NES Hardware Prototype

[Robin F.]

Does anyone here own or know of any NES hardware prototypes in existence? I see there's a lot of discussion about proto carts, but I don't see anything about proto NES machines. Same for the NES sites I visit. Is it just because they are rare?

Anyway, I think I found one. Not a physical one unfortunately, but a picture in a book.



Now this must be a NES considering the Duck Hunt game and the R.O.B., but apart from these it looks weird. Do you agree that this is a NES prototype? Does anyone know more about this kind of early NES hardware?

[rbudrick]

That was the pre-toaster NES unit shown at the 1985 CES show. It actually used rj-11 (telephone style) cords for the controllers, I believe.

Note the Famicom sized carts and the unusual pads and zapper. The pads dont even have the specially patented cross on them they used in Game and Watches...and everything after that (this is why you will never see another controller outside Nintendo's brand with that exact cross pattern-it's actually patented, I hear).

Nintendo found that people didn't want to invest in another videogame system after the crash of '84. So, it became not a videogame sytem, but an "Entertainment System" hence the name "Nintendo Entertainment System."

It is for this reason that the NES went frontloader; people wanted not a videogame system, but something that looked sleek in their entertainment stand next to the VCR. A front loader that accepted carts that went in and then down like their VCR was part of their marketing strategy.

I think I"ve seen a color version of this pic somewhere before...

-Rob

[TRM]

Prototype hardware for the Nintendo's miracle piano system has been found. A picture can be viewed below:

http://www.atarihq.com/tsr/nes/miracleproto.html

[Dr. Morbis]

There's also a pic in an old issue of Nintendo Power of a unit with wireless controllers and a wireless gun.

[slapdash]

Nintendo found that people didn't want to invest in another videogame system after the crash of '84. So, it became not a videogame sytem, but an "Entertainment System" hence the name "Nintendo Entertainment System."

It is for this reason that the NES went frontloader; people wanted not a videogame system, but something that looked sleek in their entertainment stand next to the VCR. A front loader that accepted carts that went in and then down like their VCR was part of their marketing strategy.

Yeah, but the proto in the photo was a lot sleeker looking than the toaster we got... I'd really like to find one of these!

[Li Wang]

Yeah, but the proto in the photo was a lot sleeker looking than the toaster we got... I'd really like to find one of these!

Just move to the Seattle area and apply for a custodial job at NOA. Preferably something involving night shift work, as many keys as possible, and a giant toolbox filled with sharp metal things.