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Nintendo Entertainment System

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   Official Nintendo Entertainment System logo Famicom Family logo
                     Nintendo Entertainment System
   Nintendo Family Computer
   The Nintendo Entertainment System The Nintendo Family Computer
   (Famicom)
     Manufacturer   Nintendo
         Type       Video game console
      Generation    Third generation (8-bit era)
   First available  ^JPN July 15, 1983
                    ^USA October 18, 1985
                    ^CAN February 1986
                    ^EUR 1986
                    ^EUR/ AUS 1987
         CPU        Ricoh 8-bit processor ( MOS Technology 6502 core)
        Media       Cartridge ("Game Pak")
   Controller input 2 controller ports
                    1 expansion slot
      Units sold    60 million
   Top-selling game Super Mario Bros. or Super Mario Bros. 3
     Predecessor    Colour TV Game
      Successor     Super Nintendo Entertainment System

   Nintendo Entertainment System (often referred to as NES or simply
   Nintendo), is an 8-bit video game console released by Nintendo in North
   America, Brazil, Europe, Asia, and Australia in 1985. Its Japanese
   equivalent is known as the Nintendo Family Computer (ファミリーコンピューター,
   Famirī Kompyūtā^ ?) or Famicom (ファミコン, Famikon^ ?).

   The most successful gaming console of its time in Asia and North
   America (Nintendo claims to have sold over 60 million NES units
   worldwide), it helped revitalize the video game industry following the
   video game crash of 1983, and set the standard for subsequent consoles
   in everything from game design (the breakthrough platform game, Super
   Mario Bros., was the system’s first " killer app") to business
   practices. The NES was the first console for which the manufacturer
   openly courted third-party developers.

History

   Following a series of arcade game successes in the early 1980s,
   Nintendo made plans to produce a cartridge-based console. Masayuki
   Uemura designed the system, which was released in Japan on July 15,
   1983 for ¥14,800 alongside three ports of Nintendo's successful arcade
   games Donkey Kong, Donkey Kong Jr., and Popeye. The Nintendo Family
   Computer (Famicom) was slow to gather momentum: during its first year,
   many criticized the system as unreliable, prone to programming errors
   and rampant freezing. 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. Encouraged by
   its successes, Nintendo soon turned its attentions to the North
   American market.

   Nintendo entered into negotiations with Atari to release the Famicom
   under Atari’s name as the name "Nintendo Enhanced Video System." This
   deal eventually fell through. Subsequent plans to market a Famicom
   console in North America featuring a keyboard, cassette data recorder,
   wireless joystick controller, and a special BASIC cartridge under the
   name "Nintendo Advanced Video System" likewise never materialized.
   Finally, in June 1985 Nintendo unveiled its American version of the
   Famicom at the Consumer Electronics Show (CES). Nintendo rolled out its
   first systems to limited American markets on October 18, 1985,
   following up with a full-fledged North American release of the console
   in February of the following year. Nintendo simultaneously released
   eighteen launch titles: 10-Yard Fight, Baseball, Clu Clu Land, Donkey
   Kong Jr. Math, Duck Hunt, Excitebike, Golf, Gyromite, Hogan's Alley,
   Ice Climber, Kung Fu, Mach Rider, Pinball, Stack-Up, Super Mario Bros.,
   Tennis, Wild Gunman, and Wrecking Crew.

   In Europe and Australia, the system was released to two separate
   marketing regions (A and B). Distribution in region B, consisting of
   most of mainland Europe (excluding Italy), was handled by a number of
   different companies, with Nintendo responsible for most cartridge
   releases; most of region B saw a 1986 release. Mattel handled
   distribution for region A, consisting of the United Kingdom, Ireland,
   Italy, Australia and New Zealand, starting the following year. Not
   until 1990 did Nintendo's newly created European branch take over
   distribution throughout Europe. Despite the system's lackluster
   performance outside of Japan and North America, by 1990 the NES had
   become the best-selling console in video game history.

   As the 1990s dawned, however, renewed competition from technologically
   superior systems such as the 16-bit Sega Mega Drive (known as the Sega
   Genesis in North America) marked the end of the NES’s dominance.
   Eclipsed by Nintendo’s own Super Nintendo Entertainment System (SNES),
   the NES’s user base gradually waned. Nintendo continued to support the
   system in America through the first half of the decade, even releasing
   a new version of the console, the NES 2, to address many of the design
   flaws in the original NES hardware. By 1995, though, in the wake of
   ever decreasing sales and the lack of new software titles, Nintendo of
   America officially discontinued the NES. Despite this, Nintendo of
   Japan kept producing new Nintendo Famicoms for a niche market up until
   October 2003, when Nintendo of Japan officially discontinued the line.
   Even as developers ceased production for the NES, a number of
   high-profile video game franchises and series for the NES were
   transitioned to newer consoles and remain popular to this day.
   Nintendo's own Super Mario Bros., The Legend of Zelda, and Metroid
   franchises debuted on the NES, as did Capcom's Mega Man franchise,
   Konami's Castlevania franchise, and Square Enix's Final Fantasy and
   Dragon Quest franchises.

   In the years following the official "death" of the NES in the West, a
   collector’s market based around video rental shops, garage sales and
   flea markets led some gamers to rediscover the NES. Coupled with the
   growth of console emulation, the late 1990s saw something of a second
   golden age for the NES. The secondhand market began to dry up after
   2000, and finding ROMs no longer represented the challenge it had in
   the past. Parallel to the rise of interest in emulation was the
   emergence of a dedicated NES hardware "modding" scene. Such hobbyists
   perform tasks such as moving the NES to a completely new case, or just
   dissecting it for parts or fun. The controllers are particular targets
   for modding, often being adapted to connect with personal computers by
   way of a parallel or USB port. Some NES modders have transformed the
   console into a portable system by adding AA batteries and an LED or LCD
   screen.

Bundle packages

   For its North American release, the NES was released in two different
   configurations, or "bundles." The console deck itself was identical,
   but each bundle was packaged with different Game Paks and accessories.
   The first of these sets, the Control Deck, retailed from US$199.99, and
   included the console itself, two game controllers, and a Super Mario
   Bros. game pak. The second bundle, the Deluxe Set, retailed for $249.99
   and consisted of the console, a R.O.B., a NES Zapper, and two game
   paks: Duck Hunt and Gyromite.

   For the remainder of the NES's commercial lifespan in North America,
   Nintendo frequently repackaged the console in new configurations to
   capitalize on newer accessories or popular game titles. Subsequent
   bundle packages included the NES Action Set, released in November 1988
   for $199.99, which replaced both of the earlier two sets, and included
   the console, the NES Zapper, two game controllers, and a multicart
   version of Super Mario Bros. and Duck Hunt. The Action Set became the
   most successful of the packages released by Nintendo. One month later,
   in December 1988, to coincide with the release of the Power Pad floor
   mat controller, Nintendo released a new Power Set bundle, consisting of
   the console, the Power Pad, the NES Zapper, two controllers, and a
   multicart 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 adaptor, four game
   controllers, and a multicart featuring Super Spike V'Ball and Nintendo
   World Cup.

   Two more bundle packages were released using the original model NES
   console. The Challenge Set, included the console, two controllers, and
   a Super Mario Bros. 3 game pak. The Basic Set, first released in 1987,
   included only the console and two controllers with no pack-in
   cartridge. Instead, it contained a book called the The Official
   Nintendo Players Guide, which contained detailed information for every
   NES game made up to that point. Finally, the redesigned NES 2 was
   released as part of the final Nintendo-released bundle package, once
   again under the name Control Deck, including the new style NES 2
   console, and two redesigned "dogbone" game controllers. Released in
   October 1993, this final bundle retailed for $49.99, and remained in
   production until the discontinuation of the NES in 1995.

Regional differences

   Although the Japanese Famicom and the international NES included
   essentially the same hardware, there were certain key differences
   between the two systems:
     * Different case design. The Famicom featured a top-loading cartridge
       slot, a 15- pin expansion port located on the unit’s front panel
       for accessories (as the controllers were hard-wired to the back of
       the console), and a red and white colour scheme. The NES featured a
       front-loading cartridge slot (often jokingly compared to a
       toaster), and a more subdued gray, black and red colour scheme. An
       expansion port was found on the bottom of the unit, and the
       cartridge connector pinout was changed.

     * 60-pin vs. 72-pin cartridges. The original Famicom and the
       re-released AV Family Computer both utilized a 60-pin cartridge
       design, which resulted in smaller cartridges than the NES (and the
       NES 2), which utilized a 72-pin design. Four pins were used for the
       10NES lockout chip. Ten pins were added that connected a cartridge
       directly to the expansion port on the bottom of the unit. Finally,
       two pins that allowed cartridges to provide their own sound
       expansion chips were removed, a regrettable decision. Many early
       games (such as StackUp) released in North America were simply
       Famicom cartridges attached to an adapter (such as the T89
       Cartridge Converter) to allow them to fit inside the NES hardware.
       Nintendo did this to reduce costs and inventory by using the same
       cartridge boards in America and Japan.
     * A number of peripheral devices and software packages were released
       for the Famicom. Few of these devices were ever released outside of
       Japan.
          + Famicom Disk System (FDS). Although not included with the
            original system, a popular floppy disk drive peripheral was
            released for the Famicom in Japan only. Nintendo never
            released the Famicom Disk System outside of Japan, citing
            concerns about software bootlegging. Notable games released
            for the FDS include Doki Doki Panic, a special edition of
            Metroid, and the original Super Mario Bros. 2.
          + Famicom BASIC was an implementation of BASIC for the Famicom.
            It allowed the user to program his or her own games. Many
            programmers got their first experience on programming for the
            console this way.
          + Famicom MODEM was a modem that allowed connection to a
            Nintendo server which provided content such as jokes, news
            (mainly about Nintendo), game tips, weather reports for Japan
            and allowed a small number of programs to be downloaded.
     * External sound chips. The Famicom had two cartridge pins that
       allowed cartridges to provide external sound enhancements. They
       were originally intended to facilitate the Famicom Disk System’s
       external sound chip. These pins were removed from the cartridge
       port of the NES, and relocated to the bottom expansion port. As a
       result, individual cartridges could not make use of this
       functionality, and many NES localizations suffered from inferior
       sound compared to their equivalent Famicom versions. Castlevania
       III: Dracula’s Curse is a notable example of this problem.
     * Hardwired controllers. The Famicom’s original design includes
       hardwired, non-removable controllers. In addition, the second
       controller featured an internal microphone for use with certain
       games. Both the controllers and the microphone were subsequently
       dropped from the redesigned AV Famicom in favour of the two
       seven-pin controller ports on the front panel used in the NES from
       its inception.
     * Lockout circuitry. The Famicom contained no lockout hardware, and,
       as a result, unlicensed cartridges (both legitimate and bootleg)
       were extremely common throughout Japan and the Far East. The
       original NES (but not the top-loading NES 2) contained the 10NES
       lockout chip, which significantly increased the challenges faced by
       unlicensed developers. Tinkerers at home in later years discovered
       that disassembling the NES and cutting the fourth pin of the
       lockout chip (a process now legal with the expiration of the NES
       patent) would cut power to the chip, removing all effects and
       greatly improving the console’s ability to play legal games, as
       well as bootlegs and converted imports. The European release of the
       console used a regional lockout system that prevented cartridges
       released in region A from being played on region B consoles, and
       vice versa.
     * Audio/video output. The original Famicom featured an RF modulator
       plug for audio/video output, while the original NES featured both
       an RF modulator and RCA composite output cables. The AV Famicom
       featured only RCA composite output, and the top-loading NES
       featured only RF modulator output.

Game controllers

   The game controller used for the both the NES and Famicom featured a
   brick-like design with a simple four button layout: two round buttons
   labelled "B" and "A," a "Start" button, and a "Select" button.
   Additionally, the controllers utilized the cross-shaped D-pad, designed
   by Nintendo employee Gunpei Yokoi for Nintendo Game & Watch systems, to
   replace the bulkier joysticks on earlier gaming consoles' controllers.
   Famicom controllers were simple in design, though they included a
   number of features, such as a microphone, missing from their NES
   counterparts.
   Enlarge
   Famicom controllers were simple in design, though they included a
   number of features, such as a microphone, missing from their NES
   counterparts.

   The original model Famicom featured two game controllers, both of which
   were hardwired to the back of the console. The second controller lacked
   the "Start" and "Select" buttons, but featured a small microphone.
   Relatively few games made use of this feature. The earliest produced
   Famicom units initially had squared A and B buttons. This was changed
   to the circular designs because of the square buttons being caught in
   the controller casing when pressed down. The NES dropped the hardwired
   controllers, instead featuring two custom 7-pin ports on the front of
   the console. Also in contrast to the Famicom, the controllers included
   with the NES were identical to each other—the second controller lacked
   the microphone that was present on the Famicom model, and possessed the
   same "Start" and "Select" buttons as the primary controller.
   Although it was supported only by a few select titles, the Zapper was
   arguably the most popular special controller released for the NES.
   Enlarge
   Although it was supported only by a few select titles, the Zapper was
   arguably the most popular special controller released for the NES.

   A number of special controllers designed for use with specific games
   were released for the system, though very few such devices proved
   particularly popular. Such devices included, but were not limited to,
   the NES Zapper (a light gun), the Power Pad, and the ill-fated R.O.B.
   and Power Glove. The original Famicom featured a deepened DA-15
   expansion port on the front of the unit, which was used to connect most
   auxiliary devices. On the NES, these special controllers were generally
   connected to one of the two control ports on the front of the unit.

   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
   redesigned device abandoned the "brick" shell in favor of a "dog bone"
   shape reminiscent of the controllers of the Super Nintendo
   Entertainment System. In addition, the AV Famicom joined its
   international counterpart and dropped the hardwired controllers in
   favour of detachable controller ports. However, the controllers
   included with the Famicom AV, despite being the "dog bone" type, had
   cables which were a short three feet long, as opposed to the standard
   six feet of NES controllers.

   In recent years the original NES controller has become one of the most
   recognizable symbols of the system. Nintendo has mimicked the look of
   the controller in several recent products, from promotional merchandise
   to limited edition versions of the Game Boy Advance SP and Game Boy
   Micro handheld game consoles.

Hardware design flaws

   The official NES Cleaning Kit was intended to address flaws in the NES
   design that caused cartridge connectors to be particularly susceptible
   to interference from dirt and dust.
   Enlarge
   The official NES Cleaning Kit was intended to address flaws in the NES
   design that caused cartridge connectors to be particularly susceptible
   to interference from dirt and dust.

   When Nintendo released the NES in the United States, the design styling
   was 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 video game crash of 1983. One result of this philosophy
   was a front-loading zero insertion force (ZIF) cartridge socket
   designed to resemble the front-loading mechanism of a VCR. The ZIF
   connector worked quite well when both the connector and the cartridges
   were clean and the pins on the connector were new. Unfortunately, the
   ZIF connector was not truly zero insertion force. When a user inserted
   the cartridge into the NES, the force of pressing the cartridge down
   and into place bent the contact pins slightly, as well as pressing the
   cartridge’s ROM board back into the cartridge itself. Repeated
   insertion and removal of cartridges caused the pins to wear out
   relatively quickly, and the ZIF design proved far more prone to
   interference by dirt and dust than an industry-standard card edge
   connector. Exacerbating the problem was Nintendo’s choice of materials;
   the slot connector that the cartridge was actually inserted into was
   made of a cheap alloy that was highly prone to corrosion. Add-on
   peripherals like the popular Game Genie cheat cartridge tended to
   further exacerbate this problem by bending the front-loading mechanism
   during gameplay.

   Problems with the 10NES lockout chip frequently resulted in the
   system’s most infamous problem: the blinking red power light, in which
   the system appears to turn itself on and off repeatedly. The lockout
   chip was quite finicky, requiring precise timing in order to permit the
   system to boot. Dirty, aging, and bent connectors would often disrupt
   the timing, resulting in the blink effect. User attempts to solve this
   problem ranged from blowing air onto the cartridge connectors to
   slapping the side of the system after inserting a cartridge. Many of
   the most frequent attempts to fix this problem ran the risk of damaging
   the cartridge and/or system. Blowing on the cartridge connectors was,
   in most cases, no better than removing and reinserting the cartridge,
   and tended to increase the rate of oxidation resulting in browning of
   the printed circuit board, while slapping the side of the system after
   inserting the cartridge could potentially damage the console. In 1989,
   Nintendo released an official NES Cleaning Kit to help users clean
   malfunctioning cartridges and consoles.

   A more successful technique used to keep the contact pins properly
   aligned was to load the game cartridge as shallowly as possible into
   the NES, so that the back of the cartridge would scrape the inside of
   the NES as it was pushed down into place. This would often allow the
   game to be initialized more successfully than simply sliding the
   cartridge all the way in.

   It is also possible to open the system and physically bend the contacts
   beyond their original placement, allowing a more secure contact between
   the pins and the cartridge.

   With the release of the top-loading 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 used standard card edge connectors, as did Nintendo’s
   subsequent game consoles, the Super Nintendo Entertainment System and
   the Nintendo 64 (the company's last cartridge-based game console).

   In response to these hardware flaws, "Nintendo Authorized Repair
   Centers" sprang up across the United States. 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.

Third-party licensing

   Nintendo’s near monopoly on the home video game market left it with a
   degree of influence over the industry exceeding even that of Atari
   during its heyday in the early 1980s. Many of Nintendo’s business
   practices during this period were heavily criticized, and may have
   played some role in the erosion of Nintendo’s market share throughout
   the 1990s. Unlike Atari, who never actively courted third-party
   developers, and went so far as to go to court to attempt to force
   Activision to cease production of Atari 2600 games, Nintendo had
   anticipated and encouraged the involvement of third-party software
   developers—but strictly on Nintendo’s terms. To this end, a 10NES
   authentication chip was placed in every console, and in every
   officially licensed cartridge. If the console’s chip could not detect a
   counterpart chip inside the cartridge, the game would not be loaded.

   Nintendo combined this with a marketing campaign introducing the
   Nintendo Seal of Quality. Commercials featured a purple-robed wizard
   instructing consumers that the Nintendo Seal of Quality was the only
   assurance that a game was any good—and, by implication, that any game
   without the Seal of Quality was bad. In reality, the seal only meant
   that the developer had paid the license fee; it had nothing to do with
   the quality of the game.

   The business side of this was that game developers were now forced to
   pay a license fee to Nintendo, to submit to Nintendo’s quality
   assurance process, to buy developer kits from Nintendo, and to utilize
   Nintendo as the manufacturer for all cartridges and packaging. Nintendo
   tested and manufactured all games at its own facilities (either for
   part of the fee or for an additional cost), reserved the right to
   dictate pricing, censored material it believed to be unacceptable,
   decided how many cartridges of each game it would manufacture, and
   placed limits on how many titles it would permit a publisher to produce
   over a given time span (five per year). This last restriction led
   several publishers to establish or utilize subsidiaries to circumvent
   Nintendo’s policies (examples including Konami’s subsidiary Ultra, and
   Acclaim Entertainment’s subsidiary LJN).

   These practices were intended not only to keep developers on a short
   leash, but also to manipulate the market itself: in 1988, Nintendo
   started orchestrating intentional game shortages in order to increase
   consumer demand. Referred as "inventory management" by Nintendo of
   America public relations executive Peter Main, Nintendo would refuse to
   fill all retailer orders. Retailers, many of whom derived a large
   percentage of their profit from sales of Nintendo-based hardware and
   software (at one point, Toys "R" Us reported 17% of its sales and 22%
   of its profits were from Nintendo merchandise), could do little to stop
   these practices. In 1988, over 33 million NES cartridges were sold in
   the United States, but estimates suggest that the realistic demand was
   closer to 45 million. Because Nintendo controlled the production of all
   cartridges, it was able to enforce these rules on its third-party
   developers. These extremely restricted production runs would end up
   damaging several smaller software developers: even if demand for their
   games was high, they could only produce as much profit as Nintendo
   allowed.

   Several companies began producing unlicensed games, either refusing to
   pay the licensing fee or manufacturing their own cartridges after
   having been rejected by Nintendo. Most of these companies created
   circuits that used a voltage spike to knock out the authentication unit
   in the NES. Atari Games created a line of NES products under the name
   Tengen, and took a different tack: the company 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 in a legal case. Tengen then used these documents
   to design its Rabbit chip, which duplicated the function of the 10NES.
   Nintendo sued Tengen for these actions, and Tengen lost because of the
   fraudulent use of the published patent. Tengen’s antitrust claims
   against Nintendo were never finally decided.

   A few unlicensed games released in Europe and Australia came in the
   form of a dongle that would be connected to a licensed game, in order
   to use the licensed game’s 10NES lockout chip for authentication.

   Although Nintendo’s success at suing such companies was mixed (the case
   of Lewis Galoob Toys, Inc. v. Nintendo of America, Inc. was found in
   favour of Galoob and its Game Genie device, for instance), most were
   eventually forced out of business or out of production by legal fees
   and court costs for extended lawsuits brought by Nintendo against the
   companies. One notable exception was Colour Dreams, who produced
   Christian video games under the subsidiary name Wisdom Tree. This
   operation was never sued by Nintendo, who feared a public relations
   backlash.

   Following the introduction of the Sega Mega Drive, Nintendo began to
   face real competition in the industry, and in the early 1990s was
   forced to reevaluate its stance towards its developers, many of whom
   had begun to defect to other systems. When the console was reissued as
   the NES 2, the 10NES chip was omitted from the console, marking the end
   of Nintendo’s most notorious hold over its third-party developers.

   Companies that produced unlicensed games or accessories for the Western
   market include Active Enterprises, American Game Cartridges, American
   Video Entertainment, Camerica, Colour Dreams, Galoob, Home
   Entertainment Suppliers, Panesian, S.E.I., Tengen, and Wisdom Tree

Hardware clones

   A thriving market of unlicensed NES hardware clones emerged during the
   heyday of the console’s popularity. Initially, such clones were popular
   in markets where Nintendo never issued a legitimate version of the
   system. In particular, the Dendy (Russian: Денди), an unlicensed
   hardware clone produced in Russia and other nations of the former
   Soviet Union, emerged as the most popular video game console of its
   time in that setting, and enjoyed a degree of fame roughly equivalent
   to the that experienced by the NES/Famicom in North America and Japan.

   The unlicensed clone market has persisted, and even flourished,
   following Nintendo’s discontinuation of the NES. As the NES fades into
   memory, many such systems have adopted case designs which mimic more
   recent game consoles. NES clones resembling the Sega Genesis, the Super
   Nintendo Entertainment System, and even current systems like the
   Nintendo GameCube, the Sony PlayStation 2 and the Microsoft Xbox have
   been produced. Some of the more exotic of these systems have gone
   beyond the functionality of the original hardware, and have included
   variations such as a portable system with a colour LCD (e.g. Pocket
   Famicom). Others have been produced with certain specialized markets in
   mind, including various "educational computer packages" which include
   copies of some of the NES’s educational titles and come complete with a
   clone of the Famicom BASIC keyboard, transforming the system into a
   rather primitive personal computer.

   As was the case with unlicensed software titles, 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. As recently as 2004, Nintendo of
   America has filed suits against manufacturers of the Power Player Super
   Joy III, an NES clone system that had been sold in North America,
   Europe, and Australia.

   Although most hardware clones were not produced under license by
   Nintendo, one exception is the Twin Famicom, produced by Sharp
   Corporation. The Twin Famicom was compatible with both Famicom
   cartridges and Famicom Disk System disks. It was available in two
   colors (red and black) and used similar hardwired controllers to the
   original Famicom, but featured a different case design.

Technical specifications

     * Dimensions
          + North America:
               o 'toaster' version: 10" width x 8" length x 2.5" height
                 (note that when open, the door over the cartridge slot
                 goes another 1" high)
               o toploader version: 6" width x 7" length x 1 1/2" height
               o cartridge: 5.5" length x 4.1" width
          + Japan:
               o cartridge: 3" length x 5.3" width
     * CPU: Ricoh 8-bit processor based on MOS Technology 6502 core,
       custom sound hardware, and a restricted DMA controller on-die
          + Region differences
               o NTSC version, named RP2A03, runs at 1.79 MHz; this CPU
                 was also used in PlayChoice-10 and Nintendo Vs. Series
               o PAL version, named RP2A07, runs at 1.66 MHz
          + Main RAM: 2 KiB plus expanded RAM if present on the cartridge
          + ROM: Up to 49128 bytes (just shy of 48 KiB) for ROM, expanded
            RAM, and cartridge I/O; bank switching can expand this by
            orders of magnitude
          + Audio: Five sound channels
               o 2 pulse-wave channels, variable duty cycle (25%, 50%,
                 75%, 87.5%), 16-level volume control, hardware pitch-bend
                 support, supporting frequencies from 54 Hz to 28 kHz.
               o 1 triangle-wave channel, fixed volume, supporting
                 frequencies from 27 Hz to 56 kHz
               o 1 white-noise channel, 16-level volume control,
                 supporting two modes (by adjusting inputs on a linear
                 feedback shift register) at 16 preprogrammed frequencies
               o 1 delta pulse-code modulation (DPCM) channel with 6 bits
                 of range, using 1-bit delta encoding at 16 preprogrammed
                 sample rates from 4.2 kHz to 33.5 kHz, also capable of
                 playing standard PCM sound by writing individual 7-bit
                 values at timed intervals.

     * Picture processing unit (PPU): Ricoh custom-made video processor
          + Regional differences
               o NTSC version, named RP2C02, runs at 5.37 MHz and outputs
                 composite video
               o PAL version, named RP2C07, runs at 5.32 MHz and outputs
                 composite video
               o PlayChoice-10 version, named RP2C03, runs at 5.37 MHz and
                 outputs RGB video (at NTSC frequencies)
               o Nintendo Vs. Series versions, named RP2C04 and RP2C05,
                 run at 5.37 MHz and output RGB video (at NTSC
                 frequencies) using irregular palettes to prevent easy ROM
                 swapping of games
          + Palette: 48 colors and 5 grays in base palette; red, green,
            and blue can be individually darkened at specific screen
            regions using carefully timed code.
          + Onscreen colors: 25 colors on one scanline (background color +
            4 sets of 3 tile colors + 4 sets of 3 sprite colors), not
            including colour de-emphasis
          + Hardware-supported sprites
               o Maximum onscreen sprites: 64 (without reloading sprites
                 mid-screen)
               o Sprite sizes: 8×8 or 8×16 pixels (selected globally for
                 all sprites)
               o Maximum number of sprites on one scanline: 8, using a
                 flag to indicate when additional sprites are dropped (to
                 allow the software to rotate sprite priorities, causing
                 flicker)
          + PPU internal memory: 256 bytes of on-die sprite
            position/attribute RAM ("OAM") and 28 bytes of on-die palette
            RAM (allowing for selection of background and sprite colors)
            on separate buses internal to the PPU
          + PPU external memory (Video RAM): 2 KiB of RAM for tile maps
            and attributes on the NES board and 8 KiB of tile pattern ROM
            or RAM on the cartridge (with bankswitching, virtually any
            amount can be used within manufacture cost)
          + Scrolling layers: 1 layer, though horizontal scrolling can be
            changed on a per-scanline basis (as can vertical scrolling via
            more advanced programming methods)
          + Display resolution: 256×240 pixels, though NTSC games usually
            used only 256×224, as the top and bottom 8 scanlines are not
            visible on most television sets (see overscan); for additional
            video memory bandwidth, it was possible to turn off the screen
            before the raster reached the very bottom.
          + Video output
               o Original NES: RCA composite output and RF modulator
                 output
               o Original Famicom (Japan) and NES 2: RF modulator output
                 only
               o AV Famicom: Composite video output only, via a Nintendo
                 proprietary 12-pin "multi out" connector first introduced
                 for the Super Famicom/SNES.
               o PlayChoice 10: inverted RGB video output

Sprite limitations

   The NES had several limitations. The biggest was the number of sprites
   (moving objects) that could be on-screen at a time before a game's
   frame rate would begin to drop and sprite flickering would occur.

   Poorly programmed games (usually unlicensed games) could only have a
   single sprite on screen before flickering and even slowdown would
   occur. One of those games was Action 52, which had some of the worst
   performance on the NES due to the lack of quality programming and
   testing. This resulted in massive flicker, constant frame rate drops,
   and lock-ups.

   Games that were programmed and tested as best as possible usually had a
   smooth framerate, with very little flicker and few major glitches. R.C.
   Pro-Am, released in 1987, was one of those games.
   Retrieved from "
   http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Nintendo_Entertainment_System"
   This reference article is mainly selected from the English Wikipedia
   with only minor checks and changes (see www.wikipedia.org for details
   of authors and sources) and is available under the GNU Free
   Documentation License. See also our Disclaimer.
