Tea4Two Famicom or Titler Famicom advice

[Phar]

I've been seriously thinking about selling off a lot of my retro stuff and picking up a Famicom recently as I've never owned one.

I've narrowed it down to either getting a Tea4Two Famicom which basically is an old Famicom cleaned up, new stickers, with a PPU stabilizer, AV amplifier and eala 3D Surround added to it as well as 2 metre joypads and a smaller power adaptor. I know a few people might moan about the front sticker not saying Family Computer but I think it looks quite nice tbh.

http://www.tea4two.jp/top_product_game_14.php/tab1/

The second option I'm thinking of is picking up a Sharp Titler Famicom, it's probably the ugliest Famicom out there but it's got the benefit of S-Video and the possibilty of adding RGB without having to hack up a Playchoice-10.

http://www.japan-games.com/Database/images/Nintendo/Famicom/Titler/index.htm

I really cant decide at the minute what to go for so just after some opinions really.

[MattyD]

I'd personally go for the Tea4Two machine, simply because it's easier and cheaper to obtain. Famicom titlers are pretty rare and even if you did find one it would probably cost a small fortune.

Have you considered getting a Famicom AV? They're pretty cheap and easy to get hold of and they have basically the same hardware improvements as the Tea4Two machines (better image output, stereo sound etc) sans the 3D sound. You can remove the pads from a Famicom AV too as it has the same sockets as a NES, meaning you can also plug a NES pads or a NES Advantage arcade stick into it

Famicom AVs are also cheaper - the full-on Tea4Two unit on the page you linked comes in at about £115 plus shipping whereas Famicom AVs can be had unboxed for under £50 including EMS shipping. Dream Stars Japan on Ebay nearly always has good condition unboxed machines on sale.

[Soundwave]

That Titler is freaking ugly I'd deffinitley NOT be buying that one if it was my cash.

The Tea 4 Two on the other hand is clasically gorgeous
Everything about it screams teh sexy Famicom of the 80's & I'd deffinitley consider it if I was in the market for one.

Neil

[SuperDanX]

Do tea4two ship to the uk? Or have an english language web site? For what its worth id go for the tea4two famicom also.

[MattyD]

Do tea4two ship to the uk? Or have an english language web site? For what its worth id go for the tea4two famicom also.

I do seem to recall hearing that they don't ship outside of Japan. In fact at one point they didn't ship anywhere and you had to buy the machines at retailers, which I guess is what the little map with red dots on it shows. Must be worth a go, or you could always get someone in Japan to order it and send it on to you if you didn't mind paying twice for shipping + any commission etc.

[NeoStuey]

Tea4Two would be the One4Me.

[NeoStuey]

you could always get someone in Japan to order it and send it on to you if you didn't mind paying twice for shipping + any commission etc.

Japan-games on eBay do that for you and include the cost of ordering you one in the price they sell it for. Just need to pick your shipping option and add that on.

That one looked liked the system that had all the mods done to it but in the description Japan-games said it still only plays back in mono? Not sure if that's a typo or not, might be worth dropping him a message because it looks like he'll order whichever one you wanted as he currently has two different ones listed for ordering.

Disclaimer time, I've never used the above seller before.

[MattyD]

I think what he means about mono is, the machine outputs on both L and R but the output is identical on both sides. The machine can't do 'true' stereo. It's still worth having though as you can plug it into an amp for chiptune greatness like I do

[Lord Of Swede]

I quite like the look of those Tea4Two Famicoms, I feel an investment is imminent

[Phar]

Tea4Two would be the One4Me.

To quote Stuey it's looks like the Tea4Two is the One4Me then, thanks for helping me decide lads. Just need to get rid of a few things and raise some funds now.

Have you considered getting a Famicom AV?

I was thinking about an AV originally but tbh if i'm going to go for a Nintendo Famicom I'd sooner have the original design even if it does cost me a bit more, might pick up an AV if I have trouble getting a Tea4Two though.

Quick question for you as you seem to know a bit about Famicoms, can you connect things like NES pads through the original Famicoms extension slot, I seem to remember reading somewhere thats how you connected a lot of 3rd party controllers to the system.

[Lord Of Swede]

Quick question for you as you seem to know a bit about Famicoms, can you connect things like NES pads through the original Famicoms extension slot, I seem to remember reading somewhere thats how you connected a lot of 3rd party controllers to the system.

The Famicom expansion slot is a different type of connector to the ones found on the NES and Famicom AV.

[honeymustard]

You can still connect it though, you just need to solder a converter up.

[Lord Of Swede]

You can still connect it though, you just need to solder a converter up.

Interesting! I had a quick look on google, and came across these instructions for connecting a NES Zapper to the Famicom through the 15-pin expansion port.

http://nesdev.parodius.com/zapper_to_famicom.txt

Handy, considering the Famicom light gun can be very expensive on eBay and yahoo Auctions.

I'm sure there's probably a more general purpose convertor available.

[MattyD]

It is possible to rewire NES and Famicom controllers as well. The controller cables are connected internally via little pin blocks (don't know the proper name for them) which plug into sockets on the main board. You can see them at the bottom left of board in this image (click for full size):



All you need is the diagrams detailing which wires go where, and you can cut the plug off a NES controller and wire it into a Fami or even do the reverse, and put NES plugs onto a Famicom controller.

EDIT - and here's a link explaining how to do it: http://www.1up.com/do/blogEntry?bId=...UserId=5853157

[Phar]

Thanks for the link, doesn't look too hard if theres no soldering involved so might give it a go.

I've actually found the international site for Tea4Two now

http://www.segasaturncds.com/servlet/StoreFront

Looks like it's run by Japan-Games.com which is the same as the ebay link, doesn't look like they have the 21000 yen version on there but I'll drop him an email and ask I think.