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Nintendo's Famicom Turns 20
Warrior-GS writes "GameSpy has been running a weeklong series of articles dedicated to the Famicom, which became the super-console Nintendo Entertainment System in the United States. The Famicom turned 20 on July 15th. The series covers everything from the birth of the console to the hardware to many of the classic games." This massive article is, indeed, both comprehensive and lovingly researched, and is well worth checking out.
I remember Nintendo's release in America, at the time it wasn't impressive at all. The graphics were on par with Colecovision and it seemed a no brainer to go with the Sega Master System(M.U.S.C.L.E. Wrestling vs Sega's Pro Wrestling was the deciding factor). Unfortunatly I made the wrong decision as I missed out on the Super Mario Series, Zelda, Metroid, Castlevania ... Though I did have Phantasy Star which was the best game ever made for an 8bit console.
I stopped playing the NES with Super mario world was ported to the SNES. My kids love the older Mario multiplayer games more than the Xbox/Ps2. Fun to watch them play the same games you did at their age. Also fun to kick their asses and put those young whipper snappers in their place. ;)
Multiplayer Mario just keeps the older consoles alive, even with new GFX, mario world is just simple fun for both boys and girls. Nintendo never did reach that same level of non-gender fun for newer consoles. (IMHO)
I'm not saying the new console games arent fun, but they are mostly single player, or gender biased games. Mario party was a good try, but something seems missing.
Wonder how many hours people spent building excitebike tracks, and having friends race them. Seemed to be a popular thing at pizza parties.
It was pretty neat to play all the cool games years before they came out in the american Market, all bowderlized and generally edited to nothing.
Super contra was same damn good times. Another interesting part about the Famicom was how many bootleg games were made for it. We all know about the infamous black box tengen game series for the NES, but the Famicom had TONS of illegitimate carts for it.
Go check out the book Game Over by David Sheff. I'm an avid Nintendo fan (ever since my original NES). I found a 2nd hand copy in a bookstore, and must say it's one of the best looks into the history of the company, the people behind the company, and the games themselves. I'd highly recommend finding a copy on eBay or Half.com or (if you actually leave your computer) at a 2nd hand bookstore.
The riveting story of Nintendo's conquest of the interactive entertainment industry offering true tales filled with cocky arrogance, confidence and international intrigue that rival any novel. Whether it is recounting the struggles over the game"Tetris," offering blow-by-blow narrative of Nintendo's bitter legal warfare or its see-saw competition with other companies for market leadership, Game Over is a masterful piece of business journalism and technical reportage - a book both cautionary and hugely entertaining.
Michael C. Hollinger
Up, Up, Down, Down, Left, Right, Left, Right, B, A, START! ... SELECT, START! That takes care of player 2 too - unless you've always played alone.
The Japanese are fond of creating new words based on parts of other foreign words, not just with famicom, but for example:
pasacon - personal computer
pokeberu - pager (pocket bell)
pokemon - pocket monster
etc.