Make a Region Free NES / Lock-Out Chip Mods

Why Mod It?

Play imported games without special adapters.
Play unofficial and homebrew games. 

Your Power LED will never "Blink" again.

In a nutshell these were installed for anti-piracy reasons. Nintendo wanted official games only on their console. When the NES is powered on, the chip and game communicate. Often dirt and corrosion interrupt proper communication. When the lockout chip fails the NES will generate resets at 1 second intervals. aka power blinks. For 100% NES reliability clean your Games and the 72 pin connector.

Let's get started.

Look for the 6 screws on the underside of the NES. I have highlighted all screws locations in Red.

 
Slowly remove the top NES cover. Next step is to remove the metal shielding plate.  A total of 7 screw hold the shield in place. Two on the left side of the cartridge slot, two behind it, and three on the right side. Also remove the screw near the RF box.

Next Step is to remove the black cartridge platform. It has a total of six screws to remove here There are two screws on either side toward the rear, and one toward the front side.

Arrows point to Silver long screw location

Make sure to keep the screws from this step very organized. The longer silver screws go in the second hole on the rear end of the carriage.

Now the circuit board should lift up & out of the lower base. Flip the board and remove the loose metal shielding. Locate the chip via the guide below.

Locate the 4th pin as shown in the photo. This pin needs to be disconnected from the board. There are a few methods of doing this:  You can snip it, desolder it, or take a shortcut and gently snap it loose with a jeweler's screwdriver.

DONE!

Reassemble following the steps above.


Remember: For 100% NES reliability clean your Games and the 72 pin connector

I hope that you find this website useful and informative. Please feel free to leave your comments or suggestions below.