Okay, I think I may be going crazy here. I hope someone can help me.

I had a Japanese Virtual Boy unit, with a Japanese Adapter Tap. I had a US SNS-002 Power Adapater from my Super NES.

I recently traded these to a fellow online for a few games. He is now complaining that the AC Adapter will not fit into the tap. I am 99.9% sure that I used these in conjunction with each other, but I found information online stating that the US adapter would not fit in the JP Tap.

I’ve never used batteries with my VB, so I know that I did have an adapter working, but I guess I just need to make sure that it was the Super NES one…

Can someone clarify this for me? Thanks for your help!

That is correct… the JP tap is different than the US tap. You have to either use both JP or both US.

DogP

Is there perhaps another adapter that works with it? I am certain that I did not use batteries with the VB…

Sorry, but this is driving me nuts!

I’m not sure what else the JP AC adapter works with… it may be the Super Famicom (like how the US one is the same as the SNES). Japan uses a similar power plug and voltage as the US, so is it possible that you were using a JP AC adapter?

DogP

I’m from Spain and I tried plugging my Spanish SNES adaptor to my US Virtual Boy adaptor, but found the connection was way too different to even fit in it. Now that you’re mentioning the connection differences, I’ve noticed I bought the two JAP AC adaptors and took them out of their boxes, but actually never bothered to check the size of the connection inside. I will check it tonight to see if the connection of the JAP adaptor is more similar to the European SNES than to the American one, but unfortunately I sold my SNES with the power plug, so I cannot try it…

I use a european S/NES adapter on my japanese Virtual Boy. They are the same.

Ok…. this is getting really strange now.

I know the adapter I used was not Japanese… the VB is the only Japanese system that I had.

I know the adapter I used was not European… I do not own any European systems.

Could it be a NES adapter? Another system that fit?

I have an American NES & SNES and the adapter on one is 9Volts while the other is 10Volts So I guess the question would be can the VB run off of 9Volts? Sorry I’m not gonna try it I’m a firm believer in “If it’s not made for it then don’t use it with it!”

So, I’ve just checked the connections and you were right: the Japanese AC adapter has the European plug. As for the adaptor you can use, my guess is that with the Japanese AC adapter you can use any current adapter that outputs 9 volts DC with the correct polarity.

When I first bought my US AC adapter, I noticed that the plug that goes into the AC adapter is very, very uncommon. In fact, I guess it’s only for the SNES/VB consoles. On the other hand, the jap AC adapter seems the standard AC plug that we use in every system here in Europe.

And this theory reinforces the fact that the US version of the AC adapter came with the current adapter, but I have never heard of a specific current adapter for the Japanese Virtual Boy (I only know of the existence of the tap, not the current adapter.)

Anyway, this is very simple: this Saturday I’m having lunch with my parents, and they have many current adapters with standard plugs. I’ll bring one home and give it a try 😀 Can anyone let me know the polarity? (Help me DogP, you’re my only hope and I’m not risking the integrity of my Virtual Boy! 😛 )

I don’t have an adapter tap from either country, but I can tell you the following:

The American NES used a standard “barrel plug” on the AC adapter.

The American SNES used a non-standard “barrel-like plug” on the AC adapter. It has a cylinder shaped outer contact, (the positive (+) side) but the inner contact (negative (-) side) is a pin instead of an inner cylinder. (http://www.vidgame.net/NINTENDO/SNES1.html)

The VB will run on anything from 6 to 13VDC (it’s printed right on the bottom…) and draws no more than about 8 watts of power (e.g. 10V @ 800mA) and probably much less.

Looking at the back of the VB pad where the battery box/AC tap connects, the terminal on the left is the negative input (cathode) and the one on the right is the positive input (anode).

I’m sure it wasn’t the US NES adapter since that outputs 9V AC, not DC, and I’m sure the VB wouldn’t run on AC.

And I don’t have a JP AC adapter close, so I can’t tell you which is + and which is -, but yeah… it’ll run on 6V-13V

DogP