This is quite a long video about one of the poorer design choices Nintendo made with the Super Nintendo / Super Famicom. On this shell design, they attached the DC-in socket to the rear plastic panel, making it a pain to replace. Maybe they sold the replacement socket with the entire rear panel; that’s the only thing I could think of that would make sense. Anyway, watch on and also enjoy some Biker Mice from Mars!

Today’s project involves a Super Famicom that’s acquired a rather unpleasant-looking rear panel. I’ve got another motherboard with a much nicer panel attached, so I thought I’d simply swap the two over.

How difficult could that possibly be?

Well, Nintendo has managed to turn a fairly ordinary plastic panel into something of an engineering challenge. The DC-in socket is attached to the panel, which means it isn’t simply a matter of removing a couple of screws and pulling the plastic away.

I’ve got the two motherboards on the bench. One is a spare board that wasn’t working properly, even after investigating the voltage regulator and fuse. That’s the donor for this little exercise, so at least I’ve got something to practise on before attacking the better board.

After removing the case screws, shielding and other bits and pieces, we can finally get at the rear assembly. There’s the RF output, the AV connector and the DC-in socket, all conspiring to make what should have been a straightforward swap rather more complicated.

The DC-in connection has a fair amount of solder holding it in place, and my desoldering gun isn’t particularly helpful because I don’t have a tip large enough for the job. So it’s back to ordinary solder braid and a great deal of patience.

Eventually the solder starts coming away, although the socket is still determined not to move. There’s plenty of heating, cleaning and gentle persuasion before I finally work out what’s holding the thing together.

At one point I discover another connection I hadn’t noticed, and the donor board ends up with a little pad damage. Wonderful! At least that’s why I’m practising on the spare one.

Now that I’ve worked out how the assembly comes apart, I can repeat the process on the board I actually want to keep. This one goes rather more smoothly, although it’s still not a job I’d recommend doing simply because you’re bored.

The replacement rear panel eventually goes back into position, and I solder the DC-in connections back into place. It looks considerably more respectable now, and the console can finally go back together.

While I’m here, I also take advantage of the removable cartridge connector on this particular motherboard revision. There’s an astonishing amount of dust hiding inside it. A little cleaning should help, especially since the machine had been a bit temperamental about reading cartridges.

Time for a test on the Sony PVM. Chrono Trigger boots successfully, which is rather satisfying after all that work. The picture is black and white through this particular connection, but the console itself is running.

The SD2SNES also needs a little encouragement before it makes proper contact, but that settles down after reseating it. There’s something particularly nice about putting a console back together and having it actually work!

And now for a little bonus gaming. I’ve got Biker Mice from Mars running, although my driving skills probably leave a great deal to be desired. I seem to spend an extraordinary amount of time heading in completely the wrong direction.

Never mind! The Super Famicom is back together, the rear panel looks much better and the cartridge slot is considerably cleaner.

As for the DC-in socket arrangement, I still think Nintendo could have made that part of the machine a little easier to service. But at least we got there in the end!