NES Four Score Mod

[headerkel]

Hello,

I'm looking for directions on how to modify an NES Four Score so that it will work with a Famicom 4-player game that has been placed in a Stack-Up adapter to work on the NES. Has anyone ever done this?

[lidnariq]

You'll need to give a little more detail as to what you're really trying to do. (Perhaps the game you're trying to play, and how the players would interact with the power pads)

Neither the Four Score nor the Family Fun Fitness were compatible with any kind of multi-player adapter originally, nor are they really compatible with the ordinary controller. (WTF was I thinking?)

[headerkel]

So, I have this Famicom game Nekketsu! Street Basket - Ganbare Dunk Heroes.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=5W4EpO5ge9w

By watching this guy's video, I've figured out how to play Famicom games on the NES.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=35LmRuOr9iQ

The only problem is that there is no way to utilize the 4-player mode in Dunk Heroes because the Four Score was different from the 4-player Famicom adapter. I found a lead to a guy who said he was eventually going to post something on how to modify the Four Score so that it would work with four NES controllers giving input to a 4-player Famicom game. Unfortunately, he no longer maintains a website, and he doesn't have anything posted in the Wayback Machine even.

[Bavi_H]

I've never done this, but here's what I understand:

• The Four Score (in 4-player mode) combines the data from controllers 1 and 3 into a long packet and sends it to port 1, and likewise for controllers 2 and 4 into port 2.
• A Famicom 4-player adapter sends the same data packets as the normal controllers to extra pins on the expansion port.

In the SuperPakPak zip file download, the text file manual has instructions on how you can wire controllers 3 and 4 to the expansion port on an NES to add Famicom-style four-player ability (see section 5, "Multi-Player Game"). You could possibly use these instructions to modify the Four Score, but you'd basically only be using the controller ports of the Four Score and bypassing its brains. (And you'd need to add connections to the NES expansion port.)

[lidnariq]

Sorry, I completely misunderstood at first.

To pretend to be the Famicom four players adapter, you'll need to somehow get physical access to the 4016.1 and 4017.1 bits. These do exist on the NES, but only on the expansion port on the bottom.

Modifying the Four Score to this end is questionably useful: You'll still need to either modify the NES, or build something that plugs into the NES's expansion port on its bottom.

All else being equal, I'd probably do the latter, buy a dead NES and salvage its joypad connectors, and build a cable.

The former would entail taking either D3 or D4 (used for the Zapper and Power Pad) on the normal connectors and also connecting it to D1 inside the NES, and then some rework on the Four Score.

Which would you prefer?

[Movax12]

Or you could dump the cart and modify the game code to read the Four Score, and flash it back to new (EE)PROMs (or a flash cart).

[headerkel]

Thanks for the help. Those all sound pretty difficult for my skill level. I can follow step-by-step directions if they exist somewhere. Otherwise, it might not be worth the effort.

[lidnariq]

You could see if chykn's NES-to-FC expansion port boards are still available:
http://www.nintendorepairhut.com/access ... ories.html

Otherwise, you could read his posts and try to replicate his work.

You could also open your NES and solder two extra controller ports in.