Nintendo Entertainment System
Home video game console / From Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia
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The Nintendo Entertainment System (NES) is an 8-bit home video game console produced by Nintendo. It was first released in Japan on 15 July 1983 as the Family Computer (Famicom).[note 1] It was then released in American test markets on 18 October 1985 as the redesigned NES, and fully launched in the United States the following year. The NES was distributed in Europe, Australia, and parts of Asia throughout the 1980s under various names. As a third generation console, it mainly competed with Sega's Master System and the Atari 2600.
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Also known as | Family Computer/Famicom (Japan) Hyundai Comboy (South Korea) Samurai Electronic TV Game System (India) Dendy (Post-Soviet countries) Nintendo Entertainment System (PAL A/PAL B/Southeast Asia) |
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Developer | Nintendo R&D2 |
Manufacturer | Nintendo |
Type | Home video game console |
Generation | Third |
Release date | |
Introductory price | ¥14,800 (equivalent to ¥18,365 in 2019) US$179 (equivalent to $510 in 2023)[4] |
Discontinued | |
Units sold | 61.91 million[6] |
Media | Nintendo Entertainment System Game Pak |
CPU |
|
Display | 256 × 240 px |
Graphics | PPU (Ricoh 2C02) |
Sound | APU, 5 channels: 2 pulse wave, triangle wave, white noise, DPCM |
Controller input | 2 controller ports[lower-alpha 4] 1 expansion slot |
Best-selling game |
|
Predecessor | Color TV-Game |
Successor | Super NES |
Related | Famicom Disk System, Famicom 3D System |
It was designed by Masayuki Uemura at the behest of Nintendo's president Hiroshi Yamauchi, who called for a simple, cheap console that could run arcade games on cartridges. The controller design was reused from Nintendo's portable Game & Watch hardware. Its successful Japanese launch led to Nintendo trialling it in the United States, where it was redesigned to resemble a video cassette recorder. Nintendo released several add-ons, such as the NES Zapper light gun for several shooting games, and R.O.B. (Robot Operating Buddy), a toy robot accessory.
The NES is regarded as one of the most influential consoles of all time. It helped revitalise the American gaming industry following the video game crash of 1983,[lower-alpha 5] and pioneered a now-standard business model of licensing third-party developers to produce and distribute games.[10] The NES features several groundbreaking games, such as the 1985 platform game Super Mario Bros. and the 1986 action-adventure games The Legend of Zelda and Metroid, which became long-running franchises. While the NES dominated Japanese and American markets, it sold poorly in Europe, where microcomputers were prevalent. With 61.91 million units sold, the NES remains one of the best-selling consoles of all time. It was succeeded in 1990 by the Super Nintendo Entertainment System.