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NES SERIAL NUMBER LOOKUP

Posted By admin  On 14.05.21

Which serial numbers are on the most valuable NES? Update Cancel. NUS-CPU-09
Consoles with NS9***** serials appear to be Nintendo refurbished systems and
have a new serial number sticker placed over the original sticker. Here is an
example picture of a boxed Nintendo refurbished system:. How can I search a gun
by its serial.

(Redirected from Nintendo NES)

Nintendo Entertainment System




Top: NES control deck with controller
Bottom: Family Computer ('Famicom') main unit with controller
Also known asFamily Computer/Famicom (Japan)
Hyundai Comboy (Korea)DeveloperNintendo R&D2ManufacturerNintendoTypeHome video
game consoleGenerationThird generationRelease date
 * JP: July 15, 1983 (Famicom)
 * NA: October 18, 1985[1]
 * EU: September 1, 1986a[›]
 * EU/AU: 1987
 * BR: 1993

Lifespan1983–2003 (Famicom)[2]1985–1995 (NES)Introductory price¥14,800 (Japan)
$179 (US Deluxe Set)[3]Discontinued
 * NA: August 14, 1995 (NES)[5][6]
 * JP: September 25, 2003 (Famicom)[4]

Units soldWorldwide: 61.91 million
Japan: 19.35 million
America: 34.00 million
Other: 8.56 million[7]MediaROM cartridge ('Game Pak')b[›]CPURicoh 2A038-bit
processor (MOS Technology 6502 core)Controller input2 controller portsc[›]
1 expansion slotBest-selling game
 * Super Mario Bros. (pack-in), 40.24 million (as of September 13, 2010)[8]
 * Super Mario Bros. 3 (pack-in), 18 million (as of July 27, 2008)[9]
 * Super Mario Bros. 2,
   10 million[10]

PredecessorColor TV-GameSuccessorSuper Nintendo Entertainment SystemRelated
articlesFamicom Disk System, Famicom 3D System

The Nintendo Entertainment System (NES) is an 8-bitthird-generationhome video
game console produced, released, and marketed by Nintendo. It is a remodeled
export version of the company's Family Computer[a] (FC) platform in Japan,
commonly known as the Famicom[b], which was launched on July 15, 1983. The NES
was launched in a test market of New York City on October 18, 1985, followed by
Los Angeles as a second test market in February 1986, followed by Chicago and
San Francisco, then other top 12 U.S.A. markets, followed by a full launch
across North America and some countries in Europe in September 1986, followed by
Australia and other countries in Europe in 1987. Brazil saw only unlicensed
clones until the official local release in 1993. In South Korea, it was packaged
as the Hyundai Comboy[c] and distributed by Hyundai Electronics which is now SK
Hynix; the Comboy was released in 1989.

As the best-selling gaming console of its time, the NES helped revitalize the US
video game industry following the North American video game crash of 1983.[11]
With the NES, Nintendo introduced a now-standard business model of licensing
third-party developers, authorizing them to produce and distribute games for
Nintendo's platform.[12] It had been preceded by Nintendo's first home video
game console, the Color TV-Game, and was succeeded by the Super Nintendo
Entertainment System (SNES).

 * 1History
 * 2Hardware
   * 2.7Accessories
     * 2.7.2Japanese accessories
 * 3Games
   * 3.2Third-party licensing
 * 5Legacy
 * 7Notes


HISTORY[EDIT]


DEVELOPMENT[EDIT]

Following a series of arcade game successes in the early 1980s, Nintendo made
plans to create a cartridge-based console called the Famicom, which is short for
Family Computer. Masayuki Uemura designed the system.[13][14] Original plans
called for an advanced 16-bit system which would function as a full-fledged
computer with a keyboard and floppy disk drive, but Nintendo president Hiroshi
Yamauchi rejected this and instead decided to go for a cheaper, more
conventional cartridge-based game console as he believed that features such as
keyboards and disks were intimidating to non-technophiles. A test model was
constructed in October 1982 to verify the functionality of the hardware, after
which work began on programming tools. Because 65xx CPUs had not been
manufactured or sold in Japan up to that time, no cross-development software was
available and it had to be produced from scratch. Early Famicom games were
written on a system that ran on an NEC PC-8001 computer and LEDs on a grid were
used with a digitizer to design graphics as no software design tools for this
purpose existed at that time.[15]

The code name 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 or personal computer. Perhaps we could say it
is a family computer.' Meanwhile, Hiroshi Yamauchi decided that the console
should use a red and white theme after seeing a billboard for DX Antenna (a
Japanese antenna manufacturer) which used those colors.[15]

The creation of the Famicom was hugely influenced by the ColecoVision, Coleco's
competition against the Atari 2600 in the United States. Takao Sawano, chief
manager of the project, brought a ColecoVision home to his family, who were
impressed by the system's capability to produce smooth graphics at the time,[16]
which contrasts with the flicker and slowdown commonly seen on Atari 2600 games.
Uemura, head of Famicom development, stated that the ColecoVision set the bar
for the Famicom.[17]

Original plans called for the Famicom's cartridges to be 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.[15]

The controllers are hard-wired to the console with no connectors for cost
reasons. The game pad controllers were more-or-less copied directly from 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. Katsuyah Nakawaka
attached a Game & Watch D-pad to the Famicom prototype and found that it 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.[15]

Gunpei Yokoi suggested an eject lever to the cartridge slot which is not really
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
the idea that it could be used to make players' voices sound through the TV
speaker.[18][15]


RELEASE[EDIT]

The console was released on July 15, 1983 as the Family Computer (or Famicom)
for ¥14,800 (equivalent to ¥18,400 in 2019) alongside three ports of Nintendo's
successful arcade games Donkey Kong, Donkey Kong Jr. and Popeye. The Famicom was
slow to gather momentum; a bad chip set caused the initial release of the system
to crash. Following a product recall and a reissue with a new motherboard, the
Famicom's popularity soared, becoming the best-selling game console in Japan by
the end of 1984.[19]:279, 285

Nintendo also had its sights set on the North American market, entering into
negotiations with Atari to release the Famicom under 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 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.[19]:283–285g[›]

The proposed Advanced Video System bundle, including cassette drive and wireless
accessories.

Subsequent plans for the Nintendo Advanced Video System likewise never
materialized: a North American repackaged Famicom console featuring a keyboard,
cassette data recorder, wireless joystick controller, and a special BASIC
cartridge.[19]:287 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 the Advanced Video Entertainment System (AVS) that same 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 stating that 'the
videogame market in America has virtually disappeared' and that 'this could be a
miscalculation on Nintendo's part'.[20]

At June 1985's Consumer Electronics Show (CES), Nintendo unveiled the American
version of its Famicom, with a new case redesigned by Lance Barr and featuring a
'zero insertion force' cartridge slot.[21] 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.[22] This would eventually be officially deployed as
the Nintendo Entertainment System, or the colloquial 'NES'. Nintendo seeded
these first systems to limited American test markets starting in New York City
on October 18, 1985, and followed up with a full North American release in
February 1986.[23] The nationwide release came in September 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, Tennis, Wild Gunman, Wrecking Crew, and Super Mario
Bros.[24]h[›] For expedient production, some varieties of these launch games
contain Famicom chips with an adapter inside the cartridge so they play on North
American consoles, which is why the title screens of Gyromite and Stack-Up have
the Famicom titles 'Robot Gyro' and 'Robot Block', respectively.[25]

R.O.B. (Robotic Operating Buddy), an accessory for the NES's 1985 launch.
Although it ended up having a short product lifespan, R.O.B. was initially used
to market the NES as novel and sophisticated compared to previous game consoles.

The system's launch represented not only a new product, but also a reframing of
the severely damaged home video game market. 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 the NES, the packaging of many video games
presented bombastic artwork which exaggerated the graphics of the actual game.
In terms of product identity, a single game such as Pac-Man would appear in many
versions on many different game consoles and computers, with large variations in
graphics, sound, and general quality between the versions. In stark contrast,
Nintendo's marketing strategy aimed to regain consumer and retailer confidence
by delivering a singular platform whose technology was not in need of
exaggeration and whose qualities were clearly defined.

To differentiate Nintendo's new home platform from 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 the system in toy stores.[26][27] To deter production of games which had
not been licensed by Nintendo, and to prevent copying, the 10NESlockout chip
system act 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 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'.[28]

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 is Lucasfilm's attempts to port
the comedy-horror game Maniac Mansion to the NES, which Nintendo insisted be
considerably watered down. Nintendo of America continued its censorship policy
until 1994 with the advent of the Entertainment Software Rating Board system,
coinciding with criticism stemming from the cuts made to the Super NES port of
Mortal Kombat compared to the Sega Genesis'.[citation needed]

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, the American public exhibited
limited excitement for the console itself, peripherals such as the light gun and
R.O.B. attracted extensive attention.[29]

In Europe, Oceania, and Canada, the system was released in two separate
marketing regions. The first consisted of mainland Europe (excluding Italy)
where distribution was handled by a number of different companies, with Nintendo
responsible for most cartridge releases. Most of this region saw a 1986 release.
The release in the Netherlands was in Q4 1987, where it was distributed by
Bandai BV.[30] In 1987 Mattel handled distribution for the second region,
consisting of the United Kingdom, Ireland, Canada, Italy, Australia and New
Zealand. Not until the 1990s did Nintendo's newly created European branch direct
distribution throughout Europe.[31]:413–414e[›]

In Brazil, the console was released late in 1993 by Playtronic, even after the
SNES. But the Brazilian market had been dominated by unlicensed NES clones —
both locally made, and smuggled from China and Taiwan.[32] One of the most
successful local clones is the Phantom System, manufactured by Gradiente, which
would end up licensing Nintendo products in the country for the following
decade.[33] The sales of officially licensed products were low, due to the
cloning, the quite late official launch, and the high prices of Nintendo's
licensed products.[34]

The Nintendo Entertainment System's Control Deck

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, retailing at US$179.99 (equivalent to $453 in 2018),[3] included
R.O.B., a light gun called the NES Zapper, two controllers, and two Game Paks:
Gyromite, and Duck Hunt. The Basic Set, first released in 1987, retailed at
US$89.99 with no game, and US$99.99 bundled with the Super Mario Bros.
cartridge. The Action Set, retailing in November 1988 for US$149.99, came with
the Control Deck, two game controllers, an NES Zapper, and a dual Game Pak
containing both Super Mario Bros. and Duck Hunt.[5][19]:305 In 1989, the Power
Set included 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.[35] Two more
bundle packages were later released using the original model NES console. The
Challenge Set of 1992 included the console, two controllers, and a Super Mario
Bros. 3 Game Pak for a retail price of US$89.99. The Basic Set was repackaged
for a retail US$89.99. It included only the console and two controllers, and no
longer was bundled with a cartridge.[35] 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, the console was redesigned for both the North American and Japanese
markets as part of the final Nintendo-released bundle package. The package
included the new style NES-101 console, and one redesigned 'dogbone' game
controller. Released in October 1993 in North America, this final bundle
retailed for US$49.99 and remained in production until the discontinuation of
the NES in 1995.[5]


DISCONTINUATION[EDIT]

On August 14, 1995, Nintendo discontinued the Nintendo Entertainment System in
both North America and Europe.[36]

The Famicom was officially discontinued in September 2003. Nintendo offered
repair service for the Famicom in Japan until 2007, when it was discontinued due
to a shortage of available parts.[36]


HARDWARE[EDIT]


CONFIGURATIONS[EDIT]

Although the Japanese Famicom, North American and European NES versions included
essentially the same hardware, there were certain key differences among the
systems.

The original Japanese Famicom was predominantly white plastic, with dark red
trim. It featured 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.[37]

The original NES, meanwhile, featured a front-loading cartridge covered by a
small, hinged door that can be opened to insert or remove a cartridge and closed
at other times. It features a more subdued gray, black, and red color scheme. An
expansion port was found on the bottom of the unit and the cartridge connector
pinout was changed.

In the UK, Italy and Australia which share the PAL-A region, two versions of the
NES were released; the 'Mattel Version' and 'NES Version'.[38] When the NES was
first released in those countries, it was distributed by Mattel and Nintendo
decided to use a lockout chip specific to those countries, different from the
chip used in other European countries. When Nintendo took over European
distribution in 1990, it produced consoles that were then labelled 'NES
Version'; therefore, the only differences between the two are the text on the
front flap and texture on the top/bottom of the casing.

The NES-101 control deck alongside its similarly redesigned NES-039 game
controller.

In October 1993, Nintendo redesigned the NES to follow many of the same design
cues as the newly introduced Super Nintendo Entertainment System and the
Japanese Super Famicom. Like the SNES, the NES-101 model loads cartridges
through a covered slot on top of the unit replacing the complicated mechanism of
the earlier design.

The HVC-101 control deck alongside its similarly redesigned HVC-102 game
controller.

In December 1993, the Famicom received a similar redesign. It also loads
cartridges through a covered slot on the top of the unit and uses non-hardwired
controllers. Because HVC-101 uses composite video output instead of being RF
only like the HVC-001, Nintendo marketed the newer model as the AV Famicom.[d]
Since the new controllers don't have microphones on them like the second
controller on the original console, certain games such as the Disk System
version of The Legend of Zelda and Raid on Bungeling Bay have certain tricks
that cannot be replicated when played on an HVC-101 Famicom without a modified
controller. In October 1987, Nintendo released a 3D stereoscopic headset called
the Famicom 3D System (HVC-031) in Japan only.


DESIGN FLAWS[EDIT]

The VCR-like loading mechanism of the NES led to problems over time. The design
wears connector pins out quickly and easily become dirty, resulting in
difficulties with the NES reading Game Paks.

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 the generally poor reputation that game
consoles had acquired following the North American 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 newly designed connector works quite
well when both the connector and the cartridges are clean and the pins on the
connector are new. Unfortunately, the ZIF connector is not truly zero insertion
force. When a user inserts the cartridge into the NES, the force of pressing the
cartridge down and into place bends the contact pins slightly, as well as
pressing the cartridge's ROM board back into the cartridge itself. Frequent
insertion and removal of cartridges cause the pins to wear out from repeated
usage over the years and the ZIF design prove more prone to interference by dirt
and dust than an industry-standard card edge connector.[39] These design issues
are exacerbated by Nintendo's choice of materials; the console slot nickel
connector springs wear due to design and the game cartridge copper connectors
are also prone to tarnishing. Nintendo sought to fix these issues by redesigning
the next generation Super Nintendo Entertainment System (SNES) as a top loader
similar to the Famicom to ensure better results reading the game cartridges.[40]
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 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 swabs, as well
as non-conductive metal polish such as Brasso or Sheila Shine.[41][42]


LOCKOUT[EDIT]


NES SERIAL NUMBER LOOKUP

The 10NES authentication chip (at top) contributed to the system's reliability
problems. The circuit was ultimately removed from the remodeled NES 2.

The Famicom contains no lockout hardware and, as a result, unlicensed cartridges
(both legitimate and bootleg) were extremely common throughout Japan and the Far
East.[43] The original NES (but not the top-loading NES-101) contain the 10NES
lockout chip, which significantly increased the challenges faced by unlicensed
developers. 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, as well as bootlegs and converted
imports. NES consoles sold in different regions have different lockout chips, so
games marketed in one region do not work on consoles from another region. Known
regions are these: USA/Canada (3193 lockout chip); most of Europe (3195); Asia
(3196); and UK, Italy, and Australia (3197). Because two types of lockout chip
were released in Europe, European NES game boxes often have an 'A' or 'B' letter
on the front, indicating whether the game is compatible with
UK/Italian/Australian consoles (A), or the rest of Europe (B). Games in the rest
of Europe typically have text on the box stating 'This game is not compatible
with the Mattel or NES versions of the Nintendo Entertainment System'.
Similarly, UK/Italy/Australia games state 'This game is only compatible with the
Mattel or NES versions of the Nintendo Entertainment System'.

Problems with the 10NES lockout chip frequently result in the console's most
infamous problem: the blinking red power light, in which the system appears to
turn itself on and off repeatedly because the 10NES would reset the console once
per second. The lockout chip required constant communication with the chip in
the game to work.[31]:247 Dirty, aging, and bent connectors often disrupt the
communication, resulting in the blink effect.[39] Alternatively, the console
would turn on but only show a solid white, gray, or green screen. Users may
attempt to solve this problem 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 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 of the most frequent attempts to fix
this problem instead risk damaging the cartridge or system.[44] In 1989,
Nintendo released an official NES Cleaning Kit to help users clean
malfunctioning cartridges and consoles.

With the release of the top-loading NES-101 (NES 2) toward the end of the NES's
lifespan, Nintendo resolved the problems by switching to a standard card edge
connector and eliminating 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.

In response to these hardware flaws, 'Nintendo Authorized Repair Centers' sprang
up across 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. In practice, the authorization process consisted of nothing more than
paying a fee to Nintendo for the privilege.


FAMICOM 3D SYSTEM[EDIT]

Nintendo released a stereoscopic headset peripheral called Famicom 3D System.
This was never released outside Japan, since it was a commercial failure, making
some gamers experience headaches and nausea.[citation needed]


FAMICOM MODEM[EDIT]

Nintendo released a modem peripheral called Famicom Modem. This was not intended
for traditional games but for gambling on real horse races, stock trading, and
banking.


TECHNICAL SPECIFICATIONS[EDIT]

The motherboard of the NES. The two largest chips are the Ricoh-produced CPU and
PPU.

For its CPU, the NES uses the Ricoh 2A03, an 8-bitmicroprocessor containing a
MOS Technology 6502 core, running at 1.79 MHz for the NTSC NES and 1.66 MHz for
the PAL version.

The NES contains 2 kB of onboard work RAM.[45] A game cartridge may contain
expanded RAM to increase this amount. The sizes of NES games vary from 8 kB
(Galaxian) to 1 MB (Metal Slader Glory), but 128 to 384 kB is the most common.

The NES[46] uses a custom-made Picture Processing Unit (PPU) developed by Ricoh.
All variations of the PPU feature 2 kB of video RAM, 256 bytes of on-die 'object
attribute memory' (OAM) to store the positions, colors, and tile indices of up
to 64 sprites on the screen, and 28 bytes of on-die palette RAM to allow
selection of background and sprite colors. The console's 2 kB of onboard RAM may
be used for tile maps and attributes on the NES board and 8 kB of tile pattern
ROM or RAM may be included on a cartridge. The system has an available color
palette of 48 colors and 6 grays. Up to 25 simultaneous colors may be used
without writing new values mid-frame: a background color, four sets of three
tile colors, and four sets of three sprite colors. The NES palette is based on
NTSC rather than RGB values. A total of 64 sprites may be displayed onscreen at
a given time without reloading sprites mid-screen. The standard display
resolution of the NES is 256 horizontal pixels by 240 vertical pixels.

Video output connections vary between console models. The original HVC-001 model
of the Family Computer features only radio frequency (RF) modulator output. The
North American and European consoles have support for composite video through
RCA connectors in addition to the RF modulator. The HVC-101 model of the Famicom
omits the RF modulator entirely and has composite video output via a proprietary
12-pin 'multi-out' connector first introduced on the Super Famicom and Super
Nintendo Entertainment System. Conversely, the North American re-released
NES-101 model most closely resembles the original HVC-001 model Famicom, in that
it features RF modulator output only.[47] Finally, the PlayChoice-10 utilizes an
inverted RGB video output.

The stock NES supports a total of five sound channels, two of which are pulse
channels with 4 pulse width settings, one is a triangle wave generator, another
is a noise generator (often used for percussion), and the fifth one plays
low-quality digital samples.

The NES supports expansion chips contained in certain cartridges to add sound
channels and help with data processing. Developers can add these chips to their
games, such as the Konami VRC6, Konami VRC7, Sunsoft 5B, Namco 163, and two more
by Nintendo itself: the Nintendo FDS wave generator (a modified Ricoh RP2C33
chip with single-cycle wave table-lookup sound support), and the Nintendo Memory
Management Controller 5 (MMC5).[48] Due to wiring differences between the
Famicom and NES, a stock NES console is incapable of passing through audio
generated by expansion chips utilizing additional sound channels, but can be
modified to regain this capability.[49][50]


ACCESSORIES[EDIT]

In addition to featuring a revised color scheme that matched the more subdued
tones of the console itself, NES controllers are detached and lack the
microphone featured in Famicom controllers.

CONTROLLERS[EDIT]

The game controller used for both the NES and the Famicom features an oblong
brick-like design with a simple four button layout: two round buttons labeled
'A' and 'B', a 'START' button, and a 'SELECT' button.[51] Additionally, the
controllers utilize the cross-shaped joypad, designed by Nintendo employee
Gunpei Yokoi for Nintendo Game & Watch systems, to replace the bulkier joysticks
on earlier gaming consoles' controllers.[19]:279

The original model Famicom features two game controllers, both of which are
hardwired to the back of the console. The second controller lacks the START and
SELECT buttons, but features a small microphone. Relatively few games use this
feature. The earliest produced Famicom units have square A and B buttons.[47]
This was changed to the circular designs because of the square buttons being
caught in the controller casing when pressed down and glitches within the
hardware causing the system to freeze occasionally while playing a game.

Instead of the Famicom's hardwired controllers, the NES features two custom
7-pin ports on the front of the console to support swappable and potentially
third-party controllers. The controllers bundled with the NES are identical and
include the START and SELECT buttons, allowing some NES versions of games, such
as The Legend of Zelda, to use the START button on the second controller to save
the game at any time. The NES controllers lack the microphone, which is used on
the Famicom version of Zelda to kill certain enemies, or for singing with
karaoke games.[37]

The NES Zapper, a light gun accessory

A number of special controllers are for use with specific games, though are not
very popular. Such devices include the Zapper light gun, the R.O.B.,[19]:297 and
the Power Pad.[31]:226[52] The original Famicom features a deepened DA-15
expansion port on the front of the unit, which is used to connect most auxiliary
devices.[37] On the NES, these special controllers are generally connected to
one of the two control ports on the front of the console.

Nintendo made two advanced controllers for the NES called NES Advantage and the
NES Max. Both controllers have a Turbo feature, where one press of the button
represents multiple automatic rapid presses. This feature allows players to
shoot much faster in shooter games. The NES Advantage has two knobs that adjust
the firing rate of the turbo button from quick to Turbo, as well as a 'Slow'
button that slows down compatible games by rapidly pausing the game. The NES Max
has a non-adjustable Turbo feature and no 'Slow' feature, and has a wing-like
handheld shape and a sleek directional pad. Turbo functionality exists on the
NES Satellite, the NES Four Score, and the U-Force. Other accessories include
the Power Pad and the Power Glove, which is featured in the movie The Wizard.

Near the end of the NES's lifespan, upon the release of the AV Famicom and the
top-loading NES 2, the design of the game controllers was modified slightly.
Though the original button layout was retained, the controller's shape resembles
that of the SNES's controller. In addition, the AV Famicom dropped the hardwired
controllers in favor of detachable controller ports. The controllers included
with the Famicom AV have 90 cm (3 feet) long cables, compared to the 180 cm (6
feet) of NES controllers.[53]

The original NES controller has become one of the most recognizable symbols of
the console. Nintendo has mimicked the look of the controller in several other
products, from promotional merchandise to limited edition versions of the Game
Boy Advance.[54]

JAPANESE ACCESSORIES[EDIT]

The Japanese Famicom has BASIC support with the Family BASIC keyboard.

Few of the numerous peripheral devices and software packages for the Famicom,
were released outside Japan.

Family BASIC is an implementation of BASIC for the Famicom, packaged with a
keyboard. Similar in concept to the Atari 2600 BASIC cartridge, it allows the
user to write programs, especially games, which can be saved on an included
cassette recorder.[55] Nintendo of America rejected releasing Famicom BASIC in
the US because it did not think it fit their primary marketing demographic of
children.[31]:162

The Famicom Modem connected a Famicom to a now defunct proprietary network in
Japan which provided content such as financial services.[56] A dialup modem was
never released for NES.

FAMILY COMPUTER DISK SYSTEM[EDIT]

The Disk System peripheral for the Japanese Famicom, uses games on 'Disk Cards'
with a 3' Quick Disk mechanism.

In 1986, Nintendo released the Famicom Disk System (FDS) in Japan, a type of
floppy drive that uses a single-sided, proprietary 5 cm (2') disk and plugs into
the cartridge port. It contains RAM for the game to load into and an extra
single-cycle wavetable-lookup sound chip. The disks are used both for storing
the game and saving progress, with a total capacity of 128k (64k per side). The
disks were originally obtained from kiosks in malls and other public places
where buyers could select a game and have it written to the disk. This process
cost less than cartridges and users could take the disk back to a vending booth
and have it rewritten with a new game, or the high score faxed to Nintendo for
national leaderboard contests.

A variety of games for the FDS were released by Nintendo (including some which
had already been released on cartridge, such as Super Mario Bros.), and third
party companies such as Konami, Taito, or unlicensed publishers. Its limitations
became quickly apparent as larger ROM chips were introduced, allowing cartridges
with greater than 128k of space. More advanced memory management chips (MMC)
soon appeared and the FDS quickly became obsolete. Nintendo also charged
developers high prices to produce FDS games, and many refused to develop for it,
instead continuing to make cartridge games.[citation needed] After only two
years, the FDS was discontinued, although vending booths remained in place until
1993 and Nintendo continued to service drives, and to rewrite and offer
replacement disks until 2003. Approximately four million drives were
sold.[citation needed]

Nintendo did not release the Disk System outside Japan due to numerous problems
encountered with the medium in Japan, and due to the increasing data storage
capacity and reducing cost of the highly reliable cartridge medium.[57] As a
result, many Disk System games such as Castlevania, The Legend of Zelda, and
Bubble Bobble were converted to cartridge format for their export releases,
resulting in simplified sound and the disk save function replaced by passwords
or battery save systems.


HARDWARE CLONES[EDIT]

Pirated clones of NES hardware remained in production for many years after the
original had been discontinued. Some clones play cartridges from multiple
systems, such as this FC Twin that plays NES and SNES games.

A thriving market of unlicensed NES hardware clones emerged during the climax of
the console's popularity. Initially, such clones were popular in markets where
Nintendo never issued a legitimate version of the console. 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 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
under the name of 'Family Game', resembling the original hardware design. The
Micro Genius (Simplified Chinese: 小天才) was marketed in Southeast Asia as an
alternative to the Famicom; Samurai was the popular PAL alternative to the NES;
and in Central Europe, especially Poland, the Pegasus was available.[58] Since
1989, there were many Brazilian clones of NES,[34] and the very popular Phantom
System (with hardware superior to the original console) caught the attention of
Nintendo itself.[33]

The RetroUSB AVS, an FPGA-based hardware clone of the NES that outputs 720p via
HDMI.

The unlicensed clone market has flourished following Nintendo's discontinuation
of the NES. Some of the more exotic of these resulting systems surpass 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.[59] These unauthorized clones have been helped by the
invention of the so-called NES-on-a-chip.[60]


HP SERIAL NUMBER LOOKUP

As was the case with unlicensed games, Nintendo has typically gone to 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.

Although most hardware clones were not produced under license by Nintendo,
certain companies were granted licenses to produce NES-compatible devices. The
Sharp Corporation produced at least two such clones: the Twin Famicom and the
SHARP 19SC111 television. The Twin Famicom is compatible with both Famicom
cartridges and Famicom Disk System disks.[61]:29 Like the Famicom, it is red and
black and has hardwired controllers, but has a different case design. The SHARP
19SC111 television includes a built-in Famicom.[62] A similar licensing deal was
reached with Hyundai Electronics, who licensed the system under the name Comboy
in the South Korean market. This deal with Hyundai was made necessary because of
the South Korean government's wide ban on all Japanese 'cultural products',
which remained in effect until 1998 and ensured that the only way Japanese
products could legally enter the South Korean market was through licensing to a
third-party (non-Japanese) distributor (see also Japan–Korea disputes).[63] In
India, the system was sold under the name Samurai and assembled locally under
license from kits due to policies that banned imports of electronics.[64]


NES TEST STATION[EDIT]

The NES Test station (Lower Left), SNES counter tester (Lower Right), SNES test
cart (Upper Right), And the original TV that came with the unit (Upper Left).
NES test station AC adapter Pass or Fail test demonstration.

The NES Test Station diagnostics machine was introduced in 1988. It is a
NES-based unit designed for testing NES hardware, components, and games. It was
only provided for use in World of Nintendo boutiques as part of the Nintendo
World Class Service program. Visitors were to bring items to test with the
station, and could be assisted by a store technician or employee.

The NES Test Station's front features a Game Pak slot and connectors for testing
various components (AC adapter, RF switch, Audio/Video cable, NES Control Deck,
accessories and games), with a centrally-located selector knob to choose which
component to test. The unit itself weighs approximately 11.7 pounds without a
TV. It connects to a television via a combined A/V and RF Switch cable. By
actuating the green button, a user can toggle between an A/V Cable or RF Switch
connection. The television it is connected to (typically 11' to 14') is meant to
be placed atop it.[65]

In 1991, Nintendo provided an add-on called the 'Super NES Counter Tester' that
tests Super Nintendo components and games. The SNES Counter Tester is a standard
SNES on a metal fixture with the connection from the back of the SNES re-routed
to the front of the unit. These connections may be made directly to the test
station or to the TV, depending on what is to be tested.


GAMES[EDIT]

The Nintendo Entertainment System has a number of groundbreaking games. Super
Mario Bros. pioneered side-scrollers and The Legend of Zelda helped popularize
battery-backed save functionality.


GAME PAK[EDIT]

North American and PAL NES cartridges (or 'Game Paks') are significantly larger
than Japanese Famicom cartridges.

The NES uses a 72-pin design, as compared with 60 pins on the Famicom. To reduce
costs and inventory, some early games released in North America are simply
Famicom cartridges attached to an adapter to fit inside the NES hardware.[25]
Early NES cartridges are held together with five small slotted screws. Games
released after 1987 were redesigned slightly to incorporate two plastic clips
molded into the plastic itself, removing the need for the top two screws.[66]

The back of the cartridge bears a label with handling instructions. Production
and software revision codes were imprinted as stamps on the back label to
correspond with the software version and producer. All licensed NTSC and PAL
cartridges are a standard shade of gray plastic, with the exception of The
Legend of Zelda and Zelda II: The Adventure of Link, which were manufactured in
gold-plastic carts. Unlicensed carts were produced in black, robin egg blue, and
gold, and are all slightly different shapes than standard NES cartridges.
Nintendo also produced yellow-plastic carts for internal use at Nintendo Service
Centers, although these 'test carts' were never made available for purchase. All
licensed US cartridges were made by Nintendo, Konami, and Acclaim. For promotion
of DuckTales: Remastered, Capcom sent 150 limited-edition gold NES cartridges
with the original game, featuring the Remastered art as the sticker, to
different gaming news agencies. The instruction label on the back includes the
opening lyric from the show's theme song, 'Life is like a hurricane'.[67]

Famicom cartridges are shaped slightly differently. Unlike NES games, official
Famicom cartridges were produced in many colors of plastic. Adapters, similar in
design to the popular accessory Game Genie, are available that allow Famicom
games to be played on an NES. In Japan, several companies manufactured the
cartridges for the Famicom.[31]:61 This allowed these companies to develop their
own customized chips designed for specific purposes, such as superior sound and
graphics.


THIRD-PARTY LICENSING[EDIT]

The Famicom Family mark appeared in games and peripherals from 1988 that were
approved by Nintendo for compatibility with official Famicom consoles and
derivatives.

Nintendo's near monopoly on the home video game market left it with a dominant
influence over the industry. Unlike Atari, which never actively pursued
third-party developers (and even went to court in an attempt to force Activision
to cease production of Atari 2600 games), Nintendo had anticipated and
encouraged the involvement of third-party software developers, though strictly
on Nintendo's terms.[68] Some of the Nintendo platform-control measures were
adopted in a less stringent way by later console manufacturers such as Sega,
Sony, and Microsoft.

To this end, a 10NES authentication chip is in every console and in every
officially licensed cartridge. If the console's chip can not detect a
counterpart chip inside the cartridge, the game does not load.[31]:247 Nintendo
portrayed these measures as intended to protect the public against poor-quality
games,[69] and placed a golden seal of approval on all licensed games released
for the system.

Nintendo was not as restrictive as Sega, which did not permit third-party
publishing until Mediagenic in late summer 1988.[70] Nintendo's intention was to
reserve a large part of NES game revenue for itself. Nintendo required that it
be the sole manufacturer of all cartridges, and that the publisher had to pay in
full before the cartridges for that game be produced. Cartridges could not be
returned to Nintendo, so publishers assumed all the risk. As a result, some
publishers lost more money due to distress sales of remaining inventory at the
end of the NES era than they ever earned in profits from sales of the games.
Because Nintendo controlled the production of all cartridges, it was able to
enforce strict rules on its third-party developers, which were required to sign
a contract by Nintendo that would obligate these parties to develop exclusively
for the system, order at least 10,000 cartridges, and only make five games per
year.[31]:214–215 The global 1988 shortage of DRAM and ROM chips reportedly
caused Nintendo to only permit an average of 25% of publishers' requests for
cartridges, with some receiving much higher amounts and others almost
none.[69]GameSpy noted that Nintendo's 'iron-clad terms' made the company many
enemies during the 1980s. Some developers tried to circumvent the five game
limit by creating additional company brands like Konami's Ultra Games label and
others tried circumventing the 10NES chip.[68]

Nintendo was accused of antitrust behavior because of the strict licensing
requirements.[71] The United States Department of Justice and several states
began probing Nintendo's business practices, leading to the involvement of
Congress and the Federal Trade Commission (FTC). The FTC conducted an extensive
investigation which included interviewing hundreds of retailers. During the FTC
probe, Nintendo changed the terms of its publisher licensing agreements to
eliminate the two-year rule and other restrictive terms. Nintendo and the FTC
settled the case in April 1991, with Nintendo required to send vouchers giving a
$5 discount off to a new game, to every person that had purchased a NES game
between June 1988 and December 1990. GameSpy remarked that Nintendo's punishment
was particularly weak giving the case's findings, although it has been
speculated that the FTC did not want to damage the video game industry in the
United States.[68]

With the NES near its end of its life many third-party publishers such as
Electronic Arts supported upstart competing consoles with less strict licensing
terms such as the Sega Genesis and then the PlayStation, which eroded and then
took over Nintendo's dominance in the home console market, respectively.
Consoles from Nintendo's rivals in the post-SNES era had always enjoyed much
stronger third-party support than Nintendo, which relied more heavily on
first-party games.

UNLICENSED GAMES[EDIT]

Companies that refused to pay the licensing fee or were rejected by Nintendo
found ways to circumvent the console's authentication system. Most of these
companies created circuits that use a voltage spike to temporarily disable the
10NES chip.[31]:286 A few unlicensed games released in Europe and Australia are
in the form of a dongle to connect to a licensed game, in order to use the
licensed game's 10NES chip for authentication. To combat unlicensed games,
Nintendo of America threatened retailers who sold them with losing their supply
of licensed games, and multiple revisions were made to the NES PCBs to prevent
unlicensed games from working.

Atari Games took a different approach with its line of NES products, Tengen. The
company attempted to reverse engineer the lockout chip to develop its own
'Rabbit' chip. Tengen also obtained a description of the lockout chip from the
United States Patent and Trademark Office by falsely claiming that it was
required to defend against present infringement claims. Nintendo successfully
sued Tengen for copyright infringement. Tengen's antitrust claims against
Nintendo were never decided.[71]

Color Dreams made Christian video games under the subsidiary name Wisdom Tree.
Historian Steven Kent wrote, 'Wisdom Tree presented Nintendo with a prickly
situation. The general public did not seem to pay close attention to the court
battle with Atari Games, and industry analysts were impressed with Nintendo's
legal acumen; but going after a tiny company that published innocuous religious
games was another story.'[19]:400


GAME RENTALS[EDIT]

As the Nintendo Entertainment System grew in popularity and entered millions of
American homes, some small video rental shops began buying their own copies of
NES games, and renting them out to customers for around the same price as a
video cassette rental for a few days. Nintendo received no profit from the
practice beyond the initial cost of their game, and unlike movie rentals, a
newly released game could hit store shelves and be available for rent on the
same day. Nintendo took steps to stop game rentals, but didn't take any formal
legal action until Blockbuster Video began to make game rentals a large-scale
service. Nintendo claimed that allowing customers to rent games would
significantly hurt sales and drive up the cost of games.[72] Nintendo lost the
lawsuit,[73] but did win on a claim of copyright infringement.[74] Blockbuster
was banned from including original, copyrighted instruction booklets with its
rented games. In compliance with the ruling, Blockbuster produced original short
instructions—usually in the form of a small booklet, card, or label stuck on the
back of the rental box—that explained the game's basic premise and controls.
Video rental shops continued the practice of renting video games.


RECEPTION[EDIT]

By 1988, industry observers stated that the NES's popularity had grown so
quickly that the market for Nintendo cartridges was larger than that for all
home computer software.[75][19]:347Compute! reported in 1989 that Nintendo had
sold seven million NES systems in 1988 alone, almost as many as the number of
Commodore 64s sold in its first five years.[76] 'Computer game makers [are]
scared stiff', the magazine said, stating that Nintendo's popularity caused most
competitors to have poor sales during the previous Christmas and resulted in
serious financial problems for some.[77]

Comparison of NES from different regions. From top: Japanese Famicom, European
NES and American NES

In June 1989, Nintendo of America's vice president of marketing Peter Main, said
that the Famicom was present in 37% of Japan's households.[78] By 1990, 30% of
American households owned the NES, compared to 23% for all personal
computers.[79] By 1990, the NES had outsold all previously released consoles
worldwide.[80][better source needed] The slogan for this brand was 'It can't be
beaten'.[31]:345 In Europe and South America, the NES was outsold by Sega's
Master System,[81][82] while the Nintendo Entertainment System was not available
in the Soviet Union.

In the early 1990s, gamers predicted that competition from technologically
superior systems such as the 16-bitSega Genesis would mean the immediate end of
the NES's dominance. Instead, during the first year of Nintendo's successor
console the Super Famicom (named Super Nintendo Entertainment System outside
Japan), the Famicom remained the second highest-selling video game console in
Japan, outselling the newer and more powerful NEC PC Engine and Sega Mega Drive
by a wide margin.[83] The launch of the Genesis was overshadowed by the launch
of Super Mario Bros. 3 for NES.[citation needed] The console remained popular in
Japan and North America until late 1993, when the demand for new NES software
abruptly plummeted.[83] The final licensed Famicom game released in Japan is
Takahashi Meijin no Bōken Jima IV (Adventure Island IV), in North America is
Wario's Woods, and in Europe is The Lion King in 1995.[84] In the wake of ever
decreasing sales and the lack of new games, Nintendo of America officially
discontinued the NES by 1995.[5][85] Nintendo produced new Famicom units in
Japan until September 25, 2003,[86] and continued to repair Famicom consoles
until October 31, 2007, attributing the discontinuation of support to
insufficient supplies of parts.[87][88]


LEGACY[EDIT]

The NES was released two years after the North American video game crash of
1983, when many retailers and adult consumers regarded electronic games as a
passing fad,[19]:280 so many believed at first that the NES would soon fade.[77]
Before the NES and Famicom, Nintendo was known as a moderately successful
Japanese toy and playing card manufacturer, but the consoles' popularity helped
the company grow into an internationally recognized name almost synonymous with
video games as Atari had been,[89] and set the stage for Japanese dominance of
the video game industry.[90] With the NES, Nintendo also changed the
relationship between console manufacturers and third-party software developers
by restricting developers from publishing and distributing software without
licensed approval. This led to higher-quality games, which helped change the
attitude of a public that had grown weary from poorly produced games for earlier
systems.[19]:306–307

The NES hardware design is also very influential. Nintendo chose the name
'Nintendo Entertainment System' for the US market and redesigned the system so
it would not give the appearance of a child's toy. The front-loading cartridge
input allow it to be used more easily in a TV stand with other entertainment
devices, such as a videocassette recorder.[91][92][93]

The system's hardware limitations led to design principles that still influence
the development of modern video games. Many prominent game franchises originated
on the NES, including Nintendo's own Super Mario Bros.,[61]|:57The Legend of
Zelda[19]:353 and Metroid,[19]:357Capcom's Mega Man[94] franchise, Konami's
Castlevania[19]:358 franchise, Square's Final Fantasy,[61]|:95 and Enix's Dragon
Quest[61]|:222 franchises.

NES imagery, especially its controller, has become a popular motif for a variety
of products,[95][96][97][98] including Nintendo's own Game Boy Advance.[54]
Clothing, accessories, and food items adorned with NES-themed imagery are still
produced and sold in stores.


EMULATION[EDIT]

The NES can be emulated on many other systems. The first emulator is the
Japanese-only Pasofami. It was soon followed by iNES, which is available in
English and is cross-platform, in 1996. It was described as being the first NES
emulation software that could be used by a non-expert.[99]NESticle, a popular
MS-DOS-based emulator, was released on April 3, 1997. Nintendo offers officially
licensed emulation of many specific NES games via its own Virtual Console for
the Wii, Nintendo 3DS, and Wii U, and the Nintendo Switch Online service.


RE-RELEASE[EDIT]

On July 14, 2016, Nintendo announced the November 2016 launch of a miniature
replica of the NES, named the Nintendo Entertainment System: NES Classic Edition
in the United States and Nintendo Classic Mini: Nintendo Entertainment System in
Europe and Australia.[100] The emulation-based console includes 30 permanently
inbuilt games from the vintage NES library, including the Super Mario Bros. and
The Legend of Zelda series. The system features HDMI display output and a new
replica controller, which can also connect to the Wii Remote for use with
Virtual Console games.[101][102] It was discontinued in North America on April
13, 2017, and worldwide on April 15, 2017. However, Nintendo announced in
September 2017 that the NES Classic Mini would return to production on June 29,
2018.[103]


SEE ALSO[EDIT]


NOTES[EDIT]

^a: For distribution purposes, Europe and Australasia were divided into two
regions by Nintendo. The first of these regions consisted of France, West
Germany, Scandinavia and Spain and saw the NES released during 1986. In the
Netherlands the console was released in Q4 1987. The console was released in the
second region, consisting of the United Kingdom, the Republic of Ireland, and
Italy, as well as Australia and New Zealand, in 1987.
^b: In Japan, Nintendo sold an optional expansion peripheral for the Famicom,
called the Famicom Disk System, which enables the console to run software from
proprietary floppy disks.
^c: The original Famicom features two hardwired game controllers and a single
port for additional input devices. See game controllers section.
^e: The NES is the overall best-selling system worldwide of its time. In Japan
and the United States, it controlled 85-90% of the market.[31]:349 In Europe, it
was at most in 10-12% of households.[31]:413-414 Nintendo sold 61.9 million NES
units worldwide: 19.35 million in Japan, 34 million in the Americas, and 8.5
million in other regions.[7]
^f: The commonly bundled game Super Mario Bros. popularized the platform game
genre and introduced elements that would be copied in many subsequent games[104]
^g: Atari broke off negotiations with Nintendo in response to Coleco's unveiling
of an unlicensed port of Donkey Kong for its Coleco Adam computer system.
Although the game had been produced without Nintendo's permission or support,
Atari took its release as a sign that Nintendo was dealing with one of its major
competitors in the market.[19]:283–285
^h:Donkey Kong Jr. Math and Mach Rider are often erroneously included in lists
of launch titles. In reality, neither title was available until later in
1986.[24]



TRANSLITERATIONS[EDIT]

 1. ^Japanese: ファミリーコンピュータHepburn: Famirī Konpyūta?
 2. ^Japanese: ファミコンHepburn: Famikon?
 3. ^In Hangul, 현대 컴보이 (Hyeondae Keomboi).
 4. ^Japanese: AV仕様ファミコンHepburn: Eibui Shiyō Famikon?


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      October 2, 2012.
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      Vintage Computing and Gaming. Retrieved July 1, 2010.
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      games included'. The Sydney Morning Herald. Retrieved July 15, 2016.
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      with 30 NES games'. Retrieved July 14, 2016.
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      packed with 30 classic games'. Retrieved July 14, 2016.
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EXTERNAL LINKS[EDIT]

Wikimedia Commons has media related to Famicom and variants.

 * Video of Nintendo Famicom hardware and features from FamicomDojo.TV
 * 'Nintendo Entertainment System'. Archived from the original on October 20,
   2007. at Nintendo.com (archived versions at the Internet Archive Wayback
   Machine)
 * NES games list at Nintendo.com (archived from the original at the Internet
   Archive Wayback Machine)
 * Nintendo Entertainment System at Curlie

Retrieved from
'https://en.wikipedia.org/w/index.php?title=Nintendo_Entertainment_System&oldid=914532571'
Active8 months ago

The other day, i plugged in a copy of Mortal Kombat 3, and the console I was
using was one of the new dual consoles(nes+snes games). I got a message at the
start that said something about pirated games. How can I know if I bought say
Earthbound at a Vintage Stock or Ebay is going to be authentic? Some of these
older games are fairly expensive.

King of NESKing of NES
44211 gold badge44 silver badges1212 bronze badges


3 ANSWERS

There are a couple of tell-tale signs which actually seem common for just about
all Nintendo, cartridge-based systems. Look for these qualities when attempting
to identify counterfeit cartridges.

 1. Take a close look at the label. Is it blurry? It's probably a fake if it is.
    Most counterfeits use decent scans for reproduction labels, and the quality
    is more than obvious when you see it. Still, it is worth comparing against
    an image of a legit version because a handful of games actually had poor
    images. Kid Dracula for Game Boy is one example I have in my collection. It
    looks fake to me, but it's not.
 2. Compare the image to other legit copies and look at image cropping. These
    labels were also reproduced. If the bootlegger could find a better image on,
    say, a poster, they would take it and then crop it into a similar graphic
    overlay for all of the traditional SNES and 'Nintendo Seal of Quality'
    notes. If the cropping of the image is off, it's a bootleg.
 3. If it's a Nintendo cartridge, check the labels for an impressed stamp. You
    should see at least 2-digits pressed into the caution label on the back. If
    the cart doesn't have a caution label (like the handheld games) then it's
    pressed on the front label. This is a QA stamp so that if there are any
    problems when a game is released to the public, Nintendo can identify the
    manufacturing source from within their assembly factories. This stamp is not
    on bootlegs and I've never seen a legit Nintendo cartridge, except for the
    DS games and mostly likely Switch titles, without it.
 4. If you are not buying it online feel the plastic texture. It should feel
    different. When you feel it, you will know. Personally, I think some
    bootlegs often feel a little like worn sand paper-- slightly grittier than
    the standard texture. This is because most bootleg cases come from a mold
    that was made from another cartridge, original cartridge shell. The
    roughness in texture come from the nature of making a duplicate from an
    original.
 5. Are the corners of the labels rounded or square? Round- probably legit.
    Square-almost certainly fake. I might be wrong but I think some early NES
    carts may have had square edges. If they did, it wasn't for many of them.
    None of these games, however, are all that rare and wouldn't be worth that
    much so it's not a big deal. Still, if you're weary, do a quick image search
    and compare.
 6. Does the cart feel heavier than most, or another game of the same type? Some
    of the earlier bootlegs used cheap EPROM chips and they are thicker and
    noticeably heavier. The games often feel a little thicker, too, because
    these chips often take up all of the space within the height of the
    cartridge and make it slightly bulge. It's not visibly noticeable but you
    can easily feel it if you've handled your share of NES cartridges.

Advanced Checks

If you are in the market for a REALLY rare cartridge (one worth +$1,000) or if
the game happens to be super-hot and easy to sell at the moment, then you may
want to take the next step to verify and legitimize the cartridge.

First, if you know of a super-reputable store online that has a great return
policy, you can trust them. They know which games are rare and if they have a
great reputation, then they know that they HAVE to do this checking themselves.
Otherwise, they will get bad rep for selling bootlegs. You will still want to
verify the cartridge with these steps, but it helps to have a way to back out,
assuming you buy a cartridge and find out it's a fake.

If you can't buy it through a reputable dealer then be sure to see the game in
person and check out the game with your own eyes and hands before making a
purchase.

The first thing you will need to do is purchase a cartridge screwdriver set like
this one. These are used to open up Nintendo hardware since they use special
screws on their games. Open the cartridge and look for the following signs of
legitimacy.

For this list of items to search for, I'll be using Paperboy as an example. I'll
be referencing the annotated points on these images:

 1. Each Nintendo game has a serial number printed somewhere on the cartridge.
    For your specific system, do some quick googling of where this is located. I
    think on some earlier carts (the NES black labels) these may not be printed
    on the label. For our example, see #1 in the first image. Regardless, the
    serial numbers can be easily found online for any specific game. This serial
    number should be partially printed on the chip that holds the ROM data. It
    is laser etched on the chip after the game is flashed to the ROM chip (or
    chips.) In my example, see the #2 annotations. On these flash chips, you see
    'NES-PY-0'. Note, on the front of the game, the serial number was
    'NES-PY-USA'. The reason is because the 'NES' is the system identifier, the
    'PY' is the game identifier and the 'USA' is the region identifier. For the
    sake of the chip in the cartridge, all that is needed is the system id, the
    game id and the '0' which represents the revision. Regardless, if the game
    identifier (e.g. the 'PY') is correct, then the chip is legitimate. If this
    is not etched on the chip, it is a bootleg.

 2. Does the PCB (the green board with the printed, metal leads that plug into
    the Nintendo) have the '(c) 198x Nintendo' phrase printed on the board? (See
    annotation #3 in the second image.) If it doesn't have this, it's a bootleg
    it is most likely a bootleg. Nintendo tightly manages the manufacturing of
    their equipment. If the Nintendo copyright isn't on the board, it is likely
    a bootleg. UPDATE However, after posting this response I learned that
    Nintendo did, in fact, eventually offer rights to certain developers to
    manufacture their own PCBs after they'd earned a strong relationship with
    the company. Konami is a good example. There are many later cases of some
    Konami games being written to those Nintendo PCBs and other being written to
    a Konami PCBs. If you have a game with a board that does not have the
    Nintendo copyright details, do a quick search and see if the original
    manufacturer ever produced their own, unique PCBs.

 3. Last, for some games counterfeiters have actually found ways to copy the
    PCBs and have printed the Nintendo Copyright phrase on the PCB. I've only
    heard of this on certain Game Boy Color games. However, these were easily
    identified because the ROM chips were blank, with no etching. As such, other
    collector's have also started checking the PCB copyright date. Apparently, a
    bootlegger took the time to make an exceptional PCB, but didn't realize that
    they were making games that were manufactured BEFORE the date on the PCB.
    This wouldn't be possible because the PCBs are created long before any games
    are flashed to the chips that are later soldered to the boards. A date that
    is earlier on a PCB than a date printed on a ROM, or dated after the release
    of a game is a certain problem.

Believe it or not, counterfeiting of games has been going on for a long time and
with many games crossing the $1,000 threshold, counterfeiting is becoming more
and more common. If you can follow my checklist, you're doing better than 99.9%
of most collectors and shouldn't have any trouble.

Of course, if you ever get into any serious collecting, it's worth joining a
community and following what people find. The counterfeiters are still getting
better even though some of these games are getting to be over 25 years old. They
will find a way to make them look as legit as possible, and won't stop improving
their methods, so long as people keep collecting and shelling out loads of money
for rare cartridge games.

RLHRLH
2,62266 gold badges2323 silver badges4444 bronze badges

As a Famicom collector with 185 games, 51 Sufami games and a handful of Famicom
disk games, I have never once doubted the validity of the games I am buying-
because I've never thought of it (probably because I do all my buying in person
and not online). Most counterfeit games I have seen are of the multi-cart style,
where you might get 40 games in one, and then it's really easy to tell they are
fake.

But, for things that might be counterfeited, I can only suggest comparing what
you see for sale online with images of the same game available elsewhere.
Unfortunately Sufami and most NES games use a standardized cart design and
color, but if you were buying Famicom games one of the giveaways would be the
cart color itself. There is a thread on reddit that points out to basically
compare with other images online, and get high-res images of the back of the
cart as well to check on the validity- number of screws, type of screws, warning
label. A big give away could just be wear-and-tear- if the game is OOB and looks
perfect, that would be a red flag.

The only retro games I own where I doubt their validity are games on magnetic
disc, like the aforementioned Famicom disks and older floppy disks (IE used on
Commodore 64 / Amiga) as you can re-write that data pretty easily.

nailbonesnailbones

Just last night I received a copy of a SNES game that was a fake/reproduction
that I bought off EBay.

How did I discern that?

 1.  Image/Look - Compare it to a real one. Sometimes this involves comparing
     images of a claimed real one on google or EBay.

 2.  Weight - The weight of the cartridge didn't feel right. I compared this to
     a copy of Mortal Kombat 2 I had owned for over 20 years and discovered this
     fake cart was 74g and the Mortal Kombat 2 cartridge was 91g. This is not
     always accurate as some cartridges had some different hardware in them,
     such as the SuperFX chip, but it was one sign that something was off.

 3.  Screws - The screws were the same gray plastic as the rest of the cartridge
     and weren't actual screws, they were merely part of the cartridge made up
     to look like the actual screws.

 4.  Label - The label didn't look properly glossy. It was curved around the
     edges, but there was a slight imperfection in the cutting on the lower
     right side and the images seemed to be 'scrunched'. The 'Nintendo Seal of
     Quality' was slightly smaller than it should have been and lacked the
     detail you would normally expect, seemingly from a lower quality printer
     and or poor scan.

 5.  Cartridge not snapped - The cartridge (the front and rear) weren't snapped
     together in all parts of the cartridge, as if someone didn't finish
     clamping it together after it was made.

 6.  'New' - EBay seller, after looking at the auction again, described it as
     'New', when it was just the cartridge, which is not technically possible
     for an authentic game.

 7.  Manufacturer - EBay seller claims, in the details, that the manufacturer
     was someone I've never heard of, and not anyone associated with the
     original creation of the game/cartridge.

 8.  Item Creation Location - EBay seller claimed it was 'made in China', which
     isn't normal for a video game, but since the fake/reproduction cartridge
     was made in China, that somehow fits their version of it, and demonstrates
     that it's not what you're looking for.

 9.  Electronics - If you open it up and you can see small blobs of solder on
     the board that don't look like they were done by a machine on an assembly
     line, then someone did it by hand and its not authentic. If the chips are
     really small (as in they look like today's chips), then its also a
     fake/reproduction cartridge as chips back when these old cartridges were
     created that were that small simply didn't exist or were too expensive to
     mass produce for game cartridges. Lack of 'Nintendo' and such on the
     electronic breadboards can also be an indicator of it not being 'real'.

 10. Conversation - If when you complain to the seller on Ebay that it's 'not
     authentic' and they respond with 'what's not real' and proceed to claim its
     the 'same game, levels, story' and that the original carts 'cost much more'
     , then you know its a fake/reproduction. That was literally the response I
     got when I complained. Notice when you say 'not authentic' and the seller
     response with 'what's not real' when you didn't even use the word 'real';
     they've clearly had that conversation before.

 11. Rear Label - The rear of the cartridge didn't have the 'warning' label on
     it.

 12. 'Nintendo' relief - On the rear of the cartridge, the SNES cartridges are
     supposed to have raised letters that say 'Nintendo'. This one had the
     oblong shape wherein the raised 'Nintendo' was supposed to be, but it
     didn't have any letters in it.

 13. Sometimes it may be hard to determine whether yours' is real. You may have
     to look for claims of 'authentic' as many of the fake/reproduction
     cartridges I've read (particularly on EBay) don't claim they are 'not
     authentic'. It seems that 'authentic' is no longer the rule on EBay, but
     the exception. I'm guessing this is more and more often the case on other
     websites as well. You may have to do your own little investigation as well.
     Some sellers seem to think that as long as they don't claim its 'authentic'
     when its not, that somehow their conduct is 'okay', minimizing the chances
     of someone claiming 'authentic' when it is not, as they don't want to get
     themselves in trouble. Truth is, they're likely in trouble in spite of
     that, but that's their logic, not mine.

MineMine


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