Nintendo Famicom

Manufactured By

Nintendo

Launch Year

Japan: 1983

Launch Price

Japan: ¥14,800

Media

Cartridge

Floppy Disk (used with the Family Computer Disk System)

Cassette (used with Famicom Data Recorder)

Competitors

NEC PC Engine, Atari 7800, MSX/MSX2, Sega SG-1000/Sega SG-1000 II, Sega Mark III, Sega Master System, Sega Mega Drive, NEC TurboGrafx-16

Discontinued

Japan: 2003

Units Sold (rough estimates)

Japan: 19.35 million units

History

Whilst America was in the midst of the Video Game crash of 1983, Japan was largely unaffected and just about to begin a video games boom. The US had gone full steam ahead with consoles, whilst Europe had gone down the Home Computer route. Japan had not chosen a path yet, but the release of the Famicom would soon change that. Nintendo had seen success in the arcades with the likes of Mario Bros. and Donkey Kong, and now wanted to take the next step and give its customers a chance to bring a piece of the arcade experience home with the Famicom (Family Computer), released in 1983.

The Famicom was designed to be both cheap and impressive. Nintendo aimed to be thrifty where possible but did not want to sacrifice performance. The aim was for their console to be unsurpassed in terms of quality and cost-effectiveness by their competitors for at least a year, if not longer. The console was purposefully designed to look like a toy – with a design scheme similar to the Game and Watch series of portable games they had released a couple of years prior to the Famicom. This design would be completely revised when it was released as the Nintendo Entertainment System in North America two years later.

The Nintendo Famicom
Credit: Gawker Media

The console had two controllers, both of which were hard-wired into the machine. This design choice was problematic if a controller broke, so the American NES ensured the controllers were detachable. Another notable difference between the Japanese and American controllers is that the second Japanese controller has a microphone as opposed to start and select buttons. This microphone was rarely made use of, but one example of its usage is the Japanese version of Legend of Zelda – the enemy “Pols Voice” can be killed by yelling into the microphone of the second controller.

Upon launch in July 1983, the Famicom sold steadily. Launch titles were Donkey Kong (an arcade port), Donkey Kong Junior and Popeye. Popeye being released for the Famicom was somewhat ironic, as the original arcade version of Donkey Kong had been based off Popeye, but due to licensing issues Nintendo had been unable to use the characters of Popeye, Olive Oil and Bluto.

Donkey Kong Famicom Artwork
Credit: http://www.videogameden.com/

Nintendo encountered a serious problem in the run up to the holiday season of 1983. There were many reports of Famicom systems freezing during gameplay. Nintendo hastily discovered this was due to a faulty circuit in the system, and so decided to recall every Famicom system and stop production until the issue was fixed. This cost Nintendo huge amounts of money in lost sales, along with replacing recalled Famicom units, but in many ways it worked out well for them. Their swift and decisive decision to fix this issue to the detriment of profits helped project a trustworthy and caring image which would help the company dominate Japan for decades to come.

At this time the only direct competition to the Famicom was Sega’s SG-1000, which the Famicom was easily outselling. Within two years the Famicom had already sold 2.5 million units in Japan. This success emboldened Nintendo, who started to look towards international markets. They contacted Atari, who were at the time the best known video game console company in the United States. A deal was thrashed out for Atari to market the Famicom in North America as the Nintendo Enhanced Video System. Atari then stalled upon witnessing the ColecoVision version of Donkey Kong, concerned that Nintendo were also working with their competitor Coleco. This was not the case, but by the time the issue was cleared up, the North American Video Game Crash had left Atari unable to financially follow through with the original deal.

The ColecoVision version of Donkey Kong (Artwork)
Credit: http://www.nintendolife.com

Nintendo would proceed by themselves, undaunted, and eventually release the Famicom in North America as the radically redesigned Nintendo Entertainment System in 1985. Although Nintendo had originally pitched an all-in-one gaming and computer system, poor feedback convinced them to instead release a standalone console with a robot that helped play two of the launch titles – Gyromite and Stack Up. R.O.B the Robot had already released in Japan, retailing for ¥9,800. This accessory was not especially successful in either territory, although R.O.B is credited with helping sell the NES to an initially distrustful North American public, with the Video Game Crash of 1983 still fresh in their minds.

R.O.B the Robot Japanese Advertisement
Credit: http://www.giantbomb.com

A significant difference between the Japanese Famicom and American NES is the cartridge pin slots. The Famicom has a 60-pin slot, whilst the NES has a 72-pin slot. This is part of the reason NES games are significantly larger than their Famicom counterparts, and why an adapter is required to play Famicom games on an NES.

Honeybee’s Famicom-NES adapter
Credit: http://www.gamesniped.com

To combat piracy and unlicensed production in the States, Nintendo implemented the controversial 10NES lockout chip. This ensured that developers could not produce games for the NES unless their games contained secret code which would pass through the 10NES chip and allow the game to start. Of course, developers found ways to bypass this, but the Famicom did not have any kind of lockout chip. There were many reasons for the Video Game Crash of ’83, but poor quality, unlicensed games unquestionably played a huge part. In order to gain the trust of the American audience, Nintendo promised that every game released for their system would have to conform to strict quality guidelines, leading to the famous “Official Nintendo Seal of Quality”. In Japan, none of these issues existed, therefore the Famicom never required a lockout chip.

Tengen Pirate NES Cartridge
Credit: https://satoshimatrix.files.wordpress.com

Whilst the NES gained serious momentum in North America, Nintendo continued to innovate with the Famicom in Japan. They released a light gun for the console – known as the Beam Gun in Japan – originally created for the game Wild Gunman in 1984. Grey and shaped like a revolver, the gun would be redesigned and coloured orange for its worldwide release after fears that it could be mistaken for a real gun.

The Original Grey Nintendo Zapper
Credit: http://www.mentalfloss.com

In 1986, Nintendo released the Famicom Disk System. This add-on to the Famicom allowed players to use Floppy Disks alongside Cartridges for both data storage (particularly saving game states) and to play games. It also added some functionality to the Famicom, including improved sound through an extra chip. It sold 4.4 million units overall. Games for the FDS would often span multiple disks due to the amount of information being stored on them. The FDS was never released for the Western markets, but its legacy was felt in the form of Super Mario 2, which was a modified version of a FDS-only game called Yume Kōjō: Doki Doki Panic. The Legend of Zelda also began life as a FDS exclusive Japanese title, which required developers to create a save function within American cartridges to emulate the floppy disk’s ability to save game progress.

The Famicom Disk System attached to a Famicom
Credit: http://www.emuparadise.org

Accessories continued to be released for the Famicom in Japan, the majority of which never left the country. A modem was released in 1988 which connected the Famicom to the internet, allowing people to check stocks and weather forecasts, find game cheats, bet on horses and download very limited content. The modem only sold around 130,000 units, and weak sales likely persuaded Nintendo to opt against releasing this peripheral worldwide.

The Famicom Modem Network System
Credit: https://auctionpricetracker.com

The Famicom also had a set of 3D glasses released in 1987, similar to the Sega 3D glasses that existed for the Master System. It was called the “Famicom 3D System”, released in 1987 and plugged into the Famicom’s expansion port. There were a small number of games released for this device, but the Famicom’s attempt at stereoscopic 3D was no more successful than Sega’s due to being bulky, expensive and only having seven compatible games.

Famicom 3D Glasses and Compatible Game
Credit: http://www.famicomworld.com

One of the earlier accessories for the Famicom was a keyboard which could be used to program BASIC code, accompanied by a Data Recorder which could save users’ BASIC programs onto a cassette, as well as data on certain games. Nintendo initially promoted this in early NES prototypes, but ultimately dropped all computer-related elements for the American release. The Data Recorder was superseded by the Famicom Disk System and hastily rendered obsolete.

The Famicom Data Recorder
Credit: http://1.bp.blogspot.com/

One accessory for the Famicom that did make it out of Japan was the infamous Gun Sight, known in America as the Konami Laserscope. This accessory was a helmet worn by the player, who would then use voice commands into a microphone to simulate the fire function, with the eyepiece serving the laser aiming function. As the Gun Sight plugs into the NES audio port, it can also serve as a set of headphones for the console. The Gun Sight/LaserScope was compatible with all Beam Gun/Zapper games, but overall received negative reception and poor sales.

The Konami LasterScope with Box
Credit: http://www.houstonpress.com/

Having had incredible success, Nintendo soon found that developers were flocking to their console and willing to sign almost anything in order to produce games for the Famicom/NES. Third-party publishers saw huge increases in profits when their games were released for the Famicom, ensuring total loyalty to Nintendo and burying any realistic chance Sega had of challenging for dominance in Japan with its SG-1000 models, the Mark III or the Master System.

Nintendo released a resigned version of the Famicom in 1993, unofficially called the “AV Famicom”, it replaces the aging RF port with an RCA composite port and gives the device a look that closer resembled the recently released Super Famicom (Super Nintendo elsewhere). This version of the Famicon remained in production until 2003, and the United States also received a version of this console, allowing Western users to load their games from the top for the first time.

The AV Famicom
Credit: http://namakoteam.com/

Officially the Famicom/NES was never released in Eastern Europe, but a clone machine (known generally as a “Famiclone”) called the Dendy exists and aesthetically is a duplicate of the Japanese Famicom. The only differences are in colour scheme and labelling, and the ability to remove controllers as opposed to them being hardwired. Dendy games are also all bootleg copies.

The Dendy Famiclone
Credit: http://lady-eklipse.livejournal.com/

The release of Sega’s 16-bit Mega Drive and NEC’s TurboGrafx-16 at the end of the 80’s prompted Nintendo to begin looking at life after the Famicom. The Super Famicom was officially released in 1990, seven years after the release of the original Famicom. From this point onwards the phenomenal success of the Famicom started to decline, as its aging 8-bit technology was finally being overtaken by improved hardware. Nonetheless, Nintendo continued to support the Famicom for thirteen years afterwards, and it was only in 2007 that they announced they would no longer repair Famicom systems due to the necessary parts becoming increasingly hard to find.

Sources

Wikipedia

http://gamester81.com/history-of-consoles-nintendo-famicom-1983/

http://www.nintendolife.com/news/2013/07/feature_the_history_of_the_famicom