Making a NES region free
It all began with me walking into a video game shop. I decided to buy a new NES game, settled down on GOLF, one of the classics that were released with the console in 1985.
![2016-10-15-14-23-51](https://achilletoupin.com/wp-content/uploads/2016/09/2016-10-15-14.23.51-1024x576.jpg)
![2016-10-15-14-24-09](https://achilletoupin.com/wp-content/uploads/2016/09/2016-10-15-14.24.09-1024x576.jpg)
I got home, Decided to try it out, but it didn’t work. Well, it’ll be fine, I thought, this happens all the time. Just grab a q-tip, rub the contacts to free them from their dirt prison. Done, the q-tips were indeed dirty, indicating a good job of cleaning. There I go butting the cartridge back in the console… for it not to work. Then it hit me : i had bought a USA version of the game, but I own a french version of the console…
![2016-10-15-14-23-37](https://achilletoupin.com/wp-content/uploads/2016/09/2016-10-15-14.23.37-1024x576.jpg)
![2016-10-15-14-29-35](https://achilletoupin.com/wp-content/uploads/2016/10/2016-10-15-14.29.35-1024x576.jpg)
![2016-10-15-14-24-15](https://achilletoupin.com/wp-content/uploads/2016/09/2016-10-15-14.24.15-1024x576.jpg)
After 5 minutes of search online, I found a tutorial to fix this issue : making the NES region free. This gets rid of the inter-country protection. So, let’s go !
First, dismantle the soul out of the console :
![2016-10-15-14-33-05](https://achilletoupin.com/wp-content/uploads/2016/09/2016-10-15-14.33.05-1024x576.jpg)
You’ll have to dig a little deeper to find the light at the end of the tunnel : The bare PCB !
![The PCB](http://3.bp.blogspot.com/-OonSxxvmKVo/Ud3qk3YZIMI/AAAAAAAAAl4/4uWTh-GG2bs/s400/P1130310.jpg)
Now I won’t cover all the details here, but here’s a very good article about doing so (I even stole a picture from them 😉 )
After having made the necessary changes (actually, snipping a leg from an integrated circuit) I put back the console in its place :
![2016-10-15-15-05-39](https://achilletoupin.com/wp-content/uploads/2016/09/2016-10-15-15.05.39-1024x576.jpg)
And the USA game worked like a charm !
![2016-10-15-15-05-41](https://achilletoupin.com/wp-content/uploads/2016/09/2016-10-15-15.05.41-1024x576.jpg)
![2016-10-15-15-05-45](https://achilletoupin.com/wp-content/uploads/2016/09/2016-10-15-15.05.45-1024x576.jpg)