Damn Peculiar Copy of The Legend of Zelda

[InsaneDavid]

I picked up a copy of The Legend of Zelda from the local flea market for my girlfriend. I cleaned the connectors (surprisingly they were perfect) and went to try it out when I came across a problem I haven't seen before.

It starts up no problem. If you press start the game hangs, the audio sticks for awhile then stops completely. If you let the game run through its attract screen it hangs JUST before the first row of items comes up under "ALL OF TREASURES." There's no damage to the board and I've tried an alternate battery, figured I might as well.

Aside from that there are a couple things I find odd. First it's a five screw (no tabs) shell, I don't remember LoZ being released in this case but I may be wrong. Also it doesn't have the "hold reset" information on the back label. This being from the earliest release would explain all of that however - sure this is nothing as the boards and chips inside are authentic.

Any ideas on the lockups? Bad ROM IC's? Any help or ideas would be great.

[MarioMania]

Can you take a Pic of it..

[InsaneDavid]

Can you take a Pic of it..

There's no point to since the game just locks up, it doesn't display anything funky. And we all know what the title and attract screens for The Legend of Zelda look like. The board inside is just standard, nothing out of the ordinary. I'm hoping someone has had this problem before with an NES game.

[MarioMania]

I mean take a pic of the Cart..Does it look like a Bootleg Cart

[InsaneDavid]

I mean take a pic of the Cart..Does it look like a Bootleg Cart

No, it's offical, I just haven't seen many of the five screw Zelda carts.

[InsaneDavid]

offical

official

Time to go to sleep.

[InsaneDavid]

No one else? I know it's a common as dirt NES game but it's still a good NES game and I'd hate to toss it if I can get it to run.

[MichaeltheGreat]

Well, you can test all the traces with a multimeter. You can start trading parts with another zelda cart until it works right. I'd suggest that you replace the capacator first and go from there. I would think that the rom would be more likely to cause a crash and the ram would be more likely to cause graphical glitches. I'd probably try to exchange the one rom chip in the game before exchanging either of the 2 ram chips. It sounds like it crashes before the save game would be accessed, but you could try removing the battery and see if a corrupt save game could cause it to crash.

The real question is whether all of this time is worth the time of fixing a $5 game.

[InsaneDavid]

Well, you can test all the traces with a multimeter. You can start trading parts with another zelda cart until it works right. I'd suggest that you replace the capacator first and go from there. I would think that the rom would be more likely to cause a crash and the ram would be more likely to cause graphical glitches. I'd probably try to exchange the one rom chip in the game before exchanging either of the 2 ram chips. It sounds like it crashes before the save game would be accessed, but you could try removing the battery and see if a corrupt save game could cause it to crash.

The real question is whether all of this time is worth the time of fixing a $5 game.

Thanks for the advice, at the very least I'll change the cap. What I find odd is how it crashes JUST before the first line of items in the attract sequence comes up. I was sure it was just a bad save battery (with the previous problem) until I noticed that. Possibly one bad RAM chip that contains the in-game sprites? (would crash because of the sprites at the registration screen like Link and a heart, and at the attract screen because of the ingame items) That's why this is bothering me. You get the prologue, then the ALL OF TREASURES line, then JUST before the first items come up - LOCK.

If it's not the cap then I'll probably chalk it up as an empty case. As you said, it's not worth the time to desolder and swap IC's.

[MarioMania]

Did you get it to run...

[InsaneDavid]

Did you get it to run...

Naa, same problem, the capacitor was fine and I really didn't want to spend the time removing and swapping ROMs so I tossed the board in the garbage. The shell was cataloged away with other video game parts since it was pristine.

[evildragon]

well, I have a couple of the golden Zelda carts, most work, and I think one doesn't save... (battery is dead)..

This sounds like a problem that I know the answer too.. The ROM is corrupt. If it's locking up, but the game loads and is not showing any signs of corrupted graphics, then part of the ROM is damaged, namely the part that actually starts the game..

If you want (and this would be the second package I ever shipped in my life), I could sell you my "working" cart of Zelda, just work out a price with me and i'll ship it..

[InsaneDavid]

If you want (and this would be the second package I ever shipped in my life), I could sell you my "working" cart of Zelda, just work out a price with me and i'll ship it..

No thanks. I know it's a dirt common game, I just wanted to try to get that copy working for the hell of it. It's only worth $5 to me shipped and I know that's less than the hassle is worth. Thanks anyway though, I'm sure I'll come across another soon enough.

[evildragon]

ok, that's cool..

i wonder how rare a grey cart of Zelda is though (it might be Zelda 2, I don't remember, but I got both grey and gold versions)

[InsaneDavid]

i wonder how rare a grey cart of Zelda is though (it might be Zelda 2, I don't remember, but I got both grey and gold versions)

I have the grey Zelda as well. (remember the game this thread was about was to be given away) I'd give it double the value although you have to remeber the original, while superb, isn't worth a whole lot to begin with due to how many were produced. I still feel the grey versions will increase in value over the years as you don't see them too often now days. I haven't seen a grey Zelda II in some time. Then again NES games have be drying up in the places I frequent.