History

In 1983, hot on the heals of its Kong-sized successes in the arcade market, Nintendo decided to emulate Atari and create a cartridge based system. Until then, Nintendo had simply licensed its popular arcade games to companies such as Coleco. Nintendo, however, wasn't a total newbie to the home console market. Starting in 1977, Nintendo had previously dabbled in the market with its popular line of Color TV systems, which were designed specifically to play only the pre-loaded games such as variants of Pong or Breakout.

The distinctive red, white and gold Famicom was designed by Masayuki Uemura. Not knowing what types of games consumers would want to play, Nintendo played it safe and launched the Famicom with ports of three popular arcade games - Mario Bros., Popeye and Miyamoto's famous. Although plagued by some early technical problems, which resulted in a recall, the Famicom sold over one million units within its first 11 months on the market. Thanks in large part to Nintendo's efforts to court third-party publishers, Nintendo sold 1 million more units in the next three months.

The Famicom's biggest competitor of the 80's was not Sega's Mark III (Master System) but NEC's PC Engine or TurboGrafx as it came to be known in the United States. The PC Engine wasn't released until 1987, but with its superior graphics and sound the PC Engine quickly ousted the Famicom as the best selling system.

Although the Famicom's popularity waned after Nintendo's release of the Super Famicom in 1990, Nintendo continued to manufacture the system through September of 2003. With 19.3 million units of hardware and 140 million units of software sold, the Famicom had an impressive 20-year run.

Hardware Variations

There were a number of different Famicom models released over its 20-year life cycle. The first Famicoms featured rubbery square buttons on the control pad. These were later replaced by the familiar hard plastic, round A and B buttons. The square button Famicoms are highly desired by collectors. Only about one million units were manufactured in 1983, many of which were destroyed after the recall as the system was prone to locking up.

In 1993, Nintendo released the AV Famicom. Nintendo released this variant to save the Famicom from being obsoleted by modern television sets - many of which no longer supported RF inputs. The AV Famicom sports the distinctive dog bone controllers.

Nintendo also licensed the hardware technology to Sharp, which manufactured three different consoles - the Twin Famicom, The Famicom Titler and the My Computer TV C1. The Twin Famicom played both Famicom and Disk System games. There were four variants of the Twin Famicom, the most obvious being the red versus black consoles.

The Famicom Titler is probably the most obscure combination of game console coupled with non-gaming functionality. The Famicom Titler essentially allows you to add subtitles to your home VHS videos. While this function might have been state-of-the-art in the 80's, it's pretty useless today. The sweetest feature of the Famicom Titler is the S-Video output.

The My Computer TV C1 is essentially a small TV (14 or 19 inches depending on the model) with a Famicom built inside. The cartridge and control ports are located on the front panel just below the screen. When it was released, the 19 inch model retailed at about $1500 making it one of the most expensive consoles of all time. Given the rarity of these systems coupled with the fact that it isn't compatible with some of the later titles, the My Computer TV C1 is really just for hardcore game collectors.

The Famicon Channel

Getting the Famicom to work on your TV at home can be tricky. Even though televisions sold in the US and Japan are the same NTSC format, the RF signals are a bit different. As the Famicom only has an RF output, this becomes a problem when you want to play your copy of Boku tte Upa on your TV at home. Solution? The Famicom Channel.

Depending on your model of TV set, the Famicom should work on a channel between 90 and 99. The most common channels seem to be 95 and 96. You might need to toggle between channels 1 and 2 on the back of the Famicom before you can get it to work. Sometimes you'll get sound on one channel while the picture will be on another. But with a little persistence, you'll find the Famicom Channel.

Of course, the AV Famicom and Famicom Twin, which feature composite outputs, work just fine on any TV.

Import Mods

Do American NES games work on a Famicom or vice versa? No, the reason being the pin connectors are different. The NES has 72 pins whereas the Famicom has only 60 pins. The simplest mod is to get a converter. Insert your 72-pin NES cart into a 60-pin converter and you're good to go. The most difficult aspect of this mod is actually finding a 72 to 60 pin converter. As few Japanese gamers import US games, there aren't a lot of these floating around. Your best option is to buy a Generation Nex.

Famicom Clones

If you don't want to fidget with the Famicom Channel, there are other options. A number of companies, such as Messiah and Yobo, have released Famicom clones that have composite outputs making them compatible with modern TVs. Messiah's Generation Nex features both 60-pin and 72-pin cartridge slots making it compatible with both Famicom and NES games. Yobo's Famicom clone comes in a variety of colors but it only plays Famicom games. As neither of these systems are officially licensed Nintendo products, there are compatibility issues with a small percentage of games. So while they are nice alternatives to the original Famicom, they are not perfect solutions.

Pink Godzilla's Top Ten Famicom Titles

In compiling this list, we focused on games that were either not released or were a little more obscure in the US.

1. Recca Summer Carnival '92
2. Yousei Monogatari Rodland
3. Mitsume ga Tooru
4. Boku tte Upa
5. Uchuu Keibitai SDF
6. Joy Mecha Fight
7. Salamander
8. Daiku no Gensan
9. Don Doko Don
10. Wanpaku Grafitti Splatterhouse

Partial List of Obscure Accessories

Close to hundred different accessories were released for the Famicom. Here are a few or the more obscure.

Family Basic Keyboard and Data Recorder
Wild Gunman Set - Six Shooter with Holster
3D System
Tsuushin Adapter Set
Study Box
Exciting Boxing Air Bag
Space Shadow Hyper Shot Machine Gun
Party Tap
Top Rider Kirin Mets Version
Pachinko Controller

Rare and Collectible Games

Here is a list of some of the rarest and most collectible games for the Famicom.

All Night Nippon-ban Super Mario Bros.
Recca Summer Carnival '92
Punch Out!! Gold Cart
Kidou Senshi Z Gundam Hot Scramble Silver Cart
RADAC Tailor Made
Yamaki Mentsuyu Summer Present Kage no Densetsu
Hitler no Fukkatsu Top Secret
Boku tte Upa
Dragon Ball Z2 Gekishin Freezer 91 JUMP Victory Memorial Version
Rockman 4 Gold Cart
Kinniku Man Muscle Tag Match Gold Cart
Kung Fu

Fun Famicom Commercials