Nintendo Entertainment System models
It was originally released in 1983 as the Family Computer[a] (and widely known as the Famicom[b]) in Japan, with design work led by Masayuki Uemura.
Nintendo intentionally redesigned it as the NES in North America in an attempt to avoid the stigma of video game consoles lingering from the video game crash the same year; while it was initially conceptualized as a home computer, it was ultimately modeled after a videocassette recorder (VCR) for its debut there in 1985.
Uemura had considered PC-like styling for the console, but elected to use a horizontally-oriented design suited for placement on the floor; he felt Japanese consumers would prefer the latter as more relaxing.
They were also intentionally hardwired with short cables to keep players close to the console (and the TV by extension), ideal for Japanese houses due to their smaller layout compared to their American counterparts.
[4] Seeking to market the Famicom worldwide after its 1983 release in Japan, Nintendo forged a tentative distribution and rights agreement with Atari to market it outside the country as the Nintendo Enhanced Video System; however, both sides never consummated the deal as planned at the Summer CES in June 1983 due to a series of events that culminated in Atari collapsing amid the video game crash that year.
[7] Under the direction of Lance Barr and Don James, the former of which then held the position of "Design & Brand Director" at Nintendo of America (NOA), the Famicom was initially redesigned to resemble a home computer; christened the Nintendo Advanced Video System (AVS), it featured peripherals such as a computer keyboard, a musical keyboard, a tape drive, infrared wireless controllers, and a folding light gun.
[10] The AVS was shown off at the Winter CES in January 1985, planned for a June release, to middling fanfare.
[11] Chief among the concerns identified by Nintendo was the lingering stigma from the 1983 crash and the high price point the console was likely to command.
[8][13] Known among Nintendo employees as the "lunch box", the design—credited to engineer Masayuki Yukawa[14]—included a front-loading cartridge mechanism that was modeled after a videocassette recorder, mainly intended to further remove the console from the stigma of its contemporaries.
[8][12] Uemura later revealed in 2020 that the redesign was also intended to prevent a short circuit via direct contact with the hardware during cartridge insertion, which was especially problematic in a household full of static-inducing furniture in a semi-arid climate, as was the case in much of the Great Plains.
[15] While most of the peripherals that accompanied the AVS were scrapped, the light gun was kept, albeit in a cost-reduced form as the NES Zapper.
by advertising manager Gail Tilden, helped convince reluctant toy shops to place orders for the NES before it launched in New York City on October 18, 1985.
[8] Nintendo also marketed the NES in PAL regions through local distributors, though the console did not find as much success as it did in North America.
[16] Nintendo then partnered with Mattel in 1987 to distribute the NES in the United Kingdom and Italy; the same year, the console was introduced to France, Belgium, the Netherlands, and Luxembourg via Nintendo Entertainment Systems International (NESI), a French private company led by former NOA salesperson Ron Judy.
[16][17] Countries in Eastern Europe did not receive as much attention as their western counterparts, with the NES making its debut in Hungary in 1991 via the Austrian distributor.
[24] In India, a license-built version of the PAL-region NES was sold as the Samurai Electronic TV Game System.
[69] The Twin Famicom has the expansion port present in other Famicom variations that allows additional peripherals to be connected to the console; it is located on the right side of the console and labeled "Expansion Terminal A" (拡張端子A, Kakuchō Tanshi A).
[70] The Twin Famicom generates an NTSC signal, but outputs composite video and monophonic audio via RCA connectors instead of using an RF modulator,[66][67] allowing for greater audiovisual quality on TVs and monitors with such inputs; such connections were rare in Japan when it was released.
The console, released exclusively in Japan at a retail price of ¥43,000, was the most technologically ambitious project that Sharp had attempted with the Famicom system, with Sharp identifying a need for capturing direct game footage from a Famicom at a time when doing so for any video game required specialized equipment.
[71][73] Although relatively obscure at the time of its release, the console has recently seen increased interest from fans, hackers/modders, and collectors on the secondary market.
[71] The console is also popular within the modding community due to its ease of modification in outputting a true RGB signal.
The system, introduced in March 1984 across the United States, Europe, and Japan with the release of Vs. Tennis, was intended as a successor to the Nintendo-Pak conversion kits used for games such as Mario Bros. and Donkey Kong 3;[7] based on Famicom hardware, it was also designed as a way to introduce Famicom games to the general public in the United States without committing to a general release, which retailers were hesitant in doing so due to the lingering fallout from the video game crash the year before.
[7] However, Nintendo did not experience the same success in Japan; Uemura noted that Japanese players were wary about the system's emphasis on competitive gameplay.
[78] Games were distributed on printed circuit boards (PCBs) featuring ROM chips and were connected to the motherboard with edge connectors.
[80] Nintendo ultimately announced on July 31, 1992, that it would discontinue all of its arcade machines due to lack of profitability.
Intended for use in authorized service centers as part of the Nintendo World Class Service program (introduced in the May–June 1990 issue of Nintendo Power), the device can detect problems with AV cables, power supplies, and game controllers.
