Nintendo Entertainment System

The Nintendo Entertainment System (NES) (Known as the Famicom in Japan) was Nintendo's first home game console released in North America. At the time it was released, the video game market was in a slump and retailers did not want to carry games anymore. bundled with R.O.B. (Robotic Operating Buddy), stores were convinced it was more of an electric toy rather than a video game. What people predicted would fail and be completely forgotten by the end of the year went on to sell more than 60 million units in it's lifespan, and offered fun new game styles such as platformers and many others. And who could forget such classic titles such as the original Super Mario Bros, Donkey Kong, and Duck Hunt? The Zapper, a light gun attachement, also proved very popular though few games were released to work with it. This is the system that made Nintendo famous and without it, Nintendo might still be making playing cards.

Japanese release
After the success of the million+ selling Color TV Game series, Nintendo came to the conclusion that they had to create a new console. This console, unlike their previous home games, would allow you to switch cartridges, rather than making you buy a whole new expensive unit. While this method wasn't exactly new to the gaming population, it was a big step for Nintendo, and proved to be successful (about 60 times more so than the Color TV Game compared with how many units they sold, and that dosn't even include the game sales and so forth). While the launch wasn't spectacular, it did include arcade favorites Donkey Kong and Donkey Kong Jr., as well as Popeye (all developed by Nintendo). This console was called the Famicom (short for Family Computer).

American release
While the Japanese market was easier for Nintendo to get through, the American launch wasn't so. First, Nintendo went to Atari to try to strike a deal with them. This attempt didn't work out, so Nintendo unveiled the NES to America at the CES show. Retailers wern't exactly excited about this console, and were afraid to buy them (this was because the market was almost destroyed a couple years earlier). Nintendo convinced them though, stating that they would buy back every unit that didn't sell. The NES did quite well, and Nintendo released it to the rest of the USA. Unlike the original Japanese launch, this launch had 18 games, including the outstanding Super Mario Bros. and others.

The console and plumber that saved the industry
As stated before, the video game buissness was rapidly coming to an end. Games such as E.T. and the horrible remake of Pac-Man certainly didn't make things better. In fact, it is said that those two games are one of the main reasons why the industry was going down. Two years later - Retailers wern't carring video games, and it was accepted that it was just a fad.

Nintendo then revealed to the public that it was going to soon release the NES, which was doing successful in Japan. The retailers were afraid, but would then agree to do it only if Nintendo would buy all of the consoles that didn't sell. The console was released, and so was Super Mario Bros., the game that is said to have brought the industry back. Super Mario Bros. included expansive worlds, each featuring different themes and obsticles, the boss was tough, and were the enemies. It was a huge hit, and the game sold over 40 million copies. Testing the NES only half the fun!

Technical Specifications

 * CPU Type: modified 6502 8-bit (NMOS)


 * Clock Speed: 1.773447MHz (PAL) or 1.7897725MHz (NTSC)


 * Processor: 8-Bit PPU (Picture Processing Unit)


 * Color: Colors Displayed: 16


 * Colors Available: 52


 * Sprite Colors: 4 per Sprite from the 52 possible


 * RAM Memory: 16 Kbit (2 Kb)


 * Video RAM: 16 Kbit (2 Kb)


 * Game Program Memory: 128K, 32K, 16K or 8K Bytes, 1 Meg, 256K, or 64K Bits


 * Game Character Memory: 128K, 32K, 16K or 8K Bytes, 1 Meg, 256K, or 64K Bits


 * Scrolling: Horizontal and Vertical


 * Sound: PSG sound (2 Square Waves, 1 Triangle Wave, 1 White Noise)


 * Minimum Sprite Size: 8x8 Pixels


 * Maximum Sprite Size: 8x16 Pixels


 * Maximum Sprites: 64 sprites


 * Maximum Sprites per Scanline: 8


 * Minimum Cart Size: 128 Kbit


 * Maximum Cart Size: 4 Mbit


 * Picture Resolution: 256 x 240

Related

 * Famicom
 * Nintendo Entertainment System Games