Nintendo NES / Famicom
Talk about a success story. Nintendo's jump into the console market was a gamble which
turned a simple toy company into one of the biggest videogame console manufacturers in the biz.
Nintendo began it's gaming history producing arcade hits like Donkey Kong and Mario Bros, and selling
the licensing rights to those games for home console use (See Colecovision). Eventually Nintendo decided to take a crack at the home console industry.
The Nintendo Famicom (FAMIly COMputer) videogame system was released in Japan in 1984. The
console's great specs, and ports on
Nintendo's popular arcade titles, quickly made it a popular favorite in Japan.
The Famicom sold 2.5 million systems in that same year.
With success achieved in Japan, Nintendo set it's eyes on the American gaming market. They began negotiations with the American videogame console industry leader Atari to bring the Famicom to the U.S.
The "Great Videogame Crash of 1984", and some poor business announcements forced Atari to pull out of the agreement. After
the negotiations with Atari to sell the Famicom fell through, Nintendo decided to release the system on their own
regardless of the weak videogame market or the recent crash
occurring in the States. Nintendo take a chance? You bet, but they were not going to gamble without doing their homework.
They called the US. version of the Famicom the 'Nintendo Entertainment System (NES)', and designed it to look less like a videogame console and more like something that would fit in with other home entertainment
appliances. Nintendo took steps to make the system seem like a computer or a VCR. Nintendo even agreed to buy back all unsold inventory in order to get retailers to take a chance on them.
The NES also used 72 pin cartridges (The Famicom used 60 pin). Four of the
additional pins were used for Nintendo's patented lockout chip. This initially
prevented software developers from producing unlicensed games for the NES. Nintendo
used the lockout chip and restrictions on 3rd party software developers to prevent
the over saturation of bad games that contributed to the "Videogame
Crash".
The system was originally targeted for release in spring of 1985, but the release date was pushed back. After test-marketing in the New York City area in late fall, the system was released nationwide in
February of 1986.
The Nintendo NES was an amazing success, and revived the videogame console
market in the United States. Nintendo ushered in the 3rd Generation of console
gaming.
Nintendo would later debut the NES successor, but would still try to cash
in on the remainder of the NES's success. In 1993, Nintendo released a top
loading NES model 2. This newer model was scaled down to nearly half the
size of the original. The case was a sleeker design (Like a smoother Famicom).
The cartridge port was more stable, and used eject & power buttons
similar to it's successor the SuperNES. Even the
controller had the "bone-like" shape of the SuperNES. This new
model sold for $45. The cheaper price came at the loss of the original
model's interface and A/V output ports. Nintendo dropped support for this new
model a year later. Today, it's a collectors item.
The NES had sold over 62 million systems and over 500 million games, making it
the most popular videogame system
of it's time.
 FACT:
Nintendo's success introduced some of the most interesting accessories and conversions. Who could forget the
"Power Glove", and "Rob the Robot". Nintendo slapped "NES-like"
hardware into an Arcade cabinet and released Nintendo Playchoice to arcades everywhere. In Japan they released a disk drive accessory that allowed gamers to download games from vending machines onto a disk.
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