Nintendo Entertainment System

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The North American NES.

The Nintendo Entertainment System is a video game console created by Nintendo. It was released first released in 1983 in Japan as the Family Computer or Famicom for short, and in America in 1985.

Back around 1988, my brother and I pooled our paper route money to buy the Action Set which came with the Zapper, two controllers, and a Super Mario Bros. + Duck Hunt dual cart. I still have the system, though it barely works now due to the poor design. It has become one of my favorite video game platforms ever made. We later got the NES Advantage, a friend of mine had the NES Max, and my cousins had the Power Pad. For awhile we had a Game Genie, and I also remember borrowing a Game Action Replay.

Status

I own a very damaged, but still working original NES.

Favorite Games

Of the games I've played on the system, I have particularly enjoyed:

Review

Good

  • Many great games were released on the platform.
  • The controllers, though not the most comfortable to hold, were very tough and could survive a lot of abuse.
  • The system's PPU (picture processing unit) was designed very well and provided some of the best graphic abilities of the day.
  • The APU (audio processing unit) built into the CPU was was the best audio for a home console at the time. While it featured the typical 3 pulse wave, 1 noise channel design, Nintendo wisely changed one of the pulse waves into a triangle wave giving it a more robust sound, and added a DPCM channel for digital sound effects, voice, and even sample-based music.
  • Allowing cartridges to include additional chips for additional functionality was a fantastic idea which greatly extended the life of the platform.

Bad

  • Despite Nintendo's strong control over the platform, far too many horrible games were made for the system, which led to the market becoming over-saturated with crappy games.
  • The available color palette is pretty awful.

Ugly

  • The spring-loaded toaster design was a serious engineering flaw that caused most systems to stop working properly after only a couple years, and Nintendo didn't accept responsibility and fix them.
  • The lock-out chip was also major contributor to games not working properly.

Documentation

Gallery

Links