Famiquestions....

Myrddin

I'm mulling over the idea of getting another Famicom, though I won't be getting the standard one (too much arsing about with video mods & joypad extensions etc). Instead, I'm giving consideration to either the AV Famicom, or the Twin Famicom.

Apart from the obvious difference of there being a disk drive, does the Twin offer any other advantages? Does it have native AV out? Are the joypad leads ridiculously short on it?? Which one should I look at more? There also seems to be a few different models of the Twin, are any more preferable than the other?

Retr0gamer

I say pay a visit to your bank manager, remortgage the house and car and get the s-video Famicom titler.

o1s1n

If you want to skip the joypad mod, get one of those Hudson third party controllers that goes into the exe port at the front.

They keep the same styling as the standard pads but are a bit bigger and far more comfortable.

Myrddin

o1s1n wrote: »

If you want to skip the joypad mod, get one of those Hudson third party controllers that goes into the exe port at the front.

They keep the same styling as the standard pads but are a bit bigger and far more comfortable.

Good idea, will keep that in mind I'd still be left with the av mod to do though, & while I've done them before, I think I'd rather something a bit different.

On another note, the Famicom Everdrive supports disk images...can anyone tell me if this means a stock Famicom can then load disk images & play them? Or is there circuitry needed from the disk units to play the images?

o1s1n

Stock Famicoms load disk images perfectly fine from the Everdrive. Its actually a pretty cool feature

Retr0gamer

Does it use the extra sound channel as well that disk image games have access to??

Myrddin

o1s1n wrote: »

Stock Famicoms load disk images perfectly fine from the Everdrive. Its actually a pretty cool feature

Hmm, so there's no real need for the disk drive element then...interesting. AV Fami looking more appealing now...

o1s1n

Retr0gamer wrote: »

Does it use the extra sound channel as well that disk image games have access to??

EVERDDRIVE-N8 FEATURES:
Famicom, NES, and Twin Famicom systems are supported.* Many NES/FC clones supported as well.
Cart supports NES and FDS ROM images.
Automatic disk side swap for FDS.
Expansion audio.**

I haven't tested it myself, but it seems to be listed in the cart specs

Retr0gamer

I've had one for months now but never got around to using it I need to get a SD card for it.

Steve X2

My understanding is that the Everdrive N8 uses emulation for the extra sound channel. Earlier versions of the firmware were poor but I think it’s improved a bit over the couple of years it’s been out.
I’m sure someone has done a comparison video with the real hard and the everdrive. If not I might do it if I’ve time as I’m interested to see what the difference is myself.

Myrddin

Steve X2 wrote: »

My understanding is that the Everdrive N8 uses emulation for the extra sound channel. Earlier versions of the firmware were poor but I think it’s improved a bit over the couple of years it’s been out.
I’m sure someone has done a comparison video with the real hard and the everdrive. If not I might do it if I’ve time as I’m interested to see what the difference is myself.

Interesting, cheers Steve...I'd be interested in that myself. So even if there's a Famicom disk drive present, the N8 will still use emulated additional sound?

Tchoin

I have the red Twin Famicom and it is a lovely unit, controller cords are too damn short though. Also, you most probably will have to disassemble and replace the drive belt, which is fairly easy but very annoying - but this goes also with the standard FDS.

Fun fact: I got the Twin Famicom with a completely rotten belt, had to wait months for replacement belts to arrive from China, changed it and luckily didn't have to re-caliber the drive and off to play some games... everything's peaches... until I leave it on for a while and go check something else on the PC next room, and then I smell the lovely plastic BBQ smell , don't know how the thing burnt with a 50W converter.

Myrddin

Question - does the twin famicom have the additional audio channels that the traditional famicom disk system offers via its ram cart?

Secon question - what twin fami to get? There's two models, with two variants each:

AN500R - Red with Black highlights
AN500B - Black with red highlights
AN505BK - Black with green highlights
AN505RD - Red with beige highlights

Personally I like the An500R (red with black highlights), but the 505 models offer longer controller cables. Can anyone say how much longer the controller cables are on the 505 models?