The Nintendo Entertainment System (NES) was released in Japan as the Family Computer (Famicom) in 1983. Nintendo would change the name and ship it to other parts of the world starting in 1985 in North America. European consumers would be able to purchase in 1986 and Australians the following year.

     The creation of the NES is what many called the system that saved video games during their decline in the early 1980s. The best selling game was Super Mario Bros. which came packaged with the console. Other top selling gamers were Super Mario Bros. 3 (18 million) and Super Mario Bros. (10 million).

     The code name for the NES/Famicom started as GameCom. Nintendo nearly used joysticks as controllers but decided against that and with a new controller type based on Game & Watch machines. Famicom was released alongside Donkey Kong, Donkey Kong Jr. and Popeye. The original Famicoms had a bad motherboard and would crash. Nintendo issued a recall and after the motherboard was replaced, the system sold.
All NES officially licensed cartridges are 5.25 inches (13.3 cm) tall, 4.75 inches (12 cm) wide and 0.75 inches (2 cm) thick. NES cartridges featured 72 pins while Famicom cartridges only featured 60 pins.

     Nintendo nearly signed a deal with Atari for Atari to released the NES as the Nintendo Advanced Video Gaming System. Atari discovered that Coleco (a rival company) was selling its system with Atari exclusive Donkey Kong. The deal fell apart and Nintendo released the system on its own. Nintendo instituted a policy that profanity, sexual, religious, or political content in games. The NES was not available in the Soviet Union.

     The NES was officially discontinued in 1995. Nintendo of Japan continued to make new Famicom units until September 2003. Nintendo stopped fixing units until October 31, 2007 when parts become scarce.

NES Specs

CPU: Ricoh 2A03 8-bit processor (MOS Technology 6502 core)
Cartridge: ROM-Based
Units Sold: 61.91 million