This might sound stupid but can I solder a famicom slot directly to the board of the NES toasted without the damn converter, or do I need the converter?
In theory that should work. But good look fitting it stable, and still look decent. NES doesn't have an internal cartridge slot in the traditional sense. Its male connector is part of the motherboard itself (like the Genesis expansion port where Sega CD goes).
I'm not sure but I think the pins are spaced differently from each other. Not to mention NES is 72 pin and Famicom is 60 pin. You will need an adapter of some sort. Or else use short wires to make up the offset misalignment.
IIRC attaching any vertical slot directly the easiest way (relatively speaking) would make cartridges face backward as well. Not to mention vertical means leaving off the NES top cover, cutting a hole in it, or making your own.
the esthetics is not a problem because its for personal use, and also I have to solder the cable to other points because it has some bad traces to where the 72 pin adapter mount. So in other words its going to be more a famicom than a NES. I need to find a diagram for the pin conversion.
Yes you certainly can solder a 60 pin connector into your NES. You will have to figure out where and how you wish to mount the connector and use the pinout to figure out how to wire it up. http://wiki.nesdev.com/w/index.php/Hardware_pinout The pinout between both systems is actually pretty similar, except that the NES has some more pins though the Famicom has a couple the NES doesn't. Good luck. Remember that expansion audio can work if you use the pins on the nes expansion port.
Thanks Mottzilla and yes one thing I want to do is the audio from the expansion. Lum I'm completely with you I been looking everywhere for a top loader slot to make this damn NES completely vertical for both NES and famicom. The only way I can do it is buying a nes to famicom adapter and desolder the nes slot.
if you need the slot, get an old computer motherboard that has ISA connectors. the spacing it's not exactly the same, but it works great! i used an ISA connector to play famicom games on nes.
Sad thing is I dont want to destroy a functional game genie for a connector. Finding an ISA connector this day is not easy, the famicom connector is sold in many chinese places for 6 bucks.
I have some ISA slot connectors I'm willing to desolder and sell. 3 to be exact. PM me if interested.
I found a mobo in the dumpster with perfectly good ISA slots. Might take a crack at this if I ever get any Famicom carts.
