Get ready, get set, it’s that time of the week again, Friday Tech Rewind! Today’s Tech Rewind looks back at one of the most influential gaming systems, the Nintendo Entertainment System. Originally released in 1985 in Japan as the Famicom (Family Computer), the Nintendo Entertainment System started flying off the shelves with its most popular release, Super Mario Brothers. Those of you lucky enough to play this game first hand knew that Nintendo was on to something big. Even I remember playing this game until the system would overheat and you would have to blow on the cartridge just to cool it down! With the North American release in 1985, Nintendo also released 10-Yard Fight, Baseball, Clu Clu Land, Donkey Kong Jr Math, Duck Hunt, Excitebike, Golf, Gyromite, Hogan’s Alley, Ice Climber, Kung Fu, Mach Rider, Pinball, Stack-Up Tennis, Wild Gunmen, and Wrecking Crew. Even back then, Nintendo prepared for unlicensed software being run on its console. To combact this, they placed a “10NES” Authentication chip in each system to prevent the system from loading an unauthorized cartridge.
As time went on, hundreds if not thousands of games were developed for the Nintendo Entertainment System. The NES was the longest running production system in Nintendo’s history. The system was sold and supported from July 1983 until September 2003! I still regret getting rid of my classic NES. I think I might just have to shop around on ebay for this classic system! :)
Written By: Amardeep Juneja