So I went to Japan for a business trip, and stopped by Akihabara at some of the gaming shops. I was looking to pick up an AV Famicom for a decent price. But, alas, even the gaming shops know how much many of the things they sell go for on eBay and other sites. One store even had AV-modding Famicoms going for 9900 yen! One of the Trader stores had some red-and-white Famicoms for cheaper, around 6880 yen complete (RF, power adapter included). I looked, and saw 2 round button ones, and a square button one! The square button one did not have a price tag on it. I spent about 10 min trying to shine my phone flashlight in to see the board revision (to no avail). I was really looking to pick a Famicom up for gaming (bought Akumajou Densetsu while I was there too, decent deal, 3300 yen), but I couldn't pass up on the square button. Brought it up to the register, rung up 6880 yen, bought it, brought it back to the hotel, cracked it open and found it was a Rev. 6 board! Strange thing is, the PPU looks a little different from other Rev. 6 photos I've seen online. There is no serial number sticker on it (it does have the smooth bottom though). I think this is pretty rare. I REALLY want to play it, but that for me would mean AV modding it, and I'm not sure if I should since it is pretty rare. It's in pretty good shape, the console is not pure white, but I wouldn't call it yellowed either. I might just pick up an AV Famicom to play around with on eBay instead.
Don't use it for actually playing games. This thing belongs in the museum. Controllers lasted for a few months then i had to mod them with microswitches and plastic buttons. But... it didn't help for long. Suddenly PPU died. At that time it was impossible to find a replacement, later famiclones and original NES arrived. And first full chipset famiclones were much more reliable than square buttons Famicom. Then it was AV Famicom which still works perfectly. I still have PCB of that thing in one of the boxes, cannibalized for parts though. Just to think of it - i was 8 years old. Time flies for sure. So just buy AV Famicom which is better in every possible way, especially after video and audio mods to get rid of the jail bars and noise.
Yep, I ended up picking up an AV Famicom on eBay, waiting for it to come in. I did hook up the square fami to my TV on ch.95, and it worked! You're right, I'm glad I didn't do anything to it, it is a piece of history. Oh, and those buttons are horrible. I can't imagine playing a game on them where you need to hit them at any rapid pace. The travel on the button is long. Not surprised they went with the hard buttons and carbon contacts.
I was gonna say, they feel like absolute crap. I saw one at Hard Off in Akiba once for 1000yen and skipped it because the controllers felt bad.
