Platform / Nintendo Entertainment System

The North American NES-001.

^{Click here to see the NES-101 toploader.}

The Japanese Famicom with Famicom Disk System and RAM Adapter.

^{Click here to see the AV Famicom.}

"Now you're playing with power."

The Nintendo Entertainment System, commonly known as the NES, is one of the most famous video game consoles in history, having ushered in The 8 Bit Era Of Console Video Games and saved video games in North America from The Great Video Game Crash of 1983. It provided Nintendo with its oldest and longest-lasting entrant in the Console Wars. It was the initial console for many of gaming's oldest franchises, introduced the modern third-party licensing model for video games, and set the standards for game consoles' control pads. It's still very much an icon of video games, even if its hardware may seem a little quaint by today's standards.

The NES went by many names around the world. In Japan, it was the Family Computer, or Famicom for short. This, technically speaking, is the console's original name. It's also not exactly the same as the NES, as the latter is a bit of a Product Facelift for the North American market. In South Korea, it's the Hyundai Comboy (in Hangul 현대 컴보이), made under license by Hynix. In other countries, it was not made under license; Eastern Europe, India, China, and the Middle East all had their own clone versions, with the most famous being the East Asian Micro Genius and the Soviet Dendy. But "NES" is its most iconic name, at least among English speakers.

NES graphics have a distinctive "blocky" look, because the system's graphics use 8x8 pixel blocks known as tiles; all the graphics system understood were tiles, tilemaps, and sprites, and it implemented them directly in the video output hardware. This imposed limitations that even the Atari 2600 didn't have to deal with — but it also freed developers from dealing with the minutiae of graphics, leading to some interesting-looking games. Although the NES was far from the only 8-bit video game system, pretty much the entire "8-bit aesthetic" comes from the way the NES looked.

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History

Launch in Japan

Nintendo had long been a major player in the Japanese game market. The longstanding pachinko parlors morphed into Arcades, and in 1981 Nintendo had its Killer App for the arcade: the original Donkey Kong. Nintendo soon decided to jump into the home console market and developed the Famicom. Although Nintendo was not very experienced in making that kind of hardware, they were pretty confident in their game lineup. Indeed, America was in the throes of a console gaming boom, and one of the most popular games there was a licensed port of Donkey Kong on the ColecoVision.

Nintendo launched the Famicom in Japan in July 1983. But initially, it wasn't all that popular. Nintendo's inexperience was evident, as the console was poorly put together and didn't always work correctly. But there also wasn't really an appetite for home consoles in Japan, as consumers there preferred the social aspect of the arcade or the power and versatility of the PC. Nintendo could, however, take solace in the fact that nobody else was really doing very much with home consoles in Japan either.

Nintendo looked across the Pacific to see if they could take advantage of the American console craze. They reached out to Atari, the most successful video game company in the region, to make a distribution deal and launch the console there as the Nintendo Advanced Video Entertainment System. However, the deal stalled when Atari brought up concerns regarding the rights to porting Donkey Kong^note The issue was the nature of Nintendo's licensing deal with Coleco. Nintendo offered Atari a license to distribute a home computer version of Donkey Kong, assuring them that Coleco only owned the console rights. But then Coleco demonstrated a port of Donkey Kong on the ADAM PC during Summer CES 1983. Due to the wording of the contract, Coleco claimed that the ADAM was technically a console because it used cartridges., and things were further complicated when Atari CEO Ray Kassar was fired while negotiations were still ongoing. The deal fell through, and then The Great Video Game Crash of 1983 torpedoed any immediate plans Nintendo might have otherwise had. Both parties walked away from the whole thing with the rights to port each other's games to their systems and not much else (Nintendo later learned from an ex-Atari lawyer that Atari's real plan had been to tie Nintendo up in negotiations while they studied the Famicom in hopes of cloning it themselves).

But Nintendo wasn't discouraged. In 1984, a revised version of the Famicom was released in Japan which fixed many of the problems with the launch version. Once the hardware started working right (and this version of the Famicom was remarkably robust, lasting for a good 25 years), Japanese gamers quickly picked up on the console's strengths. One of them was its innovative "D-pad", a series of four directional buttons that were far more robust than a joystick (especially the fragile Atari 2600 version of it). Another was simply the game library; not only was Nintendo offering home console ports of some of the country's most popular arcade games, it was also strict in preventing Shovelware and initially offered only first-party titles.

The failed distribution deal did end up shaping Nintendo's history in an important way. As previously mentioned, they had obtained the rights to program Famicom ports of some of Atari's biggest games. Nintendo would outsource the development of these to a then little-known upstart company named HAL Laboratory, to be coded by their star programmer Satoru Iwata (names that would become very important to Nintendo later in the Famicom's life, and beyond).

By now, Nintendo was galvanized, and it sought to make an impact across the Pacific on its own.

Launch in America and worldwide

Nintendo was well aware of the effects of the Crash in America, and they knew they had to work hard to sell the American public on a video game system. A Japanese system, no less — by 1985, Americans were kind of paranoid of Japan's rapid global cultural expansion. But they kept pressing forward, and they came up with several innovative solutions for the U.S. market. They revamped the Famicom into the Nintendo Entertainment System, or NES.

Nintendo previewed the NES in the United States in 1984 by way of the Nintendo Vs. System, arcade cabinets that played modified versions of popular Famicom titles like Duck Hunt. The arcade market was in much healthier shape than the home console market, and the Vs. System cabinets proved to be a smash hit with American gamers. The success of these cabinets at the arcades convinced Nintendo that their plans to localize the Famicom were Crazy Enough to Work.

One of the things they tried to emphasize was the lack of Shovelware, which was a major reason for the Crash. Nintendo not only kept its Japanese practice of keeping everything first-party as much as possible, but the NES would incorporate the 10NES lockout chip as a way of preventing unlicensed games from running on the console. Every game developed for the NES came with the "Nintendo Seal of Quality", which allowed consumers to easily tell what was legit and what was not. The cartridge design was kept strictly proprietary, to prevent what happened to Atari during the Crash; no one could make one unless Nintendo gave them permission.

Another thing Nintendo did was try to disguise the console. First, unlike the top-loading Famicom, the NES was designed like a VCR, with the cartridge loading on its side and a lid that closed on top of it. Second, it was heavily marketed alongside peripherals — the Zapper Light Gun and the Robotic Operating Buddy. That way, it wouldn't look like all those older video game consoles that everyone thought was a Flash In The Pan Fad and instead resembled a toy. Finally, they used very particular terminology when talking about the system and its peripherals to further obfuscate its identity as a video game console; there's a reason it's called the "Entertainment System" and the cartridges are "Game Paks." Although nobody was fooled, it was good enough to convince toy stores to order stock and people were intrigued.

But even with clever terminology and the Nintendo Seal, American retailers were still gun-shy of video game consoles, and were hesitant to order stock. So Nintendo bet it all on a risky strategy. They would offer the stores in their test market a deal: Give them 90 days, and Nintendo would send stores the product, and set up displays and price skus (pronounced "skews") themselves free of charge. At the end of the 90 days, the Nintendo would take back all the unsold product, and stores would only have to pay for what was actually sold. Since manufacturers make their money from orders from the stores and not direct consumer sales, this meant all the risk was on Nintendo. If this strategy failed, they'd never be able to afford to try again. Nintendo chose a number of toy stores, including the flagship FAO Schwartz store, in New York City as their test market because, as the saying goes, "if you can make it there, you can make it anywhere." The risky strategy bore profitable fruit: stores reported brisk sales of the console with orders for restock coming in quickly. Reportedly, one of the FAO Schwartz stores sent three restock orders in the first month. Nintendo knew at this point they had a hit on their hands.

And so it was in February 1986 that the NES got its full North American launch. And with that launch came the system's Killer App: Super Mario Bros.^note There was debate for years as to whether the game was available at the system's New York launch or if it was only released in '86. This debate would be put to bed in the late 2010's, when a sealed test market copy of Super Mario Bros., distinguishable by being sealed by Nintendo brand stickers instead of shrink-wrapped, and which were only available during the test market run, was discovered. You can learn more about this copy in this clip from Pawn Stars. Designed by the up-and-coming Shigeru Miyamoto, the game was the culmination of all of Nintendo's work in pushing the console to its limits. And the result was one of the most iconic games of all time — innovative, fun, extensive, and just weird enough to get your attention. Nintendo followed it up with several more big hits, like The Legend of Zelda, Metroid, and Konami's third-party title Castlevania. They had more than one Cash-Cow Franchise, and they were starting to rake in the money. For this first year of full sales, Nintendo would partner up with toy company Worlds of Wonder, riding off the success of their own toylines, to help distribute the system in the US, and Mattel for the Canadian market. The deal with Worlds of Wonder ended in 1987 due to multiple factors, including the console's success, the decline of W.o.W's proprietary toylines, and the failure of its own VHS-based console, the Action Max.

Nintendo may have gone a bit overboard with its protectionism. Although it allowed third-party games, the terms it imposed were pretty strict. First, third-party developers had to pay Nintendo the license fee in full before any cartridges could be produced. Second, they were required to sign a contract that would oblige them to develop exclusively for the NES, order at least 10,000 cartridges, and make no more than five games per year (developers worked around that last one by forming dummy corporations, like Konami's Ultra Games arm). Nintendo called all the shots, and they could effectively blacklist any third-party developer who worked for a competitor. Unlicensed developers such as Wisdom Tree and Tengen discovered ways around the lockout chip in 1988, ^note Wisdom Tree figured out that, by applying a voltage spike to the CIC using a custom circuit, the chip could be knocked offline on boot, preventing it from rejecting cartridges, although this spike would need to be constantly applied to stop the CIC from initiating its reset function. This led to people complaining of the smell of plastic burning inside their NES as the CIC was being fried, and over time would cause internal damage to the system. Tengen illegally obtained the 10NES design and code from the U.S. Patents Office under a false copyright dispute and used it to design the "Rabbit" clone chip. This led to Tengen (Atari) being sued by Nintendo and ultimately losing to them in 1992. This lawsuit and the Sega v Accolade suit would lay the foundation for fair use regarding reverse engineering. though Nintendo would ease up on their terms by 1991 after receiving legal pressure from the U.S. government. This caused the NES library to balloon with hundreds of games of varying quality. But by then, Nintendo had cemented its reputation, and consumers knew how to find the good stuff, so that didn't really hurt them in the long run.

The one place where the NES didn't make a major dent was Western Europe. The Crash did little, if anything, to the European video game industry, which left no room for Nintendo to slide in since the region still had a healthy PC market to compete with. The NES was especially obscure in the UK; Nintendo partnered with Mattel for distribution in the area, and it turned out so badly that few British kids even knew the NES existed. It fared much better in Nordic Europe due to home computers not being as popular in that sub-region. Additionally, Nintendo products there were distributed by Bergsten Bergsala Trading Co. Ltd., who were much more competent and aggressive than Mattel when it came to marketing the console^note this video explains how a no-name company could become such a powerhouse to distribute the console in said sub-region. However, the two European regions being treated as separate markets meant that they had their own versions of the 10NES lockout chip, which acted as a region locking measure. This also factored into the console faring poorly in the western part of the continent, since if a shop had tried to get their games from the Nordic region instead of through Mattel for whatever reason, said games wouldn't play (and this has happened — either by accident or by ignorance of the shop).

While the NES didn't officially release in Russia or mainland Asia, Nintendo still ended up having a strong indirect presence thanks to bootlegs. Russia had a famiclone known as the Dendy, which launched in 1992. It was very successful due to the lack of competition in a post-Soviet Russia, lasting for 6 years and singlehandedly creating the country's video game market. Nintendo didn't really do much in mainland Asia until the Wii era (and are still absent in several parts of the continent to this day), but numerous famiclones, the most famous being Micro Genius^note And Micro Genius were a huge concern - they even sponsored the Star Wars Saturday Morning cartoons like Ewoks and Droids in several Asian countries in the era, dominated regardless. However, since The Super Mario Bros. Super Show!, Captain N: The Game Master and Video Power also aired in the region, most people just collectively called the famiclones Nintendos, regardless of actual brand of console — if it plays Super Mario Bros. (a staple on many pirate multicarts), it's a Nintendo.

Upgrades

From the beginning, Nintendo was interested in upgrading the system. In 1986, they released the Famicom Disk System, an add-on to the Famicom in Japan that accepted a proprietary form of floppy disk. The disk format allowed for more space over carts at cheaper prices, the ability to save games, and slightly higher sound quality. The Disk System didn't last long; it was subject to rampant piracy due to poor foresight on anti-piracy measures^note The only check for legitimate disks was their physical shape via specifically placed indents in the Nintendo logo, and this could easily be duped., and improvements in cartridge construction rendered it moribund by 1990. Nintendo's licensing deal for the Disk System was also very draconian and scared off a few third-party developers, with Capcom releasing the port of Ghosts 'n Goblins on a high-capacity cart seemingly out of spite. Regardless, it still did attract a lot of development as the "future" of the system. Several prominent NES games, like The Legend of Zelda (its first title), Castlevania, Doki Doki Panic (which later became Super Mario Bros. 2), Kid Icarus, and Metroid, were all originally released as Disk System games. Nintendo's unpleasant experience with disks contributed to their decision to stick with cartridges even as CD technology came to the forefront during the early- and mid-90s, and would only relent with caveats for the GameCube.

Nintendo also planned to release a version of the add-on for the NES, but this was harder because the front-loading design of the NES didn't accept the already complicated hookup of the Famicom Disk System. Nintendo's workaround was to reroute two pins on NES cartridges from the motherboard to the expansion connector, thereby preventing those NES games from using those pins for enhanced sound. In the end, the American disk add-on never happened, and the NES cartridges were stuck with inferior sound.^note Though it should be noted even if the NES's cartridge audio pins had been connected, Nintendo didn't allow the usage of any third-party mapper chips outside of Japan until near the end of the system's lifecycle. And of Nintendo's own mapper chips, the only one that had any additional audio abilities was the MMC5, which was rare and expensive, with its extra audio channels being only a minimal upgrade over those of the stock NES in any event. Nintendo never quite gave up on it, though, talking about a NES adapter for it as late as 1986, and if you take apart the console you can find the port for where the RAM adapter would have gone on its underside. Most of the big Disk System hits like the Zelda games, Metroid and Castlevania would still make the jump to the West, albeit with the aforementioned sound downgrades and the save feature either replaced with passwords, retained with a battery backup or just removed entirely.

In 1989, Nintendo worked with Sharp in Japan to release a television with a built-in Famicom, known as the "Game Television" or "My Computer TV C1". Nintendo had long had a working relationship with Sharp, who was a major hardware provider. This partnership would later result in the "Twin Famicom", a combination Famicom and Disk System (they later made another with turbo buttons); and then the "Famicom Titler", which used the Famicom hardware to allow users to superimpose rudimentary subtitles on VHS tapes.^note This would actually be the only consumer model to support RGB output natively outside the Playchoice 10. These units are so rare that they regularly sell for over $1000. Nintendo of America was much more circumspect about third-party licensing after what Atari went through, but they did allow Sharp to release the Game Television there, this time looking like a VCR-TV combo unit with an American NES. Those had a very limited run, and nowadays they're seriously rare collector's items^note They're known as being the best version of the NES when it comes to graphics, thanks to everything being hardwired together. The Game Television was really popular among video game magazines because back then the only way to get a screenshot was to actually take a picture of the screen with a film camera, and that TV would give the best looking photos.

1993 saw the release of the NES-101, also known as the "New-style NES", a top-loader styled after the next-generation Super Nintendo Entertainment System. Due to this design, it accepts peripherals for the Famicom Disk System that wouldn't fit on the original NES. It was released in all Nintendo markets simultaneously, and thanks to the lack of a 10NES chip (which often refuses to run legit NES games) they go for huge money on the secondary market these days.

Into the next generation

The NES discontinued its run in the West in 1995; the last officially licensed release in North America was Wario's Woods in December 1994, while the last one overall was a PAL-exclusive port of Virgin Interactive's The Lion King. Unlicensed games continued to trickle out for a little while longer, though the difference between "unlicensed game" and "bootleg" is really a matter of opinion, and many consider them one in the same. Sunday Funday — a 1995 Christianity-themed ROM hack of the 1990 game Menace Beach — is generally considered the "last one" due to having a retail presence, though Homebrew Video Games are still being made today. The Famicom, though, kept going strong in Japan; new units were produced until 2003, sales were recorded until 2004, and repair support continued until 2008, only stopping when Nintendo of Japan finally ran out of parts. The Famicom lasted 20 years, two months, and ten days, the longest lifespan of any video game console to date.^note Technically, they're still making third-party versions of the Sega Master System, but Sega themselves have long since stopped supporting it.

In 2016, Nintendo brought back the NES in the form of the "NES Classic Edition" (or the "Nintendo Classic Mini: Nintendo Entertainment System" in Europe and Australia), a Plug N Play Game console with 30 built-in games.^{List (exclusives in bold)}Balloon Fight, Bubble Bobble, Castlevania, Castlevania II: Simon's Quest, Donkey Kong, Donkey Kong Jr., Double Dragon II: The Revenge, Dr. Mario, Excitebike, Final Fantasy, Galaga, Ghosts 'n Goblins, Gradius, Ice Climber, Kid Icarus (1986), Kirby's Adventure, Mario Bros., Mega Man 2, Metroid, Ninja Gaiden, Pac-Man, Punch-Out!! Featuring Mr. Dream, StarTropics, Super C, Super Mario Bros., Super Mario Bros. 2, Super Mario Bros. 3, Tecmo Bowl, The Legend of Zelda, and Zelda II: The Adventure of Link It also came with a controller, and you could buy more separately.^note Indeed, the port is the same as the one on the Wii remote, so if you have a Wii Classic Controller, you can use that too (and vice versa). It had a limited run until 2018 and was unexpectedly popular, selling 2.3 million units during its short lifespan.

Nintendo of Japan released their own Famicom Mini in 2016 as well; this one had hardwired controllers and a slightly different game lineup.^{List (exclusives in bold)}Donkey Kong, Mario Bros., Pac-Man, Excitebike, Balloon Fight, Ice Climber, Galaga, Yie Ar Kung-Fu, Super Mario Bros., The Legend of Zelda, Atlantis no Nazo, Gradius, Ghosts 'n Goblins, Solomon's Key, Metroid, Castlevania, Zelda II: The Adventure of Link, Tsuppari Oozumou, Super Mario Bros. 3, Ninja Gaiden, Mega Man 2, River City Ransom, Double Dragon II: The Revenge, Super Contra, Final Fantasy III, Dr. Mario, Downtown Nekketsu March: Super-Awesome Field Day!, NES Open Tournament Golf, Super Mario Bros. 2, Kirby’s Adventure While it was similarly short-lived, in 2018 they announced a special Shonen Jump edition with 20 games;^{List (grouped by license in bold)}Captain Tsubasa: Captain Tsubasa, Captain Tsubasa Vol.II: Super Striker, The Dark Myth: Ankoku Shinwa: Yamato Takeru Densetsu, Dragon Ball: Dragon Power, Dragon Ball 3: Goku Den, Dragon Ball Z: Assault of the Saiyans, Dragon Quest: Dragon Quest, Fist of the North Star: Fist of the North Star, Fist of the North Star 3, Kinnikuman: Tag Team Match: M.U.S.C.L.E., Kinnikuman: Kinniku-sei Ōi Sōdatsusen, Magical Taluluto: Magical Taluluto FANTASTIC WORLD!!, Rokudenashi Blues: Rokudenashi Blues, Saint Seiya: Saint Seiya: Ōgon Densetsu, Saint Seiya: Ōgon Densetsu Kanketsu-Hen, Sakigake!! Otokojuku: Sakigake!! Otokojuku Shippū Ichi Gō Sei, Sekiryūō: Sekiryūō, Tenchi wo Kurau: Destiny of an Emperor, Massive Multiplayer Crossovers: Famicom Jump: Hero Retsuden, Famicom Jump II: Saikyō no Shichinin 19 of them were Licensed Games based on Shonen Jump manga properties, and the other one was the debut installment of Dragon Quest, which had a spin-off manga running in the magazine (and also the system was gold-plated and packaged like it was an issue of the magazine).

Design quirks

The Famicom had a few quirks when it was launched in Japan:

• The controllers had square buttons with very soft rubber, not unlike a cashier machine or the ZX Spectrum. The rubber deteriorated quickly with use; this was so common that many controllers wind up in used markets with buttons missing. Nintendo needed a soft rubber to make contact with the board without stressing it out; in the second revision, they used a soft membrane with hard plastic on top of it (this time in a circle shape), a style which remains the industry standard today.
• The controller cables were infamously short, just under two feet long. They were also hardwired into the console, so you wanted to extend them, you had to open up the system, cut the cables, and solder them up to extensions. It wasn't a huge deal in Japan because living spaces in the country tend to be tiny, but it causes issues for Import Gaming. Several companies made third-party controllers with longer cables (among other things), but not all games work with them.
• The system launched with RF out only. This allowed for the widest possible compatibility with TVs at the time, but over the years, RF was quickly replaced by RCA composite or RGB SCART. The Famicom became increasingly cumbersome to set up on more modern TVs, and near-impossible outside of Japan without extensive modding^note mostly because the Japanese VHF frequency range is completely different from the stock NTSC VHF range; you basically had to add composite or RGB out yourself. It wouldn't be until a decade later, and six years after the NES, that the AV Famicom would be released with RCA composite out.

Then came the Famicom Disk System:

• The soft rubber belt used to drive the mechanism was so sensitive to the heat the system generated that it would rot or melt over time. And the system couldn't run without it. Replacements aren't too hard to find, but cleaning the old belt out of the clunky drive could be a long, arduous process.
• Unlike a standard 3.5-inch floppy disk, most Famicom disks had no protection for the magnetic film inside; the only ones that did were special-edition disks, which were pretty rare^note these were typically used for national contests and prizes, such as U.S. Golf or Famicom Grand Prix 2: Hot Rally 3D — they had the usual floppy disk guards. This made Famicom disks far more vulnerable to dust and temperature changes, leading to the infamous "Error 22" message. Games were shipped with thick plastic cases and a slip of wax paper to store them, but they didn't always help.
• The disks were laughably easy to pirate. The format they used^note specifically a variant of the Mitsumi Quick Disk format with some custom software changes had only one form of protection, a check of a series of notches inside the molding pressed on each disk. You could effortlessly fool it by carving the notches yourself in a pirated disk^note and since Quick Disks were much shorter than Famicom disks, you could even just attach a plastic frame to a Quick Disk with holes in the right place and achieve the same effect. Bootlegs were rampant and quite creative; you could chain two Disk Systems together and make a disk copier, you could use special cables to copy a PC game to the Famicom's RAM adapter, and even use homebrew tools and hacks like "Tonkachi Mario", the Ur-Example of console ROM-hacking (predating the likes of Super Mario World's Lunar Magic by a decade).

Even the improved NES had its share of bizarre design issues:

• It was designed to look like a VCR so as to not evoke the previous consoles. This included a front-loading cartridge, like a VCR, which had the extra perk of reducing the risk of electric shock that existed on the top-loading Famicom^note Specifically, the Famicom's cartridge slot was directly connected to the motherboard, and because it wasn't buried deep in the console, it was easily to accidentally touch the circuitry. However, the cartridge had to be held in place with a "zero insertion force" mechanism — i.e. a fancy lever. That mechanism put so much force on the cartridge pins that they bent a little every time it was used, and it also had a tendency to shove the ROM board slightly back into the cartridge.
• The materials were pretty cheap. The pins in the cartridge and the connector were also pretty cheap, which is why they bent so easily. They were made of simple ungilded copper and tarnished easily when exposed to moisture. This caused problems which Nintendo originally misdiagnosed as dirt intrusion, leading to the popular tactic of blowing into the cartridge or the system to clear dirt. Although this was actually counterproductive (there's moisture in your breath, after all), veteran gamers swore by this technique.
• All NES cartridges required the 10NES lockout chip, which was designed to prevent unlicensed games from working. Only problem was that it required a constant connection; if that was lost, the system could restart or prevent even licensed games from playing. And the side-loading cartridge was trickier to keep a connection than the top-loading Famicom, which never had the 10NES chip to begin with. And to make things even worse, as noted above, Europe had two versions of the chip due their division of Europe into two sub-regions: Nordic and Western.
• The NES cartridge slot had more pins than the Famicom version. However, the extra pins turned out to just be for show; they weren't really connected to anything. They weren't even used for the 10NES chip — those were connected to the Famicom's co-processor pins. This made it impossible to include co-processors on a NES cartridge, which was necessary for better audio on some Famicom games (like the Japanese version of Castlevania III: Dracula's Curse, which made use of a special mapper).^note Some pins were routed straight to the expansion port, ostensibly to allow the installed peripheral to talk directly with the cartridge; but for some reason, so were the pins connected to extra audio chips on the cartridge end of Nintendo's own 60-to-72 cartridge adapters.
• The NES removed the Mic on controller 2 and the DB15 peripheral port. This made the NES incompatible with many Famicom hardware peripherals. It also meant that if you wanted to use the Zapper, you had to swap it with controller 2.^note This in contrast to the Japanese Zapper, which always connected to the DB15 expansion port. This meant that on a Famicom, you could use both controllers to control both ducks in two-duck mode in Duck Hunt. The mic's removal also meant that several games' features had to be changed for the American release (like defeating the Pols Voice monster in The Legend of Zelda by screaming into the mic).

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Technical Specifications:

Processors

• Central Processing Unit: The Ricoh RP2A03, a custom MOS 6502 with a few extras added on like a sound generator. It runs at 1.79 MHz. The PAL region based NES consoles use a Ricoh RP2A07 clocked at 1.66 MHz.
• The system's sprites are generated by the Ricoh RP2C02 Picture Processing Unit, which is a lot faster. Its speed is 5.37 MHz. PAL region NES consoles use the slightly different Ricoh RP2C07 clocked at 5.32 MHz. This processor allows it to lay a lot of sprites at once, and render huge backgrounds compared to the pre-crash systems.
  • Due to the chip differences between NTSC & PAL consoles. Games made for one region may have compatibility issues if ran on the other. This is because programmers had to modify their code to run on the PAL consoles to compensate for timing differences and features that are only present in the RP2C07 PPU.^note This is most visible in the Data East game B-Wings- a staple on most pirate multicarts, but when attempted to be played on PAL consoles, would simply not run.

Sound

• The NES had sound circuitry built into its main CPU. It was capable of generating 5 channels of sound: two (largely identical) pulse waves, with 16 volume levels, hardware sweep, and 4 duty cycle settings; one triangle wave channel; one noise channel, with 16 volume levels and 2 sequence settings; and one 7-bit delta modulation channel capable of rendering primitive samples. The delta channel was used mostly for drums and sound effects and occasionally for bass.
• Famicom cartridges (but not NES cartridges) could have extra sound circuitry:
  • Famicom Disk System sound chip: 1 wave table.
  • MMC5: 2 extra square waves and 1 8 bit DPCM channel.
  • Sunsoft 5B: 3 square waves, really a AY-3-8910 chip built into a variant of the FME-7 mapper.
  • Namco 163: 8 wave tables, same (if not similar) chip found in many Namco arcade games (like with Mappy and The Tower of Druaga). Roughly comparable to TurboGrafx 16's audio and Konami's SCC and SCC+ chips' audio.
  • Konami VRC6: 2 square waves and 1 saw wave.
  • Konami VRC7: 6 FM channels, based on the YM2413. Only one game makes use of it, Lagrange Point.^note The Japanese version of Tiny Toon Adventures 2: Trouble in Wackyland uses the same mapper, but it doesn't use the audio circuitry.
• The NES is capable of audio output in mono only. However, some "famiclones" boast having stereo output, by splitting the four internal audio channels into pairs of two (something only possible on unlicensed clone CPUs).^note However, some clones might be fudging it with the mono channel repeated on two RCA jacks. Other clones may also use a dedicated DSP chip to create a faux-Stereo effect from the mono signal.

Memory

RAM: The NES had 2 KB (2048 bytes, 0x800 in hexadecimal) of on-board main memory, although chips on the cartridges could expand that. The system can read a ROM size of up to 32 KB, but like the Atari 2600, it used bank switching; you can make the banks bigger using mappers. The smallest cartridge, at just 16 KB, was Galaxian; most other games from 1983-4 are 24KB. The largest cartridge, at 1MB, is 1991's Metal Slader Glory ^note although much later Chinese multicarts could also be that big, or bigger. To put everything in perspective, SNES launch title Super Mario World was 512 KB.

Sprites

The NES could display sprites of 8×8 or 8×16 pixels. Anything larger is actually two or more sprites acting as one (e.g. Super Mario in Super Mario Bros. 3 is four sprites) or a background object made to act like a sprite (e.g. the dragon boss in Mega Man 2). The choice was global; all sprites on the screen were the same size, unless one carefully timed the code to change the setting mid-frame.

The picture processor could generate up to 64 sprites per screen, but no more than 8 sprites could be displayed on a single horizontal line (easiest to see when firing the machine gun in Contra). Games dealt with this limitation by cycling which sprites were visible in alternating frames, resulting in a well-known "flickering" effect. Other games dealt with this with really small sprites, especially ports of games from more capable platforms.

The NES was obviously incapable of vector graphics, sprite scaling, or sprite rotation — but with clever programming and a lot of sprites, it could successfully imitate it and still run fine (e.g. Elite, The 3-D Battles of WorldRunner, and the opening of Battletoads).

Parallax scrolling was also not a default option on the NES, but clever programmers could imitate it, and several games took advantage of it when they got the chance. Super Mario Bros. 3 copied it during the sky sequences by having the cloud sprites moving at different speeds. Several more ambitious games have scenes with separate background layers moving at the same time — Totally Rad had one scene with three backgrounds, Ninja Gaiden III had one with five, Joe & Mac had one with six, and Vice: Project Doom had one with eight.

Display

• Total palette of 64 colors (with several duplicates, reducing the effective count to about 53) with up to 25 on-screen at once (potentially more using special tricks). Up to eight different tints could be applied to the screen, or to horizontal strips of the screen using carefully-timed code. From the programmer's point of view, the NES palette had 32 entries. This was divided into eight 4-color palettes, four for the background and four for the sprites. The first palette entry was shared between all eight, giving a maximum of 25 colors per screen.
• Screen Resolution: 256×240 pixels, though NTSC televisions would often crop it to 256×224. PAL consoles use the full 256×240 but have extra borders around the display that are hardcoded to be a single black color. It also lacks the short line dot at the end of each scanline render which produces slightly worse video quality compared to its NTSC counterpart.
• Backgrounds: The NES supported only one background layer. In the absence of cartridge-provided expansions, the PPU in the NES has enough memory for two screens' worth of background. Each background or "nametable" is a matrix of 8x8 pixel tiles, with each byte in the table being an index into a bank of 256 tiles.
• The NES has support for up to four nametables; without cartridge expansions, only two of these are usable, and the other two are duplicates. The background can be scrolled horizontally and vertically. Color information is stored separately in an "attribute table"; one 4-color palette can be selected per 16×16 pixel block. This might be why 16×16 pixel blocks are pretty much a universal feature of NES games.
• The Nintendo MMC5 chip provided extra memory which could be used as extra attribute data, allowing for each 8x8 pixel block to get its own palette and bank number.
• The NES connected to the TV via RF coaxial. It came with an automatic switcher box that allowed the user to connect a coaxial cable from the wall, allowing a cable TV signal to pass through when the console was turned off. While the Famicom only had an RF output signal, the original NES model also had composite ports on the side, allowing for a generic composite cable to be used to connect the NES to a TV. This was omitted from the NES Mini (NES-101 revision), but some models replaced the Coaxial port with the Multi Out port used on the SNES, Nintendo 64, and GameCube. Unfortunately, these models only came as replacement units from Nintendo and are exceedingly rare.

Peripherals

These weren't the same between Japan and North America. The Famicom used a DB-15 connector that plugged into the front of the console, while NES peripherals used the proprietary 7-pin connector typically connected to the port that's also used for Gamepad 2. This makes Famicom peripherals incompatible with the NES and vice-versa by design, but the NES does have an expansion port on the bottom that can be modded to allow compatibility with Famicom accessories.

Famicom peripherals (Japan only):

• The Famicom Disk System. We kind of went over this already; it was introduced in Japan in 1986 and never released anywhere else, and it was moribund by the late 1980s.
• The Famicom keyboard, a compact MSX-style keyboard bundled with Family BASIC. It's actually a required peripheral to operate the Famicom Data Recorder, as the latter works by hooking up to the keyboard, which has modulator and demodulator circuitry.
• The Data Recorder, a cassette tape recorder intended mainly for storing programs created with Family BASIC, but some games also used it for saves. Essentially just a standard portable mono tape recorder with line-in/line-out jacks and the necessary cables. You either need the Famicom keyboard or a third-party accessory to hook it up, because the keyboard has modulator and demodulator circuitry. Said third-party accessory, the Hori S.D.Station, also duplicates the audio-out pin to a headphone jack and amplifier, allowing you to connect headphones directly to the Famicom.
• The Famicom Modem, an adapter to take your Famicom online. It uses its own card-based format (like NEC and Hudson Soft's PC Engine), and the only games made for it were ports of cartridge games (like Super Mario Bros. 3) adapted for online play. The cards themselves are quite rare nowadays.
• The Fukutake StudyBox, an unusual tape-player that plugs into the Famicom's cartridge slot, allowing you to load games from tape. The company only used it to distribute educational titles. The tapes are partitioned such that the stereo track is split into a data track and an audio track (similar to the Teddy Ruxpin’s story tapes where one track contains audio and the other contains code that controls the bear’s animatronics), and the device passes the audio track back to the Famicom using the audio passthrough pin on the cartridge slot, making it possible to play back pre-recorded audio and allowing the Famicom to provide otherwise unthinkable multimedia experiences in that era.
• The Bandai Datach Joint ROM System, an aftermarket enhancement accessory by Bandai and licensed by Nintendo, allowing the system to play select compatible games that also allow the use of barcode cards on them. Similar to the Aladdin Deck Enhancer, its cartridges are smaller but has to be plugged in before putting in the Datach on the Famicom. Seven games were made for the Datach (mostly from Bandai), with the first game, Dragon Ball Z: Gekitō Tenkaichi Budokai as it pack in game with 40 included cards for use with the accessory.
• The Karaoke Studio, another accessory from Bandai. The device plugs into the cartridge slot, and song collections are sold as cartridges that plugs into the accessory. The device actually contains additional processing hardware that can analyze the pitch of the voice coming into the connected microphone and grade the singing accordingly. Only two song cartridges were released for the device in it's lifetime. Ironically, the device contains no additional audio reproduction circuitry and music for the device made do with the Famicom's default sound hardware.

NES peripherals:

• The Power Glove, a standard controller made into the form of a glove. It used rudimentary motion-control technology by measuring finger and hand movements. While usable with multiple games, only two titles were ever designed for it. It's also not an official Nintendo accessory, instead being made by Mattel. Made famous (or infamous) by its Product Placement appearance in The Wizard. ("I love the Power Glove. It's so bad.")
• NES Advantage, an arcade-style controller with a slow-motion effect, achieved by constantly pausing and un-pausing the game. As you'd expect, it had very mixed results^note For a somewhat funny example of what happens when this doesn't work, hitting the slow button while playing Batman will just repeatedly change the special weapon you're using. One of the few controllers for any system (and the only first party one) to have an adjustable turbo, with the A and B buttons having their own dial to change the speed. A drawback is that it plugs into both controller ports (and has a switch on the joystick for player 1 or 2), so it can't be used with anything else, and it can't be used for any games where 2 people are playing at once. Once used to pilot the Statue of Liberty.
• NES Four Score, a multitap that allowed for four-player games. The similar NES Satellite did the same but doubled as a wireless transmitter-receiver for controllers, using infrared like a TV remote (but without the need to aim them).
• NES Max, a wing controller for flying games, though it will work fine with anything else. The basic shape ended up being pretty far ahead of its time.◊
• NES Cleaning Kit, for cleaning the cartridge and console. But again, most gamers swore by blowing into them to clear the dust.
• The ENIO EXP, a third-party devices that makes use of the NES expansion port to provide a DB15 connector — allowing you to plug in Japanese accessories. It also connects the two unconnected pins from the cartridge slot so that Japanese games with external sound chips will have a working sound output. It even provides an interface connector with the common ESP8266 networking co-processor, allowing you to put your NES on the Internet.

Peripherals for both:

• The Zapper Light Gun. It detected brightness only; it worked by having the screen go black for one frame after pulling the trigger (to make sure the player wasn't aiming at an outside light source) and then lighting up one target at a time, frame by frame, to see which one the player was aiming at. The original Famicom Zapper resembled a realistic-looking revolver; the NES Zapper was redesigned to make it look less like a real gun. The NES version was one of two peripherals packaged with the system at launch and was gray like the rest of it; later versions were bright orange due to changes in U.S. regulations concerning toy guns. Collectors should be aware that the Zapper will not work with anything but a CRT-type TV and can even be troublesome with the last generation of CRTs, particularly ones with a flat screen.
• The Power Pad, a floor mat with buttons used for track-and-field games.
• The U-Force, a third-party peripheral from Broderbund Software; similar to the Power Glove, it uses rudimentary motion control.
• The Robotic Operating Buddy, or R.O.B. Known in Japan as the "Family Computer Robot", or F.C.R. One of the two originally packaged with the NES to get American gamers to think it was more of a toy than a video game console. It only worked with two games, Gyromite and Stack-Up. Its real purpose was as a Trojan Horse to get an American distribution deal with Worlds of Wonder (the builders of the Teddy Ruxpin line of animatronic dolls) — ironically, they figured out what was up and pulled out of the deal, but by then the console was a hit and Nintendo didn't need R.O.B. anymore. Because R.O.B. is essentially a "light gun" like the Zapper it also won't work on anything but a CRT TV.

---

Games/Series:

#-D

• 10-Yard Fight
• 1942
  • 1943: The Battle of Midway
• The 3-D Battles of WorldRunner
  • JJ Tobidase Daisakusen Part 2
• 8 Eyes
• 8Bit Rhythm Land (homebrew game)
• Abadox
• Action 52
  • Cheetahmen II
• The Addams Family:
  • The Addams Family: Uncle Fester's Quest
  • The Addams Family
  • The Addams Family: Pugsley's Scavenger Hunt
• Adventure Island
  • Adventure Island II
  • Adventure Island III
  • Adventure Island IV (Japan exclusive)
• Adventures of Dino Riki
• Adventures of Lolo
  • Adventures of Lolo 2
  • Adventures of Lolo 3
• The Adventures of Bayou Billy
• The Adventures of Rad Gravity
• The Adventures of Tom Sawyer:
  • The Adventures of Tom Sawyer
  • Square's Tom Sawyer
• Ai Senshi Nicol (Famicom Disk System exclusive)
• Air Fortress
• Airwolf (two versions of the game was released for the console: a Japanese version by Kyugo Boueki in 1988 and an American version by Acclaim in 1989)
• After Burner (two versions of the game was released for the console: an official version titled After Burner II in Japan by Sunsoft under license from Sega and an unlicensed version titled After Burner in North America by Tengen)
• Alfred Chicken
• Alien:
  • Aliens (Famicom Disk System exclusive; unreleased prototype)
  • Alien³
• Alien Syndrome (two versions of the game was released for the console: an official version in Japan by Sunsoft under license from Sega and an unlicensed version in North America by Tengen)
• Alpha Mission
• Altered Beast (1988) (Japan exclusive)
• Alwa's Awakening: The 8-Bit Edition
• Amagon
• Anguna: Scourge of the Goblin King (homebrew game)
• Antarctic Adventure
• Anticipation
• Archon
• Arkanoid
  • Arkanoid II: Revenge of Doh
• Arkista's Ring
• Armadillo
• Armed Dragon Fantasy Villgust Gaiden
• Arumana no Kiseki (Famicom Disk System exclusive)
• Astro Ninja Man DX (homebrew game)
• Astyanax
• Athena
• Atlantis no Nazo
• Attack Animal Gakuen
• B-Wings
• Back to the Future:
  • Back To The Future
  • Back to the Future Part II & III
• Bad Dudes
• Bad Street Brawler
• Balloon Fight
• Barbie (1991)
• The Bard's Tale
• Barker Bill's Trick Shooting
• Baseball Simulator 1.000
• Baseball Stars
  • Baseball Stars 2
• Bases Loaded
  • Bases Loaded II: Second Season
  • Bases Loaded 3
  • Bases Loaded 4
• Batman:
  • Batman (Sunsoft)
    • Batman: Return of the Joker
  • Batman Returns (NES)
• Battle Chess
• Battle City
• Battle Kid: Fortress of Peril (homebrew game)
  • Battle Kid 2: Mountain of Torment (homebrew game)
• The Battle of Olympus
• Battletoads
  • Battletoads & Double Dragon: The Ultimate Team
• Bible Adventures (unlicensed game)
• Bible Buffet (unlicensed game)
• Big Nose Freaks Out (unlicensed game)
• Bio Force Ape
• Bio Miracle Bokutte Upa (Japan exclusive)
• Bio Senshi Dan: Increaser to no Tatakai
• Biocats (homebrew game)
• Bionic Commando (1988)
• Blade Buster (homebrew game)
• Blades of Steel
• Blaster Master
• Blazing Rangers (homebrew game)
• Blow'em Out! (homebrew game)
• Bobby Six Seven (homebrew game)
• Bokosuka Wars (Japan exclusive)
• Bomberman
  • Bomberman II
• Bonk's Adventure
• A Boy and His Blob
• The Brave Fighter of Sun Fighbird
• Bubble Bobble
  • Rainbow Islands
  • Bubble Bobble Part II
• Bucky O'Hare
• The Bugs Bunny Crazy Castle
  • The Bugs Bunny Birthday Blowout
• Bump 'n' Jump
• Burai Fighter
• BurgerTime
• Cabal
• California Games
• The California Raisins: The Grape Escape
• Caltron 6 in 1 (unlicensed game)
• Captain America and the Avengers
• Captain Comic
• Captain Silver
• Captain Skyhawk
• Casino Kid
  • Casino Kid II
• Castelian
• Castlequest
• Castlevania:
  • Castlevania
  • Castlevania II: Simon's Quest
  • Castlevania III: Dracula's Curse
• Chaos World
• Chase H.Q.
• Chester Field: Ankoku Shin e no Chousen
• Chiller (unlicensed game)
• Circus Caper
• Circus Charlie
• City Connection
• Clash at Demonhead
• Cloud Master
• Clu Clu Land
• Cobra Triangle
• Cocoron
• Code Name: Viper
• Commando (Capcom)
• Conquest of the Crystal Palace
• Contra
  • Super C
  • Contra Force
• Cool World
• Cosmic Epsilon
• Cosmo Police Galivan
• Cowboy Kid
• Creepy Brawlers (homebrew game)
• Crisis Force
• Crystalis
• Cyber Stadium Series: Base Wars
• Darkman
• Day Dreamin' Davey
• Deadly Towers
• Defender II
• Defender of the Crown
• Defenders of Dynatron City
• Devil World
• Dick Tracy (Bandai)
• Die Hard
• Dig Dug
  • Dig Dug II
• Dirty Harry
• Dirty Pair: Project Eden (Famicom Disk System exclusive)
• Disney:
  • Adventures In The Magic Kingdom
  • Chip 'n Dale: Rescue Rangers
    • Chip 'n Dale: Rescue Rangers 2
  • Darkwing Duck
  • DuckTales
    • DuckTales 2
  • The Little Mermaid
  • Mickey Mousecapade
  • TaleSpin
• Doki Doki Panic (Famicom Disk System exclusive)
• Doki! Doki! Yūenchi: Crazy Land Daisakusen (localized internationally as The Trolls in Crazyland)
• Don Doko Don
  • Don Doko Don 2
• Donkey Kong:
  • Donkey Kong
  • Donkey Kong Junior
  • Donkey Kong 3
• Doraemon: The Revenge of Giga Zombie
• Double Dare
• Double Dragon:
  • Double Dragon I
  • Double Dragon II: The Revenge
  • Double Dragon III: The Sacred Stones
• Double Dribble
• Double Moon Densetsu
• Double Strike (unlicensed game)
• Dr. Chaos
• Dr. Jekyll and Mr. Hyde (NES)
• Drac's Night Out (unreleased prototype)
• Dragon Fighter
• Dragon Quest:
  • Dragon Quest
  • Dragon Quest II
  • Dragon Quest III
  • Dragon Quest IV
• Dragon Strike
• Dream Master (a Namco game not related to Little Nemo: The Dream Master)
• Driar (homebrew game)
• Duck Hunt
• Dungeons & DoomKnights (homebrew game)
• Dynowarz: Destruction of Spondylus

E-H

• EarthBound Beginnings
• Elevator Action 1
• Elite (a very rare port that only saw release overseas. One of the very few games to attempt vector graphics (or rather, the illusion of them) on the NES)
• Eskimo Bob:
  • Eskimo Bob Starring Alfonzo
  • Alfonzos Arctic Adventure
• Esper Boukentai
• Esper Dream (Famicom Disk System exclusive)
  • Esper Dream 2: Aratanaru Tatakai
• ExciteBike
• Exed Exes
• Exodus (1991)
• Eyra the Crow Maiden (homebrew game)
• F-15 Strike Eagle
• Falsion (Famicom Disk System exclusive)
• Famicom Detective Club:
  • Famicom Detective Club: The Missing Heir
  • Famicom Detective Club: The Girl Who Stands Behind
• Famicom Jump: Hero Retsuden (a game that celebrates the 20th anniversary of Weekly Shonen Jump)
  • Famicom Jump II: Saikyō no Shichinin
• Famicom Wars (the precursor to the later Advance Wars series)
• Family Picross (homebrew game)
• Family Pinball (localized internationally as Rock 'n Ball without the Namco characters)
• Fantastic Adventures of Dizzy (unlicensed game)
• Fantasy Zone (two versions of the game was released for the console: an official version in Japan by Sunsoft under license from Sega and an unlicensed version in North America by Tengen)
  • Fantasy Zone II: The Tears of Opa-Opa (renamed The Teardrop of Opa-Opa for the NES version)
• Faria
• Faxanadu
• Felix the Cat:
  • Felix the Cat
  • Felix the Cat by Dragon Co. (also known as Felix the Cat 3, an unlicensed game produced by Dragon Co.)
• Final Fantasy:
  • Final Fantasy
  • Final Fantasy II
  • Final Fantasy III
• Fire Emblem:
  • Fire Emblem: Shadow Dragon & the Blade of Light
  • Fire Emblem Gaiden
• Fire and Rescue (homebrew game)
• Fist of the North Star
• Flea (2020) (homebrew game)
• Frankenstein: The Monster Returns
• Freedom Force
• Friday the 13th
• Fuzzical Fighter
• G.I. Joe:
  • G.I. Joe: A Real American Hero
  • G.I. Joe: The Atlantis Factor
• Galaxian
  • Galaga
  • Gaplus (originally featured in Namco Museum Archives Volume 2)
• Gall Force: Eternal Story (Famicom Disk System exclusive)
• Ganbare Goemon:
  • Ganbare Goemon! Karakuri Douchū
  • Ganbare Goemon 2
  • Ganbare Goemon Gaiden: Kieta Ōgon Kiseru
  • Ganbare Goemon Gaiden 2: Tenka no Zaihō
• Garbage Pail Kids: Mad Mike and the Quest for Stale Gum
• Gauntlet (unlicensed game)
  • Gauntlet (grey cartridge with the "Licensed by Nintendo" certification mark)
  • Gauntlet II (unlicensed game)
  • Gauntlet II (grey cartridge with the "Licensed by Nintendo" certification mark)
• Gemfire
• Genghis Khan
• Genpei Tōma Den: Computer Board Game
• Get'em Gary (homebrew game)
• Getsu Fuma Den
• Ghostbusters:
  • Ghostbusters
  • Ghostbusters II
  • New Ghostbusters II
• Ghosts 'n Goblins
  • Gargoyle's Quest II
• Ghoul Grind: Night of the Necromancer (homebrew game)
• Ghoul School
• Gilligan's Island
• Gimmick! (1992)
• Glory of Heracles:
  • Legend of the Fighting Demon's Lair: Glory of Heracles
  • Glory of Heracles II: Titan's Downfall
• Godzilla: Monster of Monsters!
• Gold Guardian Gun Girl (homebrew game)
• Golgo 13 (For Top Secret Episode and The Mafat Conspiracy)
• The Goonies:
  • The Goonies
  • The Goonies II
• Gotta Protectors: Amazon's Running Diet (a freeware game made in celebration of Protect Me Knight's third anniversary)
• Gradius (and the Konami Code)
  • Salamander (Life Force)
  • Gradius II
  • Cosmic Wars
• Grand Master
• Graveyard Dude (homebrew game)
• Gremlins 2: The New Batch
• The Guardian Legend
• Guerrilla War
• Gumshoe
• Gun Nac
• Gunsmoke
• Guntner (homebrew game)
• Gyruss
• Hammerin' Harry
  • Daiku no Gen-san 2: Akage no Dan no Gyakushuu
• Hanna-Barbera:
  • Captain Planet and the Planeteers
  • The Flintstones:
    • The Flintstones: The Rescue of Dino & Hoppy
    • The Flintstones: The Surprise At Dinosaur Peak
  • The Jetsons: Cogswell's Caper!
  • The Smurfs
  • Wacky Races (1991)
• Happily Ever After (unreleased prototype)
• Haradius Zero (homebrew game)
• Heavy Barrel
• Hell Fighter (unlicensed game)
• Heroes of the Lance
• Higemaru Makaijima: Nanatsu no Shima Daibōken (was planned to be released internationally as Makai Island, but said release was later cancelled)
• High Speed (video game adaptation)
• Hiryū no Ken:
  • Flying Dragon: The Secret Scroll
  • Flying Warriors (a North American exclusive that had combined some parts and aspects of Hiryu no Ken II and III into one title)
  • Hiryu no Ken II: Dragon no Tsubasa
  • Hiryu no Ken III: 5 Nin no Ryu Senshi
  • Hiryu no Ken Special: Fighting Wars
• Hogan's Alley
• Holy Diver
• Home Alone 2 Lost In New York (8 Bit)^note Ported to the NES around the same time, which is virtually the same as its Game Boy and SNES counterparts
• Hoops
• Hoshi wo Miru Hito
• The Hunt for Red October
• Hydlide
• Hyperbeatz (homebrew game)

I-L

• Ice Climber
• Idol Hakkenden
• Ikari Warriors
  • Ikari Warriors II: Victory Road
  • Ikari III: The Rescue
• The Immortal
• Indiana Jones:
  • Indiana Jones and the Temple of Doom
  • Indiana Jones and the Last Crusade (two versions of the game was released for the console: a 1991 version by Taito and a 1993 version by Ubisoft)
  • The Young Indiana Jones Chronicles
• Insector X
• Iron Tank: The Invasion of Normandy
• Isolated Warrior
• Isostasy (homebrew game)
• Ivan "Ironman" Stewart's Super Off Road
• Jackal
• Jackie Chan's Action Kung Fu
• James Bond Jr.
• Jaws
• Jay and Silent Bob: Mall Brawl
• Jeopardy!
• Jim Power: The Lost Dimension (homebrew game)
• Joe & Mac
• Journey to Silius (also known as Rough World)
• Joust
• Joy Mech Fight
• Jurassic Park
• Kabuki Quantum Fighter
• Kaijuu Monogatari
• Karate Champ
• The Karate Kid
• Karateka
• Kart Fighter (unlicensed game)
• Keroppi to Keroriinu no Splash Bomb!
• Kickle Cubicle
• Kick Master
• Kid Icarus (1986)
• Kid Klown In Night Mayor World
• Kid Kool and the Quest for the Seven Wonder Herbs
• Kid Niki: Radical Ninja
  • Kaiketsu Yanchamaru 2
  • Kaiketsu Yanchamaru 3
• Kiki Kaikai: Dotouhen (Famicom Disk System exclusive)
• King of Kings: The Early Years
• King Kong 2: Ikari no Megaton Punch
• King's Knight
• King's Quest V: Absence Makes the Heart Go Yonder!
• Kinnikuman: Muscle Tag Match (released as Tag Team Match: M.U.S.C.L.E. in North America)
• Kira Kira Star Night DX (homebrew game)
• Kirby's Adventure
• Klax (unlicensed game) (a licensed version is also available but requires a Game Boy Color)
• Knight Rider
• Knightmare II: The Maze of Galious
• The Krion Conquest
• Kung Fu
  • Spartan X 2
• Lagrange Point
• Last Armageddon
• The Last Ninja (a port of Last Ninja 2: Back with a Vengeance)
• The Last Starfighter
• Layla
• Lee Trevino's Fighting Golf
• Legacy of the Wizard
• Legend of the Ghost Lion
• The Legend of Kage
• The Legend of Zelda:
  • The Legend of Zelda
  • Zelda II: The Adventure of Link
• Legendary Wings
• The Legends of Owlia (homebrew game)
• Lemmings
• Little League Baseball: Championship Series
• Little Medusa (homebrew game released in 2017)
• Little Nemo: The Dream Master
• Little Red Hood (unlicensed game)
• Little Samson
• Lode Runner
• Log Jammers
• The Lone Ranger
• I Love Softball
• Low G Man
• Lunar Ball

M-P

• Mach Rider
• MacVenture:
  • Déjà Vu (1985)
  • Uninvited
  • Shadowgate
• Magic Darts
• Magic Johnson's Fast Break
• The Magic of Scheherazade
• Magical Taruruto-kun: Fantastic World!!
  • Magical Taruruto-kun 2: Mahou Daibouken
• Magnum Kiki Ippatsu: Empire City 1931
• Maniac Mansion
• Mappy
  • Mappy Kids
  • Mappy-Land
• Marble Madness
• Mashin Hero Wataru Gaiden
• Master Chu and the Drunkard Hu (unlicensed game)
• McKids
• Mechanized Attack
• Mega Man:
  • Mega Man
  • Mega Man 2
  • Mega Man 3
  • Mega Man 4
  • Mega Man 5
  • Mega Man 6
  • Wily & Right no Rock Board: That's Paradise!
• Megami Tensei
  • Megami Tensei II
• Menace Beach (unlicensed game)
• Mendel Palace
• Metal Gear:
  • Metal Gear
  • Snake's Revenge
• Metal Max
• Metal Storm
• Metroid
• Micro Mages
• Might and Magic Book I: The Secret of the Inner Sanctum
• Mighty Bomb Jack
• Mighty Final Fight
• Mike Tyson's Punch-Out!!
• Milon's Secret Castle
• Minelvaton Saga: Ragon no Fukkatsu
  • Silva Saga
• The Miracle Piano Teaching System
• Miracle Warriors Seal Of The Dark Lord
• Mission Impossible (1990)
• Moai-kun
• Monopoly
• Monster in My Pocket
• Monster Party
• Moon Crystal
• Muppet Adventure: Chaos at the Carnival
• Musashi no Bōken
• The Mysterious Murasame Castle (Japan exclusive)
• NARC
• Nebs 'n Debs (homebrew game)
• Nekketsu Kōha Kunio-kun (Renegade (1986))
  • Nekketsu Koko Dodgeball Bu (Super Dodge Ball)
  • Downtown Nekketsu Monogatari (River City Ransom)
  • Nekketsu Kōkō Dodgeball Bu: Soccer Hen (Nintendo World Cup)
  • Downtown Nekketsu Kōshinkyoku: Soreyuke Daiundōkai
  • Downtown Special: Kunio-kun no Jidaigeki Dayo Zen'in Shūgō
  • Ike Ike! Nekketsu Hockey Bu: Subette Koronde Dairantō
  • Bikkuri Nekketsu Shinkiroku: Harukanaru Kin Medal (Crash 'n' the Boys: Street Challenge)
  • Nekketsu Kakutō Densetsu
  • Kunio-kun no Nekketsu Soccer League
  • Nekketsu! Street Basket: Ganbare Dunk Heroes
• NEO Heiankyo Alien (homebrew game)
• NES Play Action Football
• The NewZealand Story (released as Kiwi Kraze in North America)
• A Nightmare On Elm Street
• Nightshade (1992)
• Ninja Crusaders
• Ninja Gaiden:
  • Ninja Gaiden (NES)
  • Ninja Gaiden II: The Dark Sword of Chaos
  • Ninja Gaiden III: The Ancient Ship of Doom
• Ninja Jajamaru-kun
  • Jajamaru no Daibouken
  • Jajamaru Ninpou Chou
  • Jajamaru Gekimaden: Maboroshi no Kinmajou
  • Ninja Jajamaru: Ginga Daisakusen
• Ninja-kun: Majō no Bōken
  • Ninja-kun: Ashura no Shou
• Ninjara Hoi!
• Nintendo World Championships
• Nix: The Paradox Relic (homebrew game)
• Noah's Ark
• Nomolos: Storming the Catsle (homebrew game)
• Nuts & Milk
• Operation Wolf
• Orebody: Binder's Tale (homebrew game)
  • Orebody: Sand Ripples (homebrew game)
• Otaku no Seiza: An Adventure in the Otaku Galaxy
• Otocky (Japan exclusive)
• Over Horizon
• P.O.W.: Prisoners of War
• Pac-Man (unlicensed game, but only the second printing onwards)
  • Ms. Pac-Man (unlicensed game, but only the Tengen version)
  • Pac-Land
  • Pac-Mania
  • Pac-Man Championship Edition (Video Game Demake originally featured in Namco Museum Archives Volume 1)
• Panic Restaurant
• Paperboy
  • Paperboy 2
• Parodius
• Phantom Fighter
• Pictionary: The Game of Video Quick Draw
• Pinball (1984)
• Pinball Quest
• Pin Bot
• Pipe Dream
• Pizza Pop!
• Plasma Ball
• Platoon
• Ploid (homebrew game)
  • Uchusen: Ultimate Ploid Battle (homebrew game)
• Pocket Zaurus
• Popeye
• Porun-chan no Onigiri Daisuki (homebrew game)
• Power Blade
  • Power Blade 2
• Power Punch II (was originally intended to be released as Mike Tyson's Intergalactic Power Punch, but said title was later changed due to Tyson's legal issues at the time)
• Predator (NES)
• Prince of Persia
• Princess Tomato in the Salad Kingdom
• Pro Wrestling
• Project Blue (homebrew game)
• The Punisher
• Puyo Puyo (1991)

Q-T

• Q*bert
• Qix
• Rad Racer
  • Rad Racer II
• Radia Senki Reimeihen
• Raid 2020 (unlicensed game)
• Rambo
• Rampart
• RBI Baseball (unlicensed game)
• RC Pro-Am
  • R.C. Pro-Am II
• Recca (Summer Carnival '92)
• Reknum: Souls Adventure (homebrew game)
• Remote Control
• Ring King
• RoboWarrior
• Robocco Wars
• RoboCop:
  • RoboCop
  • RoboCop 2
  • RoboCop 3
• RoboCop Versus The Terminator (unreleased prototype)
• Robotic Operating Buddy
  • Gyromite
  • Stack-Up
• Rocket Ranger
• The Rocketeer
• Rockin Kats
• Rod Land
• Roller Ball
• Rollergames
• Rolling Thunder
• Roniu's Tale (homebrew game)
• Rush'n Attack
• Rygar
• Saint Seiya Ougon Densetsu
  • Saint Seiya: Ougon Densetsu Kanketsu Hen
• Saiyūki World
  • Saiyūki World 2: Tenjōkai no Majin (localized internationally as Whomp 'Em)
• Sakigake!! Otokojuku: Shippu Ichi Gou Sei
• Samurai Pizza Cats
• Samurai Zombie Nation
• SD Gundam Gaiden: Knight Gundam Monogatari
• SD Hero Soukessen: Taose! Aku no Gundan
• SD Keiji: Blader
• Secret Ties (unreleased prototype)
• Section Z
• Sesame Street:
  • Sesame Street: Big Bird's Hide and Speak
  • Sesame Street: Countdown
• Shadow of the Ninja
• Shatterhand (released in Japan as a Tokkyuu Shirei Solbrain Licensed Game)
• Shinobi (unlicensed game)
• Shinsenden: The Legend of Immortals
• Shufflepuck Café
• Silkworm
• Silver Surfer (1990)
• SimCity (unreleased prototype)
• The Simpsons:
  • Krusty's Fun House
  • The Simpsons: Bart vs. the Space Mutants
  • The Simpsons: Bart vs. the World
  • The Simpsons: Bartman Meets Radioactive Man
• Skate or Die
  • Skate or Die 2: The Search for Double Trouble
• Sky Kid
• Slalom
• Smash TV
• Snake Rattle 'n' Roll
• Snow Bros
• Solar Jetman
• Solomon's Key
  • Solomon's Key 2 (released as Fire 'n Ice in North America)
• Solstice: The Quest for the Staff of Demnos
• SonSon
• Space Harrier (Japan exclusive)
• Special Cybernetic Attack Team
• Spelunker
  • Spelunker II: Yuushahe no Chousen
• Spider-Man: Return of the Sinister Six
• Spiritual Warfare (unlicensed game)
• Splatterhouse: Wanpaku Graffiti
• Spy Hunter (1983)
  • Super Spy Hunter (also known as Battle Formula in Japan)
• Sqoon
• Stanley: The Search for Dr. Livingston
• Star Luster
• Star Soldier
• StarTropics
  • Star Tropics II: Zoda's Revenge
• Star Wars:
  • Star Wars (Namco) (1987)
  • Star Wars (JVC) (1991)
  • Star Wars: The Empire Strikes Back
• Streemerz (homebrew game)
• Street Fighter 2010
• Strider
• Sunman (unreleased prototype; was originally intended to be a Superman game, but Sunsoft lost the license during development)
• Super Chinese:
  • Kung-Fu Heroes
  • Little Ninja Brothers
  • Super Chinese 3
• Super Dimension Fortress Macross
• Super Mario Bros.:
  • All Night Nippon Super Mario Bros.
  • Dr. Mario
  • Mario Bros.
  • Super Mario Bros.
  • Super Mario Bros.: The Lost Levels
  • Super Mario Bros. 2
  • Super Mario Bros. 3
  • Wario's Woods
  • Wrecking Crew
  • Yoshi
  • Yoshi's Cookie
• Super Pitfall
• Super Robot Wars 2
• Super Sentai:
  • Choujin Sentai Jetman
  • Kyōryū Sentai Zyuranger
• Super Spike V'Ball
• Super Turrican
• Super Uwol (homebrew game)
• Superman
• Sweet Home (1989)
• Sword Master
• Taboo: The Sixth Sense
• Tactus (homebrew game)
• Takeshi's Challenge
• Tasac (unlicensed game)
• Tecmo Baseball
• Tecmo Bowl
  • Tecmo Super Bowl
• Tecmo NBA Basketball
• Tecmo World Wrestling
• Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles:
  • Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles (1989)
  • Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles II: The Arcade Game
  • Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles III: The Manhattan Project
  • Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles: Tournament Fighters
• Tetris (there are three NES Tetris games all sharing the same name: the "official" Nintendo version, the unlicensed Tengen version that is a port of the arcade version by Atari, and the Japan exclusive version by Bullet-Proof Software)
  • Tetris 2
• The Three-Eyed One
• The Three Stooges
• Thexder
• Thunder & Lightning
• Tiger Heli
• Time Diver: Eon Man (unreleased prototype)
• Time Lord
• Time Zone
• Tiny Toon Adventures:
  • Tiny Toon Adventures
  • Tiny Toon Adventures: Cartoon Workshop
  • Tiny Toon Adventures 2: Trouble in Wackyland
• Titan Warriors (unreleased prototype)
• Toki
• Tom and Jerry: The Ultimate Game of Cat and Mouse!
• Tombs & Treasure
• Totally Rad
• Touhou Kenbun Roku
• The Tower of Druaga
  • The Quest of Ki
• The Tower of Turmoil (homebrew game)
• Town & Country Surf Designs: Wood & Water Rage
  • Town & Country Surf Designs II: Thrilla's Surfari
• Toxic Crusaders
• Track & Field
• Transformers: Convoy no Nazo
• Treasure Master
• Trog
• Trojan
• Trophy 2021 (homebrew game)
• TwinBee
  • Moero TwinBee (Stinger)
  • TwinBee 3
• Twin Cobra
• Twin Dragons (homebrew game)

U-Z

• Ufouria: The Saga (Hebereke)
• Ultima:
  • Ultima III: Exodus
  • Ultima IV: Quest of the Avatar
  • Ultima V: Warriors of Destiny
• Ultimate Basketball
• The Ultimate Stuntman (unlicensed game)
• Uncharted Waters
• Urban Champion
• Urusei Yatsura: Lum no Wedding Bell
• Ushio and Tora: Great Demon of the Abyss
• Valis: The Fantasm Soldier
• Valkyrie no Bōken: Toki no Kagi Densetsu
• Vegas Dream
• The Venus Wars: Back to the City "IO"
• Vice: Project Doom
• Wai Wai World
  • Wai Wai World 2: SOS!! Parsley Jō
• Wally Bear and the NO! Gang (unlicensed game)
• Wardner no Mori (Famicom Disk System exclusive)
• Warpman
• Wayne's World (Radical Entertainment)
• WCW World Championship Wrestling
• Werewolf: The Last Warrior
• Wheel of Fortune
• Who Framed Roger Rabbit
• Widget the World Watcher
• Wild Gunman
• Willow
• Win, Lose or Draw
• The Wing of Madoola
• Winter Games
• Witch n' Wiz (homebrew game)
• Wizardry
  • Wizardry 2
• Wizards & Warriors
  • Ironsword: Wizards & Warriors II
  • Wizards & Warriors III: Kuros: Visions of Power
• World Champ: Super Boxing Great Fight
• Wrath of the Black Manta
• WURM: Journey to the Center of the Earth
• WWE:
  • WWF WrestleMania
  • WWF WrestleMania Challenge
  • WWF WrestleMania: Steel Cage Challenge
  • WWF King of the Ring
• X-Men:
  • The Uncanny X Men
  • Wolverine
• Xenophobe
• Xevious
• Xexyz
• Yeah Yeah Beebiss II (homebrew game)
• Yie Ar Kung-Fu
• Yo! Noid
• Yokai Dochuki (also known as Shadowland)
• Ys:
  • Ys: Ancient Ys Vanished ~ Omen (also known as Ys I: The Vanished Omens)
  • Ys II: Ancient Ys Vanished – The Final Chapter
  • Ys III: Wanderers from Ys
• Yume Penguin Monogatari
• Zanac
• Zen: Intergalactic Ninja
• Zoids
  • Zoids 2
  • Zoids 3

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Tropes:

• Bad Export for You: Nintendo's redesign of the Famicom into the NES introduced several flaws into the hardware that weren't present in the original.
  • PAL regions got the short end of the stick. Not only was the region divided by two region lockout chips meaning games were not cross compatible but PAL consoles use slightly different hardware compared to their NTSC counterparts. This would require developers to modify their games to accomodate for the timing differences and features only present in the PAL PPU. Most developers never optimized their games for this and so not only do they run slower, they also have extra borders around the display area and even music would sound off key or at the completely wrong tempo. Some games, like Data East's B-Wings, would not even run on PAL consoles.
  • Despite the NES-001 coming with Composite output while the original Famicom only had RF, the US toploader stripped it out while the Famicom version added it in. The Japanese toploader was even marketed as the "Famicom AV".
• Boring, but Practical: The hardware paled in comparison to arcade hardware of the time, and was outclassed in hardware by the Sega Master System by the time it released in North America, but it was perfectly capable of delivering aesthetically pleasing tile sprites and it got the job done just fine as a gaming machine. Skilled programmers could really push the hardware further than what one could expect the console to do, as games like Vice: Project Doom show.
• Bowdlerise: To improve the PR image of their games, and knowing the kind of trouble Atari got into in America (the lack of Copy Protection on the Atari 2600 left them powerless to stop the release of games like the notorious Custer's Revenge), Nintendo enforced strict censorship policies, even when going from Japan to North America:
  • Blood and gore were explicitly verboten, and violence had a lot of restrictions. Beating up or shooting robots, aliens, or zombies was okay, but against real people it was usually discouraged. Any excessive or gratuitious violence, especially against non-enemy characters, was not allowed; Maniac Mansion originally had a scene where you could blow up a hamster in a microwave, but Nintendo forced it to be removed. On the other hand, the ending of Bionic Commando (1988) had a scene where totally not Hitler's head explodes - despite being rendered in very◊ graphic detail for the time, it got by uncensored.
  • Using the words "death", "die", "kill", or "killed" was not allowed. Curiously, this was averted with Friday the 13th, which had a famous Game Over screen that simply read "You and your friends are dead. Game Over." Super Mario Bros. itself also uses "die" and "killed" in the English manual (but not the Japanese one) though this could be chalked up to Nintendo's policies not being fully ironed out at the time.
  • Sexual references weren't permitted. Maniac Mansion had a scene where a message written on a wall said "For a good time, call Edna"; Nintendo had them remove the first four words.
  • References to touchy topics such as religion and or hate groups like the Nazis were also not allowed. They were okay with neutral religious terms like "sanctuary" or "shrine", but nothing too associated with a particular religion. Nintendo did allow exemptions for context in certain cases, like how crosses could remain in the Castlevania games, because Christian imagery is such a recognizable part of vampire lore. This led to some interesting edits:
    • This is how Super Mario Bros.'s Big Bad got the name "Bowser" in America. His Japanese name, Daimaō Kuppa, translates to "Great Demon King Koopa".
    • In Mega Man, the boss Yellow Devil was renamed Rock Monster. He could still look like a devil, just not use the name.
    • Bionic Commando (1988) had all references to Hitler and Nazis removed. They became "Master-D" and "The Badds", and the swastikas were replaced with eagle symbols. As noted above, the graphic image of his head exploding was also left in.
    • In Ice Climber, the seals were replaced with yetis. Probably didn't want to run afoul of an Animal Wrongs Group.
    • EarthBound Beginnings has all references to religion removed, along with sprites edited to remove references to blood or tobacco.^note The game didn't officially make it out of Japan until 2015, but the international version was based on an English localization that was completed in 1990 and set for release the following year before being pulled due to its commercial unviability.
    • Devil World was released in Japan and later received European releases, but was not released in the US at all, even though desigined by Shigeru Miyamoto himself. ^note the game finally saw a US and full worldwide release on the Switch via the Virtual Console in 2023.
  • Swearing or obscene gestures were not allowed. The Who Framed Roger Rabbit game had to edit the name of the one of the weasels, Smart Ass, into "Smarty" because of this. Curiously, the Rambo tie-in game got away with a brief use of the word "hell".
  • References to drugs, smoking, and alcohol were strictly forbidden, even in the context of portraying it in a bad light. In Punch-Out!!, "Vodka Drunkenski" was edited to "Soda Popsinski" for this reason. The port of NARC similarly removed all references to drugs, even though hunting down drug dealers is the entire premise of the game! The localization of Faxanadu somehow completely missed the numerous NPCs who smoke cigarettes, despite removing the cross from the outside of town churches.
  • Overly realistic weapons weren't allowed. Even the Zapper accessory was changed in North America to look less like a real gun^note This was due to federal regulations that stated that toy guns must carry bright orange plastic (mainly around the "barrel") to make them easily identifiable as toys, due to incidents of kids with really realistic toy guns getting shot by police and criminals using toy guns to commit robberies.
• Copy Protection:
  • The infamous 10NES chip served this purpose, as discussed above. Likely excluded from the toploader due to being very finicky even with legitimate games, and there simply not being much of a NES market worth guarding by the time it released.
  • The Disk System diskettes had "NINTENDO" molded at the bottom, and the "I and second "N" activated a switch that authenticated the games. This was done less to make piracy harder on a technical level (bootleggers quickly ripped off the molds) and more to allow Nintendo to go after unofficial developers for trademark infringement. Considering it just needs the "IN" letters, the effectiveness of this scheme seems dubious.
• Early-Bird Release: Numerous early games were first released in the United States as Vs. System arcade cabinets. Later, Super Mario Bros. 3 was first made available stateside as a Playchoice-10 cabinet.
• Follow the Leader: Sega's Master System console tried hard to play catch up with the NES in the West. Its controllers were very similar to the NES pad. The tie-in game, Alex Kidd in Miracle World, was an obvious attempt to ride the Super Mario Bros. bandwagon. While it tanked in the U.S., unable to overcome Nintendo's market share and third-party support, it actually managed to outsell the NES in other countries.
• Light Gun Game: The NES Zapper was the standard light gun for the console and one of the most iconic ever made, used and bundled with games like Duck Hunt. Konami came up with their own unique variation called the Laser Scope, a headstrap that allow you to shoot using its eyepiece by speaking voice commands.
• Nintendo Hard: Most of the games developed for the console tended to be quite difficult, first and third party games alike. It was the era of the arcade game, which was designed to be hard so as to extract quarters from less skilled players; many NES games were based on such arcade games. Nintendo was also wary of gamers being burned by games that were too short or too easy (they were spending $50 on those things), and when they didn't have much content, they upped the difficulty factor.
• No Export for You: Too many examples to count. Some general trends include:
  • Nintendo planned to release a version of the Famicom Disk System in the USA, but these plans never came to fruition. The most popular titles (i.e. The Legend of Zelda and Metroid) were converted to cartridge release, while others never left Japan.
  • The Famicom Data Recorder was also planned for localization, but never saw release. Westerners had no way to save they levels they created for a handful of games with Level Editor features (i.e. Excitebike, Wrecking Crew and Mach Rider). This likely happened because the engineers soon realized that the Data Recorder was an otherwise normal tape recorder and the real encoding and decoding logic circuits were in in the Famicom BASIC Keyboard which is another different accessory, and they'd need to localize that as well for the Data Recorder to be usable (and the keyboard would need a huge rework, likely in the form of a device that plugs into the expansion port on the underside of the NES, since it relies on certain pins on the DB-15 port that didn't even exist on the NES). And for the Famicom BASIC keyboard to be useful as well, they'd need to localize Famicom BASIC too. The cost of localizing two other components to get one accessory localized probably didn't sit well with Nintendo's higher ups at the time.
  • By the time the NES made its belated rollout in the USA and Europe, many games from early in the Famicom's life (i.e. Nuts & Milk) were considered too archaic graphics-wise and gameplay-wise to release in those regions, and lacked the star power of franchises like Pac-Man and Lode Runner.
  • Games released later in the Famicom's life (i.e. EarthBound Beginnings and Joy Mech Fight) were released well into The 16-bit Era of Console Video Games. Publishers declined to release them in the West, in part due to fears that they would undersell compared to more advanced games on competing 16-bit platforms.
• Product Facelift: The original NES design was heavily redesigned from the Famicom in order to escape the post-crash stigma surrounding game consoles. However, the redesign's numerous technical issues means that it's quite difficult to find an original NES in good working order. The New-style NES revamped it again into a smaller, much more reliable top-loader format, but it needed an adapter to use a Game Genie, and it only had RF cable support (no AV inputs), so the picture quality took a hit, too. The controllers were also revised from the old rectangles into a dog-bone shape, in order to match the rounded corners of the Super NES controller.
• Quality vs. Quantity: Part of the reason Nintendo was so strict about licensing in the early days of the NES (and installed a lock-out chip to prevent unauthorized games from playing on the console) was a fear of Shovelware, something that did in Atari and its competitors in The Great Video Game Crash of 1983. Nintendo made sure they were on the "quality" side of the divide, and in doing so did all of their Copy Protection shenanigans. That said, as anyone who's watched The Angry Video Game Nerd would tell you, the system was no stranger to terrible games even with the odious licensing requirements - but it did spare Americans from dealing with some of the absolute worst in Famicom shovelware. Nintendo also imposed a "five games per year" limit on developers and publishers, encouraging them to take their time in producing a good end product instead of rushing as many mediocre games onto the market as they could. They were, however, willing to look the other way with creators who had a good track record for quality and got around this limitation by inventing bogus development houses, like Konami did when they cooked up the Ultra Games label.
• Region Coding: Several factors prevented region interoperability. Japanese consoles do not have a 10NES chip, meaning they can't work through the NES's Copy Protection. And their cartridges are shaped differently; Famicom cartridges can't fit in a NES, and vice-versa. Even if you de-shell the cartridge, the pinouts on Famicom cartridge circuit boards are different compared circuit boards of cartridges meant for the NES. And that 10NES chip had different versions in North America and Europe (and indeed, two different ones in Europe, meaning Europeans had to be careful of which version of a game they bought). Nor can Famicom consoles take NES peripherals or vice-versa; the Famicom used the DB-15 expansion port, while the NES used the proprietary 7-pin port. And to top it all off, for whatever reason, European NES consoles will not operate with an American controller, even though they use the same port (although an American NES can use a European controller just fine).
  • Interestingly, most of the system's launch titles (with the exception of Baseball) were actually just the Famicom PCB's inserted into a converter. It's theoretically possible to open up the cartridge for one of these games and swap out the PCB for the Famicom title you want to play to get it to work on a US NES.
• Regional Bonus: The Famicom's controllers were hard-wired into the system, but the NES used controller ports, allowing you to just swap them out instead of digging into the console or replacing the whole thing outright. The NES also had composite built into the console, which was seen as a big improvement in video quality over RF (Which was the Famicom's only output option). Both of these changes would later see the light of day in Japan in the form of the AV Famicom system refresh.
• Revenue-Enhancing Devices:
  • The R.O.B. toy was initially packaged with the first release of the NES as a way of getting the console's foot in the door. Since the American game industry crash made retailers wary of anything video game related, they used R.O.B. as a way of marketing the NES as a toy instead of a video game console. It only worked with two games (Gyromite and Stack-Up), but the Trojan Horse tactic worked due to gamers finding another hit game to play on the new console. R.O.B. was soon dropped from the NES lineup, but it had served its purpose well.
  • The Famicom Tape Recorder is this to the Famicom BASIC kit. The alleged tape recorder is otherwise a bog standard mono tape recorder with Nintendo branding and is nothing special, the logic circuit for saving and loading to tape is inside the Famicom Keyboard that is supplied with the Famicom BASIC cartridge, and there is nothing stopping you from using a different brand tape recorder to save and load data on cassette using said keyboard.
• Unwinnable by Mistake: Games that require use of the Famicom microphone, such as Takeshi's Challenge are impossible to complete on the AV Famicom models that removed it.

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"WE ARE NINTENDO. WE CHALLENGE ALL PLAYERS. YOU CANNOT BEAT US."

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