Editing Family Computer

|release='''Family Computer:'''<br>{{flag list|Japan|July 15, 1983|ROC|1987|British HK|1991}} '''Nintendo Classic Mini: Family Computer:'''<br>{{flag list|Japan|November 10, 2016}}

|discontinued='''Family Computer:'''<br>September 25, 2003<ref name=Discontinue>http://www.webcitation.org/5nXieXX2B</ref><br>

|predecessor={{wp|Color TV-Game}}

|successor=[[Super Nintendo Entertainment System|Super Famicom]]

{{quote|If you were to strike up a friendship with a Japanese gamer and happened to ask him whether he owned a [[Nintendo Entertainment System|NES]] back in the '80s, you'd probably be met with a blank stare.|''{{wp|Official Nintendo Magazine}}''}}

[[File:Family Computer Logo.png|left|250px]] The '''Family Computer''' (often shortened to '''Famicom''') is a third-generation video game console created by [[Nintendo]]. It was released in Japan on July 15, 1983; Taiwan in 1987; and Hong Kong in 1991. Because the latter region previously saw an official release of its {{wp|Western world|Western}} counterpart, the [[Nintendo Entertainment System]] (or NES), the Hong Kongese release of the Famicom was marketed as a "second-generation" hardware revision, adding the ability to toggle between PAL 50 Hz and PAL 60 Hz output.<ref>{{cite|author=Akfamilyhome|date=April 1, 2020|url=https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=IToY_73pRHU|publisher=YouTube|title=A History of Nintendo's Hong Kong Releases|language=Cantonese & English (English subtitles available)|archive=https://web.archive.org/web/20240525112253/https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=IToY_73pRHU|accessdate=June 5, 2024}}</ref> Nintendo additionally arranged a deal with the Russian technology company Steepler in 1994 to permit the sale of a clone console called the Dendy in the former Soviet Union in exchange for providing equal distribution for the [[Super Nintendo Entertainment System]].<ref>{{cite|author=Игорь Пичугин|date=November 1, 1994|url=https://www.kommersant.ru/doc/94004|title=Соглашение Steepler и Nintendo|publisher=Газета "Коммерсантъ"|language=Russian|archive=https://web.archive.org/web/20190427025842/https://www.kommersant.ru/doc/94004|accessdate=June 1, 2024}}</ref><ref>{{cite|author=Семён Костин|date=December 14, 2021|url=https://dtf.ru/games/970617-legenda-o-slone-kak-it-kompaniya-steepler-sozdala-dendy-i-osnovala-rossiiskii-konsolnyi-rynok|title=Легенда о слоне: как IT-компания Steepler создала Dendy и основала российский консольный рынок|publisher=DTF|language=Russian|archive=https://web.archive.org/web/20240601223552/https://dtf.ru/games/970617-legenda-o-slone-kak-it-kompaniya-steepler-sozdala-dendy-i-osnovala-rossiiskii-konsolnyi-rynok|accessdate=June 1, 2024}}</ref> The console would be redesigned for the West as the Nintendo Entertainment System. The Family Computer's controllers were attached to the main unit, unlike those of the NES, and could be stored on the sides of the system. Player One's controller can pause the game, and Player Two's controller has audio controls. The cartridges were half the size of the NES's, and were inserted in the top instead of through a door in the front (like on the NES). Instead of looking like a vertical cartridge, like the NES, a Famicom cartridge more closely resembles an audio cassette but can be found in different colors, such as red, yellow, and blue. By the release of ''[[Super Mario Bros.]]'', Nintendo had already sold over four million units.<ref>{{cite|language=ja|url=www.ndw.jp/post-714|title=上村雅之さん 大いに語る。 ファミリーコンピュータ インタビュー（後編）（2013年10月号より）|publisher=[[Nintendo DREAM|''Nintendo DREAM Web'']]|accessdate=June 18, 2023}}</ref> The redesigned '''New Famicom''' (often called the '''AV Famicom''') would release in Japan on December 1, 1993. The Famicom sold 19.35 million units in Japan and would be discontinued on September 25, 2003.<ref name=Discontinue />

A few months after the July 1983 release of the Famicom, Sharp produced the {{wp|Nintendo Entertainment System models#Sharp Nintendo Television|Sharp C1 Famicom TV}}, a combined console and TV unit packaged with ''[[Donkey Kong Jr. + Jr. Sansū Lesson]]''. The following year, Sharp released the Playbox BASIC and [[Family BASIC]] accessories, allowing users to program in {{wp|BASIC}} on their Family Computers, and included characters of the [[Super Mario (franchise)|''Super Mario'' franchise]] as programmable sprites.

In February 1986, the [[Family Computer Disk System]] accessory was released, and it enabled games to be played on the Family Computer in the form of a disk. Many newer games that were never released on the Family Computer or NES were released only on the Disk System, such as ''[[Super Mario Bros.: The Lost Levels]]''.

In 1987, the {{wp|Famicom 3D System}} accessory was released, but like the future [[Virtual Boy]], it flopped. This is compatible with the Disk System game ''[[Famicom Grand Prix II: 3D Hot Rally]]''.

On September 29, 2016, Nintendo announced the '''Nintendo Classic Mini: Family Computer''', the Family Computer counterpart of the [[Classics#NES Classic Edition|NES Classic Edition]],<ref>{{cite|date=September 29, 2016|url=www.nintendo.com/jp/topics/article/d2923b54-8552-11e6-9b38-063b7ac45a6d|language=ja|title=ファミコンが、手のひらサイズで"再"登場！|publisher=Nintendo|accessdate=May 31, 2024}}</ref> and was released alongside it in Japan on November 10, 2016. Like the NES Classic Edition, it includes 30 pre-installed Family Computer games, although with some differences in the game lineup, such as ''[[NES Open Tournament Golf|Mario Open Golf]]'' in place of ''[[Donkey Kong Jr. (game)|Donkey Kong Jr.]]'' Production for the console was discontinued in April 2017.<ref>{{cite|author=Sephazon, Robert|date=April 14, 2017|url=www.nintendolife.com/news/2017/04/the_famicom_classic_edition_has_now_also_been_discontinued|title=The Famicom Classic Edition Has Now Also Been Discontinued|language=en|publisher=Nintendo Life|accessdate=May 31, 2024}}</ref>

*In ''[[Super Mario Bros.: Peach-hime Kyūshutsu Dai Sakusen!]]'', [[Mario]] himself owns a Famicom, on which he plays an unnamed video game which bears some similarities to ''[[Super Mario Bros.]]'' [[Princess Peach]] and [[Bowser]] also teleport through the television to which the Famicom is connected, although they do not appear to have any role at all in the game Mario is playing.

*In ''[[Paper Mario: The Thousand-Year Door]]'', during [[Princess Peach]]'s Interlude after Chapter 5, [[TEC]] asks Peach to drink an invisibility potion in order to secretly enter [[Grodus]]'s chamber and upload important data on a disk into the room's computer. When this happens, the computer screen shows the Famicom Disk System boot-up sequence.

*In the Japanese version of ''[[WarioWare: Smooth Moves]]'', the microgame [[Super Nostalgic Entertainment System]] uses a Family Computer instead. The Famicom controller also appears as a sound effect icon in the [[Sound Studio]].

*In ''[[WarioWare Gold]]'', the Famicom appears as a collectible Nintendo [[list of souvenirs in WarioWare Gold|souvenir]].

 

===''Super Mario'' games===

FC DK new.png|''Donkey Kong'' alternate cartridge

FC SMB.png|''[[Super Mario Bros.]]''

FC WW.png|''[[Wario's Woods (Nintendo Entertainment System)|Wario's Woods]]''

===Miscellaneous===

Made in Wario site 9-Volt controller.gif|Pictogram of a Famicom controller from the official [[WarioWare (series)|''Made in Wario'']] website

{{Systems}}