The Family Computer Disk System (ファミリーコンピュータ ディスクシステム Famirī Konpyūta Disuku Shisutemu?, FDS) was released on February 21, 1986 by Nintendo as a peripheral for the Family Computer ("Famicom") console in Japan. Events 362 - Athanasius returns to Alexandria. 1245 - Thomas, the first known Bishop of Finland Year 1986 ( MCMLXXXVI) was a Common year starting on Wednesday (link displays 1986 Gregorian calendar) is a Multinational corporation headquartered in Kyoto Japan founded on The Nintendo Entertainment System (often abbreviated as NES or simply Nintendo) is an 8-bit Video game console that was released by For a topic outline on this subject see List of basic Japan topics. It was a unit that used proprietary floppy disks for data storage. A floppy disk is an increasingly Obsolete data storage medium that is composed of a disk of thin flexible ("floppy" Magnetic storage medium encased It was announced, but never released, for the North American Nintendo Entertainment System. The Nintendo Entertainment System (often abbreviated as NES or simply Nintendo) is an 8-bit Video game console that was released by Through its entire production span, 1986-2003, 4. 5 million units were sold. [1]
The device was connected to the Famicom deck by plugging a modified cartridge known as the RAM Adapter into the system's cartridge port, which attached via a supplied cable to the disk drive. The RAM adapter contained 32 kilobytes of RAM for temporary program storage, 8 kilobytes of RAM for tile and sprite data storage, and an ASIC known as the 2C33. A kilobyte (derived from the SI prefix Kilo -, meaning 1000 is a unit of Information or Computer storage equal to either 1024 In Computer graphics, a sprite (also known by other names see Synonyms below is a two-dimensional/three-dimensional Image or Animation that The ASIC acted as a disk controller for the floppy drive, and also included additional sound hardware featuring primitive FM synthesis capabilities. The disk controller (or "hard disk controller" is the circuit which allows the CPU to communicate with a Hard disk, Floppy disk or A 220 Hz carrier tone modulated by a 440 Hz modulating tone with The floppy disks used were double-sided, with a capacity of 64 kilobytes per side. Many games spanned both sides of a disk, requiring the user to switch sides at some point during gameplay. A few games used two full disks (four sides). The Famicom Disk System was capable of running on six C-cell batteries or the supplied AC adapter. In electronics a battery is a combination of two or more Electrochemical cells which store chemical Energy which can be converted into electrical energy The battery option was included due to the likelihood of a standard set of AC plugs already being occupied by a Famicom and a television.
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History
In 1986, the disks' 128K of storage space was quite appealing. Year 1986 ( MCMLXXXVI) was a Common year starting on Wednesday (link displays 1986 Gregorian calendar) A kilobyte (derived from the SI prefix Kilo -, meaning 1000 is a unit of Information or Computer storage equal to either 1024 The rewritable aspect of the disks also opened up interesting possibilities; games such as The Legend of Zelda (the first FDS game), Metroid, and Kid Icarus were released to the FDS with a save feature. is a Video game designed by Shigeru Miyamoto and developed and published by Nintendo. is the first game in the ''Metroid'' series of video games It was released first for the Famicom Disk System on August 6, 1986 For the title character see Pit. For the series as a whole see Kid Icarus (series. Many of these titles were subsequently ported to cartridge format and released for the NES a year or two later, with saving implemented with password resume or battery-backed memory. See also Software portability In Computer science, porting is the process of adapting software so that an executable program can be created
Hardware versions
Sharp released the Twin Famicom (ツインファミコン Tsuin Famikon?), a composite console of both Famicom and Disk System under license. () is a Japanese Electronics manufacturer founded in 1912 It takes its name from one of its founder's first inventions the Ever-Sharp Mechanical pencil, which
Technology
The FDS disks were somewhat proprietary 2. 8" × 3" 64K-per-side double-sided floppy. These "Disk Cards," as Nintendo called them, were a slight modification of Mitsumi's "Quick Disk" 2. ( is a Japanese Manufacturer of human-interfacing devices founded in 1954 A floppy disk is an increasingly Obsolete data storage medium that is composed of a disk of thin flexible ("floppy" Magnetic storage medium encased 8" square disk format which was used in a handful of Japanese computers and various synthesizer keyboards, along with a few word processors. Some of the QuickDisk drives even made it into devices in Europe and North America, though they were somewhat rare. Mitsumi already had close relations with Nintendo, as it manufactured the Famicom and NES consoles, and possibly other Nintendo hardware. The Nintendo Entertainment System (often abbreviated as NES or simply Nintendo) is an 8-bit Video game console that was released by
BIOS
Nintendo's flagship mascots Mario and brother Luigi make an appearance in the FDS's BIOS. is a Fictional character created by game designer Shigeru Miyamoto. is a Video game character created by Nintendo 's game designer Shigeru Miyamoto. In Computing, the BIOS (ˈbaɪoʊs After turning on the system, a "battle" between the two characters would begin over the color scheme of the Nintendo sign and screen border, until a disk is inserted into the FDS.
Piracy
Within a year of its release, piracy of the FDS disks became rampant via use of slightly modified QuickDisks and different disk copying techniques. Hacker publications such as Backup Technique (which later became Game Labo, still published today) and Famicom Kaizō Manual showed the plans to make various devices to copy the disks along with very simple plans to convert QuickDisks to FDS disks. At least a couple issues of Backup Technique even advertised products like the Dubbing Boy and the Dubbing Boy II for copying the disks, which were commercialized versions of some of the do-it-yourself projects that the publications wrote articles on. To thwart this piracy, Nintendo changed one of the ICs in the drive to a newer version and made slight modifications to some of the traces on the other PCB within the drive. Techniques were quickly published to build modification boards to circumvent these measures. Certain software techniques were used by some programmers to thwart the copying of their disks, but even these were circumvented by certain unlicensed FDS programs like Disk Hacker (versions include 1. 1, 1. 2, 1. 3, and II), Kosodate Gokko, Copy Master, Disk Keeper, and others, which facilitated the copying of disks.
Reliability issues
While the Disk System was years ahead of its time in terms of a disc-format game console, the system and games both have reliability issues. The drive belt in the drive is a proprietary size, and standard floppy drive belts are too big. In addition, no drive in the U. S. uses that size belt, so replacement belts must be obtained from Japan. Until 2004, Japanese residents were able to send their systems to Nintendo directly for repairs/belt replacements, but Nintendo of America and the PAL regions do not service them. The PAL region is a Video game publication territory which covers Australia, New Zealand, the United Kingdom and varying European countries The old belts have a habit of breaking or even melting on occasion.
In addition, the disks themselves must be tested and verified to work on both sides, as the FDS disks’ construction can allow dirt to get into the disk, or even for the disk to demagnetize over time. Even one bad sector on a disc will render it unplayable. A bad sector is a sector on a computer's Disk drive that cannot be used due to permanent damage such as physical damage to the disk particles In an effort to save money on production, Nintendo opted to not use disk shutters (a feature seen on 3.5” floppy disks) to keep dirt out, instead opting to include wax paper sleeves as with the older 5.25” floppies. A floppy disk is an increasingly Obsolete data storage medium that is composed of a disk of thin flexible ("floppy" Magnetic storage medium encased A floppy disk is an increasingly Obsolete data storage medium that is composed of a disk of thin flexible ("floppy" Magnetic storage medium encased The only exception to this were certain games that were special released on blue discs (which did have shutters).
Games
Square Co., Ltd. had a branch at one point called 'Disk Original Group', a software label that published Disk System titles from Japanese PC software companies. was a Japanese Video game company founded in September 1983 by Masafumi Miyamoto. The venture was largely a failure and almost pushed a pre-Final Fantasy Square into bankruptcy. is a Console role-playing game developed and published in Japan by Square (now Square Enix) in and published in North America by Nintendo (Final Fantasy was to be released for the FDS, but a disagreement over Nintendo's copyright policies caused Square to change its position and release the game as a cartridge. )
Nintendo released a disk version of Super Mario Bros. in addition to the cartridge version. is a Platform game developed by Nintendo in late 1985 and published for the Nintendo Entertainment System, a sequel to the 1983 game Mario The Western-market Super Mario Bros. 2 originated from a disk-only game called Yume Kōjō: Doki Doki Panic. Super Mario Bros The Lost Levels, known in Japan as, is a platformer Video game developed and published by Nintendo for the Famicom Disk is a Japanese Video game released for the Famicom Disk System about a family who plans to rescue two children
Launch titles
For information on launch titles, see the Famicom Disk System section of the article on launch titles. This is an incomplete list of Launch titles for various games consoles
Mr. Disk
Nintendo would hold game score contests, and the mascot was called Disk-kun (Mr. Disk). Some of the prizes to these contests included 2 gold prize disks, one for the game Golf US course, and one for Golf Japan course (Not to be confused with the title simply called Golf). These two gold disks had metal shutters on them, like the aforementioned blue disks. Other prizes were a stationary set, and a gold cartridge version of the NES/Famicom Punch-Out!! titles. In the gold version of Punch-Out!!, the final boss was Super Macho Man, before Nintendo used Mike Tyson and Mr. Dream instead in later NES versions.
Trivia
In the Gamecube video game Super Smash Bros. Melee, switching the language to Japanese (via the options menu) would also result in the trophy gallery's NES and Super NES being replaced with a Famicom and Super Famicom, respectively. The, often abbreviated as GCN, is Nintendo 's fourth home Video game console and is part of the sixth generation console era. often abbreviated SSBM or Melee, is a crossover Fighting game released for the Nintendo GameCube shortly after its launch in ( in the The Nintendo Entertainment System (often abbreviated as NES or simply Nintendo) is an 8-bit Video game console that was released by The Super Nintendo Entertainment System or Super NES (also called SNES and Super Nintendo) is a 16-bit Video game console that was The Super Nintendo Entertainment System or Super NES (also called SNES and Super Nintendo) is a 16-bit Video game console that was Additionally, Disk-kun could be unlocked as a trophy via accessing all bonus scores.
See also
References
External links
- Video of Famicom Disk System features at Powet. This is a list of Famicom Disk System Video games All of these games have been released in Japan or Asia. Virtual Console, sometimes abbreviated as VC, is a specialized section of the Wii Shop Channel, an online service that allows players to purchase and download TV
- More Disk System video at Powet. TV
- Video Game Den - Famicom Disk game reviews, screenshots, boxart
- Famicom World - More information on the Famicom Disk System
- N-sider.com - NintendOnline - 4 page article about Nintendo's online history