Smooth NES console vs. Rough NEs console

I think I've only ever seen a smooth top NES once. All the others I've ever seen or had are textured. I'm guessing it's the pre-88 "action set" systems witch also I'm guessing had the gray Zapper. Like the original Deluxe Sets usually have gray Zappers? That would make sense because most people started to buy the NES in 1988 when and after the Action set came out.

I've heard that the smooth top NES systems have a better 72-pin connector and can possibly last longer. Not sure if that's true has anyone else ever heard anything like that?

My original from December 87 was smooth. Started having connector issues in 89 or so, I'd say. Started after borrowing Adventure Island from a kid down the street. Then I got a Genesis barely played it...

The smooth top I bought recently has a great connector...works great as long as the games are clean. The rough one has issues with the connector and I had to change it out (would not even try to play a game). Not that that's a lot of data points, though.

On my consoles (both ~1989/1990 "power set" units -plus those I've seen at good will), they all seem to be smooth sides/front (and totally smooth on the bottom half) but rough textured on the top (including the top half of the dust cover)

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Originally Posted by Yoder

My original from December 87 was smooth. Started having connector issues in 89 or so, I'd say. Started after borrowing Adventure Island from a kid down the street. Then I got a Genesis barely played it...

The smooth top I bought recently has a great connector...works great as long as the games are clean. The rough one has issues with the connector and I had to change it out (would not even try to play a game). Not that that's a lot of data points, though.

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Probably just due to differences in wear, operating/storage conditions, etc. Many non-working connectors will be fine with a good cleaning and/or polishing with some 1000+ grit sandpaper (clipping the lockout chip helps too ;)). Finding an already good working one in the wild is a craps shoot though.


Playing with dirty games definitely degrades the connector faster... makes me wonder how much longer ours would have lasted if we hadn't started playing dirty borrowed games or uncleaned used games... or known about simple cleaning methods in the early 90s. ;)
Doesn't matter now though as that connector has been "refreshed" a year or so ago along with lockout clipping. (could probably use another pass over it -I never did resort to proper polishing)
If you can find an real cleaning kit, that might not be a bad idea either... maybe even as a final once over after sandpaper polishing -wrapped over a credit card. (I ended up using an N64 controller pak slot cleaning "cart" in the final stages of tweaking my 72-pin connector -albeit I didn't use sandpaper as I didn't have 1000+ grit at the time and didn't want to over do it -did a tiny bit with an emery board but that seemed too coarse even)

I attached a pic for those non-believers :-)

It was actually hard to show the differences in a picture, but this one should do the job. The one on the left is smooth...

From what I see, It looks like they used the same mold, but dropped a step out of the manufacturing process.

Before they would model the plastic, then have a machine polish it, but on later consoles to increase production and decrease costs, they probably dropped that step.

That would make sense, but why would it only be the top that's rough?

I picked up an odd one today at a thrift for $3.

It has smooth sides and bottom, but a rough top surface. I never saw one like that before.

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Originally Posted by gamegenie

can we get pics up in this thread, otherwise I'm going with Melf as this thread sounds like a joke.

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Don't know what part of Indiana you're from, but I am from Indiana and have gotten all my rough and smooth NES consoles in state.

I think you're just young and don't get out much...

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Originally Posted by Xeniczone

From what I see, It looks like they used the same mold, but dropped a step out of the manufacturing process.

Before they would model the plastic, then have a machine polish it, but on later consoles to increase production and decrease costs, they probably dropped that step.

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Not true. If you have ever seen a plastic injection mold tool you know that the plastic fills into the cavity as a molten liquid, much like the process used to create metal castings.

My guess is that at some point around 1987-1988 Nintendo told their injection molder to sand blast the molds. They only did this to one half of the die though because the inside surface of the rough console cases is as smooth as the outer surface of the smooth ones. The only surfaces that changed to rough texture are the outer ones.

About the rough top and smooth sides...that's how my rough one is. And I thought it was how all the rough ones were...just rough on top.

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Originally Posted by tz101

I picked up an odd one today at a thrift for $3.

It has smooth sides and bottom, but a rough top surface. I never saw one like that before.

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IIRC, all the NESs I've seen around here are just like that: rough top ans smooth sides and bottom. (that includes the dust cover door, smooth front, rough top)
Most of those are ~1989/early 90s units.

I stand corrected. After looking at my rough consoles, it seems that only the very top and bottom surfaces were rough. All the sides were smooth. My bad.

Just checked mine out and it's rough. IMO, the large, flat top surface probably scratched easily with a smooth finish. Nintendo may have caught on at some point (wouldn't want a bunch of scratched up systems marring their image) and made the subtle change without much increase in production cost.

wow i have a rough one and didnt even notice the smooth is super smooth and the rough it slightly rough i guess i was expecting like griptape stippling or something

its not rough enough that my he man figure leech wont stick though

My big question is the molding an indication for what hardware is inside.