An American Famicom Disk System?

[Tupin]

I'm not sure where this would go, but I guess I'll put it here.

I heard that at one point, there was a plan to release the Disk System in North America, and it even was announced. Is there like a press release or anything?

If it was released in America, what do you think it would have been like? I think that there would still be those kiosks where you copy games, but NOA just seems like they would make them non-rewriteable. It wouldn't have needed that RAM adapter, and I bet a few companies would have taken advantage of the fact that the NES could have used a Disk and a cart at the same time.

I don't know if it would have been a better success in America or not. Maybe if they made the system more reliable, it would have been.

[CosmicMonkey]

The original Nintendo Advanced Video System was to have a tape drive as part of it's set-up.

http://gadgets.boingboing.net/gimages/advanced_1.jpg

I'm sure that the Disk system was never intended for release outside of Japan.

[Tupin]

That looks more like a Data Recorder.

Most places say they announced it, but really never said anything after that. It's obvious they wanted to release something, there's an expansion port on the NES.

[InsaneDavid]

It had nothing to do with reliability. By the time it could be considered for release outside of Japan, the manufacturing cost decrease and the available data space increase of cartridges robbed the format of its previous advantages. That and piracy was a huge problem with the FDS from the start, it's one of the few times when piracy really did kill a format.

Also, read...


The original Nintendo Advanced Video System was to have a tape drive as part of it's set-up.


That looks more like a Data Recorder.

That's what he said it was.

[Tupin]

Oh yeah, and I've also heard that the profit was so low because games were only like $20 new and like $5 rewritten. :drinking:

How did Nintendo ever expect to make money off of THAT?

[Frankie_Says_Relax]

Oh yeah, and I've also heard that the profit was so low because games were only like $20 new and like $5 rewritten. :drinking:

How did Nintendo ever expect to make money off of THAT?

FDS ultimately was not a huge money maker in the long-term for Nintendo (the Disk System hardware was prone to breakdown and disk piracy was rampant) however, on paper it's very easy to see how it should have been very profitable for Nintendo.

The low cost of floppy disks as well as the PURE PROFIT that came from multiple re-writes...

Even though Nintnedo eventually did end the FDS retail program, it went on for quite some time in Japan.

[Tupin]

FDS ultimately was not a huge money maker in the long-term for Nintendo (the Disk System hardware was prone to breakdown and disk piracy was rampant) however, on paper it's very easy to see how it should have been very profitable for Nintendo.

The low cost of floppy disks as well as the PURE PROFIT that came from multiple re-writes...

Even though Nintnedo eventually did end the FDS retail program, it went on for quite some time in Japan.
I think that you could send your system in for repair up until 2006 and I still think you can ask them to rewrite your disks if you ask them nicely and send in 500 yen in stamps along with the disk.

[Frankie_Says_Relax]

I think that you could send your system in for repair up until 2006 and I still think you can ask them to rewrite your disks if you ask them nicely and send in 500 yen in stamps along with the disk.

Something like that. Now it's up to restorationists like us to fix those belts/timing heads.