5 Screw History
The 5 screw cartridges are sealed together using 5 screws. One in each corner and one in the middle (see the red circles in the photo above). The screws are standard, flathead screws.By 1988 Nintendo decided to completely switch all cartridges to 3 screw versions instead. These have two screws in the bottom corners and one in the middle (see red circles above). They also have two notches at the top where the bottom half of the cartridge is inserted into the top half (see blue squares above).
At the same time, the screws were changed into proprietary versions that need special hex screwdriver bits to remove.
People speculate that Nintendo made this change to save money (two fewer screens spread out over millions and millions of cartridges adds up). Others think Nintendo made the change for security reasons, basically trying to make the cartridges harder to open and inspect. Tengen and other companies were making unlicensed games, so security screws might have been attempt to make unlicensed games a little harder.
Nintendo has never spoken publicly about the thought process behind the change so it is just speculation in the community.
The differences between 5 screw and 3 screw games are purely cosmetic. There is no game play difference.
5 Screw NES Game List
5 Screw Prices vs 3 Screw Prices
Some of the 5 screw versions are more rare than the 3 screw versions because 5 screw had a limited production run and the 3 screw versions could continue being made.Other 5 screw games are more common because the game ended production soon after 1988 so not very many of the 3 screw version were made.
Unfortunately we don't know exact production numbers for each variation but we can compare the prices to see which ones collector's value more.
80% of 5 screw games are more expensive than their 3 screw counterparts and all the games that are less expensive are only slightly less expensive.
On average 5 screw games sell for 99% more than 3 screw ones, but the average is heavily skewed by a couple really big differences. The median premium is 14% for 5 screw games.
The versions with the biggest premiums are Gotcha and Alpha Mission both more than double in price with 5 screws.
The most rare 5 screw game is Mike Tyson's Punch Out. We don't have a market price for the game because we haven't seen on sell but one was recently listed for $2,000. Mike Tyson's Punch Out was released October 1987, very close to the complete discontinuation of 5 screw games. Very few 5 screw copies were released.
Why 5 Screws to Begin With?
Nintendo released the Nintendo NES in Japan in 1983 as the Famicom. The NES came out in the USA in 1985.Famicom cartridges are shorter than NES cartridges and if you ever open up an NES cartridge you will notice lots of empty space.
This empty space is in there because some of the first Nintendo NES games (Gyromite and Excitebike for example) reused Famicom PCB (printed circuit boards) in order to save money on circuit boards they had already paid for and didn't use in Japan. The PCB's needed to be converted to fit the pin size and count on the NES console.
As you can see in the image below, the NES cartridges with 5 screws fit this design very well without much extra space. The middle screw fits perfectly into the middle screw slot on the Famicom PCB with plenty of room for all three pieces.
After 1988 Nintendo decided they no longer needed the additional screws, but the shape of the cartridge couldn't be changed because the NES console required that shape.
