Famicom aka. Nintendo Entertainment System (NES™) Discussion Thread

Release Date: JP: July 15, 1983, NA: October 18, 1985, EU: September 1, 1986, EU/AUS: 1987

So while there are keen interest in the newer games, I thought it might be nice to go in the late 1990s, and discuss about the Famicon, or, as it's called the NES in the United States. This is a thread to just... discuss our memories about it, and anything else that comes to mind!



Also, in case you haven't known, there is also a trial campaign for the Wii U, where Nintendo celebrates it's 30 year anniversary for the Famicom.

Now, for this thread, of course, you can talk about all of your experiences with the NES here. These are just questions to bounce some ideas: What do you think about the NES? What games did you have for the NES, and which ones were your favourite/least favourite? What were some of your memories for the NES? Do you still own the NES today? How do you think the NES compares with Nintendo's later systems like, the Nintendo Gamecube, the Nintendo Wii, and the Nintendo Wii U? Do you have other thoughts you would like to share about the NES?

I had a NES when I was a toddler with Super Mario Bros. / Duck Hunt, Tetris, Blades or Steel, and Sesame Street 123.

Between my two neighbours I also had access to Super Mario Bros. 3, The Legend of Zelda, Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles, Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles II: The Arcade Game, and probably some others I can't recall. Zelda's gold cartridge fascinated me.

Played other NES games over the years, but that's all what I started with.

I've been wanting an NES, and my neighbor actually might be able to dig her old one up and sell it to me (I hope it isn't too expensive). Though what I really want the Top Loader, but it's so expensive D:

tabor62 said:

I've been wanting an NES, and my neighbor actually might be able to dig her old one up and sell it to me (I hope it isn't too expensive). Though what I really want the Top Loader, but it's so expensive D:

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There's third party hardware clones that work just as well. Cheaper. And can even boot other retro consoles depending on the configuration you get.

Might want to save money on the console front to build up your game library instead

Team Fail said:

I really want to import Famicom games, as well as the disk system, just for the FDS exclusive games.

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The FDS is neat. Some classic Nintendo titles saw enhanced version on that system.

Over the years Nintendo's released the original Ice Climbers and Excitebike numerous times to the public. They really should rerelease the FDS-enhanced version. Ice Climbers gets bosses and stage selection and more mountains. Excitebike gets more tracks, multiplayer, and Mode A and B is combined to make for a qualifying-then-race setup. Both games feel more like finished games and less like demos.

Clu Clu Land got the same treatment too. But, if you've ever played Animal Crossing on the GCN, you can try it out there.

Getting the NES is one of my earliest memories. Though all I really remember is just picking out the box.

I had a lot of games for the NES. Megaman 1 through 6, both Zelda games, the two Yoshi puzzle games, the three Super Mario games, Lifeforce, Dr. Mario, Castlevania, Chip & Dale... I could go on.

My favorite game, though, is Adventure Island 2. Although Megaman 2 is a close second.

Least favorite is Duck Hunt. That dog.

As big of a Nintendo junkie I am, I have only played an NES once. Yep. Once. However, I do own an NES. After my paw paw passed away, we were looking for photos of him to make a collage for the funeral. Something we didn't expect to find however, was an NES tucked away under a wooden cabinet for who knows how long! So, I got to keep it. I cleaned it off a bit, since it was sticky and wet. It smelled like wood. So glad it doesn't anymore haha. But it sits next to where I put all my consoles, however I haven't been able to hook it up and I've had it about 8 months now. I should probably get to working on getting it working...lol

I do have one game for it, Super Mario Bros 2. It was actually a gift for someone, but they gave it back to me. :| Yeah, rude isn't it? Oh well though. I may work on building my NES library when I can figure out how to hook it up and work it, but for now, it's a nice display.

I have some other NES games on Virtual Console, but shoot, that's Wii and you don't wanna hear about that. :P I'll just say I suck at MegaMan 4. That's all.

TRIFORCE89 said:

There's third party hardware clones that work just as well. Cheaper. And can even boot other retro consoles depending on the configuration you get.

Might want to save money on the console front to build up your game library instead

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Pffft, I like original hardware and games. Which is why I give clones and 3rd party consoles a pass.

Hm, well, all I can remember is that when I was about 4-5 years old, I was playing Ice Hockey with my Dad on the NES. Ice Hockey also came with the original Super Mario Bros., but, I didn't know how to hook up or how to work the NES by myself, and, I was too shy to ask anyone to help me with that. So, I eventually had to learn everything myself. A couple of years later, I was visiting my Dad in Toronto, and I was helping out with cleaning out the Storage Room, and what do you know,there was the old NES! I took it, and tried to get it to work. Well, it was indeed working, and I also had games like Super Mario Bros 3, and Duck Hunt, but, it wasn't working on the NES all that well. Hm. Maybe it was the poor cording, or the games weren't that good, but... yeah.

Let's see... if I can remember, these were the games I played for the NES:

• Super Mario Bros.
• Duck Hunt
• Ice Hockey
• Legend of Zelda
• Super Mario Bros 3.
• Urban Champion
• Metroid
• Dr. Mario
• Donkey Kong Country
• Excitebike
• Street Fighter
• Star Fox
• Mario Bros.
• Ice Climbers

tabor62 said:

Pffft, I like original hardware and games. Which is why I give clones and 3rd party consoles a pass.

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Yeah, that's pretty much how I feel. @_@ Although, unfortunately, as I said, I just can't get my NES to work properly, so, the Wii U's Famicom event was the next best thing for me. :(


Do you guys remember the NES accessories? Like this; the Zapper:

Ahh, the picture doesn't work @.@ (no hotlinking)

Anybody know what this accessory is? (Yes, it's a real NES accessory)

tabor62 said:

Pffft, I like original hardware and games. Which is why I give clones and 3rd party consoles a pass.

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Yeah, I get that. I still have my original NES. It's just cool XD

Miss Doronjo said:

Hm, well, all I can remember is that when I was about 4-5 years old, I was playing Ice Hockey with my Dad on the NES. Ice Hockey also came with the original Super Mario Bros., but, I didn't know how to hook up or how to work the NES by myself, and, I was too shy to ask anyone to help me with that. So, I eventually had to learn everything myself.

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I used to play Super Mario Bros. with my Dad a lot. And same situation, he was the one to hook it up all the time. Dunno why. Not really a hard thing to do. lol But learned too.

Miss Doronjo said:

Let's see... if I can remember, these were the games I played for the NES:

• Super Mario Bros.
• Duck Hunt
• Ice Hockey
• Legend of Zelda
• Super Mario Bros 3.
• Urban Champion
• Metroid
• Dr. Mario
• Donkey Kong Country
• Excitebike
• Street Fighter
• Star Fox
• Mario Bros.
• Ice Climbers

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Street Fighter? Donkey Kong Country? Star Fox? Huh? Street Fighter, maybe. Was it Street Fighter 2010. DKC, no unless you have a pirate cart. Star Fox not at all. o.o I think you might have thrown some SNES games in there.

Miss Doronjo said:

Do you guys remember the NES accessories? Like this; the Zapper

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Yup, I have that.

tabor62 said:

Anybody know what this accessory is? (Yes, it's a real NES accessory)

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Never saw that before. That's interesting. Always wanted to learn piano. I should hunt that thing down XD

Oh. @_@ Sorry, yeah, I guess I got some them confused with SNES. .__.

Lemme re-list:

~ Super Mario Bros.
~ Duck Hunt
~ Ice Hockey
~ Legend of Zelda
~ Super Mario Bros 3.
~ Urban Champion
~ Metroid
~ Dr. Mario
~ Excitebike
~ Mario Bros.
~ Ice Climbers

I swore I thought I played Star Fox and DKC on NES. @_@ Unless.. maybe it was the regular "Donkey Kong" for NES? Bah, I can't remember too well; sorry. What about that R.O.B. thing? Did anyone have that?

Miss Doronjo said:

Oh. @_@ Yeah, I guess I got some them confused with SNES. .__.

Lemme re-list:

~ Super Mario Bros.
~ Duck Hunt
~ Ice Hockey
~ Legend of Zelda
~ Super Mario Bros 3.
~ Urban Champion
~ Metroid
~ Dr. Mario
~ Excitebike
~ Mario Bros.
~ Ice Climbers

I swore I thought I played Star Fox and DKC on NES. @_@ Unless.. maybe it was the regular "Donkey Kong" for NES? Bah, I can't remember too well; sorry. What about that R.O.B. thing? Did anyone have that?

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Well, Street Fighter was possible if it was Street Fighter 2010. But then I saw the other two and I was like O_o

I did not have ROB. But it was on the back of the NES box, and I'd look at that and wonder why it didn't come with it.

My NES library was small, but between Animal Crossing, the e-Reader, and the GBA rereleases I got to play more than I would have otherwise ^_^

What was the R.O.B used for anyway? I've heard that it came with an NES game of some kind, but, I never did understood the use. D:

R.O.B. was only used for two games, Gyromite and Stack-up (they suck tbh)

Miss Doronjo said:

What was the R.O.B used for anyway? I've heard that it came with an NES game of some kind, but, I never did understood the use. D:

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Gyromite and Stack-Up were early co-op (I guess?) games. If you didn't have a buddy handy to use the second controller, you had ROB around to play with. He'd open doors and turn gears and things.

I think the games were probably made with ROB in my mind. Early early on, I'm fairly certain ROB came with all NES hardware until the started labelling them as different packs (I think I had the "Action" pack or something? Zapper + Duck Hunt/Super Mario Bros.). And this was because the home video game market had experienced a bit of a crash and were frowned upon. By including ROB, Nintendo could market the NES more as a toy than as a video game system.

If you've never seen ROB in action, you should look up a video on YouTube. Kinda freaky how it moves XD

Never had a legit NES, but they used to sell pirated versions of it. I think that they are still selling them, only under a different name like Polystation or Nintendo Wee. Had great time with some games like Power Rangers (Kyoryu Sentai Zyuranger), Excite Bike, Legend of Kage etc. They sold those 99-1 cartridges haha.

I'm planning on buying a legit NES one of these days. Probably won't find many interesting games, as most people are selling some crappy games on auctions here.

Team Fail said:

I know someone that has a NES complete in-box. It was opened, but it's so cool seeing all the manuals and stuff. It just flows in nostalgia.

AND DID YOU KNOW that a knitting system was planned for the NES?

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Hahahaha, I remember that! "KNOW THAT YOUR KNITTING WITH POWER!" Was it supposed to come with a knitting game? Or... what exactly was it good for? XD

Oh, do you guys remember the Power Glove?



Cause yeaaaah those were the days that we were playing with power!

Miss Doronjo said:

Hahahaha, I remember that! "KNOW THAT YOUR KNITTING WITH POWER!" Was it supposed to come with a knitting game? Or... what exactly was it good for? XD

Oh, do you guys remember the Power Glove?

Spoiler:

Cause yeaaaah those were the days that we were playing with power!

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I heard it really sucks. Seems fun to try out though.

tabor62 said:

I heard it really sucks. Seems fun to try out though.

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Haha, yeah, it... was pretty bad. uu;

The main problem with it was that it didn't really work too well. Basically, games weren't working too well with it. Plus, the aspect of playing video games with a glove? I find that just.. weird.