[bios] Family Computer Disk System (Japan) (Rev 1)

Peripheral for the Family Reckoner

Family unit Figurer Disk System

Manufacturer	Nintendo
Type	Video game console peripheral
Generation	Third generation
Release engagement	JP: February 21, 1986
Retail availability	1986 (1986)–1990 (1990)
Discontinued	JP: 1990 JP: 2003 (software) JP: 2007 (technical back up)
Units sold	4.iv million
Media	112 KB Floppy disks
CPU	Ricoh 2A03 processor
Memory	32 kB disk enshroud viii kB game RAM[1]
Audio	1 extra channel of wavetable synth facilitated past Ricoh 2C33
Successor	Satellaview

The Family Figurer Disk System,^[a] unremarkably shortened to the Famicom Disk System ^[b] or merely Disk Arrangement, is a peripheral for Nintendo'south Family unit Computer habitation video game console, released only in Nippon on February 21, 1986. It uses proprietary floppy disks called "Deejay Cards" for cheaper information storage and information technology adds a new loftier-fidelity audio aqueduct for supporting Deejay System games.

Fundamentally, the Deejay System serves but to enhance some aspects already inherent to the base Famicom arrangement, with better sound and cheaper games—though with the disadvantages of high initial toll, slow speed, and lower reliability. Even so, this boost to the market of affordable and writable mass storage temporarily served as an enabling technology for the creation of new types of video games. This includes the vast, open up earth, progress-saving adventures of the best-selling The Legend of Zelda (1986) and Metroid (1986), games with a cost-effective and swift release such as the acknowledged Super Mario Bros. 2, and nationwide leaderboards and contests via the in-store Disk Fax kiosks, which are considered to exist forerunners of today's online achievement and distribution systems.

By 1989, the Famicom Disk System was inevitably obsoleted past the improving semiconductor engineering science of game cartridges. The Disk Arrangement'southward lifetime sales reached 4.four 1000000 units by 1990. Its final game was released in 1992, its software was discontinued in 2003, and Nintendo officially discontinued its technical support in 2007.

History [edit]

Past 1985, Nintendo'southward Family unit Computer was dominating the Japanese home video game market, selling over three million units within a year and a half.^[two] Because of its success, the company had difficulty with keeping up demand for new stock, often getting flooded with calls from retailers asking for more systems.^[2] Retailers also requested for cheaper games; the cost of chips and semiconductors fabricated cartridges expensive to make, and often cost a lot of money for both stores and consumers to purchase.^[two] Chip shortages as well created supply problems.^[ii] To satisfy these requests, Nintendo began thinking of ways to potentially lower the cost of games.^[2] Information technology turned towards the dwelling house computer market place for inspiration; Nintendo specifically looked to floppy disks which were quickly becoming the standard for storage media for personal computers.^[ii] Floppy disks were cheap to produce and rewritable, allowing games to be easily produced during the manufacturing process. Seeing its potential, Nintendo began work on a disk-based peripheral for the Famicom.^[2]

For its proprietary diskette platform, which they dubbed the "Disk Card", Nintendo chose to base it on Mitsumi's Quick Disk media format, a cheaper culling to floppy disks for Japanese habitation computers.^[2] The Disk Card format presented a number of advantages over cartridges, such equally increased storage capacity that immune for larger games, additional sound channels, and the ability to save player progress.^[ii] The add-on itself was produced past Masayuki Uemura and Nintendo Inquiry & Evolution 2, the same team that designed the Famicom itself.^[3] Following several delays, the Famicom Disk Arrangement was released on Feb 21, 1986, at a retail price of ¥15000 (U.s.$eighty).^[two] The same day, Nintendo released The Fable of Zelda equally a launch title, alongside disk re-releases of earlier Famicom games.^[4] Marketing material for the Deejay System featured a yellow mascot graphic symbol named Diskun, or Mr. Disk. The Famicom Deejay System sold over 300,000 units inside three months, jumping to over ii meg by the end of the yr.^[two] Nintendo remained confident the Disk System would exist a sure-fire success, and ensured that all future outset-party releases would be sectional to the peripheral.^[2]

Diskun, the official mascot of the Famicom Disk System.

Coinciding with the Disk Arrangement'due south release, Nintendo installed several "Disk Author" kiosks in various toy and electronic stores across the country.^[2] These kiosks allowed customers to bring in their disk games and take a new game rewritten onto them for a ¥500 fee; blank disks could too exist purchased for ¥2000.^[2] Nintendo also introduced special high-score tournaments for specific Deejay System games, where players could submit their scores direct to Nintendo via "Disk Fax" machines found in retail stores.^[2] Winners would receive sectional prizes, including Famicom-branded stationary sets and a gold-colored Punch-Out!! cartridge.^[5] Nintendo of America announced plans to release the Disk System for the Famicom'southward international counterpart, the Nintendo Amusement System, still these plans were eventually scrapped.^{[half dozen]}

Despite the Famicom Disk System's success and advantages over the Famicom itself, information technology too imposed many issues of its ain. Most common was the quality of the Disk Cards; Nintendo removed the shutters on almost Disk System games to reduce costs, instead placing them in a wax sleeve and clear plastic shell.^[two] The disks themselves are fragile, and the lack of a shutter made them collect dust and eventually go unplayable every bit a issue.^[2] Piracy was also rampant, with disk copying devices and bootleg games becoming commonplace in stores and in magazine advertisements.^[2] Third-party developers for the Deejay System were as well angered towards Nintendo'due south strict licensing terms, requiring that it receive 50% copyright ownership of any and all software released — this led to several major developers, such as Namco and Hudson Soft, refusing to produce games for it.^{[7] [8]} 4 months after the Disk Organization was released, Capcom released a Famicom conversion of Ghosts 'n Goblins on a 128k cartridge, which every bit a result made consumers and developers less impressed with the Disk System's technological features.^[vii] Retailers disliked the Disk Writer kiosks for taking up too much space and for generally existence unprofitable.^[2] The Disk Arrangement's vague error letters, long loading times, and the poor quality of the prophylactic drive chugalug that spun the disks are besides cited as attributing to its downfall.^[ii]

By 1989, advancements in engineering made cartridge games much cheaper and easier to produce, leaving the Famicom Disk Organization obsolete.^{[9] [2]} Retailers were critical of Nintendo only abandoning the Disk Writers and leaving stores with large kiosks that took up vital space, while companies began to release or move their games from the Deejay System to a standard cartridge; towards the end of development, Squaresoft ported Final Fantasy over to the Famicom every bit a cartridge game, with its ain battery backup save feature.^[ii] Nintendo officially discontinued the Famicom Disk System in 1990, selling around 4.4 million units full.^[eight] Disk writing services were all the same kept in operation until 2003,^[10] while technical services were serviced up until 2007.

Hardware versions [edit]

The Sharp Twin Famicom is a Famicom with built-in Disk Arrangement.

Sharp released the Twin Famicom, a Famicom model that features a built-in Disk Organization.

Disk Author and Disk Fax kiosks [edit]

Widespread copyright violation in Japan's predominantly personal-computer-based game rental marketplace inspired corporations to petition the regime to ban the rental of all video games in 1984.^[11] With games then being bachelor just via full purchase, need rose for a new and less expensive way to access more games. In 1986, as video gaming had increasingly expanded from computers into the video game console market, Nintendo advertised a promise to install ten,000 Famicom Disk Writer kiosks in toy and hobby stores beyond Japan inside one year.^{[8] : 75–76} These jukebox style stations allowed users to copy from a rotating stock of the latest games to their disks and go along each one for an unlimited time. To write an existing disk with a new game from the available roster was ¥500 (and so nearly The states$3.25 and 1/vi of the toll of many new games).^{[1] [viii] : 75–76} Pedagogy sheets were given by the retailer, or available by mail order for ¥100. Some game releases, such as Kaette Kita Mario Bros. (lit. The Return of Mario Bros.),^[12] are sectional to these kiosks.^{[eight] : 75 [ further explanation needed ]}

In 1987, Deejay Author kiosks in select locations were also provisioned as Disk Fax systems as Nintendo's first online concept. Players could take reward of the dynamic rewritability of blue floppy deejay versions of Disk System games (such equally Famicom Grand Prix: F1 Race and Golf Nihon Form)^[13] in order to salvage their high scores at their leisure at domicile, and then bring the deejay to a retailer'south Disk Fax kiosk, which collated and transmitted the players' scores via facsimile to Nintendo. Players participated in a nationwide leaderboard, with unique prizes.

The kiosk service was very popular and remained available until 2003. In subsequent console generations, Nintendo would relaunch this online national leaderboard concept with the home satellite-based Satellaview subscription service in Japan from 1995-2000 for the Super Famicom. It would relaunch the model of games downloadable to rewritable portable media from store kiosks, with the Nintendo Power service in Japan which is based on rewritable flash media cartridges for Super Famicom and Game Boy from 1997–2007.

Calling the Disk Writer "one of the coolest things Nintendo ever created", Kotaku says modern "digital distribution could larn from [Deejay Writer]", and that the organization's premise of game rental and achievements would nevertheless be innovative in today's retail and online stores.^[fourteen] NintendoLife said it "was truly basis-breaking for its time and could be considered a precursor of more modern distribution methods [such as] Xbox Live Arcade, PlayStation Network, and Steam".

Technology [edit]

The device is connected to the Famicom console past plugging its RAM Adapter cartridge into the system's cartridge port, and attaching that cartridge's cable to the disk drive. The RAM Adapter contains 32 kilobytes (KB) of RAM for temporarily caching programme data from disk, 8 KB of RAM for tile and sprite data storage,^[1] and an ASIC named the 2C33. The ASIC acts as a disk controller, plus single-cycle wavetable-lookup synthesizer sound hardware. Finally, embedded in the 2C33 is an 8KB BIOS ROM. The Deejay Cards used are double-sided, with a total chapters of 112 KB per disk. Many games span both sides of a disk and a few span multiple disks, requiring the user to switch at some betoken during gameplay. The Disk System is capable of running on half dozen C-jail cell batteries or the supplied AC adapter. Batteries usually last five months with daily game play. The inclusion of a battery option is due to the likelihood of a standard set of AC plugs already being occupied by a Famicom and a television.

The Deejay System'south Disk Cards are somewhat proprietary 71 mm × 76 mm (two.8 × three in) 56K-per-side double-sided floppy. They are a slight modification of Mitsumi's Quick Disk 71 mm 2.8 in square disk format which is used in a handful of Japanese computers and diverse synthesizer keyboards, along with a few word processors. QuickDisk drives are in a few devices in Europe and N America. Mitsumi already had close relations with Nintendo, as it manufactured the Famicom and NES consoles, and possibly other Nintendo hardware.

Modifications to the standard Quick Deejay format include the "NINTENDO" moulding along the lesser of each Deejay Bill of fare. In addition to branding the deejay, this acts as a rudimentary grade of copy protection - a device within the drive bay contains raised protrusions which fit into their recessed counterparts, ostensibly ensuring that merely official disks are used.^[15] If a disk without these recessed areas is inserted, the protrusions cannot raise, and the system will not allow the game to be loaded. This was combined with technical measures in the way data was stored on the deejay to prevent users from physically swapping copied deejay media into an official shell.^[fifteen] However, both of these measures were defeated by pirate game distributors; in particular, special disks with cutouts alongside simple devices to modify standard Quick Disks were produced to defeat the concrete hardware check, enabling rampant piracy. An advertizement containing a guide for a simple modification to a Quick Disk to let its apply with a Famicom Disk Organisation was printed in at least one magazine.

Games [edit]

In that location are most 200 games in the Famicom Disk System'southward library. Some are FDS exclusives, some are Disk Writer exclusives, and many were re-released years afterward the cartridge format such equally The Fable of Zelda for NES in 1987 and for Famicom in 1994. The most notable FDS originals include The Fable of Zelda, Zelda 2: The Adventure of Link, Kid Icarus, Ice Hockey, and Akumajō Dracula (Castlevania).

Square Co., Ltd. had a branch called Disk Original Group, a software label that published Disk Arrangement games from Japanese PC software companies. The venture was largely a failure and nearly pushed a pre-Final Fantasy Square into bankruptcy. Final Fantasy was to be released for the FDS, but a disagreement over Nintendo's copyright policies acquired Square to change its position and release the game equally a cartridge.^{[ citation needed ]}

Nintendo released a deejay version of Super Mario Bros. in addition to the cartridge version. The Western-market Super Mario Bros. two originated from a disk-only game called Yume Kōjō: Doki Doki Panic.^[1]

Nintendo utilized the cheaper and more than dynamic deejay medium for a Disk Author exclusive cobranded advertisement-based game, a genre now called advergames. Kaettekita Mario Bros. (lit. The Return of Mario Bros.) is a remastered version of Mario Bros. with enhanced jump controls and loftier score saving, plus a new slot machine minigame branded for the Nagatanien food company.^[12]

The final FDS game release was Janken Deejay Jō in Dec 1992, a stone paper scissors game featuring the Disk System mascot, Deejay-kun.

Legacy [edit]

The Famicom Disk System briefly served equally an enabling engineering science for the creation of a new moving ridge of home console video games and a new type of video game feel, by and large due to tripling the size of inexpensive game storage compared to affordable cartridge ROMs, and by storing gamers' progress within their vast new adventures. These games include the open world blueprint and enduring serial launches of The Legend of Zelda (1986) and Metroid (1986), with its launch game Zelda condign very popular and leading to sequels which are considered some of the greatest games of all time. Almost one decade ahead of Nintendo'southward Satellaview service, the FDS'due south writable and portable storage applied science served as an enabling technology for the innovation of online leaderboards and contests via the in-store Disk Fax kiosks, which are now seen as the earliest forerunners of modern online gaming and distribution.^[14]

Within its library of 200 original games, some are FDS-exclusive and many were re-released 1 or two years afterward on cartridges for Famicom and NES, though without the FDS's additional sound channel.

See as well [edit]

• Sega CD - A similar peripheral for the Sega Genesis.
• 64DD

Notes [edit]

1. ^ Japanese: ファミリーコンピュータ ディスクシステム, Hepburn: Famirī Konpyūta Disuku Shisutemu , abbreviated FCD or FCDS
2. ^ Abbreviated FDS

References [edit]

1. ^ ^{a b c d} Linneman, John (July 27, 2019). "Revisiting the Famicom Disk System: mass storage on console in 1986". Eurogamer . Retrieved July 29, 2019.
2. ^ ^{a b c d e f grand h i j chiliad l one thousand n o p q r s t u v} McFerran, Damien (November 20, 2010). "Feature: Slipped Disk - The History of the Famicom Disk System". Nintendo Life. Archived from the original on December 19, 2019. Retrieved January xx, 2020.
3. ^ Mago, Zdenko (Apr 5, 2018). "The "Male parent" Of the Nintendo Entertainment SystemIn Slovakia for The Get-go Time - Interview With Masayuki Uemura" (PDF). Acta Ludogica. 1: 52–54. Due to the growing demand for development, he was in charge of the management of the Research & Development 2 Division in which they worked on the development of several hardware devices such as games for colour televisions, Nintendo Family unit Estimator (Famicom), Nintendo Amusement System (NES), Super Nintendo Amusement System or BS-X Satellaview.
4. ^ Vestal, Andrew; Cliff O'Neill; Brad Shoemaker (November fourteen, 2000). "History of Zelda". GameSpot. Archived from the original on July 1, 2006. Retrieved September xxx, 2006.
5. ^ Retro Gamer Team (Dec 19, 2011). "Punch Out Special (Gold)". Retro Gamer. Archived from the original on March 31, 2019. Retrieved Jan 20, 2020.
6. ^ "Nintendo Update". Computer Entertainer. February 1986. Retrieved July 2, 2019.
7. ^ ^{a b} "Famicom Disk System". Atari HQ. June 1999. Archived from the original on October nine, 2019. Retrieved January 20, 2020.
8. ^ ^{a b c d e} Sheff, David (1994). Game Over: How Nintendo conquered the earth (1st Vintage books ed.). New York: Vintage Books. ISBN9780307800749. OCLC 780180879. Retrieved July 27, 2019.
9. ^ McFerran, Damien (July 16, 2013). "Feature: The History Of The Famicom, The Panel That Changed Nintendo's Fortunes". Nintendo Life. Archived from the original on July 31, 2019. Retrieved January xx, 2020.
10. ^ "ディスクカード書換えのご案内" (in Japanese). Nintendo Co, Ltd. Archived from the original on January five, 1998. Retrieved September 11, 2019.
11. ^ Eisenbeis, Richard (June i, 2012). "Why You Can't Rent Games in Japan". Kotaku. Retrieved June 26, 2014.
12. ^ ^{a b} Lopes, Gonçalo (May 24, 2016). "Obscure Mario Bros. Famicom Disk Organisation Game Gets Translated Into English". NintendoLife . Retrieved July 29, 2019.
13. ^ "Nintendo History". Nintendo of Europe. Retrieved October 12, 2019.
14. ^ ^{a b} Eisenbeis, Richard (March 14, 2014). "Digital Distribution Could Larn from Nintendo's Disk Writer Kiosk". Kotaku. Retrieved June 11, 2014.
15. ^ ^{a b} Plunkett, Luke. "Nintendo's Early DRM Was Simple (And Didn't Piece of work)". Kotaku . Retrieved April 25, 2019.

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Source: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Famicom_Disk_System

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