The above video is a Japanese advertisement for the Famicom Disk System. What is the Famicom Disk System you might ask. Well, it was an accessory released only in Japan (but announced for other regions too) that allowed the Famicom (known as the NES in the U.S. and Europe) to read games from floppy disks. You could pay $10 for a new disk and game, or overwrite an existing game with a new one so you’d only really need a single disk.
But the Famicom Disk System is actually made of multiple devices. The first is the RAM Adaptor, which plugged into the cartridge slot which gave 32 kilobytes of RAM to temporary program storage, 8 kilobytes for sprite and tile storage and an ASIC (application-specific integrated circuit) which allowed the floppy disk drive to work. The second part of the Famicom Disk System was the disk drive itself. It could run on batteries (about six C-batteries!) or the included AC adaptor.
Many games were released for the Famicom Disk System but some ended up being released on cartridges. Many of the most popular NES titles were originally released on the FDS, including The Legend of Zelda (later re-released on the cartridge format for the Famicom in 1994), Kid Icarus and Metroid. The FDS versions of the games later released on NES cartridges were known to have better sound effects and music.
The Famicom Disk System was supported by Nintendo Co, Ltd. until 2003, and during it’s lifetime of 17 years, it sold 4.5 million units. One reason the system failed was because of its price. It was $70 for the unit and $10 for a game and disk. However, piracy soon became popular, meaning people could get games for as little as $0.50!
In the end, the Famicom Disk System was way ahead of its time, but unfortunately cartridge technology got better making the FDS obsolete.
The above picture shows the Disk Writer, used for putting FDS games on the Nintendo-branded floppy disks seen below. The image courtesy of Balduin Blog (http://balduin.wordpress.com).
This is a picture of two Nintendo-branded disks, the blue ones have a shutter on them to keep dirt out, the yellows do not. The image courtesy of NES Archive (http://www.nesarchive.net).
