Interesting, the FamicomBox uses NES controllers and Zapper (look at the picture of the version by Sharp on the linked pages).

Wonder if these ran on a similar system to the Nintendo PlayChoice-10 or Super System...

I remember there was one kind of like this over here on a ferry. It was an SNES machine and for 50 cents it gave you 5 minutes. The game choices were just Super Mario World and F-Zero. Heh.

they actually look pretty nice for the age period they were made in.

Wow, do people really still play them? or is this like... a thing in the past already?

DO WANT

@BPMβ: That actually surprised me as well. I wonder why they didn't go with the standard Japanese Red and Gold versions?

Does anyone remember Nintendo's Play Choice 10? Arcade cabinets with NES games. Too poor for a NES, yet not poor enough to dump quarters to play Castlevania and The Goonies 2.

Its a giant version of R4.

They used to have something like that in a toystore here. Only instead of 100 yen it was 1 gilder. I miss that money.

I dunno, I would pay 100Yen for a quick Super Mario Bros. or Super Mario World.

@ResetSmith: Yeah I remember them, I always thought it was very unfair that you were limited by time instead of lives, as even if you had watched the Wizard and knew where the warp whistles were you still didn't have enough time to finish SMB3 on one credit. But since it saved them having to make arcade conversions I suppose it was a cheap and easy way to do things. IIRC the machine I played didn't even let you put more money in to continue so your meagre two minutes were as far as you could get into any game!

@ハリセンボン:
Not sure, but my guess is it had to do with how much more modular the NES was than the Famicom, since Famicom's controllers were hard-wired into the system (well, not the Famicom Light Gun, of course).

@photoboy: That sucks! I dont think i would even play if i only got 2 min. Unless it was like a racing game and the tracks were under 2 min.

Oh sure, the Famicom gets the "Zapper" but they couldn't chain a "Super Scope" to the Super Famicom? Pretty weak Japan. =)

That's more expensive than hotel porn!

Anyone have a screwdriver? I would have forced that thing open and stolen the carts.

@Orionsaint:
>_> I think they'd know where you sleep. At least, as long as you're staying at the hotel.

@Channing: true but you could always swipe the games on your last day staying there

@Orionsaint: Great, so now it's not just GTA4, we need a 'crimes that can be blamed on an NES' report? :)

@Channing: Obviously he used a false ID when checking in, and left before they discovered the damage! Criminal 101. Surely they teach you that in GTA.

mmm, I can smell that RGB video chip from here...
yes, a little too nerdy

Thats a beautiful thing. I'd be jacked to rent a room and have one of those in there. I could garantee here in 2008, that they would NOT stay attached to the desk, for sure.

@nemesiscw: I remember those machines. They looked so cool to me! Here in the UK, they had the blue-ish NTSC style buttons, rather than the altogether better PAL multicoloured ones, which was weird! :-) But I still played Mario World for about an hour on one trip...

I also remember playing with a free variant of the NES model in a department store as a kid. It was around the release of the NES and I would line up for half an hour (that's a LONG wait in kid-time) to play one of about 10 games that could be selected just by pushing a button. Mario Bros, Duck Hunt, Castlevania, Bayou Billy...It was truly a great time to be alive.

That SNES box looks pretty sexy actually.

I was wondering are these the same inerds of the US arcade machines. I remember playing Super Mario Bros. in the arcade and hated the fact that I had to keep feeding the machine to beat the game. I didn't know of any home version cheats working in the arcade at the time so I would only make it to LvL 3-1 before my coins ran out.

I loved how the hotels in the US just used a box with an N64 controller attached to it. 10 dollars for an hour. That's a much more reasonable time than 100 yen (about a dollar) for 5-15 minutes.

@Phazonmasher: Eh, 10 dollars for 50 minutes by the yen system or 10 dollars for 60 minutes.

Both are a rip-off.

@BPMβ: It also uses Famicom games crammed into NES-style carts. Like this one: http://page9.auctions.yahoo.co.jp/jp/auction/k49640478

I remember the Playchoice 10. There was a Mazzio's Pizza that had one. I would play it when I was tired of playing Spy Hunter or After Burner.

These hotel units are pretty neat. I remember the hotel that my wife and I stayed at for our honeymoon had some kind of Playstation setup. I didn't get a chance to play with it to see how it worked, but I think it was just added to your room bill. No coin slots.

Any ideas what games are on them?

100 Yen? I remember getting something good just for an HK$1!

No offense, but it's not worth paying over 600 yen just to play 30 min on the SNES.

Huh, they had one of those Famicombox things active at the Super Potato in Akihabara the last time I was there. The last time I was there, though, was probably like two years ago.

@Eltigro: The Famicombox featured a series of interchangable games. Not every machine would feature the same games.

If I recall correctly, most Famicombox games consisted of the "black box" and "silver box" Nintendo titles - although in Japan I suppose they would've been considered the "check mark" titles.

@Ugly Joe: Bingo. These are standard Japanese Famicom carts crammed into U.S. Nintendo cases. My guess is that this was done to prevent theft. So even if I HAD been able to pry one of these things open and snag its copy of "Devil World," it still wouldn't play on my U.S. Nintendo.

these scream, collector's dream! if i wasn't strapped with cash i would hunt this down.

Great.. Yet another Nintendo item I need for my collection... How did I not know about these?

@Eltigro: "[...]I remember the hotel that my wife and I stayed at for our honeymoon had some kind of Playstation setup. I didn't get a chance to play with it[...]."

You lucky dog, you.

@zanzibarlegend: @Mort: I've been wanting one of these for a while. However, they always cost multiple hundreds of dollars. Add to that shipping from Japan - for a HEAVY item - and you've got an item that, well, just isn't really worth it. It's second only to the "Famicom Disk Writer" (http://www.planetnes.com/famicom_disk.html) in terms of possible shipping headaches. I'll stick to my Famicom twin.

WTF Ashcraft?

NSFW!!1

I've seen these pop up on ebay every once in awhile. I can't remember how much they go for, because I could never afford one....

Does it print money though? Oh wait...

It's not a bad idea, but obviously most people wouldn't pay for any of our newer systems like that nowadays. I'm glad that I have my own NES and SNES's. And that it doesn't cost me 12$ an hour to play them.

@Number41: It's still there. They set it to "freeplay" though so you can choose whatever game you want- I think. Not like you can ever go there and actually get on any of the machines.