Famicom Disk System

The Family Computer Disk System, commonly abbreviated to Famicom Disk System or simply Disk System, is a peripheral for the Nintendo Family Computer home video game console released only in Japan on February 21, 1986. It uses proprietary floppy disks called "disk cards". for cheaper storage and adds a new high quality audio channel to support Disk System games.

Essentially, the disk system simply serves to improve on some aspects already found in the base Famicom system, with better sound and cheaper games, albeit with the downsides of a high initial price, slow speed, and lower reliability. However, this growth in the market for accessible and rewritable storage devices temporarily served as a suitable technology for creating new types of video games. This includes a vast open world, progress-saving adventures in the best-selling books The Legend of Zelda (1986) and Metroid (1986), low-cost, quick-release games like the best-selling Super Mario Bros. 2. as well as nationwide leaderboards and contests via in-store Disk Fax kiosks, which are considered the forerunners of today's online achievement and distribution systems.

By 1989, the Famicom Disk System was inevitably obsolete due to improvements in game cartridge semiconductor technology. By 1990, Disk System's lifetime sales reached 4.4 million units, making it the most successful console add-on of all time, despite not being sold outside of Japan. His last game was released in 1992, its software was discontinued in 2003, and Nintendo officially ended technical support in 2007.

By 1985, the Nintendo family computer dominated the Japanese home video game market, selling over three million units in a year and a half. Due to its success, the company found it difficult to maintain demand for new inventory, often receiving calls from retailers asking for additional systems. Vendors also asked for cheaper games; The cost of the chips and semiconductors made the cartridges expensive to manufacture and often cost a lot of money to both stores and consumers. Chip shortages also created supply issues. To meet these requests, Nintendo began to think about ways to potentially reduce the cost of games. For inspiration, he turned to the home computer market; Nintendo paid special attention to floppy disks, which were quickly becoming the standard for storing data on personal computers. Floppy disks were cheap to manufacture and rewritable, making it easy to create games during production. Seeing its potential, Nintendo began work on a disk peripheral for the Famicom.

For their proprietary floppy disk platform, which they called the Disk Card, Nintendo decided to use the Mitsumi Quick Disk media format, a cheaper alternative to floppy disks for Japanese home computers, as the basis. The Disk Card format had a number of advantages over cartridges, such as increased storage capacity to allow for larger games, additional audio channels, and the ability to save the player's progress. The add-on itself was produced by Masayuki Uemura and Nintendo Research & Development 2, the same team that developed the Famicom itself. After several delays, the Famicom Disk System was released on February 21, 1986, with a retail price of 15,000 yen (US$80). On the same day, Nintendo released The Legend of Zelda as a launch game alongside disc re-releases of the earlier Famicom games. Marketing materials for the Disk System featured a yellow mascot named Diskun, or Mr. Disk. The Famicom Disk System sold over 300,000 devices in three months, and by the end of the year, the number exceeded 2 million. Nintendo remained confident that the Disk System would be an undeniable success and ensured that all future in-house releases were exclusive to peripherals.

Coinciding with the release of the Disk System, Nintendo installed several Disk Writer kiosks at various toy and electronics stores around the country. These kiosks allowed customers to bring in their disc games and re-record a new game on them for a fee of 500 yen; blank discs could also be purchased for 2,000 yen. Nintendo also introduced special high-score tournaments for certain Disk System games, where players could send their scores directly to Nintendo via "Disk Fax" devices found in retail stores. Winners will receive exclusive prizes including Famicom branded stationery sets and a golden Punch-Out!! cartridge. Nintendo of America announced plans to release the Disk System for the Famicom's international counterpart, the Nintendo Entertainment System, however these plans were eventually cancelled.

Despite the Famicom Disk System's success and advantages over the Famicom itself, it also created many of its own problems. The most common was the quality of disc cards; Nintendo removed the blinds from most Disk System games to keep costs down, instead putting them in a wax sleeve and clear plastic shell. The discs themselves are fragile, and due to the lack of a shutter, dust and fingerprints accumulated on them, which ultimately made them unplayable. Piracy also flourished, with disc copying devices and illegal games becoming commonplace in stores and in magazine advertisements. Disk System third-party developers were also outraged by Nintendo's strict licensing terms requiring it to take 50% of the copyright on any released software, leading to that several major developers such as Namco and Hudson Soft, refusing to produce games for him. Four months after the release of the Disk System, Capcom released the Famicom conversion of Ghosts 'n Goblins on a 128 KB cartridge, larger than the Disk Card's 112 KB capacity, which, as a result, made consumers and developers less impressed with the technological features of the Disk System. . Retailers disliked Disk Writer kiosks for taking up too much space and being generally unprofitable. Vague Disk System error messages, long boot times, and the poor quality of the rubber drive belt that rotated the disks are also cited as reasons for her crash. made consumers and developers less impressed with the technological features of the Disk System. Retailers disliked Disk Writer kiosks for taking up too much space and being generally unprofitable. Vague Disk System error messages, long boot times, and the poor quality of the rubber drive belt that rotated the disks are also cited as reasons for her crash. made consumers and developers less impressed with the technological features of the Disk System. Retailers disliked Disk Writer kiosks for taking up too much space and being generally unprofitable. Vague Disk System error messages, long boot times, and the poor quality of the rubber drive belt that rotated the disks are also cited as reasons for her crash. long loading times and the poor quality of the rubber drive belt that turned the discs are also cited as reasons for her fall. made consumers and developers less impressed with the technological features of the Disk System. Retailers disliked Disk Writer kiosks for taking up too much space and being generally unprofitable. Vague Disk System error messages, long boot times, and the poor quality of the rubber drive belt that rotated the disks are also cited as reasons for her crash. long loading times and the poor quality of the rubber drive belt that turned the discs are also cited as reasons for her fall. made consumers and developers less impressed with the technological features of the Disk System. Retailers disliked Disk Writer kiosks for taking up too much space and being generally unprofitable. Vague Disk System error messages, long boot times, and the poor quality of the rubber drive belt that rotated the disks are also cited as reasons for her crash. that they took up too much space and were generally unprofitable. Vague Disk System error messages, long boot times, and the poor quality of the rubber drive belt that rotated the disks are also cited as reasons for her crash. that they took up too much space and were generally unprofitable. Vague Disk System error messages, long boot times, and the poor quality of the rubber drive belt that rotated the disks are also cited as reasons for her crash.

By 1989, advances in technology had made cartridge games much cheaper and easier to manufacture, rendering the Famicom Disk System obsolete. Retailers were critical of Nintendo simply ditching Disk Writers and leaving stores with large kiosks taking up vital space while companies began releasing or migrating their games from the Disk System to a standard cartridge; Near the end of development, Squaresoft ported Final Fantasy to the Famicom as a cartridge game with its own battery-backed save feature. Nintendo officially discontinued the Famicom Disk System in 1990 with about 4.4 million units sold in total. Disc recording services continued to operate until 2003, while technical services were maintained until 2007.