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The Famicom was also influenced by the [[ColecoVision]], [[Coleco]]'s competition against the [[Atari 2600]] in the United States;<ref name="Nikkei7">{{cite magazine |title=【任天堂「ファミコン」はこうして生まれた】 第7回：業務用機の仕様を家庭用に、LSIの開発から着手 |trans-title=How the Famicom Was Born – Part 7: Deciding on the Specs |magazine=Nikkei Electronics |date=December 19, 1994 |publisher=[[Nikkei Business Publications]] |lang=ja |url=http://trendy.nikkeibp.co.jp/article/special/20081002/1019378/ |url-status=dead |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20081012060247/http://trendy.nikkeibp.co.jp/article/special/20081002/1019378/ |archive-date=October 12, 2008 |access-date=13 April 2021}}
*{{cite web |date=April 21, 2012 |title=Deciding on the Specs |website=GlitterBerri's Game Translations |url=https://www.glitterberri.com/developer-interviews/how-the-famicom-was-born/deciding-on-the-specs/ |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20120427193537/https://www.glitterberri.com/developer-interviews/how-the-famicom-was-born/deciding-on-the-specs/ |archive-date=2012-04-27}}</ref> the ColecoVision's top-seller was a port of Nintendo's ''Donkey Kong''.<ref name="Nintendo life">{{cite news |last1=McFerran |first1=Damien |title=Feature: How ColecoVision Became the King of Kong |url=https://www.nintendolife.com/news/2010/09/feature_how_colecovision_became_the_king_of_kong |access-date=13 April 2021 |work=[[Nintendo Life]] |date=18 September 2010}}</ref> The project's chief manager Takao Sawano brought a ColecoVision home to his family, impressed by its smooth graphics,<ref>{{Cite magazine|last=高野|first=雅晴|date=1995-01-16|title=ファミコン開発物語|url=https://trendy.nikkeibp.co.jp/article/special/20081002/1019378/| magazine=日経エレクトロニクス|language=ja|publisher=[[Nikkei Business Publications]]|oclc=5530170|access-date=2019-06-07|via=Nikkei Trendy Net}}</ref> which contrasts with the flicker and slowdown commonly seen on Atari 2600 games. Uemura said the ColecoVision set the bar for the Famicom. They wanted to surpass it and match the more powerful ''Donkey Kong'' arcade hardware; they took a ''Donkey Kong'' arcade cabinet to chip manufacturer [[Ricoh]] for analysis, which led to Ricoh producing the [[Picture Processing Unit]] (PPU) chip for the NES. The principle reason for contracting with Ricoh was that their business was then running slowly and they had a lot of unused production capacity while all other Japanese chip fabs were operating at capacity and could not spare any resources for Nintendo. A small problem arose with the 6502 as its decimal mode circuit was copyrighted by Commodore Semiconductor Group. In order to avoid a lawsuit or having to pay CSG royalties, Nintendo decided to disable the decimal mode in the chip (this was done by cutting one trace on the die with a laser) although the lack of this feature became a frequent cause of complaints from Famicom programmers.<ref name="Nikkei7"/>
Original plans called for the Famicom's cartridges to be the size of a cassette tape, but ultimately they ended up being twice as big. Careful design attention was paid to the cartridge connectors because loose and faulty connections often plagued arcade machines. As it necessitated 60 connection lines for the memory and expansion, Nintendo decided to produce its own connectors.<ref name="DevHistory"/>
The controllers are hard-wired to the console with no connectors for cost reasons. The controller designs were reused from the [[Game & Watch]] machines, although the Famicom design team originally wanted to use arcade-style joysticks, even dismantling some from American game consoles to see how they worked. There were concerns regarding the durability of the joystick design and that children might step on joysticks on the floor. Katsuya Nakawaka attached a Game & Watch [[D-pad]] to the Famicom prototype and found that it was easy to use and caused no discomfort. Ultimately though, they installed a 15-pin expansion port on the front of the console so that an optional arcade-style joystick could be used. The expansion port was recessed to prevent the user from accidentally touching the pins and damaging the electronics in the console from static electricity (ESD damage was a known problem on many early game consoles and home computers due to their exposed controller ports or connectors)<ref name="DevHistory"/>
[[Gunpei Yokoi]] suggested an eject lever to the cartridge slot which is not necessary, but he believed that children could be entertained by pressing it. Uemura adopted his idea. Uemura added a microphone to the second controller with the idea that it could be used to make players voices sound through the TV speaker.<ref>[http://www.glitterberri.com/developer-interviews/how-the-famicom-was-born/synonymous-with-the-domestic-game-console/ GlitterBerri's Game Translations » Synonymous With the Domestic Game Console]. Glitterberri.com (April 21, 2012). Retrieved on August 23, 2013.</ref><ref name="DevHistory" />
=== Japanese release ===
The console was released on July 15, 1983, as the {{nihongo foot|'''Home Cassette-type Video Game: Family Computer''',|家庭用カセット式ビデオゲーム ファミリーコンピュータ|Katei-yō Kasetto-Shiki Bideo Gēmu: Famirī Konpyūta|lead=yes|group=note}} for {{JPY|14,800}} ({{Inflation|JP|14800|1983|fmt=eq|cursign=¥|r=-2}}) with three [[Porting|ports]] of Nintendo's successful arcade games ''[[Donkey Kong (video game)|Donkey Kong]]'', ''[[Donkey Kong Jr.]]'', and ''[[Popeye (video game)|Popeye]]''. The initial Famicom was
<ref name="Ultimate History">{{cite book |last=Kent |first=Steven L. |author-link=Steven L. Kent |title=[[The Ultimate History of Video Games: The Story Behind the Craze that Touched our Lives and Changed the World]] |year=2001 |publisher=Prima Publishing |location=Roseville, California |isbn=0-7615-3643-4}}</ref>{{rp|279, 285}}
Nintendo launched the system with only first-party games, but after being approached by [[Namco]] and [[Hudson Soft]] in 1984, agreed to produce third-party games for a 30% fee for console licensing and production costs. This rate continued in the industry for consoles and digital storefronts through the 2010s.<ref>{{cite web | URL = https://www.bloomberg.com/news/articles/2020-08-19/epic-games-fortnite-battle-with-apple-and-google-can-be-traced-to-nintendo-tax| title = Epic's Battle With Apple and Google Actually Dates Back to Pac-Man |first1 = Takahashi | last1 = Mochizuki | first2=Vlad | last2 =Savov | date = August 25, 2020 | access-date = August 25, 2020 | work = [[Bloomberg News]]}}{{subscription required|s}}</ref>
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The Famicom hardware first made its North American debut in the [[Arcade game|arcades]], in the form of the [[Nintendo VS. System]] in 1984; the system's success in arcades paved the way for the official release of the NES console.<ref name="Horowitz">{{cite book |last1=Horowitz |first1=Ken |chapter=Nintendo "VS." the World |title=Beyond Donkey Kong: A History of Nintendo Arcade Games |date=July 30, 2020 |publisher=[[McFarland & Company]] |isbn=978-1-4766-4176-8 |pages=115–28 |chapter-url=https://books.google.com/books?id=UXD0DwAAQBAJ&pg=PA115}}</ref><ref name="mashable">{{cite news |last1=Stark |first1=Chelsea |title=30 years later, Nintendo looks back at when NES came to America |url=https://mashable.com/2015/10/19/nintendo-nes-launch-atari|access-date=13 April 2021 |work=[[Mashable]] |date=October 19, 2015}}</ref> With US retailers refusing to stock game consoles, Yamauchi realized there was still a market for video games in the arcades, so he decided to introduce the Famicom to North America through the arcade industry.<ref name="Horowitz"/> The VS. System became a major success in North American arcades,<ref name="Horowitz"/> becoming the highest-grossing [[1985 in video games|arcade machine of 1985]] in the United States.<ref>{{cite magazine |title=Springsteen Sweeps JB Awards |magazine=[[Cash Box]] |date=November 23, 1985 |page=39 |url=https://worldradiohistory.com/Archive-All-Music/Cash-Box/80s/1985/CB-1985-11-23.pdf#page=39| archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20200819010149/https://worldradiohistory.com/Archive-All-Music/Cash-Box/80s/1985/CB-1985-11-23.pdf#page=39| archive-date=2020-08-19}}</ref> By the time the NES launched, nearly 100,000 VS. Systems had been sold to American arcades.<ref>{{cite book |last1=Horowitz |first1=Ken |title=Beyond Donkey Kong: A History of Nintendo Arcade Games |date=July 30, 2020 |publisher=[[McFarland & Company]] |isbn=978-1-4766-4176-8 |page=155 |url=https://books.google.com/books?id=UXD0DwAAQBAJ&pg=PA155}}</ref> The success of the VS. System gave Nintendo the confidence to release the Famicom in North America as a video game console, for which there was growing interest due to Nintendo's positive reputation in the arcades. It also gave Nintendo the opportunity to test new games as VS. Paks in the arcades, to determine which games to release for the NES launch.<ref name="Horowitz"/>
At June 1985's [[International CES|Consumer Electronics Show]] (CES), Nintendo unveiled the American version of its Famicom, with a new case redesigned by Lance Barr and featuring a "[[zero insertion force]]" cartridge slot.<ref name="barr-interview">{{cite web|url=http://www.nintendojo.com/archives/interviews/view_item.php?1130801472|title=Lance Barr Interview|access-date=June 19, 2016|author=Chad Margetts & M. Noah Ward|publisher=Nintendojo|date=May 31, 2005|archive-date=July 22, 2016|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20160722231242/http://www.nintendojo.com/archives/interviews/view_item.php?1130801472|url-status=dead}}</ref> The change from a top-loader in the Famicom to a front-loader was to make the new console more like a [[video cassette recorder]], which had grown in popularity by 1985, and differentiate the unit from past video game consoles.<ref>{{cite web | url = https://www.theverge.com/2015/10/18/9554885/nintendo-entertainment-system-famicom-history-masayuki-uemura | title = 7 things I learned from the designer of the NES | first = Sean | last = O'Kane | date = October 18, 2015 | access-date = September 21, 2018 | work = [[The Verge]] }}</ref> Additionally, Uemura explained that Nintendo developers had feared that the console's electronics might face [[electrostatic discharge|electrostatic hazard]]s in dry American states such as [[Arizona]] and [[Texas]], and a front-loading design would be safer if children handled the console carelessly. The recessed controller ports were also done with the aim of ESD protection.<ref>[https://vandal.elespanol.com/noticia/1350732228/las-razones-tras-el-diseno-occidental-de-la-nes-explicadas-por-su-responsable/ The reasons for NES' Western design, explained by its main developer]. Vandal.net, 29 February 2020</ref>
This was deployed as the Nintendo Entertainment System (NES). Nintendo seeded these first systems to limited American test markets starting in New York City on October 18, 1985, and followed up in [[Los Angeles]] in February 1986; the American nationwide release came on September 27, 1986.<ref>{{cite news |last1=Pollack |first1=Andrew |title=Video Games, Once Zapped, In Comeback |url=https://www.nytimes.com/1986/09/27/business/video-games-once-zapped-in-comeback.html|access-date=June 6, 2021 |work=The New York Times |date=September 27, 1986}}</ref><ref>{{cite book | first = Van | last = Burnham | year = 2001 | title = Supercade: A Visual History of the Videogame Age, 1971–1984 | page = 375 | publisher = [[MIT Press]] | location = Cambridge, Massachusetts | isbn = 0-262-52420-1 }}</ref> Nintendo released 17 launch games: ''[[10-Yard Fight]]'', ''[[Baseball (1983 video game)|Baseball]]'', ''[[Clu Clu Land]]'', ''[[Duck Hunt]]'', ''[[Excitebike]]'', ''[[Golf (1984 video game)|Golf]]'', ''[[Gyromite]]'', ''[[Hogan's Alley (video game)|Hogan's Alley]]'', ''[[Ice Climber]]'', ''[[Kung-Fu Master (video game)|Kung Fu]]'', ''[[Pinball (1984 video game)|Pinball]]'', ''[[Soccer (1985 video game)|Soccer]]'', ''[[Stack-Up]]'', ''[[Super Mario Bros.]]'', ''[[Tennis (1984 video game)|Tennis]]'', ''[[Wild Gunman]]'', and ''[[Wrecking Crew (video game)|Wrecking Crew]]''.<ref name="Dayton, David 2010">{{cite web |author=Dayton, David |date=October 18, 2010 |title=Super Mario's Release Date is Missing! |work=The Mushroom Kingdom |url=http://themushroomkingdom.net/smb_release.shtml|access-date=October 8, 2011}}</ref>{{efn|''[[Donkey Kong Jr. Math]]'' and ''[[Mach Rider]]'' are often erroneously listed as launch games. Neither was available until later in 1986.<ref name="Dayton, David 2010"/>}}
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[[File:NES-Console-Set.jpg|thumb|The Nintendo Entertainment System's Control Deck]]
For its complete North American release, the Nintendo Entertainment System was progressively released over the ensuing years in several different bundles, beginning with the Deluxe Set, the Basic Set, the Action Set and the Power Set. The Deluxe Set, retailing at {{US$|179.99}} ({{Inflation|US|179.99|1983|fmt=eq}}),<ref name="US Price"/> included R.O.B., a [[light gun]] called the ''[[NES Zapper]]'', two controllers, and two Game Paks: ''Gyromite'' and ''Duck Hunt''. The Control Deck, first released in 1987, retailed at {{US$|89.99}} with no game, and {{US$|99.99}} bundled with the ''Super Mario Bros.'' cartridge. The Action Set, retailing in November 1988 for {{US$|149.99}}, came with the Control Deck, two game controllers, an NES Zapper, and a dual Game Pak containing both ''[[Super Mario Bros.]]'' and ''[[Duck Hunt]]''.<ref name="Museum">{{cite web|url=http://classicgaming.gamespy.com/View.php?view=ConsoleMuseum.Detail&id=26&game=5|title=Nintendo Entertainment System (NES) – 1985–1995|work=Classic Gaming|publisher=GameSpy|access-date=December 20, 2019|url-status=dead|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20121029033423/http://classicgaming.gamespy.com/View.php?view=ConsoleMuseum.Detail&id=26&game=5|archive-date=October 29, 2012|df=mdy-all}}</ref><ref name="Ultimate History"/>{{rp|305}} In 1989, the Power Set included the console, two game controllers, an ''NES Zapper'', a ''Power Pad'', and a triple Game Pak containing ''Super Mario Bros'', ''Duck Hunt'', and ''[[World Class Track Meet#Other releases|World Class Track Meet]]''. In 1990, a Sports Set bundle was released, including the console, an [[NES Satellite]] infrared wireless [[multitap]] adapter, four game controllers, and a dual Game Pak containing ''[[U.S. Championship V'Ball|Super Spike V'Ball]]'' and ''[[Nintendo World Cup]]''.<ref name="Picking">{{cite news|title=Picking Out a Home Video Game System|first=Andree|last=Brooks|url=https://www.nytimes.com/1991/05/04/news/picking-out-a-home-video-game-system.html?scp=5&sq=nes+advantage&st=nyt|newspaper=The New York Times|date=May 4, 1991|access-date=June 29, 2010}}</ref> Two more bundle packages were later released using the original model NES console. The Challenge Set of 1992 included the console, two controllers, and a ''[[Super Mario Bros. 3]]'' Game Pak for a retail price of {{US$|89.99}}. The Basic Set retailed at {{US$|89.99}}; it included only the console and two controllers, and no pack-in game.<ref name="Picking"/> Instead, it contained a book called the ''[[Nintendo Player's Guide|Official Nintendo Player's Guide]]'', which contained detailed information for every NES game made up to that point.
The last major hardware revision was in 1989. Famicoms got a different logo on the case and NESes began being produced with fireproofed ABS plastic shells, which however made them prone to yellowing. These later units had the final revision of the 2A03 and PPU, the Revision G chipset which changed some PPU registers to be read/write instead of write-only (Micro Machines uses this feature and will not work on earlier machines). The audio mixing in the Famicom's external audio circuit was also modified slightly.
Finally, the console was redesigned for the Australian, North American and Japanese markets. As part of the final Nintendo-released bundle package, the product included the [[New-Style NES]], or NES-101, and one redesigned "dogbone" game controller. In Australia, this version of the system was also available with a cartridge compiling ''Super Mario Bros'', ''Tetris'' and ''Nintendo World Cup''. Released in October 1993 in North America and 1994 in Australia, this final bundle retailed for {{US$|49.99}} and {{AU$|69.99}} ({{AU$|79.99}} with the pack-in game) respectively, and remained in production until the discontinuation of the NES in 1995.<ref name="Museum"/>
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The console's main [[central processing unit]] (CPU) was produced by [[Ricoh]], which manufactured different versions between NTSC and PAL regions; NTSC consoles use a [[2A03]] clocked at 1.79 {{abbrlink|MHz|megahertz}}, while PAL consoles use a [[2A07]] clocked at 1.66 MHz.<ref>{{harvnb|Altice|2015|p=49}}</ref> Both CPUs are [[second source]] variants of the [[MOS Technology 6502]], an 8-bit [[microprocessor]] prevalent in contemporary [[home computer]]s and consoles; Nintendo ostensibly disabled the 6502's [[binary-coded decimal]] mode on them to avoid [[patent infringement]] against or licensing fees towards [[MOS Technology]], which was owned by then-rival [[Commodore International]].<ref name="Altice - 27">{{harvc |year=2015 |c=Scraped to the Die |in=Altice |pp=27-30}}</ref> The CPU has access to 2 {{abbrlink|KB|kilobyte}} of onboard work {{abbrlink|RAM|random-access memory}}.<ref>{{Cite news|url=https://www.japantimes.co.jp/news/2013/07/15/reference/nintendo-brought-arcade-games-into-homes-30-years-ago/|title=Nintendo brought arcade games into homes 30 years ago|last=Hongo|first=Jun|date=July 15, 2013|work=The Japan Times Online|access-date=August 1, 2018|language=en-US|issn=0447-5763}}</ref><ref name="Ars Technica - Retrospective" />
The console's graphics are handled by a Ricoh 2C02,<ref name="Altice - 27" /> a processor known as the Picture Processing Unit (PPU) that is clocked at 5.37 MHz.<ref name="Ars Technica - Retrospective" /><ref>{{Cite patent|title=Memory cartridge having a multi-memory controller with memory bank switching capabilities and data processing apparatus|country=US|number=4949298|gdate=August 14, 1990|invent1=Nakanishi|inventor1-first=Yoshiaki|invent2=Nakagawa|inventor2-first=Katsuya}}</ref> A derivative of the [[Texas Instruments TMS9918]]—a [[video display controller]] used in the [[ColecoVision]]<ref name="Altice - 27" />—the PPU features 2 [[kilobyte|KB]] of [[video random access memory|video RAM]], 256 [[byte]]s of on-die "object attribute memory" (OAM) to store [[Sprite (computer graphics)|sprite]] display information on up to 64 sprites, and 28 bytes of RAM to store information on the [[YIQ]]-based<ref>{{harvnb|Altice|2015|p=35}}</ref> [[Palette (computing)|color palette]]; the console can display up to 25 colors simultaneously out of 54 usable colors. The onboard sprite RAM was implemented as DRAM since SRAM cells would be too large to fit on the die, consequently games would have to refresh the OAM table each frame to prevent it from fading. The PPU went through several hardware revisions, A, B, C, D, E, and G, respectively, although all NESes and the vast majority of Famicoms used the last two. The earliest Revision A PPUs did not have a fully implemented sprite pipeline and were limited to four sprites per line. The color palette varied slightly between different revisions
<ref name="Ars Technica - Retrospective" /> The console's standard [[display resolution]] is 256 × 240 [[pixel]]s,<ref name="Ars Technica - Retrospective" /> though video output options vary between models. The original Famicom features only [[RF modulator|radio frequency (RF) modulator]] output, while the NES additionally includes support for [[composite video]] via [[RCA connector]]s.<ref name="20years" />{{efn|French NES consoles include an {{abbr|AV|audiovisual}} port that outputs [[Component video#RGB analog component video|RGB video]] via a [[SCART]] connector; however, it is not true RGB video output as the PPU natively outputs composite video in consumer home console models.<ref name="NintendojoFR - Video output">{{cite web |author=Mortal |title=Standard d'images, télévision et jeux vidéo (partie 3) |url=https://www.nintendojo.fr/articles/editos/standard-dimages-television-et-jeux-video-partie-3 |website=NintendojoFR |language=fr |access-date=August 20, 2022 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20140515014749/https://www.nintendojo.fr/articles/editos/standard-dimages-television-et-jeux-video-partie-3 |archive-date=May 15, 2014 |date=April 23, 2014 |url-status=live}}</ref><ref>{{cite web |author=Sketcz |title=French NES – with RGB output |url=http://blog.hardcoregaming101.net/2009/12/french-nes-with-rgb-output.html |website=Hardcore Gaming 101 |access-date=August 20, 2022 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20091214024512/http://blog.hardcoregaming101.net/2009/12/french-nes-with-rgb-output.html |archive-date=December 14, 2009 |date=December 11, 2009 |url-status=live}}</ref>}} The redesigned Famicom omits the RF modulator entirely, only outputting composite video via a proprietary "multi-out" connector first introduced on the Super Famicom/NES; conversely, the redesigned NES features RF modulator output only, though a version of the model including the "multi-out" connector was produced in rare quantities.<ref name="NL - AV Famicom">{{cite web |last1=McFerran |first1=Damien |title=Hardware Classics: Nintendo AV Famicom |url=https://www.nintendolife.com/news/2013/02/hardware_classics_nintendo_av_famicom |website=Nintendo Life |access-date=August 20, 2021 |date=February 18, 2013 |archive-date=July 12, 2021 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20210712155328/https://www.nintendolife.com/news/2013/02/hardware_classics_nintendo_av_famicom |url-status=live }}</ref><ref name="NL - Nintendo refreshes">{{cite web |last1=Lane |first1=Gavin |title=Nintendo Hardware Refreshes Through The Ages |url=https://www.nintendolife.com/news/2021/07/feature_nintendo_hardware_refreshes_through_the_ages |website=Nintendo Life |access-date=August 20, 2022 |date=July 12, 2021 |archive-date=May 31, 2022 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20220531131043/https://www.nintendolife.com/news/2021/07/feature_nintendo_hardware_refreshes_through_the_ages |url-status=live }}</ref>
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