Editing Nintendo Entertainment System

| releasedate = [[Japan|JP]]: 1983-07-15<br />[[North America|NA]]: 1985-10-18<br />EU: 1986-09-01<br />EU/[[Australasia|AU]]: 1987<br />[[Brazil|BR]]: 1993

| lifespan = 1983–2003

| price = [[Japanese yen|¥]]14,800 (Japan) <br />$179 (US Deluxe Set)

| discontinued=NA: 1995-08-14}<br />JP: September 25, 2003

| unitssold = Worldwide: 61.91 million <br />Japan: 19.35 million <br />Americas: 34.00 million <br />Other: 8.56 million

| media = [[ROM cartridge]] ("Game Pak")

| controllers = 2 controller ports<br />1 expansion slot

|topgame=*''[[Super Mario Bros.]]'' ([[Pack-in game|pack-in]]), 40.24 million <small>(as of September 13, 2010)</small>

* ''[[Super Mario Bros. 3]]'' (pack-in), 18 million <small>(as of July 27, 2008)</small>

* ''[[Super Mario Bros. 2]]'', <br />10 million

The '''Nintendo Entertainment System''' (or '''NES''' for short) is an [[8-bit]] [[home video game console]] developed and manufactured by [[Nintendo]]. It is a remodeled export version of the company's '''Family Computer''' ('''FC''') platform in [[Japan]], also known as the '''Famicom''' for short, which launched on July 15, 1983. In the U.S. the NES was launched through test markets in New York City and Los Angeles in 1985, before being given a full nationwide launch in 1986. The NES was launched in Europe during 1986 and 1987, and Australia in 1987. Brazil saw only unlicensed clones until the official local release in 1993. In South Korea, it was packaged as the '''Hyundai Comboy''' and distributed by [[SK Hynix]] which then was known as [[Hyundai|Hyundai Electronics]]; the Comboy was released in 1989.

The [[List of million-selling game consoles|best-selling gaming console]] of its time, the NES helped revitalize the US video game industry following the [[North American video game crash of 1983]]. With the NES, Nintendo introduced a now-standard [[business model]] of licensing [[Video game developer|third-party developers]], authorizing them to produce and distribute titles for Nintendo's platform. It was succeeded by the [[Super Nintendo Entertainment System]].

The original Japanese Famicom was predominantly white plastic, with dark red trim. It featured a top-loading cartridge slot, grooves on both sides of the deck in which the hardwired game controllers could be placed when not in use, and a 15-[[pin]] expansion port located on the unit's front panel for accessories.

In the UK, Italy and Australia which share the PAL-A region, two versions of the NES were released; the "Mattel Version" and "NES Version". When the NES was first released in those countries, it was distributed by Mattel and Nintendo decided to use a lockout chip specific to those countries, different from the chip used in other European countries. When Nintendo took over European distribution in 1990, it produced consoles that were then labelled "NES Version"; therefore, the only differences between the two are the text on the front flap and texture on the top/bottom of the casing.

In December 1993, the Famicom received a similar redesign. It also loads cartridges through a covered slot on the top of the unit and uses non-hardwired controllers. Because HVC-101 used composite video output instead of being RF only like the HVC-001, Nintendo marketed the newer model as the '''AV Famicom'''. Since the new controllers don't have microphones on them like the second controller on the original console, certain games such as the Disk System version of ''The Legend of Zelda'' and ''[[Raid on Bungeling Bay]]'' will have certain tricks that cannot be replicated when played on an HVC-101 Famicom without a modded controller. In October 1987, Nintendo had also released a 3D graphic capable headset called the [[Famicom 3D System]] (HVC-031). This peripheral accessory was never released outside Japan.

When Nintendo released the NES in the US, the design styling was deliberately different from that of other game consoles. Nintendo wanted to distinguish its product from those of competitors and to avoid the generally poor reputation that game consoles had acquired following the [[North American video game crash of 1983|video game crash of 1983]]. One result of this philosophy was to disguise the cartridge slot design as a front-loading [[zero insertion force]] (ZIF) cartridge socket, designed to resemble the front-loading mechanism of a [[Videocassette recorder|VCR]]. The newly designed connector worked quite well when both the connector and the cartridges were clean and the pins on the connector were new. Unfortunately, the ''ZIF connector'' was not truly zero insertion force. When a user inserted the cartridge into the NES, the force of pressing the cartridge down and into place bent the contact pins slightly, as well as pressing the cartridge’s ROM board back into the cartridge itself. Frequent insertion and removal of cartridges caused the pins to wear out from repeated usage over the years and the ZIF design proved more prone to interference by dirt and dust than an industry-standard card edge connector. These design issues were not alleviated by Nintendo’s choice of materials; the console slot nickel connector springs would wear due to design and the game cartridge copper connectors were also prone to [[tarnish]]ing. Many players would try to alleviate issues in the game caused by this corrosion by blowing into the cartridges, then reinserting them, which actually hurt the copper connectors by speeding up the tarnishing.

The Famicom contained no lockout hardware and, as a result, unlicensed cartridges (both legitimate and bootleg) were extremely common throughout Japan and the Far East. The original NES (but not the top-loading [[Nintendo Entertainment System (Model NES-101)|NES-101]]) contained the [[10NES]] lockout chip, which significantly increased the challenges faced by unlicensed developers. Tinkerers at home in later years discovered that disassembling the NES and cutting the fourth pin of the lockout chip would change the chip’s mode of operation from "lock" to "key", removing all effects and greatly improving the console’s ability to play legal games, as well as bootlegs and converted imports. NES consoles sold in different regions had different lockout chips, so games marketed in one region would not work on consoles from another region. Known regions are: USA/Canada (3193 lockout chip), most of Europe (3195), Asia (3196) and UK, Italy and Australia (3197). Since two types of lockout chip were used in Europe, European NES game boxes often had an "A" or "B" letter on the front, indicating whether the game is compatible with UK/Italian/Australian consoles (A), or the rest of Europe (B). Rest-of-Europe games typically had text on the box stating "This game is not compatible with the Mattel or NES versions of the Nintendo Entertainment System". Similarly, UK / Italy / Australia games stated "This game is only compatible with the Mattel or NES versions of the Nintendo Entertainment System".

Problems with the [[10NES]] lockout chip frequently resulted in the console's most infamous problem: the blinking red power light, in which the system appears to turn itself on and off repeatedly because the 10NES would reset the console once per second. The lockout chip required constant communication with the chip in the game to work. Dirty, aging and bent connectors would often disrupt the communication, resulting in the blink effect. Alternatively, the console would turn on but only show a solid white, gray, or green screen. Users attempted to solve this problem by blowing air onto the cartridge connectors, inserting the cartridge just far enough to get the ZIF to lower, licking the edge connector, slapping the side of the system after inserting a cartridge, shifting the cartridge from side to side after insertion, pushing the ZIF up and down repeatedly, holding the ZIF down lower than it should have been, and cleaning the connectors with alcohol. These attempted solutions often became notable in their own right and are often remembered alongside the NES. Many of the most frequent attempts to fix this problem instead ran the risk of damaging the cartridge and/or system. In 1989, Nintendo released an official NES Cleaning Kit to help users clean malfunctioning cartridges and consoles.

In response to these hardware flaws, "Nintendo Authorized Repair Centers" sprang up across the U.S. According to Nintendo, the authorization program was designed to ensure that the machines were properly repaired. Nintendo would ship the necessary replacement parts only to shops that had enrolled in the authorization program. In practice, the authorization process consisted of nothing more than paying a fee to Nintendo for the privilege. In a recent trend (July 2016), many sites have sprung up to offer Nintendo repair parts, guides, and services that replace those formerly offered by the authorized repair centers.

The NES contains 2&nbsp;[[kilobyte|kB]] of onboard work [[Random-access memory|RAM]]. A game cartridge may contain expanded RAM to increase this amount. The size of NES games varies from 8 kB (Galaxian) to 1 MB (''Metal Slader Glory''), but 128 to 384&nbsp;kB was the most common.

The NES uses a custom-made [[Picture Processing Unit]] (PPU) developed by [[Ricoh]]. All variations of the PPU feature 2&nbsp;[[kilobyte|kB]] of video RAM, 256&nbsp;bytes of on-die "object attribute memory" (OAM) to store the positions, colors, and tile indices of up to 64 [[Sprite (computer graphics)|sprites]] on the screen, and 28&nbsp;bytes of on-die palette RAM to allow selection of background and sprite colors. The console's 2&nbsp;kB of onboard RAM may be used for tile maps and attributes on the NES board and 8&nbsp;kB of tile pattern ROM or RAM may be included on a cartridge. The system has an available [[Palette (computing)|color palette]] of 48 colors and 6 grays. Up to 25 simultaneous colors may be used without writing new values mid-frame: a background color, four sets of three tile colors and four sets of three sprite colors. The NES palette is based on NTSC rather than RGB values. A total of 64 sprites may be displayed onscreen at a given time without reloading sprites mid-screen. The standard [[display resolution]] of the NES is 256 horizontal pixels by 240 vertical pixels.

Video output connections varied from one model of the console to the next. The original HVC-001 model of the Family Computer featured only [[RF modulator|radio frequency (RF) modulator]] output. When the console was released in North America and Europe, support for composite video through [[RCA connector]]s was added in addition to the RF modulator. The HVC-101 model of the Famicom dropped the RF modulator entirely and adopted composite video output via a proprietary 12-pin "multi-out" connector first introduced for the Super Famicom/Super Nintendo Entertainment System. Conversely, the North American re-released NES-101 model most closely resembled the original HVC-001 model Famicom, in that it featured RF modulator output only. Finally, the PlayChoice-10 utilized an inverted RGB video output.

The NES supports expansion chips contained in certain cartridges to add sound channels and help with data processing. Developers can add these chips to their games, such as the Konami VRC6, Konami VRC7, Sunsoft 5B, Namco 163, and two more by Nintendo itself: the Nintendo FDS wave generator (a modified Ricoh RP2C33 chip <!-- (including [[Programmable sound generator|PSG]] + [[DPCM]]) --> with ''single-cycle wave [[table-lookup synthesis|table-lookup sound]]'' support), and the Nintendo [[Memory Management Controller]] 5 (MMC5). Due to wiring differences between the Famicom and NES, a stock NES console is incapable of passing through audio generated by expansion chips utilizing additional sound channels, but can be modified to regain this capability.

The [[game controller]] used for both the NES and the Famicom featured an oblong brick-like design with a simple four button layout: two round buttons labeled "A" and "B", a "START" button and a "SELECT" button. Additionally, the controllers utilized the cross-shaped [[D-pad|joypad]], designed by Nintendo employee [[Gunpei Yokoi]] for Nintendo [[Game & Watch]] systems, to replace the bulkier [[joystick]]s on earlier gaming consoles’ controllers.

The original model Famicom featured two game controllers, both of which were hardwired to the back of the console. The second controller lacked the START and SELECT buttons, but featured a small [[microphone]]. Relatively few games made use of this feature. The earliest produced Famicom units initially had square A and B buttons. This was changed to the circular designs because of the square buttons being caught in the controller casing when pressed down and glitches within the hardware causing the system to freeze occasionally while playing a game.

Instead of the Famicom's hardwired controllers, the NES features two custom 7-pin ports on the front of the console to support swappable and potentially third-party controllers. The controllers bundled with the NES are identical and include the START and SELECT buttons, allowing some NES versions of games, such as ''[[The Legend of Zelda (video game)|The Legend of Zelda]]'', to use the START button on the second controller to save the game at any time. The NES controllers lack the microphone, which is used on the Famicom version of ''Zelda'' to kill certain enemies, or for singing with karaoke games.

A number of special controllers were designed for use with specific games, though were not very popular. Such devices include the Zapper light gun, the [[R.O.B.]], and the [[Power Pad]]. The original Famicom features a deepened [[D-subminiature|DA-15]] expansion port on the front of the unit, which is used to connect most auxiliary devices. On the NES, these special controllers are generally connected to one of the two control ports on the front of the console.

Near the end of the NES's lifespan, upon the release of the AV Famicom and the top-loading NES 2, the design of the game controllers was modified slightly. Though the original button layout was retained, the controller's shape resembles that of the SNES's controller. In addition, the AV Famicom dropped the hardwired controllers in favor of detachable controller ports. The controllers included with the Famicom AV have 90&nbsp;cm (3 feet) long cables, compared to the 180&nbsp;cm (6 feet) of NES controllers.

The original NES controller has become one of the most recognizable symbols of the console. Nintendo has mimicked the look of the controller in several other products, from promotional merchandise to limited edition versions of the Game Boy Advance.

''[[Family BASIC]]'' is an implementation of BASIC for the Famicom, packaged with a keyboard. Similar in concept to the Atari 2600 ''BASIC'' cartridge, it allows the user to program their own games, which can be saved on an included cassette recorder. Nintendo of America rejected releasing ''Famicom BASIC'' in the US because it did not think it fit their primary marketing demographic of children.

The [[Famicom Modem]] connected a Famicom to a now defunct proprietary network in Japan which provided content such as financial services. A dialup modem was never released for NES.

A thriving market of unlicensed NES hardware [[Clone (computing)|clones]] emerged during the climax of the console's popularity. Initially, such clones were popular in markets where Nintendo never issued a legitimate version of the console. In particular, the [[Dendy (console)|Dendy]], an unlicensed hardware clone produced in Taiwan and sold in the former [[Soviet Union]], emerged as the most popular video game console of its time in that setting and it enjoyed a degree of fame roughly equivalent to that experienced by the NES/Famicom in North America and Japan. A range of Famicom clones was marketed in Argentina during the late 1980s and early 1990s under the name of [[Family Game NES Clone|"Family Game"]], resembling the original hardware design. The [[Micro Genius]] ([[Simplified Chinese characters|Simplified Chinese]]: 小天才) was marketed in Southeast Asia as an alternative to the Famicom; Samurai was the popular [[PAL]] alternative to the NES; and in Central Europe, especially Poland, the [[Pegasus (console)|Pegasus]] was available. Samurai was also available in India in early 90s which was the first instance of console gaming in India. Since 1989, there were many Brazilian clones of NES, and the very popular Phantom System (with hardware superior to the original console) caught the attention of Nintendo itself.