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102-634: In the 1980s, computing did not involve 3D modelling or any complex programming due to the limitations of hardware. This, combined with the hobbyist nature of early computer game programming, meant that not many individuals or smaller companies would develop for consoles. Even when consoles became mainstream (such as the Nintendo Entertainment System), there was no official or publicly available GDK since most console manufacturers would develop their games in-house. For example, Nintendo had internal development teams for both hardware and software. By

204-452: A NEC PC-8001 computer. LEDs on a grid were used with a digitizer to design graphics as no such software design tools existed at that time. The codename for the project was "GameCom", but Masayuki Uemura's wife proposed the name "Famicom", arguing that "In Japan, 'pasokon' is used to mean a personal computer, but it is neither a home nor personal computer. Perhaps we could say it is a family computer." Meanwhile, Hiroshi Yamauchi decided that

306-629: A light gun called the NES Zapper , two controllers, and the two Game Paks Gyromite and Duck Hunt . The Control Deck bundle was first released in 1987 at $ 89.99 with no game, and $ 99.99 bundled with the Super Mario Bros. cartridge. The Action Set, released April 14, 1988, for $ 109.99 , has the Control Deck, two controllers, an NES Zapper, and a dual Game Pak containing both Super Mario Bros. and Duck Hunt . The Power Set of 1989 includes

408-733: A toy robot accessory. The NES is regarded as one of the most influential consoles. It helped revitalise the American gaming industry following the video game crash of 1983 , and pioneered a now-standard business model of licensing third-party developers to produce and distribute games. The NES features several groundbreaking games, including Super Mario Bros. (1985), The Legend of Zelda (1986), Metroid (1986), and Mega Man (1987) which have become major franchises. The NES dominated Japanese and North American markets, but initially underperformed in Europe where it faced strong competition from

510-771: A 30% fee for console licensing and production costs. This rate continued in the industry for consoles and digital storefront into the 21st Century. Nintendo targeted the North American market, entering distribution negotiations with Atari, Inc. to release a redesigned Famicom with Atari's name as the Nintendo Advanced Video Gaming System. The deal was set to be finalized and signed at the Summer Consumer Electronics Show in June 1983. However, Atari discovered at that show that its competitor Coleco

612-526: A Famicom retrospective in commemoration of the console's 20th anniversary. Nintendo offered repair service for the Famicom in Japan until 2007, when it was discontinued due to a shortage of available parts. Although all versions of the Famicom and NES include essentially similar hardware, they vary in physical characteristics. The original Famicom's design is predominantly white plastic, with dark red trim; it featured

714-655: A cartridge and closed at other times, and an expansion port on the bottom of the unit. The cartridge connector pinout was changed between the Famicom and NES. In late 1993, Nintendo introduced a redesigned version of the Famicom and NES (officially named the New Famicom in Japan and the New-Style NES in the US ) to complement the Super Famicom and SNES, to prolong interest in the console, and to reduce costs. The redesigned NES has

816-499: A complete software environment and console manufacturers such as Nintendo provide polished & powerful development hardware through their developer programs. Other console manufacturers even allow the retail consoles to be used as development kits, provided that the development software is being used by the developer. For a significant portion of the NES lifespan, there was no official development kit. Video game developers creating games for

918-579: A computer directly to the console, and included a software package. The Maestro 64 Music system allowed developers to load music software on to the console, and play music through the Nintendo 64's hardware. another unofficial alternative to develop games for the N64 was the Doctor V64 , made by Bung Enterprises . Sega Dreamcast units were unique in that they used GD-ROM discs; giga discs that held 1GB of data. This

1020-602: A console manufacturer would have to write their games without the specialized software to access unique features such as the Xbox One's Kinect or the Wii U GamePad. Modern game development kits often come bundled with the specialized software, and are much more formalized compared to previous-generation GDKs. In older generations of console gaming, developers had to make their own hardware and write games at various levels of programming (such as assembly). Today, programs such as Unity 3D provide

1122-673: A degree of fame roughly equivalent to that experienced by the NES/Famicom in North America and Japan. A range of Famicom clones was marketed in Argentina during the late 1980s and early 1990s with the name Family Game, resembling the original hardware design. Thailand got Family FR brand famiclones, the Micro Genius ( Simplified Chinese : 小天才) was marketed in Southeast Asia as an alternative to

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1224-580: A different tactic to stop sales in Europe by reporting Bung products as not being CE mark certified. This resulted in Bung having their power adapters certified, and sales continued. Nintendo next filed a lawsuit against Bung in Hong Kong. The owners of Bung Enterprises responded by dissolving the corporation in March 2000. A few months later they formed a new company under the name First Union Technology, and began selling

1326-598: A licence with Magnavox to sell its game console, the Magnavox Odyssey . Since Nintendo's operation was not yet sophisticated enough to design its own hardware, Yamauchi forged an alliance with Mitsubishi Electric and hired several Sharp Electronics employees to assist in developing the Color TV-Game 6 in Japan. This was followed by a more successful sequel, the Color TV-Game 15 , and the handheld Game & Watch series. The successes of these machines gave Yamauchi

1428-541: A non-disclosure agreement. The PlayStation developer program allows registered developers to publish their games across the PlayStation Network , making their games accessible on the PlayStation 3 , PlayStation 4 , PlayStation Vita , and PlayStation TV all through one program. The Wii development kit was a bundle of the "NDEV" hardware – a big black box full of debugging/testing hardware that looks nothing like

1530-757: A phenomenon across arcades worldwide, while home consoles such as the Atari 2600 and the Intellivision gained footholds in the American market. Many companies emerged to capitalise on the growing industry, including the playing card manufacturer Nintendo . Hiroshi Yamauchi , who had been Nintendo's president since 1949, realised that breakthroughs in the electronics industry meant that entertainment products could be produced at lower prices. Companies such as Atari and Magnavox were already selling gaming devices for use with television sets, to moderate success. Yamauchi negotiated

1632-400: A severe shortage of official development hardware from Nintendo, many game developers had been buying from Bung instead. When Bung became aware of this, they began promoting their products for this purpose, and even sponsored a coding competition for amateur game developers. The US lawsuits were eventually settled, with the retailers agreeing to stop selling the copying devices. Nintendo tried

1734-517: A slightly embarrassing incident in February 2002 in which US Customs intercepted a rather innocuous package containing a serial cable . Package seizures apparently ceased after this incident. In October 2002, Nintendo, Sony, and Microsoft jointly filed suit against Lik-Sang, resulting in the company shutting down for two weeks, and then reopening sans the disputed products. Known in Hong Kong as "超任博士" (literally means Super Nintendo Doctor ), this unit

1836-520: A system that would be superior to its competitors and difficult to replicate for at least a year. Uemura's main challenge was economic rather than technological; Yamauchi wanted the system to be affordable enough for widespread household adoption, aiming for a price of ¥9,800 (less than $ 75) compared to existing machines priced at ¥30,000 to ¥50,000 ($ 200 to $ 350). The new system had to outperform other systems, both Japanese and American, while being significantly more affordable. As development progressed on

1938-456: A top-loading cartridge slot to avoid reliability issues with the original console; the redesign also omitted AV output. Conversely, the redesigned Famicom has such output and introduced detachable game controllers, though the microphone functionality was omitted as a result. The redesigned Famicom and NES models are cosmetically similar aside from the presence of a cartridge "bump" on the NES model, which

2040-435: A top-loading cartridge slot, grooves on both sides of the deck in which the hardwired game controllers could be placed when not in use, and a 15- pin expansion port located on the unit's front panel for accessories. In contrast, the design of the original NES features a more subdued gray, black, and red color scheme; it includes a front-loading cartridge slot covered by a small, hinged door that can be opened to insert or remove

2142-406: A tower desktop PC, with the controller ports being where the optical disk drive would normally go. When developers were creating software for the original Xbox , a prototype of the controller was used in the early development kits. This controller was slimmer, had elongated sides, and used a USB cable instead of an Xbox port-compatible cable. The dev kit console was shaped like a tower desktop PC,

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2244-514: A unified developer program for both its Wii U and Nintendo 3DS families of platforms. This developer program provided software and middleware to developers, and allowed developers to self-publish their games to the Nintendo eShop . Games and applications published through this program are considered "third-party" and do not belong to Nintendo, allowing independent developers to publish their games on multiple different platforms. This service ended alongside

2346-440: Is Lucasfilm Games 's attempts to port the comedy-horror game Maniac Mansion to the NES, which Nintendo insisted be considerably watered down. The optional Robotic Operating Buddy, or R.O.B. , was part of a marketing plan to portray the NES's technology as being novel and sophisticated when compared to previous game consoles, and to portray its position as being within reach of the better established toy market. Though at first,

2448-580: Is an 8-bit home video game console produced by Nintendo . It was first released in Japan on July 15, 1983, as the Family Computer ( Famicom ). It was released in US test markets as the redesigned NES in October 1985, and fully launched in the US the following year. The NES was distributed in Europe, Australia, and parts of Asia throughout the 1980s under various names. As a third-generation console , it mainly competed with Sega 's Master System . The NES

2550-883: Is called the Hyundai Comboy . The console sold very poorly in India due to affordability and a lack of consumer awareness. For its complete North American release, the Nintendo Entertainment System was progressively released over the ensuing years in several different bundles, beginning with the Deluxe Set, the Basic Set, the Action Set, and the Power Set. The Deluxe Set was launched in the 1985 test markets, retailing at US$ 179.99 (equivalent to $ 550 in 2023), including R.O.B.,

2652-454: The Game & Watch machines, although the Famicom design team originally wanted to use arcade-style joysticks, even dismantling some from American game consoles to see how they worked. There were concerns regarding the durability of the joystick design and that children might step on joysticks on the floor. Katsuya Nakawaka attached a Game & Watch D-pad to the Famicom prototype and found that it

2754-452: The PlayStation Network , making their games accessible on the PlayStation 3 , PlayStation 4 , PlayStation Vita , and PlayStation TV all through one program. The PlayStation 4 development kits were known as "Orbis", though this was just a codename. Academic institutions can register to receive PS4 development kits for educational use, and are not region-restricted unlike regular PlayStation Developer Program members. Nintendo maintained

2856-487: The arcades , in the form of the Nintendo VS. System in 1984. The system's success in arcades paved the way for the official release of the NES console. With US retailers refusing to stock game consoles, Yamauchi realized there was still a market for video games in the arcades, so he introduced the Famicom to North America through the arcade industry. The VS. System became a major success in North American arcades, becoming

2958-472: The 10NES chip proved a significant barrier to unlicensed developers seeking to develop and sell games for the console. However, hobbyists in later years discovered that disassembling the NES and cutting the fourth pin of the lockout chip would change the chip's mode of operation from "lock" to "key", removing all effects and greatly improving the console's ability to play legal games, bootlegs, and converted imports. Bung Enterprises Bung Enterprises Ltd.

3060-611: The Advanced Video Entertainment System (AVS) that year. The American video game press was skeptical that the console could have any success in the region, as the industry was still recovering from the video game crash of 1983 . The March 1985 issue of Electronic Games magazine stated that "the videogame market in America has virtually disappeared" and that "this could be a miscalculation on Nintendo's part". The Famicom hardware first made its North American debut in

3162-421: The American nationwide release came on September 27, 1986. Nintendo released 17 launch games: 10-Yard Fight , Baseball , Clu Clu Land , Duck Hunt , Excitebike , Golf , Gyromite , Hogan's Alley , Ice Climber , Kung Fu , Pinball , Soccer , Stack-Up , Super Mario Bros. , Tennis , Wild Gunman , and Wrecking Crew . Nintendo contracted Worlds of Wonder to distribute

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3264-460: The American public exhibited limited excitement for the console itself, peripherals such as the light gun and R.O.B. attracted extensive attention. In Europe and Oceania, the NES was released in two separate marketing regions. The first consisted of mainland Europe (excluding Italy) where distribution was handled by several different companies, with Nintendo responsible for manufacturing. The NES saw an early launch in Europe in 1986 although most of

3366-434: The American version of its Famicom, with a new case redesigned by Lance Barr and featuring a " zero insertion force " cartridge slot. The change from a top-loader in the Famicom to a front-loader was to make the new console more like a video cassette recorder , which had grown in popularity by 1985, and differentiate the unit from past video game consoles. Additionally, Uemura explained that Nintendo developers had feared that

3468-608: The European countries received the console in 1987. The release in Scandinavia was on September 1, 1986, where it was released by Bergsala . In the Netherlands, it was released in the last quarter of 1987 and was distributed by Bandai BV. In France, it was released in October 1987, and in Spain most likely in 1988 through distributor Spaco. Also in 1987, Mattel handled distribution for

3570-644: The Famicom model lacks to accommodate its shorter cartridges and as the RAM Adapter for the Famicom Disk System. Sharp Corporation produced three licensed variants of the Famicom in Japan, all of which prominently display the shortened moniker rather than the official name, Family Computer. One variant was a television set with an integrated Famicom; originally released in 1983 as the My Computer TV in 14-inch (36 cm) and 19-inch (48 cm) models, it

3672-528: The Famicom; and in Central Europe, especially Poland, the Pegasus was available. Since 1989, there were many Brazilian clones of the NES, and the very popular Phantom System (with hardware superior to the original console) caught the attention of Nintendo itself. The unlicensed clone market has flourished following Nintendo's discontinuation of the NES. Some of the more exotic of these resulting systems surpass

3774-605: The NES would have to make their own development kits, such as Rocket Science Production with their "NES Mission Control" development system. At least two programs were used in conjunction with the NES Mission Control hardware; NESTEST.EXE which would be used to test and debug the development hardware, and HST.EXE which would be used for communication between a computer and the NES development hardware. The Super Nintendo Entertainment System used specialized EPROM cartridges for development, as well as various software. Similar to

3876-504: The NES, developers often made their own development software or relied on middleware made by other developers. There are several variations of the PlayStation development kit used for game creation. One variation of the development kit had only three components, while the PlayStation Ultimate Development Kit included up to 26 components, including the complete Net Yaroze development kit. The Net Yaroze version of

3978-530: The NES, the packaging of many video games presented bombastic artwork which did not represent a game's actual graphics. Furthermore, a single game such as Pac-Man appeared across consoles with substantial variations in graphics, sound, and general quality. In contrast, Nintendo's marketing strategy aimed to regain consumer and retailer confidence by delivering a singular platform whose graphics could be represented truthfully and whose qualities were clearly defined. To differentiate Nintendo's new home platform from

4080-472: The Nintendo Advanced Video System likewise never materialized. It was privately demonstrated as a repackaged Famicom console featuring a keyboard, cassette data recorder , wireless joystick controller, and a special BASIC cartridge. By the beginning of 1985, more than 2.5 million Famicom units had been sold in Japan, and Nintendo soon announced plans to release it in North America as

4182-483: The Nintendo Wii U section above, games and applications published through this program are considered "third-party" and do not belong to Nintendo, allowing independent developers to publish their games on multiple different platforms. Strangely, some 3DS development kits cannot play retail games . Nintendo Entertainment System [REDACTED] [REDACTED] The Nintendo Entertainment System ( NES )

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4284-558: The SNES. But the Brazilian market had been dominated by unlicensed NES clones – both locally made, and smuggled from Taiwan. One of the most successful local clones was the Phantom System, manufactured by Gradiente , which licensed Nintendo products in the country for the following decade. The sales of officially licensed products were low, due to the cloning, the quite late official launch, and

4386-579: The Sega Master System and microcomputers . With 61.91 million units sold, it is one of the best-selling consoles of all time. It was succeeded in 1990 by the Super Nintendo Entertainment System . The video game industry experienced rapid growth and popularity from the late 1970s to the early 1980s, marked by the golden age of arcade games and the second generation of consoles . Games like Space Invaders (1978) became

4488-425: The Super Famicom, effectively extending the lifetime of the Famicom. The original NES released for Western countries in 1985 contains the 10NES lockout chip, which prevents it from running cartridges unapproved by Nintendo. The inclusion of the 10NES was a direct influence from the 1983 video game crash in North America, partially caused by a market flooded with uncontrolled publishing of games of poor quality for

4590-442: The U.S. According to Nintendo, the authorization program was designed to ensure that the machines were properly repaired. Nintendo would ship the necessary replacement parts only to shops that had enrolled in the authorization program. With the release of the top-loading NES-101 (New-Style NES) in 1993 toward the end of the NES's lifespan, Nintendo resolved the problems by switching to a standard card edge connector and eliminating

4692-578: The arcades, to determine which games to release for the NES launch. At the 1985 Consumer Electronics Show (CES), Nintendo unveiled the American version of the Famicom: a stripped-down and cost-reduced redesign of the Advanced Video System (AVS), having abandoned the home computer approach. Nintendo purposefully designed the system to avoid resembling a video game console and avoided terms associated with game consoles. Marketing manager Gail Tilden chose

4794-556: The blue PlayStation, regular CD-Rs were also compatible with the system. The Nintendo 64 development kit consisted of multiple components, both for the N64 and its add-on, the N64DD. The main hardware used in N64 game development was the Partner-N64 Development Kit, and used tall cartridges for game development/testing rather than the short cartridges that were sold with retail games. Another hardware component in N64 development

4896-544: The cartridge from side to side after insertion, pushing the ZIF up and down repeatedly, holding the ZIF down lower than it should have been, and cleaning the connectors with alcohol. Many frequently used methods to fix this problem actually risk damaging gaming cartridges or the system. In 1989, Nintendo released an official NES Cleaning Kit to help users clean malfunctioning cartridges and consoles. In response to these hardware flaws, "Nintendo Authorized Repair Centers" sprang up across

4998-502: The climax of the console's popularity. Initially, such clones were popular in markets where Nintendo issued a legitimate version of the console long time after unlicensed hardware. In particular, the Dendy (Russian: Де́нди ), an unlicensed hardware clone produced in Taiwan and sold in the former Soviet Union , emerged as the most popular video game console of its time in that setting and it enjoyed

5100-543: The closure of the Wii U and 3DS eShops on the 27 March 2023. The Wii U development hardware consists of a system called "CAT-DEV", with its accompanying peripherals such as the Display Remote Controller (presumably the Wii U GamePad ) and sensor bar. Nintendo's developer program allows developers to use Nintendo 3DS development kits, and allows developers to self-publish their games to the Nintendo eShop. As mentioned in

5202-508: The company's Chinese name ( Chinese : 邦谷 ; pinyin : bānggǔ ). Both written forms were used in product packaging and marketing literature, and the somewhat crude connotation of the English word appears to have been an unintended coincidence. Although in business for more than a decade, the company was relatively unknown in the West until the late 1990s. In 1997 it began selling the Doctor V64 ,

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5304-402: The confidence to expand Nintendo's influence in the fledgling video game industry. In 1978, Yamauchi split Nintendo into separate research and development divisions. He appointed Masayuki Uemura as head of Nintendo Research & Development 2 , a division that focused solely on hardware. Yamauchi, through extensive discussions with Uemura and other engineers, recognised the potential of

5406-416: The console physically. WoW salesman Jim Whims distinctly recalled delivering an ultimatum: "if you want to sell Teddy Ruxpin and you want to sell Lazer Tag , you're gonna sell Nintendo as well. And if you feel that strongly about it, then you ought to just resign the line now." This marketing tactic led to the NES' financial success in North America in its first year; Nintendo of America would later terminate

5508-643: The console should use a red and white theme after seeing a billboard for DX Antenna (a Japanese antenna manufacturer) which used those colors. The Famicom was influenced by the ColecoVision , Coleco 's competition against the Atari 2600 in the United States; the ColecoVision's top-seller was a port of Nintendo's Donkey Kong . The project's chief manager Takao Sawano brought a ColecoVision home to his family, impressed by its smooth graphics, which contrasts with

5610-600: The console was redesigned for the Australian, North American, and Japanese markets, including the New-Style NES , or NES-101, and one redesigned "dogbone" game controller. In Australia, this console revision was released with a cartridge compiling Super Mario Bros , Tetris , and Nintendo World Cup . Released in October 1993 in North America and 1994 in Australia, this final bundle retailed for $ 49.99 and A$ 69.99 ( A$ 79.99 with

5712-540: The console's electronics might face electrostatic hazards in dry American states such as Arizona and Texas , and a front-loading design would be safer if children handled the console carelessly. This was deployed as the Nintendo Entertainment System (NES). Nintendo seeded these first systems to limited American test markets starting in New York City on October 18, 1985, and followed up in Los Angeles in February 1986;

5814-439: The console, two game controllers, an NES Zapper, a Power Pad, and a triple Game Pak containing Super Mario Bros , Duck Hunt , and World Class Track Meet . In 1990, a Sports Set bundle was released, including the console, an NES Satellite infrared wireless multitap adapter, four game controllers, and a dual Game Pak containing Super Spike V'Ball and Nintendo World Cup . Two more bundle packages were later released with

5916-526: The continued sale of the Dendy , an unauthorized hardware clone of the Famicom, in Russia in exchange for also distributing the Super Nintendo Entertainment System . Nintendo anticipated the NES would have a 25 per cent share in these countries, and saw particular potential in the United Kingdom. It sold modestly in Europe, however. In Brazil, the console was released late in 1993 by Playtronic , even after

6018-507: The contract and hired the company's sales staff (whom Atari offered them in 1983), while taking on physical distribution of the console itself. The system's launch represented not only a new product, but also a reframing of the severely damaged home video game market in North America. The 1983 video game crash had occurred in large part due to a lack of consumer and retailer confidence in video games, which had been partially due to confusion and misrepresentation in video game marketing. Prior to

6120-416: The courts to prohibit the manufacture and sale of unlicensed cloned hardware. Many of the clone vendors have included built-in copies of licensed Nintendo software, which constitutes copyright infringement in most countries. Nintendo's design styling for US release was made deliberately different from that of other game consoles. Nintendo wanted to distinguish its product from those of competitors and to avoid

6222-409: The developing console beyond gaming. He envisioned a home-computer system disguised as a toy, which could significantly expand Nintendo's reach if it became popular with children. This popularity would drive demand for games, with Nintendo as the sole provider. Indeed, by 1980 several systems had already been released in Japan by both American and Japanese companies. Yamauchi tasked Uemura with developing

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6324-573: The development kit was unique in that it had some features removed and added compared to the official (complete) PlayStation development kit. The Net Yaroze hardware was designed for hobbyists, while official developers would have access to the official PlayStation development kits. There was also a blue version of the PlayStation made for developers that would read burned discs to allow quick testing of imaged builds of their videogames. While there were official PlayStation-branded CD-Rs that could be used with

6426-605: The discontinuation of the Famicom in September alongside the Super Famicom and the disk rewriting services for the Famicom Disk System . The last Famicom, serial number HN11033309, was manufactured on September 25; it was kept by Nintendo and subsequently loaned to the organizers of Level X, a video game exhibition held from December 4, 2003, to February 8, 2004, at the Tokyo Metropolitan Museum of Photography , for

6528-413: The early revisions to crash . Following a product recall and a reissue with a new motherboard , the Famicom's popularity soared, becoming the bestselling game console in Japan by the end of 1984 in what came to be called the "Famicom Boom". Nintendo launched the system with only first-party games, but after being approached by Namco and Hudson Soft in 1984, agreed to produce third-party games for

6630-468: The fifth generation of consoles, game development kits were developed to encourage more developers to make console games and grow the videogame industry. Game development kits began as a simple way for developers to connect their computers to console hardware, allowing them to compile software on their PC and see it play directly on a console. Once most GDKs started becoming bundled with hardware-specific software, hobbyists or anyone not directly affiliated with

6732-600: The first commercially available copier for the Nintendo 64 , which quickly gained popularity in the United States and Europe. The following year, it released the V64 Jr, a lower cost model without a CD-ROM drive. The company also began selling rewritable flash memory cards for the Game Boy , and a programming interface called the GB Xchanger. During this time period, Nintendo became increasingly aggressive at trying to stop Bung and

6834-494: The flicker and slowdown commonly seen on Atari 2600 games. Uemura said the ColecoVision set the bar for the Famicom. They wanted to surpass it and match the more powerful Donkey Kong arcade hardware; they took a Donkey Kong arcade cabinet to chip manufacturer Ricoh for analysis, which led to Ricoh producing the Picture Processing Unit (PPU) chip for the NES. Original plans called for the Famicom's cartridges to be

6936-426: The functionality of the original hardware, such as a portable system with a color LCD ( PocketFami ). Others have been produced for certain specialized markets, such as a rather primitive personal computer with a keyboard and basic word processing software. These unauthorized clones have been helped by the invention of the so-called NES-on-a-chip . As was the case with unlicensed games, Nintendo has typically gone to

7038-410: The game cartridge's brass plated nickel connectors are also prone to tarnishing and oxidation. Nintendo sought to fix these problems by redesigning the next generation Super Nintendo Entertainment System (SNES) as a top loader similar to the Famicom. Many players try to alleviate issues in the game caused by this corrosion by blowing into the cartridges, then reinserting them, which actually speeds up

7140-424: The generally poor reputation that game consoles had acquired following the video game crash of 1983 . One result of this philosophy is to disguise the cartridge slot design as a front-loading zero-insertion force (ZIF) cartridge socket, designed to resemble the front-loading mechanism of a VCR . The socket works well when both the connector and the cartridges are clean and the pins on the connector are new. However,

7242-494: The genre of the game. A seal of quality is on all licensed game and accessory packaging. The initial seal states, "This seal is your assurance that Nintendo has approved and guaranteed the quality of this product". This text was later changed to " Official Nintendo Seal of Quality ". Unlike with the Famicom, Nintendo of America marketed the console primarily to children, instituting a strict policy of censoring profanity, sexual, religious, or political content. The most famous example

7344-415: The goal of matching their powerful sprite and scrolling capabilities in a home system. A test model was constructed in October 1982 to verify the functionality of the hardware, and work began on programming tools. Because 65xx CPUs had not been manufactured or sold in Japan by that time, no cross-development software was available and it had to be developed from scratch. Early Famicom games were written on

7446-531: The high prices of Nintendo's licensed products. Outside of Japan, regions in greater Asia received an "Asian Version" of the front-loader NES though imported Famicom systems were prevalent. Due to import restrictions , NES consoles in India and South Korea were rebranded and distributed by local licensees. The Indian version is called the Samurai Electronic TV Game System and the Korean version

7548-490: The highest-grossing arcade machine of 1985 in the United States. By the time the NES launched, nearly 100,000 VS. Systems had been sold to American arcades. The success of the VS. System gave Nintendo the confidence to release the Famicom in North America as a video game console, for which there was growing interest due to Nintendo's positive reputation in the arcades. It also gave Nintendo the opportunity to test new games as VS. Paks in

7650-415: The home consoles. Nintendo did not want to see that happen with the NES and used the lockout chip to restrict games to only those they licensed and approved for the system. This means of protection worked in combination with the Nintendo "Seal of Quality", which a developer had to acquire before they would be able to have access to the required 10NES information prior to publication of their game. Initially,

7752-544: The idea that it could be used to make players voices sound through the TV speaker. The console was released on July 15, 1983, as the Home Cassette Type Video Game: Family Computer , for ¥14,800 (equivalent to ¥18,400 in 2019) with three ports of Nintendo's successful arcade games Donkey Kong , Donkey Kong Jr. , and Popeye . The Famicom was slow to gather success; a bad chip set caused

7854-585: The lockout chip. All of the Famicom systems use standard card edge connectors, as do Nintendo's two subsequent game consoles, the Super Nintendo Entertainment System and the Nintendo 64 . The Famicom as released in Japan contains no lockout hardware, which led to unlicensed cartridges (both legitimate and bootleg) becoming extremely common throughout Japan and East Asia. Nintendo tried to promote its "Seal of Quality" in these regions to identify licensed games to combat bootlegs, but bootleg Famicom games continued to be produced even after Nintendo moved production onto

7956-438: The new video game system, engineers sought Yamauchi's guidance on its features. They questioned whether to include a disk drive , keyboard, data port, as well as the potential for a modem , expanded memory, and other computer-like capabilities. Yamauchi ultimately instructed Uemura to prioritise simplicity and affordability, omitting these peripherals entirely. Game cartridges , which Uemura saw as "less intimidating" to consumers

8058-558: The original model NES console. In 1992, the Challenge Set was released for $ 89.99 with the console, two controllers, and a Super Mario Bros. 3 Game Pak. The Basic Set retailed at US$ 89.99 ; it included only the console and two controllers, and no pack-in game. Instead, it contained a book called the Official Nintendo Player's Guide , which contained detailed information for every NES game made up to that point. Finally,

8160-493: The pack-in game) respectively, and was discontinued with the NES in 1995. On August 14, 1995, Nintendo discontinued the Nintendo Entertainment System in both North America and Europe. In North America, replacements for the original front-loading NES were available for $ 25 in exchange for a broken system until at least December 1996, under Nintendo's Power Swap program. The Game Boy and Super NES were covered for $ 25 and $ 35 respectively. On May 30, 2003, Nintendo announced

8262-510: The perception of a troubled and shallow video game market still reeling from the 1983 crash, the company freshened its product nomenclature and established a strict product approval and licensing policy. The overall platform is referred to as "Entertainment System" instead of a "video game system", is centered upon a machine called a "Control Deck" instead of a "console", and features software cartridges called " Game Paks " instead of "video games". This allowed Nintendo to gain more traction in selling

8364-517: The retail console, the dev kit console looked like a typical desktop PC from the 1990s but shorter in height. The boot up screen of the dev kit console is also different, as it uses 3D graphics instead of the 2D graphics used in the retail console. The dev kit console for the PS2 looked like a retail PS2, but substantially thicker. The dev kit console of the Nintendo GameCube was white and shaped like

8466-460: The sale of its products. Nintendo first filed lawsuits in the United States against retailers Carl Industries and Upstate Games, accusing them of contributory copyright infringement for selling Bung products. This was initially a somewhat difficult case for Nintendo, as under the Betamax precedent, copying devices were legal in the United States if they had non-infringing uses. It turned out that due to

8568-604: The same products with different labeling, using the brand name Mr. Flash. The V64 Jr. was sold as the E64, and the GB Xchanger became the Flash Linker. After Nintendo succeeded in having shipments of the new "Mr. Flash" products confiscated by US Customs , the company stopped selling directly to US residents, but sales through third parties continued. Nintendo next focused on Hong Kong retailer Lik Sang , which Microsoft and Sony were also targeting due to sales of modchips . This led to

8670-660: The second region, consisting of the United Kingdom, Ireland, Italy, Australia and New Zealand. In other European countries, distribution was taken over by smaller companies like Bienengräber in Germany, ASD in France, Concentra in Portugal, Itochu in Greece and Cyprus, Stadlbauer in Austria, Switzerland and the former Eastern Bloc In November 1994, Nintendo signed an agreement with Steepler to permit

8772-450: The size of a cassette tape, but ultimately they ended up being twice as big. Careful design attention was paid to the cartridge connectors because loose and faulty connections often plagued arcade machines. As it necessitated 60 connection lines for the memory and expansion, Nintendo decided to produce its own connectors. The controllers are hard-wired to the console with no connectors for cost reasons. The controller designs were reused from

8874-531: The slim white Wii consoles sold to consumers – and a disc containing the developer software tools. Microsoft maintains multiple developer programs for people wanting to develop games for their platforms; ID@Xbox for Xbox One game development , and the Windows Dev Center for Windows 8 , Windows 8.1 , Windows 10 , and Xbox One game and application development. The PlayStation developer program allows registered developers to publish their games across

8976-557: The socket is not truly zero-insertion force. When a user inserts the cartridge into the NES, the force of pressing the cartridge into place bends the contact pins slightly and presses the cartridge's ROM board back into the cartridge. Frequent insertion and removal of cartridges wears out the pins, and the ZIF design proved more prone to interference by dirt and dust than an industry-standard card edge connector. The design problems were exacerbated by Nintendo's choice of materials. The console slot nickel connector springs wear due to design and

9078-417: The system in toy stores. To deter production of games which had not been licensed by Nintendo, and to prevent copying, the 10NES lockout chip system acts as a lock-and-key coupling of each Game Pak and Control Deck. The packaging of the launch lineup of NES games bear pictures of close representations of actual onscreen graphics. To reduce consumer confusion, symbols on the games' packaging clearly indicate

9180-419: The tarnishing due to moisture. One way to slow down the tarnishing process and extend the life of the cartridges is to use isopropyl alcohol and cotton swabs. Users have attempted to solve these problems by blowing air onto the cartridge connectors, inserting the cartridge just far enough to get the ZIF to lower, licking the edge connector, slapping the side of the system after inserting a cartridge, shifting

9282-594: The term "Game Pak" for cartridges, "Control Deck" for the console, and "Entertainment System" for the whole platform. Renamed the "Nintendo Entertainment System" (NES), the new and cost-reduced version lacked most of the upscale features added in the AVS but retained many of its audiophile-inspired design elements, such as the grey colour scheme and boxy form factor. Disappointed with the cosmetically raw prototype part they received from Japan, which they nicknamed "the lunchbox", Nintendo of America designers Lance Barr and Don James added

9384-540: The two-tone gray, the black stripe, and the red lettering. To obscure the video game connotation, the NES replaced the top-loading cartridge slot of the Famicom and AVS with a front-loading chamber for software cartridges that kept the inserted cartridge out of view, reminiscent of a video cassette recorder . The Famicom's pair of hard-wired controllers and the AVS's wireless controllers were replaced with two custom 7-pin sockets for detachable wired controllers. At June 1985's Consumer Electronics Show (CES), Nintendo unveiled

9486-481: Was an electronics company based in Hong Kong . Its products were controversial backup and development units for videogame consoles, which could allow the user to play a game without owning the original cartridge. Backup units for Nintendo Entertainment System , Super NES , Neo-Geo , Neo Geo Pocket , Genesis , Game Boy and Nintendo 64 were developed and produced by Bung. "Bung" is the approximate pronunciation of

9588-436: Was chosen as the format. The team designed the system to store 2,000 bytes of random-access memory (RAM), significantly more than Atari's 256 bytes. Larger cartridges also allowed for far more complex games, with thirty-two times the code capacity of Atari cartridges. The console's hardware was largely based on arcade video games , particularly the hardware for Namco 's Galaxian (1979) and Nintendo's Donkey Kong , with

9690-427: Was designed by Masayuki Uemura . Nintendo's president, Hiroshi Yamauchi , called for a simple, cheap console that could run arcade games on cartridges . The controller design was reused from Nintendo's portable Game & Watch hardware. The western model was redesigned to resemble a video cassette recorder . Nintendo released add-ons such as the NES Zapper light gun for several shooting games, and R.O.B ,

9792-399: Was designed for the backing up of Super Famicom/Super NES games. This unit was designed for the backing up of Game Boy and Game Boy Color games. It was also used to write said backups onto a flash cartridge for use on the consoles in question. The unit was designed with a Game Boy-specific slot on the top of the unit and took 6 AAA batteries or a 9V adapter for power, and it connected to

9894-421: Was easy to use and caused no discomfort. Ultimately though, they installed a 15-pin expansion port on the front of the console so that an optional arcade-style joystick could be used. Gunpei Yokoi suggested an eject lever to the cartridge slot which is not necessary, but he believed that children could be entertained by pressing it. Uemura adopted his idea. Uemura added a microphone to the second controller with

9996-490: Was grey colored and had a green circle in the middle of the front of the console with an X inside the circle. Microsoft manages the Xbox 360 Tools and Middleware Program, which licenses development kits (hardware and software) to professional software developers working on tools and technologies for games. Access to this program requires good industry references, prior experience in games tools and middleware development, and signing

10098-439: Was illegally demonstrating its Coleco Adam computer with Nintendo's Donkey Kong game. This violation of Atari's exclusive license with Nintendo to publish the game for its own computer systems delayed the implementation of Nintendo's game console marketing contract with Atari. Atari's CEO Ray Kassar was fired the next month, so the deal went nowhere, and Nintendo decided to market its system on its own. Subsequent plans for

10200-683: Was later released in the United States in 1989 as a 19-inch model named the Video Game Television. Another variant is the Twin Famicom console released in 1986 to combine a Famicom with a Famicom Disk System . Sharp then produced the Famicom Titler in 1989. Intended for video capture and production, it features internal RGB video generation and video output via S-Video , plus inputs for adding subtitles and voice-overs . A thriving market of unlicensed NES hardware clones emerged during

10302-462: Was slightly more than a typical CD, but less than a DVD. While GD-ROM burners were used by some developers, since the Dreamcast was compatible with CDs and since most games didn't take up 1GB of data at the time, GD-ROMs remained uncommon as developers opted to use the more-easily accessible CDs for their disc media. The console itself was white, like the retail version of the Dreamcast console, but unlike

10404-633: Was the NU64 Flash Gang Writer, which allowed developers to copy data from one cartridge to multiple cartridges simultaneously. This device was primarily used to create press and test copies of games, and also relied on tall cartridges instead of short retail cartridges. Other versions of the Nintendo 64 GDK are the SN Systems development suite, as well as the SN Maestro 64 Music development system. The development suite allowed developers to run code from

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