History of Tech - Part 1 - NES (Nintendo Entertainment System)

One of my all time favourite gaming consoles was the NES. But it almost didn't happen. After doing some research i learned a lot about the history and birth of one of the worlds most sort after retro gaming system to date.

In the early 80's after Atari as a company was failing,'going out of fashion', Atari had a massive surplus of consoles they couldn't sell. The option for games consoles were becoming more and more obsolete. Parents didn't want to buy them as gifts, outdoor and indoor game alternatives were ripe and plentiful, and game developers started to struggle and shut up shop as game platforms were few and far between. The gaming community and magazines alike called this 'the Game Crash of 83'. no one was buying any more and kids just weren't that interested, as they got board of the low level of games and limited functionality and lack of options for games.

In Japan however an unknown company to the rest of the world was alive and well. Over 150 years old now, the company started of making card games, then making hand held games, Nintendo had a tight grip on the hand held game industry before home video games was established.
After this, they broke into the arcade end of the industry and sold thousands of arcade machines in Japan, while the rest of the world had to suffer with an old Atari.
Nintendo's biggest success before they exploded on to the world market was the Famicom (family computer). First released in 1983, the small 8bit computer was very successful, but only in Japan, the crash of 83 was mainly in the European and US market.

The Famicom was very well received because of the increased graphic capabilities, game developers were pouring out game after game because of the simplicity, and the quality of the games were a lot better than anything before it.
So after the success of the Famicom in Japan, Nintendo made the decision to sell it in the US and Europe, but the timing of the release couldn't of been any worse.
Before they could sell the Famicom world wide, they had to give the console a makeover to attract consumers, who at the time weren't buying anything game related any more. They didn't want another platform that would be high on expectation and low on delivery.
The first redesign of the console was called the 'Advanced video system', it came complete with a keyboard, musical keyboard, the system was black, flat and sleek, taking cues from the knight rider shows that were popular in both the UK and US. They displayed it at the Consumer Electronics Show in the US and Nintendo received bad reviews from consumers and retailers alike.

They went back to the drawing board and were told ''you have an hour to redesign it or we wont sell in the us market place''. Within an hour, yes, an hour of design work, they came up with the Nintendo Entertainment System that we all love. They did away with the top loading cartilage, it was now front loading and sealed design. Both the keyboards had gone, the floppy drive from the AVS was removed and they reused the gamepads from the Famicom to give us the NES.
Nintendo at the time didn't want to put resources into building up a stockpile of consoles and setting up factories if it wasn't going to sell, so they decided to release the NES to a test market in New York. The test group of kids they used did not like the NES one bit and ultimately the test was a failure.

Undeterred, they took it back again and made a few touches to the console, but also came up with the R.O.B. The robot to encourage retailers to sell the NES which they didn't, the thing that put NES over the top was the Dual game of Mario and duck hunt, combined with the 'Zapper' gun, sold as a package helped the NES break into a broken US Market. But to secure the market, Nintendo gave retailers a deal they couldn't refuse. Nintendo would provide displays, would provide the consoles, the retailers wouldn't have to pay them for 12 months. And any consoles not sold, Nintendo would buy back.
In 1985, 50'000 units were shipped to stores throughout New York, the NES went on sale and Nintendo waited patiently to see if it would take off.
Thanks to the NES's unique looks, features and line up of games that put previous consoles to the dirt. The NES was a huge success in New York, selling almost all 50'000 units.
With Mario Bros. being the main title that came free with the NES helped it sell as fast as it did. Previously Mario was only available as an arcade game, and instead of feeding the arcade machine money and having to visit the arcade, you could buy the game and the console, take it home and play it for under $80.

Other retailers like Toys 'r' Us approached Nintendo and offered to sell in other small markets like New York. Nintendo rightfully refused, and in September 1986 over a million units were shipped to retailers world wide.
The NES exploded, with TV, radio adds, posters and magazine reviews, Nintendo struggled to keep up with demand, and buy January of 1987 following Christmas had sold nearly 3 million units and some games were selling at a million units each. By this time, third party games were available from comic writers, the film industry, cartoons, Walt Disney, Warner brothers and independent game makers. The gaming industry literally exploded.
From then on, Nintendo had restored faith in the gaming industry, and it was back, stronger than ever.
By the time when Nintendo Launched the NES's replacement, the Super NES, there was a total of over 700 games available. That is more games than all previous consoles combined.

Without the NES, games today may not be as well advanced as they are now and we could still be stuck playing Mario in Arcades. not that i would mind. i love the older retro games.

Thanks for Reading.

@TechMojo

Images...
https://thesurfingpizza.com/2009/02/20/topps-nintendo-scratch-off-trading-cards/
https://sv.wikipedia.org/wiki/Famicom
http://nintendoage.com/forum/messageview.cfm?catid=5&threadid=148124
https://www.nintendo.com/nes-classic/
http://www.thegameisland.com/store/index.php?route=product/product&product_id=446