T89 Cartridge Converter

This article needs additional citations for verification. Please help by adding citations to reliable sources. Unsourced material may be challenged and removed. Find sources:  –  ·  ·  · scholar · JSTOR (March 2009) (Learn how and when to remove this template message)

T89 Cartridge Converter

The T89 cartridge converter is a 60 to 72 pin adapter that allows NES owners to plug a 60-pin Famicom game into a 72-pin-based NES. The cartridge required the user to have the Famicom cartridge label facing the back as otherwise it would cause damage to the cart and/or system. There is a fabric tab on the converter to allow the easy removal of the device from the original front-loading NES and its subsequent top loader revision (although the Famicom cartridge was easy to access on the top loader, the converter itself would sit in the cartridge slot in a near flush like state, thus leaving the adapter difficult to remove).

History[]

The Nintendo Famicom used a 60-pin cartridge for games. When Nintendo decided to market it outside Japan, they redesigned a number of things, including changing the cartridge system to a 72-pin setup in order to facilitate the usage of a lock-out circuit to stop unlicensed game manufacturers. This is problematic for anyone wishing to play Japanese games on an NES, and thus a number of companies (including Nintendo themselves, albeit just a PCB hidden inside of a standard NES cartridge) produced an adapter to allow 60-pin games to be played in 72-pin systems. A currently produced version of this adapter is made by Hyperkin, and uses a small Atmel microcontroller chip to activate the NES lock-out circuit.

Trivia[]

Due to a production overrun of the two R.O.B. games (Gyromite and Stack-Up) in Japan, Nintendo ended up selling these two games in the U.S. with an internal adapter. The game itself looks normal, but inside are the electronics from the Japanese version plugged into a 60 to 72 pin adapter. This has contributed to a shortage of the two games, with people looking for a cheap adapter disassembling these games. Only the early editions of Gyromite have the adapters, but all copies of Stack Up have the adapter. The same adapter is also in early editions of the following games:^[1]

• 1942
• Clu Clu Land
• Donkey Kong Jr.
• Duck Hunt
• Elevator Action
• Excitebike
• Golf
• Gumshoe
• Hogan's Alley
• Mike Tyson's Punch-Out!!
• Pinball
• Raid on Bungeling Bay
• Rygar
• Soccer
• Tennis
• Urban Champion
• Wizards and Warriors
• Wrecking Crew

References[]

This Nintendo-related article is a stub. You can help Wikipedia by .

• v
• t

This video game-related article on computer hardware is a stub. You can help Wikipedia by .

• v
• t