Tag: Famicom
Feature The Unsung Genius Who Tempted Nintendo's President To Pick Up A Joypad
"He could see the Promised Land, but wasn't allowed to enter it"
The world of video games, like any other, is full of seemingly inconsequential moments which cause ripples that become shockwaves that can determine not just the course of a single company, but the entire industry. With Nintendo, there are numerous moments like this; Gunpei Yokoi's...
News Bandai Namco Announces The Namcot Collection For Nintendo Switch
Launching in Japan this June
During the Japanese Nintendo Direct, Bandai Namco revealed it would be releasing the Namcot Collection for Switch on 18th June 2020. No, it's not a typo, 'Namcot' was the name Namco used for its console publishing business between 1984-1995. This upcoming collection will be available as a physical release and as a free...
News Hey Nintendo, Can We Please Have Famicom Wars?
You know, the original Advance Wars game
After months of waiting, Nintendo has finally announced the next batch of SNES and NES titles will be added to the Switch Online service next week. There are a total of six titles coming to the libraries in America and Europe, but as usual, the line-up is slightly different in Japan. This time around, it's...
Random Reimagining The Famicom As An Apple-Style Home Computer
Introducing the Family Computer PVM System
The classic Nintendo Famicom was a design masterpiece compared to the boxier version which regions outside of Japan got in the form of the NES. Around the time of its release, there was a bit of a trend for having combined CRT monitors incorporated into a gaming device, such as the Vectrex from 1982. Later,...
News Fan Releases English Translation Patch For Namco's Famicom Game Youkai Douchuuki
Fight through Hell
Long before Level-5 launched its Yo-Kai Watch video game series on Nintendo hardware, there was an old school Famicom game released in 1988 about the supernatural monsters, creatures, spirits, ghosts and demons commonly found in Japanese folklore. The game we're referring to is Youkai Douchuuki. It starred a young boy named...
Random Artwork In Retro Japanese Magazine Depicts Link As A Female
Long before Linkle's existence
Back in 2015, The Legend of Zelda fanbase went wild when Koei Tecmo confirmed a female version of Link would be added to Hyrule Warriors Legends. As official as 'Linkle' was, she might not have necessarily been the first female version of the iconic character. Twitter account
News The Switch Famicom Controller's Microphone Actually Works, Just Like The Original
Could future Joy-Con have a mic built-in?
As you may well remember, to coincide with the launch of the Nintendo Switch Online - Nintendo Entertainment System collection, both NES and Famicom-style wireless controllers were released for the Switch for online subscribers only. The Famicom versions are exclusive to Japan - just like the system on which...
Random Child Holding Famicom Controller The Wrong Way Causes Outrage Online In Japan
We live in dark times
If you ever want to cause mass outrage in Japan, apparently all you need to do is hold a Famicom controller upside down, get someone to take a photo of it and then wait until it goes viral on the internet. This is what happened earlier this week when a photo of a child holding a Famicom controller the wrong way supposedly...
News Bandai Namco Files Trademarks For Classic Famicom And NES Titles
A link to the NSO?
Bandai Namco might have plans for a handful of Famicom and NES games in the near future. According to Gematsu, the Japanese company recently filed trademarks for games that were originally released on Nintendo's classic hardware. These games include Battle City, Warpman, Final Lap, Family Pinball and Aratanaru Densetsu. As the...
News Wireless Famicom Controllers Are Being Released For The Nintendo Switch In Japan
Available in a two pack
While the western Nintendo Direct was happening, Japan also held its own presentation. During this, it was revealed Japanese Switch owners would be able to play Famicom games via the Nintendo Switch Online service with the assistance of brand new wireless Famicom controllers. These controllers will even be available in a two...
News Nintendo Classic Mini Double Pack Releasing In Japan On 15th September
Double the fun!
The NES Classic Mini and SNES Classic Mini have been a roaring success, with sales for both devices temporarily outperforming modern generation video game systems during certain mo
Hardware Review The Shōnen Jump 50th Anniversary Famicom Classic Mini Is Gorgeous, But Pointless
Nintendo loves gold, only gold
Nintendo may have fixed the supply issues which plagued the launches of the NES and SNES Classic Editions, but many will still be haunted by the devilish degree of difficulty they exper
News How Sharp Accidentally Copyright Trolled Nintendo Almost 40 Years Ago
Famicom Wars
First, let us kick off this article by saying happy birthday to the Family Computer! Released in July 1983, (July 15th, to be exact) the 8-bit warhorse is turning 35 years old this year. That's quite a milestone for even long forgotten hardware, but Famicom/NES games still live on today, either as part of the Classic Mini line or as...
News The Internet Is Pouring Some Serious Salt On That PC Port Of Chrono Trigger
Why couldn't it just port the DS version?
Let's not beat around the bush, Chrono Trigger is one of the greatest RPGs of all time, so it's understandably one of those games treated with an almost palpable sense of reverence. So when Square Enix, seemingly out of nowhere, released a port on PC, fans old and new rejoiced. Until, that is, they realised...
News Fan-Made "Mega Maker" is Releasing Next Week
DIY Mega Man
“Super Mario Maker's” popularity proved something most people in the ROM hacking community already knew for years: there is a game designer hidden in all of us. Yet most of us do not have the technical expertise to look up code and understand how it works. Level editors are nothing new, of course, going as far back as some games...
Video Tinkling The Ivories With Doremikko, The Famicom's First Piano Video Game
Welcome to the Magic Forest
Those of you old enough to have been alive during the NES era may recall seeing adverts for Miracle Piano Teaching System, released in 1990. It aimed to teach kids how to play the piano via the on-screen instructions delivered using the NES itself, but despite its groundbreaking nature, it wasn't the first device of its...
News Famicom Title "Ganbare Goemon Gaiden: Kieta Ōgon Kiseru" Translated to English
1990 JRPG spin-off includes healthy doses of Ebisumaru
Despite very few and far between official Western releases, Konami’s “Ganbare Goemon” series has quite a following outside of Japan, a deserved status considering that despite a few ninja duds it is a strong and solid series that made its way across several generations of Nintendo...
News Famicom Version of "Rampart" Translated to English
But your castle is (with)in another castle!
If you fought in the great medieval wars of the 1990s, you might read the headline and wonder what the fuss is all about. After all Atari's "Rampart", a perfect mix of artillery / puzzle game, conquered the arcades and gained quick cult status among gamers; it also had many home conversions, even managing...
News Italian Discontinuation of the NES Mini Seals Its Fate
Our favourite Italian plumber is saddened
In yet another confirmation that wraps up the final applicable region, the NES Mini has reportedly been confirmed as discontinued in Italy. Following North America, Japan and Australia, this marks Europe as the fourth
News The Famicom Classic Edition Has Now Also Been Discontinued
No new information on the NES Classic Edition production in Europe
As we reported earlier, the NES Classic Edition has been discontinued in North America. It also appears, via an update on the official website, that the same has occurred for the Famicom Classic Edition in Japan. A message on the site says: This product has ended production for...
News Nintendo Has Discontinued The NES Classic Edition in North America
No information available for other regions
Earlier this year there was chatter online around the potential discontinuation of the Nintendo Entertainment System: NES Classic Edition (Nintendo Classic Mini: Nintendo Entertainment System in Europe); some retailers in Scandinavia, for example, suggested they'd been told no more stock was coming, but...
News Three Old-School Nintendo Racing Classics Get Translated Into English
Rev Up Your 8 and 16-Bit Engines
Long before Mario and crew jumped into karts back in 1992, they were already quite adept in the racing genre in Japan - Formula 1 to be precise. The popularity of this motorized sport in the Land of the Rising Sun meant that dozens of F1 games were released for both Famicom, Famicom Disk System and Super Famicom with...
News The Fan-Made Famicom Pocket Squeezes Nintendo's 8-bit Wonder Into A Game Boy's Frame
Famicom classics on the go
We recently got our hands on the Famicom Classic Mini and it is truly a thing of beauty. However, it's mighty tempting to sacrifice its innards for the greater good after we watched the video above. The modders over at Kei Studio have seemingly achieved the impossible and ripped out the guts of a Famicom Mini and...
Hardware Review Famicom Classic Mini
The NES Classic Mini's Eastern relation
With the NES Classic Mini currently proving to be quite hard to find at retail right now, chances are that the thought of sourcing its Japanese sibling may have crossed your mind. Released at the same time and boasting a design which imitates that of the system that started it all – 1983's "Family Computer",...
News There's Another Famicom Chiptune Cart Coming Next Year
8bit Music Power Final to contain 18 tracks
The idea of someone releasing a chiptune album on a Famicom cartridge might seem strange if it hadn't happened once already, but that doesn't make the impending launch of 8bit Music Power Final any less exciting or unique. Riki is the developer and Columbus Circle is the publisher, and the cart will hit...
News Famicom Mini Leads The Way In Japanese Charts, Leg Warmers May Be Next for a Big Comeback
Affordable '80s nostalgia beats everything
Nintendo, it seems, has been missing the trick for years. With clone systems everywhere, and SEGA giving rights to people working out of sheds to produce ROM-filled Mega Drive / Genesis systems (or so it seems based on their quality), Nintendo releases one and the world goes crazy. Naturally Nintendo has...
Random Transformers Crossed With The Famicom Equals The Best T-Shirt Ever
YOU MUST NEVER FORGET MIND IN EXPECTATION AND THE LOVE OF THOSE DAYS!
As any child of the '80s will tell you, Transformers were amazing. We're not talking about Bay-formers here - we mean Generation One, the series that started it all. We mean toys which actually looked like real vehicles, and boasted just as much die-cast metal in their...
Random We Explore What the NES Classic Edition Will Fit Inside, in the Name of Science
It's better than an NX rumour
As you're probably aware, we at Nintendo Life are committed to bringing you the biggest, best, and most important news stories every day of the week. This is not one of those times, and so instead we're sticking the NES Classic Edition in as many household objects as we can find. You can see it all unfold in the video...
News Famicom RPG Musashi No Bōken Gets New English Translation Patch
Dubbed "The Adventures of Musashi Jr."
From the big pile of JRPGs that flooded the market in Japan after the success of both Dragon Quest and Final Fantasy comes this 1990, feudal Japan-themed adventure featuring the son of Musashi and his Tanooki companion, because… well, it's feudal Japan, so there had to be a Tanooki throw in there. Musashi no...
News Take A Look Inside Nintendo's Vintage Hardware Storage Room
Minty fresh
As part of Nintendo's celebration of the original release of The Legend of Zelda 30 years ago in 1986, the company is posting a series of features on its Japanese site, the latest of which gives a tantalising glimpse into one of the most interesting rooms in its Kyoto HQ. Packed with mint and boxed Famicom consoles,
News There's Another HDMI-Ready Famicom On The Way This Year
Say hello to the FC Compact
Japan is getting an official mini Famicom this year which apes the approach taken with the NES Classic Mini, but it's not the only option if you want crystal clear retro gaming goodness on your HD telly. Japanese firm Columbus Circle is launching the FC Compact on November 30th for 7,992 Yen, and it offers bot
News Those Famicom Mini Pads Sure Are Small
Dinky details
The NES Classic Mini isn't the only hardware release Nintendo is making this year - the company has confirmed that Japan is getting its own variant, based on the Famicom. Japanese site Akiba PC Hotline has hands-on photos of the new syst
News This Cart Could Contain The First Code Satoru Iwata Ever Wrote For Nintendo
A little piece of history
Nintendo president Satoru Iwata passed away last year at the age of 55. Beloved by gamers and responsible for seeing the company through one of its most successful periods, Iwata started out as a developer in the early 1980s, joining HAL Laboratory and collaborating closely with Nintendo on Famicom titles. It would seem...
Video Learn The Full Story Of The Famicom Disk System With The Gaming Historian
Slipped disk
The Gaming Historian (aka Norman Caruso) is back with ever more luscious hair to get us up to speed with the ill-fated Famicom Disk System. Nintendo considered the Disk System the future of the Famicom, and promised bigger, cheaper games through the hardware iteration. To get a better understanding of how the Famicom Disk System came...
News NES Visual Compendium Kickstarter Hit With Intellectual Property Dispute
Legally blind
We recently reported on the Kickstarter campaign for Bitmap Books' NES/Famicom: A Visual Compendium. Part of the publisher's long-running Visual Compendium series - which has previously featured the Commodore, Amiga and ZX Spectrum - the book is intended as a celebration of Nintendo's iconic 8-bit console, a machine which changed the...
News Bitmap's Next Visual Compendium Turns Its Attention To The Nintendo Entertainment System
And the Famicom, of course
UK publisher Bitmap Books has carved out quite a niche for itself in recent years. Focused on quality coffee table tomes related to video gaming, the company has produced a wide range of retro classics, with the most recent examples being the lavish Artcade and positively lush Super Famicom: Th
Art Meet The Famicube, The NES Successor That Only Exists In A Parallel Universe
NES 1.5
Given that Sony and Microsoft are chewing up the column inches with rumours of "updated" versions of their current consoles, it seems fitting that we should take a look at an amazing project by Swedish artist and programmer Arne Niklas Jansson for what he dubs "the NES 1.5" - a console which would have bridged the gap between the NES and...
News Obscure Mario Bros. Famicom Disk System Game Gets Translated Into English
It's Kaettekita Mario Bros!
The Famicom Disk System (FDS for short) and its diskettes might have not set Japan ablaze as Nintendo had hoped they would but the system still managed to get a decent library of games, and was also responsible for the debut of both the Metroid and Zelda franchises. One unique title was Kaettekita Mario Bros.
News There's A New Famicom Game Being Released In Japan
Yes, it's still getting games
Japanese artist and programmer RIKI - the same chap who did the brilliant 8bit Music Power "cartridge album" - is bringing his homebrew indie hit Kira Kira Star Night to the Famicom as a physical release. Released in 2013 and shown off to great acclaim at BitSummit back in 2014, the side-scrolling platformer boasts...
Weirdness A New Animation is Found in Super Mario Bros. 3
It's only taken 28 years
It's amazing that still to this day, quirks and hidden information in the video games of yesteryear are still being surfaced from players around the world. The latest addition to this is NES classic Super Mario Bros. 3. For those accustomed with this title, you'll know that when our heroic plumber becomes Hammer Mario, he...
News Meet The Famicom Machine Gun Peripheral That Never Made It Out Of Japan
Complete with realistic recoil system
It's easy to forget just how massive the NES was back in its glory days, but even that system paled in comparison to the near-domination that its Japanese counterpart - the Famicom - enjoyed in its homeland. Simply put, the Nintendo "Family Computer" was the only real game in town if you were a Japanese player,...
Chipping away
In the world of music vinyl is currently enjoying something of a resurgence, with the antiquated audio format coming back from the dead to take pride of place in any self-respecting hipster's living room. While it's unlikely that this trend has anything to do with the release of RIKI's 8Bit Music Power, parallels can nevertheless be...
Random Conduct Interviews in Retro Style With a Famicom Voice Recorder
Hopefully isn't 8-bit sound
A number of the UK-based Nintendo Life crew spent four days at EGX in Birmingham recently, an expo with all of the noise, fun and shenanigans you'd expect. Your humble writer wasn't to be found out in the wilds of the main hall, however, but conducting interviews with plenty of Indie developers; the burden of...
Weirdness Japanese Company Wants To Bring NES Games To Smartphones Via A Tiny Cartridge
Small device plugs into into your headphone socket
Modern gaming is becoming increasingly focused on digital distribution, with publishers making use of online stores such as the Wii U and 3DS eShops to deliver games directly to consumers without having to produce physical media. With rumours that Nintendo's next console could abandon physical...
Enjoyable interlude
It's undoubtedly a good thing when Nintendo starts releasing older titles on the eShop that are otherwise fairly difficult to find or play. But does VS. Excitebike, originally only released on the Famicom Disk System in Japan in 1988, offer enough extra content compared to the original to justify a purchase? As the core of the...
News The Famicom is 32 Years Old Today
Should have a steady job and a mortgage by now
Here's one to make some of us feel old - the Famicom is 32 years old today, released in Japan on 15th July 1983. It was, of course, the system that would be revamped and remodelled as the NES in October 1985 in North America. Famicom was the shortened name for Family Computer; a key difference of this...
Interview Aaron Hamel on Bringing the Mother Original Arranged Soundtrack to the West
We talk about the soundtrack’s history, future projects, and much more
We recently reported on the Kickstarter campaign that has been launched with the goal of giving the Mother Original Arranged Soundtrack a western release. In just four short days the campaign smashed its funding goal and is now well on
Weirdness Meet The Studybox, The Famicom's Audio Edutainment System
Video games have often been twinned with education to create fun, interactive experiences which both entertain and enlighten, but one of the oldest examples has to be Fukutake Publishing's Studybox, a tape drive peripheral for the Famicom (the Japanese version of the NES) which ran tape-based games that featured actual recorded audio. Using...
News The NES Story Began On This Day 31 Years Ago
We are Family (Computer)
31 years ago today, Nintendo Co., Ltd. released the Famicom console in Japan, an event which would herald the beginning of the firm's wildly successful relationship with home video games. Hitting store shelves at 14,800 Yen (around $145 / £84 / 107 Euros), the system wasn't an instant hit with the Japanese public. Sales...
News Mother 25th Anniversary Fanfest Teleports in this 5th July
Celebrating the Zero fans have always wanted
Many of us caught the bus with Shigesato Itoi's quirky RPG series through EarthBound, but well before that came his first game, Mother. Also known as EarthBound Zero, Mother was released July 1989 in Japan and, unfortunately, nowhere else officially since. Not one to dismiss a reason to celebrate their...
