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= Nintendo_Entertainment_System =
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Introduction
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The Nintendo Entertainment System (NES) is an 8-bit home video game
console developed and marketed by Nintendo. It was released in Japan
on July 15, 1983, as the and released as the redesigned NES in test
markets in the United States on October 18, 1985, followed by a
nationwide launch on September 27, 1986. The NES was distributed in
Europe, Australia, and parts of Asia throughout the 1980s under
various names. As a third-generation console, it mainly competed with
Sega's Master System.
The Nintendo president, Hiroshi Yamauchi, called for a simple, cheap
console that could run arcade games on cartridges. The Famicom was
designed by Masayuki Uemura, with its controller design reused from
Nintendo's portable Game & Watch hardware. The western model was
redesigned by Lance Barr and Don James to resemble a video cassette
recorder. Nintendo released add-ons such as the NES Zapper, a light
gun for shooting games, and R.O.B, a toy robot.
The NES is regarded as one of the most influential gaming consoles. It
helped revitalize the American gaming industry following the video
game crash of 1983, and pioneered a now-standard business model of
licensing third-party developers to produce and distribute games.
Several games released for the NES, including 'Super Mario Bros.'
(1985), 'The Legend of Zelda' (1986), 'Metroid' (1986), and 'Mega Man'
(1987), became major franchises.
While the NES dominated Japanese and North American markets, it
performed less well in Europe, where it faced strong competition from
the Master System and the ZX Spectrum. With 61.91 million units sold,
it is the 14th-best-selling console of all time. Nintendo ceased
production of the NES in 1995 and the Famicom in 2003. It was
succeeded in 1990 by the Super Nintendo Entertainment System.
Background
============
The video game industry experienced rapid growth and popularity from
the late 1970s to the early 1980s, marked by the golden age of arcade
games and the second generation of consoles. Games like 'Space
Invaders' (1978) became a phenomenon across arcades worldwide, while
home consoles such as the Atari 2600, alongside home computers such as
the Commodore 64 and the Intellivision acquired footholds in the
American market. Many companies emerged to capitalize on the growing
industry, including the card and toy company Nintendo.
Nintendo president Hiroshi Yamauchi realized that breakthroughs in the
electronics industry meant that entertainment products could be
produced at lower prices. Companies such as Atari and Magnavox were
already selling gaming devices for use with television sets, to
moderate success. Yamauchi negotiated a license with Magnavox for the
patents on the technology used in the Magnavox Odyssey. Since
Nintendo's operation was not yet sophisticated enough to design its
own hardware, Yamauchi forged an alliance with Mitsubishi Electric and
hired several Sharp Electronics employees to assist in developing the
Color TV-Game 6 and the Color TV-Game 15 in Japan. This was followed
the handheld Game & Watch series. The successes of these machines
gave Yamauchi the confidence to expand Nintendo's influence in the
fledgling video game industry.
In 1978, Yamauchi split Nintendo into separate research and
development divisions. He appointed Masayuki Uemura as head of
Nintendo Research & Development 2. Yamauchi, through extensive
discussions with Uemura and other engineers, recognized the potential
of the developing console beyond gaming. He envisioned a home-computer
system disguised as a toy, which could significantly expand Nintendo's
reach if it became popular with children. This popularity would drive
demand for games, with Nintendo as the sole provider. Indeed, by 1980
several systems had already been released in Japan by both American
and Japanese companies. Yamauchi tasked Uemura with developing a
system that would be superior to its competitors and difficult to
replicate for at least a year. Uemura's main challenge was economic
rather than technological; Yamauchi wanted the system to be affordable
enough for widespread household adoption, aiming for a price of ¥9,800
(less than $75) compared to existing machines priced at ¥30,000 to
¥50,000 ($200 to $350). The new system had to outperform other
systems, both Japanese and American, while being significantly more
affordable.
Inception
===========
As development progressed on the new video game system, engineers
sought Yamauchi's guidance on its features. They questioned whether to
include a disk drive, keyboard, data port, as well as the potential
for a modem, expanded memory, and other computer-like capabilities.
Yamauchi ultimately instructed Uemura to prioritize simplicity and
affordability, omitting these peripherals entirely. Game cartridges,
which Uemura saw as "less intimidating" to consumers, were chosen as
the format. The team designed the system with 2,000 bytes of
random-access memory (RAM).
The console's hardware was largely based on arcade video games,
particularly the hardware for Namco's 'Galaxian' (1979) and Nintendo's
'Donkey Kong' (1981), with the goal of matching their powerful sprite
and scrolling capabilities in a home system. A test model was
constructed in October 1982 to verify the functionality of the
hardware, and work began on programming tools. Because 65xx CPUs had
not been manufactured or sold in Japan by that time, no
cross-development software was available and it had to be developed
from scratch. Early Famicom games were written on a NEC PC-8001
computer. LEDs on a grid were used with a digitizer to design graphics
as no such software design tools existed at that time.
The codename for the project was 'GameCom', but Masayuki Uemura's wife
proposed the name 'Famicom', arguing that "In Japan, 'pasokon' is used
to mean a personal computer, but it is neither a home nor personal
computer. Perhaps we could say it is a family computer". Meanwhile,
Hiroshi Yamauchi decided that the console should use a red and white
theme after seeing a hoarding for DX Antenna (a Japanese antenna
manufacturer) which used those colors.
Development
=============
The Famicom was influenced by the ColecoVision, Coleco's competition
against the Atari 2600 in the United States;
* the ColecoVision's top-seller was a port of Nintendo's 'Donkey
Kong'. The project's chief manager Takao Sawano brought a ColecoVision
home to his family, impressed by its smooth graphics, which contrasts
with the flicker and slowdown commonly seen on Atari 2600 games.
Uemura said the ColecoVision set the bar for the Famicom. They wanted
to surpass it and match the more powerful 'Donkey Kong' arcade
hardware; they took a 'Donkey Kong' arcade cabinet to chip
manufacturer Ricoh for analysis, which led to Ricoh producing the
Picture Processing Unit (PPU) chip for the NES.
During development, Yamauchi directed engineers to reduce costs by
removing non-essential components. However, he insisted on including a
low-cost circuit and connector that allowed the CPU to send or receive
unmodified signals, enabling future hardware expansions such as modems
or keyboards. This built-in capability led some within Nintendo to
refer to the console as "Yamauchi’s Trojan Horse": it entered homes as
a simple gaming device with two controllers, yet contained features
far beyond its apparent function. A 1989 corporate report later
acknowledged, "In the initial stages of [the system’s] development, we
foresaw these possibilities... we built a data communications function
into the system". Lead engineer Masayuki Uemura credited luck for this
foresight, while colleague Genyo Takeda remarked that Uemura's lack of
experience allowed him to attempt what others might have deemed
unfeasible. Design decisions were also carefully considered. Yamauchi
took a hands-on role in determining the controller layout, casing
shape, and overall aesthetic. The final design featured a directional
pad and two buttons on the right controller, a microphone on the left,
rounded edges, and a red-and-white color scheme deliberately styled to
appear more like a toy than a computer.
Original plans called for the Famicom's cartridges to be the size of a
cassette tape, but ultimately they ended up being twice as large.
Careful design attention was paid to the cartridge connectors because
loose and faulty connections often plagued arcade machines. As it
necessitated 60 connection lines for the memory and expansion,
Nintendo decided to produce their own connectors. Each game cartridge
typically contained two primary chips: one for the game’s program code
(up to 256 kilobytes) and another for graphical data used to render
on-screen characters (up to 64 kilobytes). Nintendo's R&D3 team
designed the "UNROM" cartridge, which enabled larger memory capacities
and the use of bank switching. This technique involved storing
additional data in RAM and dynamically accessing it as needed, thereby
significantly expanding gameplay possibilities. At Gunpei Yokoi's
suggestion, a cartridge eject lever was also added, not for
functionality, but to amuse children.
The Famicom design team initially considered arcade-style joysticks
and even dismantled existing models from American consoles, but
ultimately rejected them due to concerns about durability and the risk
of children stepping on them. Instead, they adopted the D-pad and two
action button layout developed by R&D1 for their handheld Game
& Watch series. As an early prototype, Katsuya Nakagawa attached a
Game & Watch D-pad to the Famicom and found it comfortable and
easy to use. To reduce costs, the controllers were hardwired to the
console and stored in molded pockets on the case. A 15-pin expansion
port was added on the front of the console so that an optional
arcade-style joystick could be used. The second controller also
included a microphone, which Uemura envisioned being used to make
players' voices sound through the TV speaker.
Japanese launch
=================
The console was released in Japan on July 15, 1983, as the priced at
(14800) with three launch games available for purchase, all ports of
popular Nintendo arcade games: 'Donkey Kong' (1981), 'Donkey Kong Jr.'
(1982), and 'Popeye' (1982). Although priced higher than originally
intended--approximately $100--the system remained less than half the
cost of rival consoles. Backed by a robust marketing campaign, 500,000
units were sold within the first two months. However, a major fault
emerged ahead of the critical Japanese New Year season. Reports began
surfacing of Famicoms crashing during gameplay. Uemura and engineer
Gunpei Yokoi traced the issue to a defective integrated circuit that
could lock under specific data conditions. Upon reporting the issue to
Yamauchi, staff proposed selectively replacing affected units.
However, they were warned that a partial response could damage
consumer trust and jeopardize Nintendo’s first-mover advantage before
competitors could respond. Yamauchi considered their input, then
issued a decisive directive: "Recall them all".
After a product recall and the release of a revised model with a new
motherboard, the system's popularity soared. By the end of 1984, the
Famicom had become the best-selling game console in Japan in what came
to be called the "Famicom Boom". Following the sale of the first
million units, demand showed no signs of slowing. Japanese retailers
inundated Nintendo with urgent requests for stock. Anticipation for
new game releases reached unprecedented levels, with children queuing
outside shops and games selling out almost immediately. This
phenomenon, soon dubbed "Nintendomania", overwhelmed the supply chain
and further increased demand. The Famicom’s success quickly cleared
the field of competition in Japan. Fourteen rival console
manufacturers exited the market, and Sega’s SG-1000--launched the same
day as the Famicom--failed to gain traction.
At launch, Nintendo released only first-party games. However, in 1984,
after being approached by Namco and Hudson Soft, the company agreed to
allow third-party titles. Developers paid a 30% fee to cover console
licensing and production costs, a revenue model that would later
influence the video game industry for decades.
Venture into North America
============================
Nintendo initially planned for the console to enter the North American
market through a distribution agreement with Atari. The agreement was
expected to be finalized at the Summer Consumer Electronics Show (CES)
in June 1983. However, during the show, Atari discovered that Coleco
was demonstrating an unlicensed port of Nintendo's 'Donkey Kong' on
its Coleco Adam computer system. Atari, believing this violated its
exclusive license for the game, delayed the deal. Shortly afterward,
Atari CEO Ray Kassar was fired, the deal fell apart, and Nintendo
decided to market its system on its own.
Nintendo believed that the Famicom name might not resonate with
American consumers, so they initially rebranded the console as the
Advanced Video System (AVS). The AVS resembled a home computer rather
than a "toy", featuring a built-in keyboard, a cassette-based data
drive, and infrared wireless controllers. By positioning the console
as a more "sophisticated" consumer electronics product, Nintendo aimed
to distance themselves from the recent failures of companies such as
Atari, Coleco, and Mattel. It was publicly demonstrated at the Winter
CES in January 1985, but the reaction was lukewarm. While the hardware
and games were praised, there was deep skepticism that the console
could succeed in the United States, as the industry was still
recovering from the video game crash of 1983. The March 1985 issue of
'Electronic Games' magazine reported that the video game market in
America "[had] virtually disappeared" and that "[it] could be a
miscalculation on Nintendo's part".
With American retailers still wary of stocking game consoles after the
1983 crash, Yamauchi saw an opportunity to introduce the Famicom
hardware to North America through arcades, launching it as the
Nintendo VS. System in 1984. The VS. System became a major success,
selling nearly 100,000 cabinets and becoming the highest-grossing
arcade machine of 1985 in the United States. This success gave
Nintendo the confidence to pursue a home console launch and provided a
platform to test new titles to help shape the launch line-up.
Nintendo of America designers Lance Barr and Don James were
disappointed with the prototype console they received from Japan,
which they nicknamed "the lunchbox". For the console's western
release, they added a two-tone gray design, black stripe, and red
lettering, with a front-loading, zero insertion force slot modelled
after a videocassette recorder that concealed the cartridge once
inserted. The redesigned console, now called the Nintendo
Entertainment System (NES), was revealed by Nintendo at the June 1985
Summer CES, and dropped the home computer features of the earlier AVS
prototype while retaining its gray color scheme and boxy form factor.
It also replaced the Famicom's hardwired controllers and the AVS's
wireless ones with detachable wired controllers using proprietary
7-pin connectors. To avoid the language used by earlier game consoles,
marketing manager Gail Tilden coined alternative terms for the
system's hardware, calling the cartridges "Game Paks" and the console
itself the "Control Deck", which would later aid its acceptance in toy
stores. To further distance the NES from previous consoles, Nintendo
heavily promoted optional accessories, like the light gun and the
Robotic Operating Buddy (R.O.B.), to position the system as
cutting-edge and sophisticated. While initial consumer interest in the
console was limited, its peripherals drew significant attention.
The NES launched in a limited test market in New York City on October
18, 1985, followed by Los Angeles in February 1986, and finally a full
North American release on September 27, 1986. The launch line-up
included 17 games: '10-Yard Fight', 'Baseball', 'Clu Clu Land', 'Duck
Hunt', 'Excitebike', 'Golf', 'Gyromite', 'Hogan's Alley', 'Ice
Climber', 'Kung Fu', 'Pinball', 'Soccer', 'Stack-Up', 'Super Mario
Bros.', 'Tennis', 'Wild Gunman', and 'Wrecking Crew'. Nintendo
contracted with toy company Worlds of Wonder (WoW) to get the NES
distributed in stores. WoW’s aggressive sales tactics--including
requiring retailers to carry the NES in order to sell its other
popular toys--helped secure shelf space for the console. WoW salesman
Jim Whims distinctly recalled delivering an ultimatum: "if you want to
sell Teddy Ruxpin and you want to sell Lazer Tag, you're gonna sell
Nintendo as well." WoW's efforts led to a successful first year for
the NES; afterwards, Nintendo of America ended the distribution deal
and hired WoW's sales team, taking over distribution directly.
With the launch of the NES, Nintendo redefined the home video game
market in North America. The 1983 crash had been fueled by misleading
marketing, lack of quality control, and hardware fragmentation. In
contrast, Nintendo introduced strict standards for software approval,
packaging, and quality. It used consistent branding with genre icons,
box art that reflected in-game graphics, and the "Official Nintendo
Seal of Quality". To enforce its standards, the company used the
10NES, a lock-out chip, to deter production of unlicensed games.
Other markets
===============
In Europe and Oceania, the NES was released in two separate marketing
regions. The first consisted of mainland Europe (excluding Italy)
where distribution was handled by several different companies, with
Nintendo responsible for manufacturing. The NES saw an early launch in
Europe in 1986, although most of the European countries received the
console in 1987. The release in Scandinavia was on September 1, 1986,
where it was released by Bergsala. In the Netherlands, it was released
in the last quarter of 1987 and was distributed by Bandai BV. In
France, it was released in October 1987, and in Spain most likely in
1988 through distributor Spaco. Also in 1987, Mattel handled
distribution for the second region, consisting of the British Isles,
Italy, Australia and New Zealand. In other European countries,
distribution was taken over by smaller companies like Bienengräber in
Germany, ASD in France, Concentra in Portugal, Itochu in Greece and
Cyprus, Stadlbauer in Austria, Switzerland and the former Eastern
Bloc. In Poland, the NES had its release on October 6, 1994, along
with the SNES and the Game Boy. In November 1994, Nintendo signed an
agreement with Steepler to permit the continued sale of the Dendy, an
unauthorised hardware clone of the Famicom, in Russia in exchange for
also distributing the SNES.
Nintendo anticipated the NES would have a 25 percent market share in
Europe, and saw particular potential in the United Kingdom. The
console struggled to gain a foothold, however, in part due to the
widespread popularity of the ZX Spectrum, which had already
established a strong home computing and gaming culture. The
affordability, local software support, and versatility of the Spectrum
made it a dominant choice among British consumers, severely limiting
the NES’s market penetration.
In Brazil, the console was officially released late in 1993 by
Playtronic, even after the SNES. The Brazilian market had been
dominated by unlicensed NES clones, however - both locally made, and
smuggled from Taiwan. One of the most successful local clones was the
Phantom System, manufactured by Gradiente, which licensed Nintendo
products in the country for the following decade. The sales of
officially licensed products were low, due to the cloning, the quite
late official launch, and the high prices of Nintendo's licensed
products.
Outside of Japan, regions in greater Asia received an "Asian version"
of the front-loader NES, though imported Famicom systems were
prevalent. Due to import restrictions, NES consoles in India and South
Korea were rebranded and distributed by local licensees. The Indian
version is called the 'Samurai Electronic TV Game System' and the
Korean version is called the 'Hyundai Comboy'. The console sold very
poorly in India due to affordability and a lack of consumer awareness.
Bundles and redesigns {{Anchor|Later redesigns and bundles|North American bundle packages}}
=============================================================================================
The NES was released in several retail bundles throughout its
commercial life. For its 1985 American test launch, the initial
offering was the 'Deluxe Set', which retailed for and included the
Control Deck, two controllers, the NES Zapper light gun, the R.O.B.
robotic accessory, and two Game Paks: 'Gyromite' and 'Duck Hunt'.
Ahead of the 1986 nationwide launch, Nintendo introduced a basic
'Control Deck' set with two controllers and bundled with 'Super Mario
Bros.' for .
In 1988, the 'Deluxe Set' was replaced by the 'Action Set' which
retailed for , bundling the Control Deck with two controllers, the NES
Zapper, and a dual Game Pak containing 'Super Mario Bros.' and 'Duck
Hunt'. The same year also saw the introduction of the 'Power Set',
which added the Power Pad floor mat game controller and replaced the
dual cartridge with a triple Game Pak featuring 'Super Mario Bros.',
'Duck Hunt', and 'World Class Track Meet'.
In 1990, Nintendo released the 'Sports Set', which included the
Control Deck, four controllers, an NES Satellite infrared wireless
multitap adapter, and a dual Game Pak containing 'Super Spike V'Ball'
and 'Nintendo World Cup'. In 1992, the 'Challenge Set' debuted at ,
featuring the Control Deck, two controllers, and a copy of 'Super
Mario Bros. 3'.
Finally, in October 1993, Nintendo released a redesigned version of
the console, the New-Style NES or NES-101, for the North American,
Australian, and Japanese markets. This version included a single
redesigned "dogbone" controller and retailed for in North America
before its discontinuation in 1995. In Australia, the console was
bundled with a triple Game Pak featuring 'Super Mario Bros.',
'Tetris', and 'Nintendo World Cup', and sold for A$79.99, or A$69.99
without the bundled Game Pak.
Discontinuation
=================
On August 14, 1995, Nintendo discontinued the Nintendo Entertainment
System in both North America and Europe. In North America,
replacements for the original front-loading NES were available for in
exchange for a broken system until at least December 1996, under
Nintendo's Power Swap programme.
In September 2003, Nintendo discontinued the Famicom in Japan,
alongside the Super Famicom and the disk rewriting services for the
Famicom Disk System. The last Famicom, serial number HN11033309, was
manufactured on September 25; it was kept by Nintendo and subsequently
loaned to the organisers of Level X, a video game exhibition held from
December 4, 2003, to February 8, 2004, at the Tokyo Metropolitan
Museum of Photography, for a Famicom retrospective in commemoration of
the console's 20th anniversary. Nintendo offered repair service for
the Famicom in Japan until 2007, when it was discontinued due to a
shortage of available parts.
Configurations
================
Although all versions of the Famicom and NES include essentially
similar hardware, they vary in physical characteristics. The original
Famicom's design is predominantly white plastic, with dark red trim;
it featured a top-loading cartridge slot, grooves on both sides of the
deck in which the hardwired game controllers could be placed when not
in use, and a 15-pin expansion port located on the unit's front panel
for accessories. In contrast, the design of the original NES features
a more subdued gray, black, and red color scheme; it includes a
front-loading cartridge slot covered by a small, hinged door that can
be opened to insert or remove a cartridge and closed at other times,
and an expansion port on the bottom of the unit. Compared to the
Famicom, the NES includes the 10NES lock-out chip and incorporates a
matching chip validation check in its cartridge connector.
In late 1993, Nintendo introduced a redesigned version of the Famicom
and NES (officially named the New Famicom in Japan and the New-Style
NES in the US) to complement the Super Famicom and SNES, to prolong
interest in the console, and to reduce costs. The redesigned NES
features a top-loading cartridge slot and omits the 10NES lock-out
chip to avoid reliability issues with the original console; the
redesign also omits AV output. Conversely, the redesigned Famicom
features such output and introduces detachable game controllers,
though the microphone functionality is omitted as a result. The
redesigned Famicom and NES models are cosmetically similar aside from
the presence of a cartridge "bump" on the NES model, which the Famicom
model lacks to accommodate its shorter cartridges and the RAM Adapter
for the Famicom Disk System.
Sharp Corporation produced three licensed variants of the Famicom in
Japan, all of which prominently display the shortened moniker rather
than the official name, Family Computer. One variant was a television
set with an integrated Famicom; originally released in 1983 as the My
Computer TV in 14 in and 19 in models, it was later released in the
United States in 1989 as a 19-inch model named the Video Game
Television. Another variant is the Twin Famicom console released in
1986 to combine a Famicom with a Famicom Disk System. Sharp then
produced the Famicom Titler in 1989. Intended for video capture and
production, it features internal RGB video generation and video output
via S-Video, plus inputs for adding subtitles and voice-overs.
Hardware clones
=================
A thriving market of unlicensed NES hardware clones emerged during the
climax of the console's popularity. Initially, such clones were
popular in markets with weak copyright law and where Nintendo issued
its systems after "famiclones" became well-known, making legal
products difficult to market or create brand awareness for. In
particular, the Dendy (), an unlicensed hardware clone produced in
Taiwan and sold in the former Soviet Union by Steepler, emerged as the
most popular console of its time, eventually selling 6 million units.
In Poland, the Pegasus clone distributed by Bobmark International sold
more than 1 million units. In China, a reported 30 million units sold
until late 1995. A range of Famicom clones was marketed in Latin
America during the late 1980s and 1990s with the name "Family Game",
resembling the original hardware design. The Ending-Man Terminator
clone enjoyed popularity in the Eastern Bloc, parts of Africa, Asia,
Latin America.
The unlicensed clone market flourished following Nintendo's
discontinuation of the NES. Some of these surpass the functionality of
the original hardware, such as a portable system with a color LCD
(PocketFami). Others have been produced for certain specialized
markets, such as a personal computer with a keyboard and basic word
processing software. These unauthorised clones have been helped by the
invention of the so-called NES-on-a-chip.
Design flaws
==============
Nintendo's design styling for the NES's US release was made
deliberately different from that of other game consoles as they wished
to distinguish their product from those of competitors, and to avoid
the generally poor reputation that game consoles had acquired
following the video game crash of 1983. One result of this philosophy
is to disguise the cartridge slot design as a front-loading
zero-insertion force (ZIF) cartridge socket, designed to resemble the
front-loading mechanism of a videocassette recorder. However, when a
user inserts the cartridge, the force of pressing it into place bends
the contact pins slightly and presses the cartridge's ROM board back
into the cartridge. Frequent insertion and removal of cartridges wears
out the pins, and the ZIF design proved more prone to interference by
dirt and dust than an industry-standard card edge connector.
The design problems were exacerbated by Nintendo's choice of
materials. The console slot nickel connector springs wear due to
design and the game cartridge's brass plated nickel connectors are
also prone to tarnishing and oxidation. Nintendo sought to fix these
problems by redesigning the next generation Super Nintendo
Entertainment System (SNES) as a top loader similar to the Famicom.
Many users reportedly tried to alleviate issues caused by corrosion by
blowing into the cartridges, then reinserting them, which conversely
sped up the tarnishing due to moisture.
Lockout
=========
The Famicom as released in Japan contains no lock-out hardware, which
led to unlicensed cartridges (both legitimate and bootleg) becoming
extremely common throughout Japan and East Asia. Nintendo tried to
promote its "Seal of Quality" in these regions to identify licensed
games to combat bootlegs, but bootleg Famicom games continued to be
produced even after Nintendo moved production onto the Super Famicom,
effectively extending the lifetime of the Famicom.
The original NES released for Western countries in 1985 contains the
10NES lock-out chip, which prevents it from running cartridges
unapproved by Nintendo. The inclusion of the 10NES was a direct
influence from the 1983 video game crash in North America, partially
caused by a market flooded with uncontrolled publishing of games of
poor quality for the home consoles. Nintendo sought to use the
lock-out chip to restrict games to only those they licensed for the
system. This means of protection worked in combination with the
Nintendo "Seal of Quality", which a developer had to acquire before
they would be able to have access to the required 10NES information
prior to publication of their game.
Original NES consoles sold in different regions have different
lock-out chips, thereby enforcing regional lock-out, regardless of TV
signal compatibility. Such regions include North America; most of
continental Europe (PAL-B); Asia; and the British Isles, Italy, and
Australasia (PAL-A).
Problems with the 10NES lock-out chip frequently result in one of the
console's most common issues: the blinking red power light, in which
the system appears to turn itself on and off repeatedly because the
10NES would reset the console once per second. The lock-out chip
required constant communication with the chip in the game to work.
Technical specifications
==========================
The console's main central processing unit (CPU) was produced by
Ricoh, which manufactured different versions between NTSC and PAL
regions; NTSC consoles have a 2A03 clocked at 1.79 , and PAL consoles
have a 2A07 clocked at 1.66 MHz. Both CPUs are unlicensed variants of
the MOS Technology 6502, an 8-bit microprocessor prevalent in
contemporary home computers and consoles; Nintendo ostensibly disabled
the 6502's binary-coded decimal mode on them to avoid patent
infringement against or licensing fees towards MOS Technology, which
was owned by then-rival Commodore International. The CPU has access to
2 of onboard work .
The console's graphics are handled by a Ricoh 2C02, a processor known
as the Picture Processing Unit (PPU) that is clocked at 5.37 MHz. A
derivative of the Texas Instruments TMS9918--a video display
controller used in the ColecoVision--the PPU features 2 KB of video
RAM, 256 bytes of on-die "object attribute memory" (OAM) to store
sprite display information on up to 64 sprites, and 28 bytes of RAM to
store information on the YIQ-based color palette; the console can
display up to 25 colors simultaneously out of 54 usable colors.
The console's standard display resolution is 256 × 240 pixels, though
video output options vary between models. The original Famicom
features only radio frequency (RF) modulator output, and the NES
additionally supports composite video via RCA connectors. The
redesigned Famicom omits the RF modulator entirely, only outputting
composite video via a proprietary "multi-out" connector first
introduced on the Super Famicom/SNES; conversely, the redesigned NES
features RF modulator output only, though a version of the model
including the "multi-out" connector was produced in rare quantities.
The console produces sound via an audio processing unit (APU)
integrated into the processor. It supports a total of five sound
channels: two pulse wave channels, one triangle wave channel, one
white noise channel, and one channel for sample playback. Audio
playback speed is dependent on the CPU clock rate, which is set by a
crystal oscillator.
{{anchor|Game_controllers}}Controllers
========================================
The game controller for both the NES and the Famicom has an oblong
brick-like design with a simple four button layout: two round buttons
labelled "A" and "B", a "START" button, and a "SELECT" button.
Additionally, the controllers use the cross-shaped D-pad, designed by
Nintendo employee Gunpei Yokoi for Nintendo Game & Watch systems,
to replace the bulkier joysticks on controllers of earlier gaming
consoles.
The original model Famicom features two game controllers, both of
which are hardwired to the back of the console. The second controller
lacks the START and SELECT button, featuring a small microphone
instead; however, few games use this feature. The earliest produced
Famicom units have square A and B buttons; issues with them getting
stuck when pressed down led Nintendo to change their shape to a
circular design in subsequent units following the console's recall.
Instead of the Famicom's hardwired controllers, the NES has two
proprietary seven-pin ports on the front of the console to support
detachable controllers and third-party peripherals. The controllers
bundled with the NES are identical and include the START and SELECT
buttons, lacking the microphone on the original Famicom's second
controller. The cables for NES controllers are also generally three
times longer than their Famicom counterparts.
Several special controllers are intended for use with specific games,
though are not commonly used. Such peripherals include the NES Zapper
(a light gun), R.O.B. (a toy robot), and the Power Pad (a dance pad).
The original Famicom has a deepened DA-15 expansion port on the front
of the unit to accommodate them.
Two official advanced controllers were produced for the NES: the NES
Advantage, an arcade controller produced by Asciiware and licensed by
Nintendo of America; and the NES Max, a controller with grip handles
and a "cycloid" sliding-disc D-pad in place of the traditional one.
Both controllers have a "Turbo" feature, which simulates multiple
rapid button presses, for the A and B buttons; the NES Max has
manually pressed Turbo buttons, and the NES Advantage offers toggle
buttons for Turbo functionality along with knobs that adjust the
firing rate of each button. The latter also includes a "Slow" button
that rapidly pauses games, though this function is not intended for
games that invoke a pause menu or screen.
The standard game controller was redesigned upon the introduction of
the redesigned console. Though the original button layout was
retained, the shape of the redesigned controller--nicknamed the "dog
bone" controller--resembles that of the Super Famicom and SNES. It
retained NES-style detachable controller ports.
Japanese peripherals
======================
Few of the numerous peripheral devices and software packages for the
Famicom were released outside Japan.
The Famicom 3D System, an active shutter 3D headset peripheral
released in 1987, enabled the ability to play stereoscopic video
games. It was a commercial failure and never released outside Japan;
users described the headset as bulky and uncomfortable. Seven games
are compatible with the glasses, with three of them developed by
Square; two titles received worldwide releases as 'Rad Racer' and 'The
3-D Battles of WorldRunner'.
'Family BASIC' is an implementation of BASIC for the Famicom, packaged
with a keyboard. Similar in concept to the Atari 2600 'BASIC'
cartridge, it allows the user to write programs, especially games,
which can be saved on an included cassette recorder. Nintendo of
America rejected releasing 'Famicom BASIC' in the US in favour of its
primary marketing demographic of children.
The Family Computer Network System connected a Famicom to a now
defunct proprietary network in Japan which provided content such as
financial services. A dial-up modem was never released for the NES
after a partnership with Fidelity Investments.
Famicom Disk System
=====================
By 1986, the cost and size limitations of ROM chips used in the
Famicom's ROM cartridges were apparent, with no new advancements
present to address them. With this in mind, Nintendo looked at the
personal computer (PC) market, where the floppy disk was gaining wide
adoption as a computer data storage medium. Partnering with Mitsumi to
develop a floppy disk add-on for the Famicom based on the latter's
Quick Disk format, Nintendo officially released it as the Family
Computer Disk System in Japan on February 21, 1986, at a retail price
of ¥15,000.
The advantages of the format (called "Disk Card") were apparent on
launch. It has more than triple the data storage capacity of the
then-largest cartridge (used for 'Super Mario Bros.') and introduced
game save capability and lower production costs compared to
cartridges, which resulted in lower retail prices for consumers. The
add-on also has a new wavetable synthesis sound channel and more data
storage for the Famicom's audio sample channel. Taking advantage of
the disk's re-writability, Nintendo set up Disk Writer interactive
kiosks at retail stores throughout Japan; at each kiosk, consumers
could buy new games to rewrite onto their old disks or onto new disks.
Disk Fax kiosks allowed players to submit their high scores on special
blue disks for contests and rankings, predating the online leaderboard
by several years.
Although Nintendo committed to exclusively releasing games on the Disk
System after its release, numerous external issues plagued its
long-term viability. Just four months after launch, Capcom released a
Famicom port of 'Makaimura' (known as 'Ghosts 'n Goblins' in the US)
on a cartridge with more data storage capacity than what was possible
on Disk Cards, nullifying one of the Disk System's major advantages by
using discrete logic chips to perform bank switching. Nintendo also
demanded half of the copyright ownership for each game it selected for
release on the Disk System, resulting in developers electing to remain
on cartridge instead as the latter gained functionality previously
considered unique to the former. Developers disliked the lower profit
margin of the Disk Writer kiosks, and retailers complained of their
use of valuable space as demand for the format waned.
Usage of a floppy disk-based medium brought about further
complications; Disk Cards were more fragile than cartridges and were
prone to data corruption from magnetic exposure. Their unreliability
was exacerbated by their lack of a shutter, which Nintendo substituted
with a wax sleeve and clear keep case to reduce costs; blue disks and
later Disk Cards included shutters. The rubber belt-based disk drives
were also unreliable, with cryptic error codes complicating
troubleshooting; even when fully functional, players accustomed to
cartridges were annoyed with the introduction of loading times and
disk flipping. Furthermore, the rewritable nature of the format
resulted in rampant software piracy, with Nintendo's attempts at
anti-piracy measures quickly defeated.
Though selling close to two million units for all of 1986, Nintendo
only managed to increase the total to 4.4 million units by 1990,
falling well short of internal projections. By then, the Disk System
was rendered obsolete due to advancements in ROM cartridge production:
memory mapping chips for expanded data storage capacity,
battery-backed for game saving, and declining overall production
costs. Nintendo alluded to a Western release for the Disk System,
going so far as to successfully file a US patent for it and having the
Famicom's cartridge pins used by its RAM Adapter for enhanced audio
rerouted to the NES's little-used bottom expansion port. However, such
a release never materialised due to its reception in Japan. Most of
its games were re-released with workarounds on cartridge for both the
Famicom and NES, without the enhanced audio. Although the last game
for the Disk System was released in December 1992, Nintendo continued
repair and rewrite services for it until September 2003.
NES Test Station
==================
The NES Test Station diagnostics machine was introduced in 1988. It is
an NES-based unit designed for testing NES hardware, components, and
games. It was only provided for use in World of Nintendo boutiques as
part of the Nintendo World Class Service program. Visitors were to
bring items to test with the station, and could be assisted by a store
technician or employee.
The NES Test Station's front has a Game Pak slot and connectors for
testing various components (AC adapter, RF switch, Audio/Video cable,
NES Control Deck, accessories and games), with a centrally located
selector knob to choose which component to test. The unit itself
weighs approximately 11.7 lb without a TV. It connects to a television
via a combined A/V and RF Switch cable. By actuating the green button,
a user can toggle between an A/V Cable or RF Switch connection. The
television it is connected to (typically 11" to 14") is meant to be
placed atop it.
Game Pak
==========
The NES uses a 72-pin design, as compared with 60 pins on the Famicom.
To reduce costs and inventory, some early games released in North
America are simply Famicom cartridges attached to an adapter to fit
inside the NES hardware. Early NES cartridges are held together with
five small slotted screws. Games released after 1987 were redesigned
slightly to incorporate two plastic clips moulded into the plastic
itself, removing the need for the top two screws.
The back of the cartridge bears a label with handling instructions.
Production and software revision codes were imprinted as stamps on the
back label to correspond with the software version and producer. All
licensed NTSC and PAL cartridges are a standard shade of gray plastic,
with the exception of 'The Legend of Zelda' and 'Zelda II: The
Adventure of Link', which were manufactured in gold-plastic carts.
Unlicensed carts were produced in black, robin egg blue, and gold, and
are all slightly different shapes than standard NES cartridges.
Nintendo also produced yellow-plastic carts for internal use at
Nintendo Service Centers, although these "test carts" were never made
available for purchase. All licensed US cartridges were made by
Nintendo, Konami, and Acclaim.
Famicom cartridges are shaped slightly differently. Unlike NES games,
official Famicom cartridges were produced in many colors of plastic.
Adapters, similar in design to the popular accessory Game Genie, are
available that allow Famicom games to be played on an NES. In Japan,
several companies manufactured the cartridges for the Famicom. This
allowed these companies to develop customised chips designed for
specific purposes, such as superior sound and graphics.
Third-party licensing
=======================
Nintendo's near monopoly on the home video game market left it with a
dominant influence over the industry. Unlike Atari, which never
actively pursued third-party developers (and even went to court in an
attempt to force Activision to cease production of Atari 2600 games),
Nintendo had anticipated and encouraged the involvement of third-party
software developers, though strictly on Nintendo's terms.
To this end, a 10NES authentication chip is in every console and in
every licensed cartridge. If the console's chip can not detect a
counterpart chip inside the cartridge, the game does not load.
Nintendo portrayed these measures as intended to protect the public
against poor-quality games, and placed a golden seal of approval on
all licensed games released for the system.
Nintendo was not as restrictive as Sega, which did not permit
third-party publishing until Mediagenic in late summer 1988.
Nintendo's intention was to reserve a large part of NES game revenue
for itself. Nintendo required that it be the sole manufacturer of all
cartridges, and that the publisher had to pay in full before the
cartridges for that game be produced. Cartridges could not be returned
to Nintendo, so publishers assumed all the risk. As a result, some
publishers lost more money due to distress sales of remaining
inventory at the end of the NES era than they ever earned in profits
from sales of the games. Because Nintendo controlled the production of
all cartridges, it was able to enforce strict rules on its third-party
developers, who were required to sign a contract that would obligate
them to develop exclusively for the system, order at least 10,000
cartridges, and only make five games per year. The global 1988
shortage of DRAM and ROM chips reportedly caused Nintendo to only
permit an average of 25% of publishers' requests for cartridges, with
some receiving much higher amounts and others almost none. GameSpy
noted that Nintendo's "iron-clad terms" made the company many enemies
during the 1980s. Some developers tried to circumvent the five game
limit by creating additional company brands like Konami's Ultra Games
label; others tried circumventing the 10NES chip.
Nintendo was accused of antitrust violations because of the strict
licensing requirements. The United States Department of Justice and
several states began probing Nintendo's business practices, leading to
the involvement of Congress and the Federal Trade Commission (FTC).
The FTC conducted an extensive investigation which included
interviewing hundreds of retailers. During the FTC probe, Nintendo
changed the terms of its publisher licensing agreements to eliminate
the two-year rule and other restrictive terms. Nintendo and the FTC
settled the case in April 1991, with Nintendo required to send
vouchers giving a $5 discount off to a new game, to every person that
had purchased an NES game between June 1988 and December 1990. GameSpy
remarked that Nintendo's punishment was particularly weak given the
case's findings, although it has been speculated that the FTC did not
want to damage the video game industry in the United States.
With the NES near the end of its life, many third-party publishers
such as Electronic Arts supported upstart competing consoles with less
strict licensing terms such as the Sega Genesis and then the
PlayStation, which eroded and then took over Nintendo's dominance in
the home console market, respectively. Consoles from Nintendo's rivals
in the post-SNES era had always enjoyed much stronger third-party
support than Nintendo, which relied more heavily on first-party games.
Unlicensed games
==================
Companies that refused to pay the licensing fee or were rejected by
Nintendo found ways to circumvent the console's authentication system.
Most of these companies created circuits that use a voltage spike to
temporarily disable the 10NES chip. A few unlicensed games released in
Europe and Australia are in the form of a dongle to connect to a
licensed game, to use the licensed game's 10NES chip for
authentication. To combat unlicensed games, Nintendo of America
threatened retailers who sold them with losing their supply of
licensed games, and multiple revisions were made to the NES PCBs to
prevent unlicensed games from working.
Atari Games took a different approach with its line of NES products,
Tengen. The company attempted to reverse engineer the lock-out chip to
develop its own "Rabbit" chip. Tengen also obtained a description of
the lock-out chip from the United States Patent and Trademark Office
by falsely claiming that it was required to defend against present
infringement claims. Nintendo successfully sued Tengen for copyright
infringement. Tengen's antitrust claims against Nintendo were never
decided.
Color Dreams made Christian video games under the subsidiary name
Wisdom Tree. Historian Steven Kent wrote, "Wisdom Tree presented
Nintendo with a prickly situation. The general public did not seem to
pay close attention to the court battle with Atari Games, and industry
analysts were impressed with Nintendo's legal acumen; but going after
a tiny company that published innocuous religious games was another
story."
Game rentals
==============
As the NES grew in popularity and entered millions of American homes,
some small video rental shops began buying their own copies of NES
games, and renting them out to customers for around the same price as
a video cassette rental for a few days. Nintendo received no profit
from the practice beyond the initial cost of their game, and unlike
movie rentals, a newly released game could circulate and be available
for rent on the same day. Nintendo took steps to stop game rentals,
but did not take any formal legal action until Blockbuster Video began
to make game rentals a large-scale service. Nintendo claimed that
allowing customers to rent games would significantly hurt sales and
drive up the cost of games. Nintendo notably lost the lawsuit, but did
win on a claim of copyright infringement. Blockbuster was banned from
including photocopies of original, copyrighted instruction booklets
with its rented games. In compliance with the ruling, Blockbuster
produced original short instructions--usually in the form of a small
booklet, card, or label stuck on the back of the rental box--that
explained the game's basic premise and controls. Video rental shops
continued the practice of renting video games.
Reception
======================================================================
By 1988, industry observers stated that the NES's popularity had grown
so quickly that the market for Nintendo cartridges was larger than
that for all home computer software. 'Compute!' reported in 1989 that
Nintendo had sold seven million NES systems in 1988 alone, almost as
many as the number of Commodore 64s sold in its first five years.
"Computer game makers [are] scared stiff", the magazine said, stating
that Nintendo's popularity caused most competitors to have poor sales
during the previous Christmas and resulted in serious financial
problems for some.
From top: Japanese Famicom, European NES and American NES
In June 1989, Nintendo of America's vice-president of marketing Peter
Main, said that the Famicom was present in 37% of Japan's households.
By 1990, 30% of American households owned the NES, compared to 23% for
all personal computers. By 1990, the NES had outsold all previously
released consoles worldwide.
In the early 1990s, gamers predicted that competition from
technologically superior systems such as the 16-bit Mega Drive would
mean the immediate end of the NES's dominance. Instead, during the
first year of Nintendo's successor console the Super Famicom (named
Super Nintendo Entertainment System outside Japan), the Famicom was
the second highest-selling video game console in Japan, outselling the
newer and more powerful NEC PC Engine and Mega Drive by a wide margin.
The console remained popular in Japan and North America until late
1993, when the demand for new NES software abruptly plummeted. The
final licensed Famicom game released in Japan is 'Takahashi Meijin no
Bōken Jima IV (Adventure Island IV)', in North America is 'Wario's
Woods', and in Europe is 'The Lion King' in 1995. In the wake of ever
decreasing sales and the lack of new games, Nintendo of America
officially discontinued the NES in 1995. Nintendo produced new Famicom
units in Japan until September 25, 2003, and continued to repair
Famicom consoles until October 31, 2007, attributing the
discontinuation of support to insufficient supplies of parts.
The NES was initially not as successful in Europe during the late
1980s, when it was outsold by the Master System and the ZX Spectrum in
the United Kingdom. By 1990, the Master System was the highest-selling
console in Europe, though the NES was beginning to have a fast-growing
user base in the United Kingdom. During the early 1990s, NES sales
caught up with and narrowly overtook the Master System overall in
Western Europe, though the Master System maintained its lead in
several markets such as the United Kingdom, Belgium and Spain.
Legacy
======================================================================
The NES was released two years after the video game crash of 1983,
when many retailers and adult consumers regarded electronic games as a
passing fad, so many believed at first that the NES would soon fade.
Before the NES and Famicom, Nintendo was known as a moderately
successful Japanese toy and playing card manufacturer, but the
consoles' popularity helped the company grow into an internationally
recognised name almost synonymous with video games as Atari had been,
and set the stage for Japanese dominance of the video game industry.
With the NES, Nintendo also changed the relationship between console
manufacturers and third-party software developers by restricting
developers from publishing and distributing software without licensed
approval. This led to higher-quality games, which helped change the
attitude of a public that had grown weary from poorly produced games
for earlier systems.
The NES hardware design is also very influential. Nintendo chose the
name "Nintendo Entertainment System" for the US market and redesigned
the system so it would not give the appearance of a child's toy. The
front-loading cartridge input allowed it to be used more easily in a
TV stand with other entertainment devices, such as a videocassette
recorder.
The system's hardware limitations led to design principles that still
influence the development of modern video games. Many prominent game
franchises originated on the NES, including Nintendo's own 'Super
Mario Bros.',| 'The Legend of Zelda' and 'Metroid', Capcom's 'Mega
Man', Konami's 'Castlevania', Square's 'Final Fantasy',| and Enix's
'Dragon Quest'|.
NES imagery, especially its controller, has become a popular motif for
a variety of products, including Nintendo's Game Boy Advance. The
original NES controller has become one of the most recognisable
symbols of the console. Nintendo has mimicked the look of the
controller in several other products, from promotional merchandise to
limited edition versions of the Game Boy Advance.
At the Tokyo Game Show in 2023, the 'Famicom' was bestowed "The
Minister of Economy, Trade and Industry Award" in honour of the
console's influence and laying down the foundations for the games
industry.
In 2011, IGN named the NES the greatest video game console of all
time.
Emulation
===========
The NES can be emulated on many other systems. The earliest known NES
emulator was simply named Family Computer Emulator. Developed by
Haruhisa Udagawa, it was made available in 1990 for the FM Towns
computer. The earliest emulator for DOS/Windows was the Japanese-only
Pasofami. It was soon followed by iNES, which is available in English
and is cross-platform, in 1996. It was described as being the first
NES emulation software that could be used by a non-expert. The first
version of NESticle, an unofficial MS-DOS-based emulator, was released
on April 3, 1997. Nintendo offers licensed emulation of some NES games
via its Virtual Console service for the Wii, Nintendo 3DS, and Wii U,
and via its Nintendo Classics service for Nintendo Switch and Nintendo
Switch 2.
Re-release
============
On July 14, 2016, Nintendo announced the November 2016 launch of a
miniature replica of the NES, named the Nintendo Entertainment System:
NES Classic Edition in the United States and Nintendo Classic Mini:
Nintendo Entertainment System in Europe and Australia. The
emulation-based console includes 30 permanently bundled games from the
vintage NES library, including the 'Super Mario Bros.' series and 'The
Legend of Zelda' series. The system has HDMI display output and a new
replica controller, which can also connect to the Wii Remote for use
with Virtual Console games. It was discontinued in North America on
April 13, 2017, and worldwide on April 15, 2017. However, Nintendo
announced in September 2017 that the NES Classic Mini would return to
production on June 29, 2018, only to be discontinued again permanently
by December of that year.
See also
======================================================================
* History of Nintendo
* Nintendo hard
* Nintendo World Championships
External links
======================================================================
*
*
*
* [
https://www.nintendo.com/nes-classic NES Classic Edition official
website]
* [
https://www.nintendo.com/jp/famicom/index.html Famicom official
website] (Japanese)
License
=========
All content on Gopherpedia comes from Wikipedia, and is licensed under CC-BY-SA
License URL:
http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-sa/3.0/
Original Article:
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Nintendo_Entertainment_System
