|
|
| john ricciardi's home page - www.nokonoko.net |
Today, July 15, marks the 20th anniversary of the release of Nintendo's Family Computer, or 'Famicom,' the Japanese equivalent of the classic Nintendo Entertainment System. Indeed, two decades ago on this very day, the most important system in the history of gaming made its debut in shops all across Japan, along with the first three games: Donkey Kong, Donkey Kong Jr. and Popeye.
It's hard to believe it's been 20 years already. I could wax poetic for hours about the glory days of the Famicom and what the system meant to me and how it affected my life (see the previous entry on Super Mario Bros. 3 for a small sampling), but instead I'm going to point you to a few excellent sites that should help bring back some great memories and maybe even teach you a few things you didn't know about the little 8-bit machine that could (and did):
The oldest and best NES information site around, created and maintained by the same fine fellow who runs Video-Fenky (see below).
Gamers.com's NES 15th Anniversary Feature
A killer 25+ page feature highlighting the life and times of ye olde NES, back when it turned 15 years old in October 2000. Of course, Gamers' servers are slow as molasses now, but it's still worth the wait. (I uh, guess I should mention that I was involved with the creation of this feature, but don't let that stop you from checking it out ASAP!)
A promising five-part feature that kicked off yesterday. Nice art, good info so far. Definitely worth keeping an eye on.
And of course, watch out for V-Fen as I'm sure he'll be posting something worth reading in relation to the Famicom's birthday sometime in the next 24-48 hours. If not there, then perhaps he might be cooking something up at his day job...?
Now if you'll excuse me, I must get back to Super Mario Bros. 3...
EDIT: Look at what they're doing to commemorate the anniversary. If that isn't the coolest-looking Game Boy I've ever seen...
Posted by john tv at July 15, 2003 12:21 AM | TrackBackHmmm, what's this?
http://atarihq.com/tsr/special/gt.html
:-p
Posted by: GMan at July 14, 2003 10:22 PMHey, cool interview. I wanna check out that game someday. :) (On a real NES, not an emulator.)
Posted by: john tv at July 15, 2003 10:53 AMI know this is crazy, but I'm actually thinking about buying a Famicom on the way home to celebrate :)
I'm definitely going to be entering that GBASP competition too. I was going to buy all those games anyway. It's a shame they are stopping the Famicom production. Do you know if Nintendo have any plans to keep their Famicom titles playable in some other form?
Posted by: JonnyRam at July 15, 2003 03:06 PMOn the twentieth anniversary of the Super Famicom, they should make a special edition GameBoy Advance SPX4, with SFC-style buttons. Hopefully there'll be four face buttons by then.
In America, they can make two versions: Clean Beige and Vintage Yellow.
That's cash waiting to happen right there.
Posted by: tim at July 15, 2003 07:09 PM> Do you know if Nintendo have any plans to keep their Famicom titles playable in some other form?
Yes, it's called the Game Boy Advance. For games so nice you'll buy them twice!
Posted by: Andrew Vestal at July 15, 2003 09:34 PMHah. But, seriously, I have no idea what they're planning. I imagine for now they'll stick to Doubutsu no Mori emulation and GBA ports until they finally get a proper online thing going, at which point it'd be pure idiocy not to provide the games for download for a small fee or a monthly charge or something along those lines. They could make a killing off of a service like that...
Posted by: john tv at July 15, 2003 10:00 PMIt's possible they would start allowing them to be emulated on the cell phones if the emulators are fast enough. Although, I suspect if the phones are fast enough you will not need to subscribe to play them if you know what I mean :-p If you missed it there was already a GB emulator for the 504 series but it was not fast enough. I wonder if that J-Phone Sharp that Rob had is.
Also, play M.C. Kids on a GBA Flashcart with savestates. Much better. ;-) But, whatever you do, don't play this one
http://www.atarihq.com/tsr/nes/rvt.html
Posted by: Gman at July 15, 2003 11:59 PMLooks like you can further your chances by going to Tsutaya...
http://www.watch.impress.co.jp/game/docs/20030716/tsutaya.htm
Argh! I *just* bought Kirby's Air Ride yesterday for EGM. Hrm. It's still in the shrink wrap... I wonder if I could return it and buy it there instead. I'm not sure I fully understood the details of the campaign but it sounds like Kirby is one of the eligible games, no?
Nice catch!
Posted by: john tv at July 16, 2003 09:53 PM| ©2003 john ricciardi - all rights reserved - the only constant is change. |