from the mini with S-vid.