Family Computer

“If you were to strike up a friendship with a Japanese gamer and happened to ask him whether he owned a NES back in the '80s, you'd probably be met with a blank stare.”

—British Official Nintendo Magazine

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The Family Computer (often shortened to Famicom) is the Japanese equivalent of the Nintendo Entertainment System, or the NES. The Family Computer's controllers were attached to the main unit, unlike the NES, and could be stored on the sides of the system. Player One's controller can pause the game, and Player Two's controller has audio controls. The cartridges were half the size of the NES's, and were inserted in the top instead of through a door in the front (like on the NES). Instead of looking like a vertical cartridge, like the NES, it more closely resembles a SNES cartridge, but can be found in different colors, such as gray, yellow, and blue.

The console was released in 1983, but in June 1984 and February 1986, the Family BASIC and Family Computer Disk System were released respectively as accessories for the Family Computer. Family BASIC allowed users to program in BASIC on their Family Computers. The Family Computer Disk System accessory enabled games to be played on the Family Computer in the form of a disk. Many newer games were released only on the Disk System that were never released on the NES or Family Computer. Sharp Corporation also manufactured the Twin Famicom, a Family Computer combined with the Disk System add-on in one piece of hardware, but it was only released in Japan.

Nintendo Classic Mini: Family Computer

The packaging of the Nintendo Classic Mini.

Main article: Classics#Nintendo Classic Mini: Family Computer

On September 29, 2016, Nintendo announced the Nintendo Classic Mini: Family Computer, the Family Computer counterpart of the NES Classic Edition, and was released alongside it in Japan on November 10, 2016. Like the NES Classic Edition, it includes 30 pre-installed Family Computer games, although with some differences in the game lineup, such as Mario Open Golf in place of Donkey Kong Jr. Production for the console was discontinued in April 2017.

Appearances in the Mario series

• In WarioWare, Inc.: Mega Microgame$!, 9-Volt owns a Famicom system which can be seen in the upper-left corner of the screen during his introduction cutscene.
• In the Japanese WarioWare: Smooth Moves, Super Nostalgic Entertainment System uses a Family Computer instead.
• In WarioWare: D.I.Y., a green Family Computer cartridge makes up the bottom screen of the title screen. Also, the designs and colors of the cartridges in this game are based on those of the Famicom.
• In Super Mario Bros.: Peach-hime Kyushutsu Dai Sakusen!, Mario himself owns a Famicom, on which he plays an unnamed video game which bears some similarities to Super Mario Bros.. Princess Peach and King Koopa also teleport through the television to which the Famicom is connected, although they do not appear to have any role at all in the game Mario is playing.
• In Paper Mario: The Thousand-Year Door, during Princess Peach's Interlude after Chapter 5, TEC-XX asks Peach to drink an invisibility potion in order to secretly enter Sir Grodus's Chamber and upload important data on a disk into the room's computer. When this happens, the computer screen shows the Famicom Disk System boot-up sequence which is then shortly followed up by an animation and some music from an unknown game.
• In Super Paper Mario, a Famicom can be seen on a shelf in one of Francis' rooms in his fort, among other Nintendo systems.

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  WarioWare: Smooth Moves (Japan)

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  Mario playing his Famicom.

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  Super Paper Mario