All the way back in 1988, Nintendo would show to the media a brand new piece of hardware that would eventually become the Super Famicom, or the Super NES in the West. It was an exciting time for the gaming community as Nintendo entered the 16-bit era, though it seems certain details from the reveal have slipped through the cracks in the years since — or perhaps just the cracks in our memory!
Friend-of-the-site Mike Diver reached out to Twitter asking about this 'Famicom Adapter' system Nintendo unveiled but never brought to market, and it looks to have been an early version of the top-loading New-Style NES or NES-101 (or the AV Famicom as it was known in Japan).
Looking at the image, this system appears to be an early attempt to reimagine the Famicom/NES to align with the more modern design sensibilities of the then-upcoming Super Famicom/SNES.
Now, unreleased Nintendo hardware always gets our juices flowing, but what's particularly interesting here is that this console appears to have been conceived as both a standalone system and as an optional expansion to the Super Famicom, meaning users would only require one set of AV leads going into their television sets. You can see the prototype unit sitting next to an early version of the Super Famicom in the tweet above. You can also see that this ill-fated hardware revision used Super Famicom controllers, too, further extending the design language across generations.
That the Super Famicom wouldn't be backward compatible with the previous console's library was a source of consumer upset at the time, with gamers and families having spent a lot of money over the years building an 8-bit Nintendo library. This system appears to be a half-step, Nintendo-like solution to that problem... except it involved making you buy another console anyway. Yep, sure sounds like Nintendo!
The 'Famicom Adapter' never materialised, of course, paving the way for the release of the totally standalone 'New NES' revision and the slightly different AV Famicom in Japan (the case had a flat top to maintain compatibility with the Japan-only Famicom Disk System) in 1993 — and the Super NES would eventually get its own similarly cute 'New' revision, too. The AV Famicom included a more rounded controller, although it only had two face buttons compared to the unreleased prototype version:
Looking back, it's fascinating to see what could have been. The 'Famicom Adapter' certainly shares a few similarities to the NES-101 but we would have loved to have it sit side-by-side with the SNES in a Genesis 2/SEGA CD 2-style arrangement!
Do you recall seeing this 'Famicom Adapter' before? Would you have preferred it to the NES-101? Let us know in the comments below!
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[source chrismcovell.com, via twitter.com]
Comments 25
Prefer my box NES thanks, but an interesting article. Playing SMB and Star Wars just feels how it should do on me old grey box NES. Long live my man cave and all the old consoles in there!
Misleading cover picture and you know it🤣
@karatekid1612 the top loading nes was way better. A godsend almost. It was better at reading cartridges and eliminated ppl blowing their cartridges and such.
It's super cute! I would have loved to have had one. It's like a baby Super Famicom.
I had wanted that top loader so bad back I the day. I had an SNES by then, and my mom sold off my NES collection and OG NES. I just couldn't stand that they angled the A and B buttons like the Game Boy. Not ergonomic to me, especially for run n jumps, but I'm sure many loved it.
@Strictlystyles maybe but living in the UK, I only found out about this about 5 minutes ago and I'm 51 yrs old Won't be looking at this as my next retro hardware purchase, but an interesting add on never the less.
That NES top loader was so awesome back then, most people I know often mistake it as another Super NES system due to the similar design and controllers. Those dog bone controllers are also quite good and well made as well.
@Strictlystyles If you didn't blow into a NES/Cartridge, you didn't live.
@Strictlystyles I've liked your comment.
I've also reported this article and it's misleading photo to the InterNet Police.
@Strictlystyles
And, it's region-free!
@karatekid1612 I've been gaming since 1992 and only found out about the Top-loader a few years ago.
@ModdedInkling I have one of these and I didn’t even know that.
@Strictlystyles Yeah, but in the US release they did something weird with the video output - it was RF only - and it generates weird noise lines in the display. Now, if you have a Japanese A/V Famicom with the composite output or a modded unit, they are wonderful!
Guessing this was planned I'm case of a massive outcry from public as a way of making the passing of the console torch easier and when it turned out n reality few people cared past a few mic on the street interviews they scrapped it. Once 16 bit came in most kids were done with 8bit.
@karatekid1612 I prefer the top loader for not bending the pins on cartridges
So basically, Nintendo was considering doing something similar to what Atari had done a couple years prior — they had re-released the 2600 as the "Atari 2600 Jr", which was redesigned to resemble the newly released Atari 7800, and released it at a lesser/budget price point.
Although in Atari's case, the 7800 was already backward compatible with (most) 2600 games, and the Junior was being put out primarily to try and squeeze whatever money was still left in the marketplace for the classic system from those who may have been reluctant to buy a new unfamiliar console.
Nope, never heard of that one before. Makes we wonder what other regions would have gotten if they were released. Top loader was the pretty much the same the world over, the NES and Famicom on the other hand were way different looking.
It looks... chubby? Idk is that a good way to describe it? I just look at it and think ‘Hmm yes, chonk‘
@retroman64 I never had this problem until I brought a retron 5 however after watching a piece on youtube, I can now do it without wrecking my nes games. Also I luckily got hold of an old nes in mint condition and so far so good with the pins.
@BlueGBAMicro sooner than me then! I must of missed this one on numerous occasions
@karatekid1612 I've been told a PAL toploader exists but was only sold in Australia.
That's probably even lesser known than this prototype console.
@KingMike I'm from Australia and I had one then gave it to my friend as a Christmas present when the N64 came out since he didn't have any game consoles in his house.
It used to be weird going to my cousins house and seeing their huge box NES's with their square controllers.
@KingMike thanks for the info, that would make sense then!
Why can’t they bring these consoles back. Just like record players. I know al lot of people who would buy this in an instant.
@karatekid1612 just beware the pins can wear out after only a about a year of use which requires replacing them. The biggest myth of NES games glitching back in the day was dust in the cart, turns out it was the pins all along. I have a top loader from 1993, and games play like a breeze on it.
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