Home Gaming The Nintendo Famicom was anything but cheap

The Nintendo Famicom was anything but cheap

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famicom

Time for a history lesson! We’re all more than familiar with the Super Famicom console. Call it a Teevee garmez machine, or a Golden China console, pretty much everyone here grew up with it. And chances are, that your console was an off-white machine with a hint of go-faster red slapped on it. Was that colour scheme because of cheap plastics being chosen? Nope! It was actually the opposite.

Speaking to Weekly Playboy via Kotaku, former Nintendo Hardware Designer Masayuki Uemura says that the vintage console came with the vanilla Kit Kat colours because it would have been better in the long run, not cheaper.

Famicom Carts

“Originally, the inexpensive steel body we planned to use was too fragile,” Uemura explained. “So we changed it to a highly durable plastic.” So what was the deal then with the red plastic? IT Media, a Japanese site, claimed in 2010 that Nintendo used that material because it was cheaper than your mom.

Not true, said Uemura:

The reason why we used the dark red was simply due to an order from the company’s president (Hiroshi Yamauchi). Our President often wore a scarf that was a similar dark red color, with the reason being this was a color he liked.

Personally, I never had the white and red Famicom. Mine was hipster blue, no matter how much I pleaded with my parents that I wanted to be mainstream. I still see plenty of the Famicoms in junk shops and at flea markets, which is a testament to just how well they were actually made. No red rings of death ever graced my machine, I’ll tell ya that much.

Last Updated: May 2, 2013

49 Comments

  1. umar bastra

    May 2, 2013 at 10:54

    But dem cartridges …. You blew them didn’t you? Don’t be shy we all blew them

    Reply

    • OVG OfflineVideoGamer

      May 2, 2013 at 11:05

      Threw a few out of the window into the rainy street after many quit rages. Still works.

      Reply

      • Sir Rants-a-Lot Llew

        May 2, 2013 at 11:07

        I’ve stepped on one before and just had the circuit board. Still worked. Spilt juice on it. Still worked.

        Those cartridges would survive a nuclear war along with the cocroaches

        Reply

        • OVG OfflineVideoGamer

          May 2, 2013 at 11:13

          8 16 64 GameCube all work just fine.

          Not so with the current gen and even worse for the next gen as these things turn into mini power stations with more heat sinks than Chernobyl.

          Nintendo built their shit to last. Where as Microsoft built their shit to break. 70 million consoles and probably 40million on a pile somewhere. Good money making tactic. How many people bought more than 1 console this gen and did you notice how these things started breaking a month after the Warranty ran out.

          The RROD was implemented on purpose. Tin foil hat not included.

          Reply

          • umar bastra

            May 2, 2013 at 11:15

            But when did people just turn over and start to accept this sh*t

          • OVG OfflineVideoGamer

            May 2, 2013 at 11:17

            When they had a collection of $600 worth of shit hot games in the corner.

            Get early adopters then build your install base then you can bleed them dry and they will keep coming back for more.

          • umar bastra

            May 2, 2013 at 11:25

            Gamers these days are like junkies and Companies are like drug lords sadly.

          • Jim Lenoir (Banana Jim)

            May 2, 2013 at 11:19

            Yeah, it boils down to the principle of designed obsolescence. They want you to buy a new model every year or two. Apple didn’t spearhead it,but they certainly made it possible, and Microsoft adopted it. Now, you’re lucky if your new TV survives beyond 5 years.

            My mom’s old wooden tube TV still works, after freaking 35+ years. That TV is older than me. I think when it dies, I die.

          • Sir Rants-a-Lot Llew

            May 2, 2013 at 11:22

            We have an old Sansui, 74cm, CRT tv that weighs a ton. It’s been struck by lightning 4 times, had the cathode tube replaced twice, fallen down steps during a move, been water damaged, things thrown at it (remotes and the like. May or may not have been me) and it hasn’t died. It’s currently not being used but gets switched on every so often to see if it works. Still perfect.

            That’s what electronics should be like.

          • OVG OfflineVideoGamer

            May 2, 2013 at 11:28

            Jim at moms house… 2013 🙂
            Explains why you bought a VITA

          • Jim Lenoir (Banana Jim)

            May 2, 2013 at 11:31

            HEY MY MOM MAKES NICE FOOD!! I’ll VISIT HER EVERY WEEK IF I COULD!

            Jim runs away crying!

          • OVG OfflineVideoGamer

            May 2, 2013 at 11:36

            lol just look after that TV

          • Unavengedavo

            May 2, 2013 at 11:41

            If you stare at that picture long enough you can swear the hand moved :O

          • Jim Lenoir (Banana Jim)

            May 2, 2013 at 11:46

            hehehe those old tvs were built to survive a nuclear explosion. After all, what will the survivors do? They’ll need their tv…

      • umar bastra

        May 2, 2013 at 11:09

        Man those things were solid …. man I miss the days of swapping cartridges with my friends

        Reply

        • Jim Lenoir (Banana Jim)

          May 2, 2013 at 11:17

          Yeah you could drop a famicom and it wouldn’t break. I strapped mine to my bike and as I was making my way to my friend’s place, it fell off. It hit the ground hard. My heart sank….

          Yet… that Thing STILL works… Whenever I visit my mom, I take the console out of storage and give it the ol’ Jimmy loving. Just amazing that after all these years, it still goes strong. The controller is fucked though, but you can still play a game.

          Reply

          • umar bastra

            May 2, 2013 at 11:23

            hahaha firstly …. Jimmy lovin … that sounds nice lol

            But indeed those can last forever . My heart stops some times when I hear my Xbox make a weird sound as if it is going to die soon.

            But we all have such good memories with these consoles. As if this famicon comprised of our entire childhood

    • Jim Lenoir (Banana Jim)

      May 2, 2013 at 11:22

      heheheh we all blew them!

      Reply

    • Devon Stanton

      May 2, 2013 at 12:00

      I blew on them cartridges so hard I spat on them … for that little bit extra

      Reply

    • Skyblue

      May 3, 2013 at 08:42

      Damn, the shit you remember when reading a single sentence, guilty

      Reply

  2. OVG OfflineVideoGamer

    May 2, 2013 at 11:02

    Was the Famicon just the NTSC version of the NES?
    My baby still works. I just have to wiggle and blow wiggle and blow. Then let the Megaman 2 intro music commence. No loading 🙂

    Reply

    • Unavengedavo

      May 2, 2013 at 11:05

      “wiggle and blow wiggle and blow”
      [INSERT BAD PORNO BACKGROUND MUSIC]

      Reply

      • OVG OfflineVideoGamer

        May 2, 2013 at 11:08

        Insert MASSIVE cartridge for play ;P

        Reply

        • Unavengedavo

          May 2, 2013 at 11:12

          Only after turning it on ;P

          Reply

        • Admiral Chief Erwin

          May 2, 2013 at 11:46

          In other words, you can’t play?
          😛

          Reply

    • Exalted Overlord Geoffrey Tim

      May 2, 2013 at 11:13

      Famicom was available in both NTSC (Japan) and PAL (Hong Kong). It was just the “Asian” version. Yes, I had one.

      Reply

      • OVG OfflineVideoGamer

        May 2, 2013 at 11:19

        looks kind of ugly. The American SNES also looked shit.
        PAL UK Winner. Oh those sleek curves of the snes are etched into my brain like the first time I saw Cindy Crawford in her undies :p

        Reply

  3. Sir Rants-a-Lot Llew

    May 2, 2013 at 11:07

    Ah that off white and red. Such nostalgia *sigh* I miss that. I think I need to go buy myself one sometime and get some games to go with it, attach it to my TV and enjoy the simple joys of gaming as it should be enjoyed

    Reply

    • CaptainNemo42

      May 2, 2013 at 11:14

      Contra in HD! Muhahaha!

      Reply

      • Sir Rants-a-Lot Llew

        May 2, 2013 at 11:16

        Booooooyeaaaah!

        Reply

  4. Jim Lenoir (Banana Jim)

    May 2, 2013 at 11:13

    I had a black Golden China console with golden rims… and then a few months later, my mom got me a red famicom. Those were the days! 😀

    Reply

    • Admiral Chief Erwin

      May 2, 2013 at 11:45

      RIMS!

      PIMP MY GC!!! Dawg

      Reply

  5. Eric Viljoen

    May 2, 2013 at 11:18

    The only console to be fixed by violence. “It’s not broken. You just need to smack it this way”

    Reply

    • Jim Lenoir (Banana Jim)

      May 2, 2013 at 11:20

      Hahahah so true! SO DAMN TRUE!

      Reply

      • Sir Rants-a-Lot Llew

        May 2, 2013 at 11:23

        Reminds me of that scene in Armageddon. “Russian components, american components. All made in Taiwan!” *BANG BANG BANG* ….. works…..

        Reply

  6. Ricardo Harvey

    May 2, 2013 at 11:21

    Well you couldnt play all night because the adapter would EXPLODE according to you parents, oh and no you cant play on the big TV my boy because those games damage the tv. Miss those days, after 2 hours of playing you put your hand on the adapter and hope you can keep going before it turns into a nuclear experiment.

    Reply

    • Skyblue

      May 3, 2013 at 08:45

      Very well said! You made me LOL hard coz I can relate.

      Reply

  7. Zach Attakk Groenewald

    May 2, 2013 at 11:57

    Mine is near-mint and still fully functional. At the moment it’s plugged into an LCD TV which sort of ruins the nostalgia but I have plans for an old 108cm CRT dedicated to retro games when I get my man cave one day…

    Reply

  8. Bronson

    May 2, 2013 at 13:39

    Wow, I remember these…. many hours spent.

    Reply

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