There are no two ways about it, if it wasn’t for the Nintendo Entertainment System, the gaming industry would be nowhere near the media juggernaut that it is today. In 1983, two years before the North American release of the NES, the gaming industry had crashed. The crash was largely thanks to two Atari 2600 games — E.T. The Extra-Terrestrial and Pac-Man, which were so poorly received that they lost the faith of consumers all over the western world.
The industry’s crash saw gamers returning to arcades, believing that home consoles were simply never going to beat the experience that arcade machines offered. Thankfully, the Nintendo Entertainment System snatched the industry from the jaws of defeat, by providing players with some of the best games ever released up until that point, like the original Super Mario Bros. trilogy, The Legend of Zelda, and Metroid. The incredible catalog of games wasn’t the only way that Nintendo rejuvenated the home console industry though, as the Japanese company made numerous shrewd development decisions to ensure that the console didn’t flop in North America.
10 Design Differences
The aforementioned crash of the home console industry meant that Nintendo was very wary of how to successfully market the console in North America. One of the shrewd decisions Nintendo made that likely played a big part in their successful revival of the industry was changing the console’s design.
Whereas the Japanese iteration had a fun, arcade-like red and white design with plenty of dips and edges to make it look appealing for kids; the North American version was far more formal and mature in appearance, with its almost perfectly square box pained with two coats of grey. It may sound ridiculous today, but the reason for the design change is that Nintendo didn’t want western audiences to think that the NES was simply a video game console.
9 Name Differences
Following on from the previous point, Nintendo knew that with how dire the video game market was in North America, a design change wouldn’t be enough to persuade consumers to give the system a chance.
Therefore, Nintendo opted not to keep the name Famicom for western audiences, and instead branded it as the Nintendo Entertainment System. Similar to the design, the key reason for the name change was to make the system seem less like the video game consoles that the US market had rejected. The use of the word Entertainment in the title was intended to imply that the system did far more than simply play video games.
8 R.O.B.
Today, many younger audiences will associate R.O.B. for its appearances in Mario Kart DS and multiple Super Smash Bros. games. R.O.B. is far from being just a throwaway party character though, as the accessory was integral in convincing western audiences that the NES was indeed an entertainment system rather than simply a video game console.
The futuristic-looking robot was used in the games Stack-Up and Gyromite, where it would perform physical actions that corresponded with assistance on-screen. The accessory wasn’t very popular, but it succeeded in its task of Trojan Horse Marketing.
7 Numerous Add Ons
R.O.B. was far from being the only optional accessory available for the Nintendo Entertainment System; the Japanese company developed a plethora of accessories for the home console in attempts to reinforce the idea the NES was a fully-fledged entertainment system.
Accessories for the console included the Power Glove that put a gamepad onto a wearable glove, the Power Pad which functioned similarly to the Nintendo Wii’s Dance Pad, the Turbo Touch 360 which replaced the D-Pad with a touch-sensitive octagonal plate that aimed to help players who complained about getting sore fingers from the standard controller, and the NES Zapper that let players shoot in-game targets,
6 Changes To The Zapper’s Design
Speaking of the Zapper, the design was extremely different in Japan. Whereas the NES’ Zapper had a toy-like appearance, the Japanese iteration was known as the Famicom Light Gun and had a far more realistic design.
As mentioned previously, Nintendo wanted their console to seem more mature in North America; however, there were fears that the revolver appearance of the Famicom Light Gun would be controversial in the United States, so the decision was made to give it a less-realistic aesthetic.
5 Award-Winning Design
As alluded to before, many of the NES’ accessories were examples of Trojan Horse Marketing (i.e. released predominantly for advertising purposes), not because Nintendo thought they would be individual successes.
One accessory that was essential to the NES’ success, however, was its gamepad, as a poorly designed controller could have easily caused North American audiences to reject yet another home console. Thankfully, the now-iconic design of the NES’ gamepad was extremely well received upon release, exemplified by it being awarded the Peripheral Development and Technological Impact of Video Game Controllers accolade from the National Academy Of Television Arts And Sciences.
4 The Game Genie
The Game Genie was an unofficial accessory for the NES that attached to the end of the cartridge and let players manipulate games. Most commonly, the Game Genie would be used for cheating in games; for example, in Super Mario Bros. the Game Genie would let players start with nine lives, and in The Legend of Zelda players could become invisible.
The Game Genie was developed by Codemasters, who are best known today for developing and publishing critically acclaimed racing franchises like F1, Dirt, and Grid.
3 Blinking Red Light
For anyone who owned an Xbox 360, Red Ring of Death is a term that will send shivers down the spine. For those that don’t know, Red Ring of Death refers to a console-breaking issue with Microsoft’s 2nd console, where the circular lights around the power button would literally turn red, signaling that the console had run into the infamous fault and needed to be sent off for repairs.
Microsoft wasn’t the first company to run into an issue like this, however, a similar issue affected some Nintendo Entertainment Systems, where a blinking red light would signal that the console was having issues. Thankfully, the red blinking light could often be fixed by thoroughly cleaning the console and cartridge, though it did sometimes mean that the 72 pin connector needed to be replaced.
2 ColicoVision Similarities
The ColecoVision is a second-generation console that was initially released in 1982; the console was manufactured by Coleco Industries, who filed for bankruptcy in 1988. The console is best remembered for featuring the classic arcade Donkey Kong, which is known for having Mario’s first appearance.
Coleco Industries’ bankruptcy is a great shame, as their console was fundamental in the design of the NES. According to Takao Sawano, a member of Famicom’s development team, he bought the ColecoVision home for his parents to play and was inspired by their overwhelmingly positive response to the console. Masayuki Uemura, the head of the Nintendo Manufacturing Headquarters’ Research & Development, also said that the ColecoVision was the key inspiration for the Famicom, not the Atari 2600 like many people believed.
1 Nintendo Game Counselor
Back in 1987, if a player got stuck in a tough section of a game, they couldn’t simply grab their smartphone and load up a YouTube walkthrough. Instead, many companies offered strategy guides or helplines, that would help stuck players for a fee. These helplines were extremely popular with graphic adventure developers like LucasArts and Sierra, as the frustratingly difficult nature of point and click games meant that players would often become stuck and in need of assistance.
Despite being remembered for its platforming titles, Nintendo began offering its own service for troubled players from 1987 to 2005. As one might expect, the game counselors had to deal with tons of peculiar questions, giving them plenty of bizarre stories to tell.
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