Thought I'd give a little update on the progress of my collection. I am now at 636 carts, close to 2/3 of the way there.
My current rough estimate is that I have about 500 duplicates in addition to that, so I've got roughly 1100 Famicom carts taking up space in my apartment.
1100 Famicom carts take up a lot of shelf space, as I often complain about. Actually, its not normally as much as these pictures make it seem, I usually store them 3-deep so they only take up one row of shelves. Still though....a whole row of shelf.
I just set them up like this to take some pictures of the whole collection, but if I had the space to spare I'd leave them like this all the time. I like this look. Its like having a wall of colorful buttons or something. I think if Andy Warhol had been active during the Famicom's lifetime, he would have used Famicom carts as a medium.
OK, if you want to really impress me, I have a challenge for you. There are about 1100 Famicom carts on these shelves. There is also ONE Mega Drive cart that accidentally got mixed up with them. If you can spot the Mega Drive cart in this photo, well I won't give you anything tangible but you will have earned my respect:
This shelf unit is also home to my "extra" consoles. These are either broken or awaiting parts:
Someday I'll make them all work. And then.....I'll have nothing to do with them.
Thought I'd give a little update on the progress of my collection. I am now at 636 carts, close to 2/3 of the way there.
My current rough estimate is that I have about 500 duplicates in addition to that, so I've got roughly 1100 Famicom carts taking up space in my apartment. 
1100 Famicom carts take up a lot of shelf space, as I often complain about. Actually, its not normally as much as these pictures make it seem, I usually store them 3-deep so they only take up one row of shelves. Still though....a whole row of shelf. 
I just set them up like this to take some pictures of the whole collection, but if I had the space to spare I'd leave them like this all the time. I like this look. Its like having a wall of colorful buttons or something. I think if Andy Warhol had been active during the Famicom's lifetime, he would have used Famicom carts as a medium. 
OK, if you want to really impress me, I have a challenge for you. There are about 1100 Famicom carts on these shelves. There is also ONE Mega Drive cart that accidentally got mixed up with them. If you can spot the Mega Drive cart in this photo, well I won't give you anything tangible but you will have earned my respect:
This shelf unit is also home to my "extra" consoles. These are either broken or awaiting parts:
Someday I'll make them all work. And then.....I'll have nothing to do with them.
Greetings. I only discovered this blog today, but it's already a firm favourite. As an English speaker who grew up with a Famicom as opposed to the NES (an odd story), this brings back a lot of nostalgic memories. As you aptly point out, the colourful design to Famicom carts is quite wonderful.
ReplyDeleteI've often thought about collecting for the FC again, but have always put it off due to the difficulty of finding them, now living in Europe. But I can live vicariously through this blog - I especially liked the 5 Excitebike carts out and about entry - very funny, good sir!
As for the MD cart, to be utterly pedantic I have to ask: I assume it's a Japanese MD cart, and a not European one? This could have been a trick question. Regardless, I've not found it - yet.
Keep up the good work and the reports from retro stores, they are fascinating.
You know what I first thought when I saw the first image in this post? That it was an image from Super Potato -- or whichever game shop features a chair/throne made out of Famicom carts. Maybe you can make your own with all of your duplicates someday :)
ReplyDeleteAnyway, as always, I'm amazed by the photos of your collection.
Oh, and that was horribly cruel of you to challenge us to find the MegaDrive cart amongst all of those Fami carts. I know what a MD cart looks like, but I'll be damned if I can find one in that photo! Maybe I'll give my search a rest and come back later :)
Sketcz - thanks for the post! I'd be interested to hear the odd story that led a native English speaker to grow up with a Famicom:)
ReplyDeleteI'm also glad to hear that my humble blog enables someone to enjoy some nostalgic vicarious-living. I'll strive to keep the editorial standards up!
The Mega Drive cart is a Japanese one. Its the same size as the Famicom cart, though has a slightly different shape. Actually, I don't know if I recommend looking for it, I would hate to be responsible for the carnage of otherwise-productive time that would result from a concerted effort to find it!
Bryan - Thanks! I love that Famicom chair in Super Potato. I've never been there, but I definitely want to sit on that chair someday.
ReplyDeleteI want to make something like that with my big pile o' Famicom carts, but it'll have to wait for the day when I again have a whole afternoon to waste - er, I mean "devote"- to a Famicom related construction project.
When that day comes, photos will soon follow:)
I actually grew up in South Africa, which didn't have any official videogame market support until the mid-to-late 1990s, so everyone I knew had a Famicom clone, such as the "Golden China". These were (mostly) aesthetically identical to the burgundy/gold Famicoms of Japan, and the cartridges were the same shapes and colours. Most carts were bootlegs (almost indistinguishable), a few were more expensive unofficial imports with boxes and manuals. It was strange, because at school we'd all talk about the Japanese text in some games, trying to decipher what it meant.
ReplyDeleteToday sadly the Famicom bootleg market is less concerned with fidelity, and more about making things as ugly as possible (ie: modern bootleg hardware made to look like an Xbox). Obviously I prefer the legitimate thing, and thanks to a friend in Japan I did eventually move on to an official Famicom with Disk System - but the nostalgia switch was first installed thanks to those bootleg systems.
As for the MD cart, I've had JPN carts, and was looking for the telltale indentation on the side. Though technically, with this being on the cartridge's left side, by having only their right side's visible you've made the challenge quite tricky.
Due to the thinner shape and rounded end in some pics, I'm going to go with: middle right box; 6 rows along, bottom row, directly next to the turquoise cart.
Technically it was "productive time" spent, since I sometimes freelance for Retro Gamer magazine. We do love writing about old games. ;)
Speaking of games magazines, have you ever come across the Japanese retro magazine called GameSide? Apparently they published their final issue a few months back. It used to cover obscure but fun retro titles,
Well done, sir! That is indeed the Mega Drive cart! I am impressed!
ReplyDeleteNow if you want to impress me even more you'll tell me which game it was:)
I'm also glad to hear it was time productively spent!
And that's an interesting story, thanks for sharing it. I agree about the modern Fami-clones, most of them lack the charm of the old ones. Some people have no taste at all...
I'm not familiar with GameSide, but my local shops have tons of back issues of game magazines and guides, I'll take a look next time I'm over!
I can't believe you found the MD cart, Sketcz! I know what MD carts look like, but since there are a lot of black Famicom carts in Sean's photo I gave up pretty early :)
ReplyDeleteThis blog is incredible! I discovered it today and I'm very happy about that. Please, keep us informed about your collection.
ReplyDeleteThanks, Wachinayn! I will!
ReplyDeleteI was also impressed by Sketcz's MD-cart finding prowess, Bryan!
Wow a what an impressive collection!!! Your dedication is quite remarkable!! I have a question for you, i think i would like to replace my american nintendo with a famicom yet still use a converter to play my nes carts as well as possibly start a collection of famicom carts to play!! To your knowledge what whould i have to do in order to have the famicom play on my tv which uses composite? Is it possible or is the famicom so localized that it would be nearly impossible without breaking it open and modding?
ReplyDeleteThanks for the nice comment!
ReplyDeleteAbout your question, unfortunately I don't have any first hand experience with hooking a Famicom up to a North American TV so I can't offer a definitive answer myself.
I do, however, recommend looking at this thread on Famicom World, which I think has the answers you seek by people who know what they are talking about:) They indicate it is possible to hook a Famicom up by using the NES RF:
http://www.famicomworld.com/forum/index.php?topic=560.0
Hope that helps!
Amazing collection! I love looking at all those colorful Famicom carts! I have a question...umm what are you going to do with the duplicates? If you want to sell them off I might be interested you know! Regards and thanks for the awesome blog!
ReplyDeleteHey, thanks!
ReplyDeleteGood question. I certainly don't intend to keep the duplicates forever, so I will be looking to sell or trade them when I get around to it. I have to organize them and figure out which ones I want, etc, which will take a bit of time that I don't have until after new years.
If you are interested, I will give you a heads up before I try moving them. Let me know if there are any particular carts you are looking for! :)