The NES turns 30: How it began, worked, and saved an industry | Ars Technica
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`2/15/15, 9:39 AM
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`OPPOSABLE THUMBS / GAMING & ENTERTAINMENT
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`The NES turns 30: How it began, worked,
`and saved an industry
`On July 15, 1983, Nintendo sold its first Famicom. Gaming hasn't been the same since.
`
`by Andrew Cunningham - July 15 2013, 9:00am CDT
`
` 166
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`Nintendo's Family Computer, or Famicom, turns 30 today!
`Evan-Amos
`
`We're right on the cusp of another generation of game consoles, and whether you're an Xbox One
`fanperson or a PlayStation 4 zealot you probably know what's coming if you've been through a few of
`these cycles. The systems will launch in time for the holidays, each will have one or two decent launch
`titles, there will be perhaps a year or two when the new console and the old console coexist on store
`shelves, and then the "next generation" becomes the current generation—until we do it all again a few
`years from now. For gamers born in or after the 1980s, this cycle has remained familiar even as old
`console makers have bowed out (Sega, Atari) and new ones have taken their place (Sony, Microsoft).
`
`It wasn't always this way.
`
`The system that began this cycle, resuscitating the American video game industry and setting up the
`third-party game publisher system as we know it, was the original Nintendo Entertainment System
`(NES), launched in Japan on July 15, 1983 as the Family Computer (or Famicom). Today, in
`celebration of the original Famicom's 30th birthday, we'll be taking a look back at what the console
`accomplished, how it worked, and how people are (through means both legal and illegal) keeping its
`games alive today.
`
`From Japanese beginnings to American triumphs
`
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`The Famicom wasn't Nintendo's first home console—that honor goes to the Japan-only "Color TV
`Game" consoles, which were inexpensive units designed to play a few different variations of a single,
`built-in game. It was, however, Nintendo's first console to use interchangeable game cartridges.
`
`WATCH ARS VIDEO
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`http://arstechnica.com/gaming/2013/07/time-to-feel-old-inside-the-nes-on-its-30th-birthday/1/
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`The NES turns 30: How it began, worked, and saved an industry | Ars Technica
`
`2/15/15, 9:39 AM
`
`The original Japanese Famicom looked like some sort of hovercar with controllers stuck to it. The top-
`loading system used a 60-pin connector to accept its 3-inch high, 5.3-inch wide cartridges and
`originally had two hardwired controllers that could be stored in cradles on the side of the device (unlike
`the NES' removable controllers, these were permanently wired to the Famicom).
`
`The second controller had an integrated microphone in place of its start and select buttons. A 15-pin
`port meant for hardware add-ons was integrated into the front of the system—we'll talk more about the
`accessories that used this port in a bit. After an initial hardware recall related to a faulty circuit on the
`motherboard, the console became quite successful in Japan based on the strength of arcade ports like
`Donkey Kong Jr. and original titles like Super Mario Bros.
`
`Enlarge / An early prototype of what would become the North American version of the Famicom. The Nintendo
`Advanced Video System communicated with its peripherals wirelessly through infrared.
`Flickr user Gingerbeardman
`
`The North American version of the console was beset by several false starts, to say nothing of
`unfavorable marketing conditions. A distribution agreement with then-giant Atari fell through at the last
`minute after Atari executives saw a version of Nintendo's Donkey Kong running on Coleco's Adam
`computer at the 1983 Consumer Electronics Show (CES). By the time Atari was ready to negotiate
`again, the 1983 video game crash had crippled the American market, killing what would have been the
`"Nintendo Enhanced Video System" before it had a chance to live.
`
`Nintendo decided to go its own way. By the time 1985's CES rolled around, the company was ready to
`show a prototype of what had become the Nintendo Advanced Video System (AVS). This system was
`impressive in its ambition and came with accessories including controllers, a light gun, and a cassette
`drive that were all meant to interface with the console wirelessly, via infrared. The still-terrible market
`for video games made such a complex (and, likely, expensive) system a tough sell, though, and after a
`lukewarm reception, Nintendo went back to the drawing board to work on what would become the
`Nintendo Entertainment System we still know and love today.
`
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`http://arstechnica.com/gaming/2013/07/time-to-feel-old-inside-the-nes-on-its-30th-birthday/1/
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`The NES turns 30: How it began, worked, and saved an industry | Ars Technica
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`2/15/15, 9:39 AM
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`Eco-Friendly Kids Toys
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`They Love Designed for Conservation
`Choose from Great Online Selection
`
`Enlarge / By late 1985, Nintendo had settled on the console design that most American readers will be the most
`familiar with.
`Evan-Amos
`
`What Nintendo went to market with in October 1985 wasn't just a console redesigned for a new
`territory, but a comprehensive re-branding strategy meant to convince Westerners that the NES wasn't
`like those old video game consoles that had burned them a few years before. This new Famicom was
`billed as an "entertainment system" that required you to insert "game paks" into a "control deck," not
`some pedestrian video game console that took cartridges. The console's hardware followed suit—it
`was still marketed to kids, but the grey boxy Nintendo Entertainment System looked much more mature
`than the bright, toy-like Famicom. At the same time, accessories like R.O.B. the robot assured parents
`that this wasn't just for "video games"—still dirty words to many consumers.
`
`Note the drastic differences between American and Japanese game cartridges. The disk card pictured here
`was intended for use with the Japan-only Famicom Disk System.
`PCWorld
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`http://arstechnica.com/gaming/2013/07/time-to-feel-old-inside-the-nes-on-its-30th-birthday/1/
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`The NES turns 30: How it began, worked, and saved an industry | Ars Technica
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`2/15/15, 9:39 AM
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`Each of the titles in the relatively strong 18-game launch lineup (remember, at this point the system had
`been humming along for more than two years in Japan) also featured box art that accurately depicted
`the graphics of the game inside, unlike the disappointing exaggerations of the Atari 2600 version of
`Pac-Man or the infamous E.T.
`
`Enlarge / The E.T. box for the Atari 2600.
`
`Enlarge / The Super Mario Bros. box for the NES.
`
`Enlarge / E.T. running on the Atari 2600.
`
`Enlarge / Super Mario Bros. running on the NES.
`
`The final building block in the NES rebuild of the North American game industry was the way Nintendo
`handled third-party developers. In the Atari era, everyone from Sears to Quaker Oats tried to grab a
`slice of the gaming pie. The fact that basically anyone could design and sell hastily-coded Atari 2600
`games with no interference from or cooperation with Atari led to a game market flooded with
`shovelware and to clearance bins filled with unsellable dreck. This in turn led to gun-shy retailers and
`consumers.
`
`Nintendo clamped down on this hard. Third parties had to be licensed to develop games for Nintendo's
`system, and Nintendo's licensing terms both prohibited developers from releasing games for other
`consoles and confined them to releasing just two games a year. Other restrictions, mostly aimed at
`weeding out religious and other "inappropriate" content, were also imposed—memorably, these
`restrictions resulted in the Super Nintendo port of Mortal Kombat where all the kombatants combatants
`ooze "sweat" instead of blood. Developers agreed to the restrictions in order to get access to a base of
`NES fans rabid for new software. (Many of Nintendo's restrictions weren't relaxed until the early '90s
`when it was losing developers to its first credible competition, the Sega Genesis.)
`
`Licensed games received both a printed Seal of Quality on their boxes and access to the proprietary
`10NES lockout hardware, a chip on the cartridge's circuit board that checked in with a corresponding
`chip on the console's. While not foolproof, in the early days of the NES the 10NES hardware helped to
`combat the flood of low-quality software that had killed off Atari and its ilk.
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`http://arstechnica.com/gaming/2013/07/time-to-feel-old-inside-the-nes-on-its-30th-birthday/1/
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`The NES turns 30: How it began, worked, and saved an industry | Ars Technica
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`2/15/15, 9:39 AM
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`Not all developers were happy with these terms, but fighting Nintendo was an uphill battle. The most
`significant challenge to the 10NES system came from Tengen, a subsidiary of Atari Games. Rather
`than try to circumvent 10NES, Tengen used Nintendo's copyright documents to reverse-engineer the
`chip and create its own compatible version, codenamed "Rabbit." Nintendo sued for patent
`infringement and, at least in part because Tengen didn't use a clean room design in Rabbit, the judge
`ruled in Nintendo's favor.
`
`Enlarge / The 10NES chip would prevent the system from booting if its security check failed. It was important in the
`early days, but NESes with dirty or worn connectors are prone to failing its check—this led to the dreaded grey blinking
`screen that I've probably spent hours of my life looking at. The redesigned top-loading NES shipped without a 10NES
`chip, and some people who repair older NES consoles recommend snapping off the fourth pin of the chip to disable the
`check entirely, as shown here.
`Salvaged Circuitry
`
`And the rest is really history. The NES was the undisputed leader in the US for several years and
`wasn't seriously challenged until Sega's Genesis kicked off the 16-bit era. In some territories like
`Europe and South America, the 8-bit Sega Master System had gained a stronger foothold, but it was a
`relative rarity in the US. A new top-loading version of the NES and the Famicom with a redesigned
`controller was launched in both America and Japan in 1993 after the introduction of the Super
`Nintendo, but by then the stream of high-profile software had slowed to a trickle. The system was
`produced until 1995 in the US but lived to see its 20th birthday in Japan before being discontinued in
`2003.
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`READER COMMENTS
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`166
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`-
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`-
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`-
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`Andrew Cunningham / Andrew has a B.A. in Classics from Kenyon College and has over five years of experience in
`IT. His work has appeared on Charge Shot!!! and AnandTech, and he records a weekly book podcast called Overdue.
`@AndrewWrites on Twitter
`
`http://arstechnica.com/gaming/2013/07/time-to-feel-old-inside-the-nes-on-its-30th-birthday/1/
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`The NES turns 30: How it began, worked, and saved an industry | Ars Technica
`
`2/15/15, 9:40 AM
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