In this article, I'm going to share my experience of making the Nintendo World Championship (NWC) NES Edition replica gold cart from the newly released bundle actually functional. Despite the cart being an aesthetic piece with no real game functionality, I decided to modify it to house a working Nintendo World Championship repro cart.
The NWC NES Edition bundle is packed with various goodies. It included the game, a set of cards, a pen set, and the highlight for me: the replica gold cart modeled after the original NES carts. Despite its appealing appearance, the cart is entirely hollow on the inside and couldn't house an actual game chip. However, the back of the cart charmingly replicated warnings such as "don't dip it in alcohol" and "don't leave in extreme temperatures."
The goal was to modify this hollow cart to fit a functional repro cart. For the task, I used a standard Philips screwdriver. My initial observation upon opening the cart was that Nintendo had strategically placed internal walls to prevent any modding, though it still interestingly had slots for holding a game.
I also had a repro cart of the Nintendo World Championship ready to be transplanted into the golden shell. This repro cart, like many, can be easily found on platforms like Amazon, Etsy, or AliExpress.
After dismantling the cart, it was clear that getting the repro board to fit inside would require significant internal modifications. The original design left no room to properly house the repro board without dremeling out some plastic. Using a Dremel tool, I carefully started to carve out unnecessary plastic pieces.
Here is a breakdown of how I approached it:
After several trimming and fitting attempts, it was evident that some parts needed more precision cuts. I worked on ensuring the new internals didn't interfere with assembling the cart back together.
Finally, with all components fitting perfectly, I reassembled the cart. Despite the tightly packed internals, it came together nicely. The last task was to see if the modified cart would fit and work in my NES top loader.
To my delight, the modified cart fit into the NES top loader and worked flawlessly. This process proved that, with a bit of patience and Dremel work, you can indeed create a functional replica from an aesthetic novelty item.
The bundle includes the Nintendo World Championship game, a set of cards, a pen set, and a replica gold cart.
Initially, no. The cart is hollow and meant for aesthetic purposes. However, with modifications, it can be made to house a repro game chip.
A standard Philips screwdriver, a Sharpie for marking, and a Dremel tool for cutting and filing down the internal plastic components.
Repro carts can be found on Amazon, Etsy, or AliExpress.
The most challenging part was dremeling out the internal plastic structure to make sufficient room for the game board without damaging the external appearance.
Yes, after the modifications, the cart fit into the NES top loader and functioned perfectly.
In addition to the incredible tools mentioned above, for those looking to elevate their video creation process even further, Topview.ai stands out as a revolutionary online AI video editor.
TopView.ai provides two powerful tools to help you make ads video in one click.
Materials to Video: you can upload your raw footage or pictures, TopView.ai will edit video based on media you uploaded for you.
Link to Video: you can paste an E-Commerce product link, TopView.ai will generate a video for you.