Nintendo Entertainment System

ファミリーコンピュータ Famirī Konpyūta
North American model
Release dates
Japan	July 15, 1983
North America	October 18, 1985
Europe	September 1, 1986
Technical information
Display	8-bit
Media	ROM cartridge
Other information
Console generation	Third generation
Console type	Home console
Successor	Super Nintendo Entertainment System

The Nintendo Entertainment System (Japanese: ファミリーコンピュータ Family Computer, or ファミコン Famicom), often abbreviated as the NES, is the second home video game console developed by Nintendo (the first being the Japan-only Color TV-Game series released from 1977-1980). This console is often credited with beginning the third generation of video and computer games. The first title in the EarthBound series was released for this system, though only in Japan. Sales for the Nintendo Entertainment System were high, with a strong lineup of exclusive games such as Kirby's Adventure, Metroid, and Ice Climbers. The console's best-selling titles are Super Mario Bros. and Super Mario Bros. 3. The Nintendo Entertainment System was succeeded by the Super Nintendo Entertainment System.

Many games for the Nintendo Entertainment System were re-released as Virtual Console titles on the Wii Shop Channel and later the Nintendo eShop for the Nintendo 3DS and Wii U. Among these titles is Mother, which was released on the Wii U Virtual Console in 2015. Several Nintendo Entertainment System titles are included in Super Smash Bros. Brawl and Super Smash Bros. for Wii U as Masterpieces.

History

The Nintendo Famicom.

Since before the success of their Game & Watch line of systems and their venerable arcade games such as Donkey Kong and Mario Bros., the president of NCL (Nintendo of Japan) at the time, Hiroshi Yamauchi, had tasked a team of engineers with creating a home computer gaming system. Due to the video game crash of 1983 in America, Nintendo had an opportunity to enter a milion-dollar industry with their console, since the crash that destroyed the console playing field over in America had not affected Japan in the slightest. One of Yamauchi's desires for the console was to keep the system's price point at around 9,800 yen, or 71.27 American dollars (worth roughly 221.03 US dollars in 2023). One of the console's engineers (and one of Nintendo's wisest advisors and technical gurus), Masayuki Uemera, had the techniogical capabilities to make the console a 16-bit system; but since Yamauchi wanted the price to be as low as possible, Uemera make the system an 8-bit machine instead, while Yamauchi further lowered the costs for the console by way of brutal negotiations. One such tactic was promising the Japanese electronics company Ricoh a sale of three million semiconductors, but only on the sole condition that they each be priced at 2,000 yen each. In this manner, Nintendo's new system could be more powerful than its competitors while still being the cheapest one out of all of them.

Their console, the Family Computer System (or the Famicom), would be based off of the Atari 2600, with upgraded computer chips and controller input to differentiate itself from Atari's console. The console eventually ended up costing 14,800 yen (105.44 US dollars, roughly 322.33 US dollars in 2023), which, while not as cheap as Yamauchi originally wanted it to be, was still cheaper than its competitors. The Famicom was designed around the internal architecture of Nintendo's arcade cabinets, as Nintendo wanted to to match the cabinets' powerful sprite and scrolling capabilities, with Nintendo also planning to release ports of Nintendo's popular arcade titles on the Famicom system. Masayuki and other engineers "slaved over calculations" and fervently experimented on the Famicom's innards, trying their best to make the machine's limited components put out their maximum potential; "We had to accomplish this exactly. It was the order from the president. So much was riding on those experiments." Uemera would later quote. Uemera was also instructed by Yamauchi to design the Famicom with the potential to hook up to a modem or keyboard to function as a computer; while this never came to fruition, it showed how far ahead of the bell curve Yamauchi was. The Famicom was also designed to look like a toy and not like a PC system to appeal to Japanese electronic stores, as they were not favorable towards carrying video game systems in their stores as they required televisions to operate. The maroon-red and cream-white color scheme was decided by Yamauchi upon viewing a scarf and a tv antennae with the same color scheme.

The Famicom launched on July 15th, 1983 in Japan to immense critical and commercial reception, with its launch line-up consisting of home console ports of Donkey Kong, Donkey Kong Jr., and Popeye. Shortly after its release, multiple reports came in from all over Japan that the Famicom would freeze or crash during gameplay; a problem cause by faulty chips in each and every Famicom console that malfunctioned. In response, Nintendo recalled every Famicom system (including the non-faulty systems) in the marketplace and replaced the motherboards for each and every system, with the consumers who had the faulty Famicoms being given the choice to send in their defect Famicoms to receive a brand-new replacement console free of charge. This act of goodwill bolstered Nintendo's image in the eyes of Japanese retailers, and the Famicom would move 500,000 units for the rest of 1983, with tv manufacturer Sharp producing a commercially-available tv set with a built-in Famicom. Sharp also produced multiple iterations of the Famicom, including one which combined both the standard Famicom and its add-on, the Famicom Disk System, into one console. Three million Famicom units were sold by 1984, with 19.32 million units being sold by the end of the Famicom's lifetime. The Famicom would become the most popular console system in Japan at the time, with Nintendo controlling 90 to 95% of the video game market at the time, with this fact being especially touted by Nintendo of America when bringing the Famicom to the U.S. Manufacturing for the Famicom lasted two decades before it was finally shut down in 2003. The last published Famicom game, Master Takahashi's Adventure Island IV, was released in 1994.

File:Avs system.jpeg

The Nintendo Advanced Video System from a January 1984 Las Vegas CES brochure. Here, you can notice the multiple applications for the system and its accessories. The console, tape deck/data recorder, and musical keyboard could also fit on top of each other for an ergonomic setup.

The Famicom was planned to be released in the United States, and the initial planning was for Atari to distribute the system in America, with Nintendo of Japan receiving a royalty check for every unit sold; while Atari and Nintendo were enthusiastic about the deal, Atari eventually backed out of the deal entirely due to a skirmish betweenColeco, Atari, and Nintendo for the home computer and console rights for [[mariowiki:Donkey Kong (game}|Donkey Kong]] and Atari's dire financial state during the video game crash of 1983. As a result, Nintendo had to market and distribute the American Famicom themselves. To the chagrin of Nintendo, American retailers were adamant about not selling any video game system ever again because of the crash of 1983. To alleviate this, the system was redesigned multiple times to appear more like a consumer electronic device on the behest of the president of Nintendo of America at the time, Minoru Arakawa. The name for the American Famicom was originally the Advanced Video System, with multiple prototypes of the system being showcased throughout various electronic trade shows in 1984 and 1985. The device was conceived to have multiple applications, with several add-ons for the console being a tape deck/data recorder, a piano keyboard, a joystick, a programmable BASIC cartridge, and a typewriter keyboard. The system was touted as less of a toy and a video game console but as a high-end revolutionary entertainment system capable of "images that actually appear three-dimensional". It was also touted as being the first system to be "designed to fit in with other fine audio and video components", the first system "that allows play of music as well as games", and the first system that was "more than a toy". The Advanced Video System (or AVS) also came with two infrared wireless controllers, (the AVS was meant to have no wires for the system and its applications at all, the only wires for the AVS being the ones that would plug the "cartridge controller" into the wall and into the television. ), and a sleek and futuristic "Light Wand", which could be used as a "Light Gun" in target games such as the hit Famicom game Duck Hunt, which was also showcased at the events along with the Famicom titles Baseball, Excitebike, Golf, Tennis, and Donkey Kong Jr. Math. Nintendo of America's sole marketing staff member Gail Tilden also announced that the AVS would come with 25 launch games , with the AVS itself supposedly launching in June. An article also claimed that Nintendo stated that "a wide range of software would be marketed for all age levels" .

File:1985 proto nes.jpeg

A second major design for the Nintendo Advanced Video System from a June CES 1985 brochure, now called the Video Entertainment System . Notice the removed accessories from the previous iteration.

However, the potential retailer's receptions at the various trade show events was lukewarm at best; while they enjoyed the system and its titles, they saw through the AVS being a high-end entertainment system and saw it for what it really was: another video game console that had a very high probability of crashing and burning in a market that had excised new video game consoles and titles from it only a scant year earlier. As such, they were extremely skeptical of its chance at success in the U.S. and refused to place any orders, with additional critiquing going out to the keyboards and infrared controller on the basis that children would hate it. In response, Nintendo decided to create a trojan horse that would bring the AVS into the homes of American children and would make it appear more of a toy and a uniquely sophisticated futuristic electronic device rather than have it bear the stale and decrepit image of a video game console: a robot buddy accessory named R.O.B. (Robotic Operating Buddy), who could play Famicom titles like Robot Gyro and Robot Block (Gyromite and Stack-Up in the U.S., respectively) alongside you as a second player. This was merely a marketing gimmick, though, and retailers immediately saw through the pretense of a robotic buddy (R.O.B.'s original name was OTTO, a play on the word "auto"; however, Gail Tilden settled on the name R.O.B. instead. ) and still did not advocate for the system's American release. Despite Nintendo of America's staff calling R.O.B "hysterically slow" and it being difficult to make the sales-pitch "exciting", most of the staff agreed that the robot was indeed "cool" and that "it was fun to play! But again, like Rock 'em Sock 'em Robots, I wouldn't want to do it for 40 hours", according to product designer Don James. Simply put: it could fulfill its mission as a trojan horse for the AVS (probably). The AVS itself also underwent several changes in response to the 1984 CES reception: the tape deck/data recorder, the keyboards (both musical and typewriter), the programmable BASIC cartridge, and the joystick were all removed from the fray, leaving only the console, its controllers (now with wires), R.O.B., and the "Light Wand" (now the Light Gun). The number of launch games for the AVS decreased from 25 to 20 games, all the way down to only 18, which were picked out by Nintendo of America "Game Master" Howard Philips on the basis of what games would be the most fun for an American market. The AVS's name was also changed to the Video Entertainment System (or the VES). In addition to the changes to the VES itself, Nintendo began intensely centering the VES's marketing around R.O.B. on the front of advertisements and other promotional materials for the VES, which continued until the end of 1985.

File:1986 launch photo.jpeg

The final design for the Advanced Video System/Video Entertainment System, now the Nintendo Entertainment System. In the top middle are the boxes for Duck Hunt and Gyromite.

In the face of continued opposition from American retailers, the VES was changed into its final design around June 1985 , with the console, controllers, and the Light Gun (now the NES Zapper) undergoing major cosmetic and functional changes, with R.O.B. receiving only minor differences in coloration and structuring. The VES's top-loading cartridge acceptance, like the Famicom, was removed, replaced with a side-loading deck system similar to a VCR device. To support the new side-design, the VES became significantly less sleek and refined and more angular and blocky. The VES controllers' flat directional pad was changed to a plus sign-shaped D-Pad, which was brought over from the Famicom controller. The console's color aesthetic remained mostly the same, though the light/dark gray and black color scheme received more prominent red highlights throughout the design. The launch line-up was whittled down from 18 to 17 games, with two being included with the console: Duck Hunt and [[1]]. The NES Zapper was also changed from an angular and detail-barren gun to a more simple and practical design, with the words "Nintendo Zapper" being emblazoned on the side of it. The words "Nintendo Entertainment System" were also emblazoned on the deck flap of the NES console itself, to reflect the console's newest and final name. The NES cartridges and boxes were also changed: To fit the console's side-loading cartridge function, the NES cartridges were changed from being squat and rectangular-shaped like the Famicom cartridges and were instead redesigned to be tall and long. (Later NES games could take advantage of this by upgrading its hardware inside the spacious cartridge shell.) The boxes were also designed to be longer than the cartridges themselves in order to show more detail on the boxes regarding the game; a single block of styrofoam was packaged in the box so the cartridge and other materials wouldn't move around an excessive amount inside the box. This was all done to make the games seem more like VHS tapes, which played into Nintendo's "entertainment system' marketing strategy. The boxes also displayed game-accurate graphics on the front to avoid misleading customers on the game's graphical capabilities; Nintendo felt that Atari had done wrong by showing lavish paintings of the games on their game boxes. Despite these changes, the reaction at the trade shows did little better to encourage retails to place orders; in addition, a focus-group test showed that children hated the console, with a typical 8-year-old's reaction being: "This is shit!" A solemn Arakawa had to be spurred back onwards by Yamauchi, who told Arakawa: "Try to sell the system in one American city. Then, if it fails, it fails. But we must get it into the hands of the customer. That is the only test that matters." After consideration between Arakawa and other Nintendo of America heads, Yamauchi decided to release the NES in New York City first, as it would be the most difficult place to sell NES systems in: it had been hit the hardest by the 1983 crash, and the buyers were among the most "cynical" and "savvy" buyers in America. Yamauchi then granted Nintendo of America a budget of $50,000,000 to get the job done.

In the fall of 1985, 100,000 units of the NES were shipped to a warehouse in New York.

Planned to be released at the price of $130 , the system was eventually released for 179.99 U.S. dollars (roughly 511.73 American dollars in 2023).

Hardware

The Nintendo Entertainment System supported 8-bit graphics, whereas most consoles of the second generation of video games only supported 1-bit or 4-bit graphics. The Nintendo Entertainment System also supported 2-player games, though Mother did not utilize this feature.

EarthBound games for the Nintendo Entertainment System

• EarthBound Beginnings

Trivia

• Ninten's name is an abbreviation of Nintendo and a nod to the Nintendo Entertainment System, much like how Ness's name is a reference to the Nintendo Entertainment System or the Super Nintendo Entertainment System.