Converters

[Azier the Swordsman]

I need information about converters for playing import games on US consoles. (for NES to Famicom; SNES to Super Famicom; ect.)

1. Most importantly, are they legal?

2. Where can I track down specifically NES to Famicom and SNES to Famicom converters?

3. Do they involve taking apart my system and and modifying it in any way that there is a possibility of damaging the system?

[Straylight]

Hmm, I think the best thing you should do is track down a Japanese console... things will be much easier then.

[Azier the Swordsman]

That's really what I'm aiming to do. But, I have no idea where to find Japanese consoles for sale other than eBay. Any suggestions would be appreciated.

[Kenchii]

Humm questions about converters ey? well, normaly converters for recent systems; playstation, playstation 2, sega saturn, ect.. are legal. Converters are also known as Mod-Chips. But some mods are able to enable cheats like a US Gameshark.

But, what your looking for is a SNES converter.. humm well, I havent heard/seen of any around sites. As for if they even made them, I am not sure on. But its better off you downloading the SNES rom you want, or if you don't want to do that just buy the JAP system.

If you need help/info on converter for any other systems then the 16-bit era, rb/pm me.

[shooraijin]

Legal or not (they actually occupy a grey area), mod chips will definitely void your warranty.

For my Dreamcast, I own a CD that allows me to play any region Dreamcast game on it -- the CD loads and acts like a patched version of the Dreamcast firmware, allowing any game to start. Unfortunately, finding things like this for cartridge-based consoles is usually a lot harder. SL's suggestion is, alas, probably the easiest solution since Japanese <-> US voltage converters aren't hard to find (my 115->100V step-down cost me $19 at Fry's), and Japanese consoles are also NTSC, so they should work with most composite monitors and television sets.

I have a number of Japanese home computers that work just fine here with my USA setup; all I do is convert the voltage (even this probably isn't necessary, but definitely recommended as extra insurance to prevent early demise of the components, especially if it cost a lot to import -- mine did ).

[Azier the Swordsman]

I think I'll just go with the option of purchasing the Japanese systems, but I'm having trouble tracking the systems down. Does anyone here happen to know of a good online store that deals in import games/systems. (Besides eBay)

[madphilb]

Actually I know that there was an import adaptor for the N64... I'd guess there is something similar for the other consoles (it's not a Nintendo sanctioned item though, but what is?)

Playstation had a device that pluged in like the gameshark, but supported import games as well.

Not sure about the older systems, but you could try googling for info.