Famicom Disk System

[NeoZeedeater]

While the NES was hugely popular its most significant peripheral was left in Japan: the floppy disk drive add-on called the Famicom Disk System. The FDS was released in February 1986, a few years after the Famicom itself.



Console add-ons are generally thought of as adding noticeable advancements to the systems such as the TurboGrafx CD's audio and storage capabilities and the 32X's improved graphics. The FDS wasn't exactly like these. It did add an extra sound channel for slightly better audio but games weren't very distinguishable from cartridge FC games. What it did offer was lower priced games and some exclusive content.

The Disk Writer was a machine set up in stores. Gamers could buy blank FDS disks and have games written on them for a fee.


Another reason Nintendo was in support of the new disk format was so they could have even more control over third-party software. According to David Sheff's Nintendo history book Game Over, Nintendo made it so they owned part of the copyrights to third-party FDS games.

As time went on, the limitations of the FDS format started to show. What was once more storage space than a Famicom game needed became not enough. With cartridges they could just add more chips. The same applied to the audio. With new sound chips being included, cartridge audio surpassed the FDS'. The format also lent itself more easily to piracy than with cartridges.

So what games did it have? Well, the add-on started out with a bang with a little title called The Legend of Zelda.


As we all know, it was released in the West on cartridge. Here are some other NES games that originated on FDS.

Akumajou Dracula/Castlevania


Bubble Bobble


Dracula II: Noroi no Fuuin/Castlevania II: Simon's Quest


Eggerland: Souzouhe no Tabidachi/The Adventures of Lolo

Gyruss


Hikari Shinwa: Palutena no Kagame/Kid Icarus


Ice Hockey


The Legend of Zelda 2: Link no Bouken/Zelda II: The Adventure of Link
There are a number of differences between the FDS and NES versions. There's a video showing them here as well as explanations of the changes.
http://youtube.com/watch?v=AjYQzcYng...apanese%20show


Metroid
Being able to save to disk instead of the passwords in the NES version is much nicer. The sound effects are better on FDS too.


Tobidase Daisakusen/3-D World Runner


Yume Koujou: Doki Doki Panic
This was brought to the West as Super Mario Bros. 2. The Arabian characters were replaced with Mario universe ones, some of the music was changed, the semi-vocal grunt sounds were removed as was the save feature and intro.



And although it didn't originate as a Mario title it has undoubtedly been incorporated into its universe as some of its characters appear in later Mario games and it was re-released on the FC as Super Mario USA.

Zanac

Here are some FDS games that were not released domestically on the NES:

All Night Nippon Super Mario Bros.(Fuji TV/Nintendo)
This wasn't a standard release; it was a raffle prize give-away from a radio station. It was a mix of SMB 1 and 2(Japanese) with some sprites replaced with celebrity characters.


Apple Town Story(Square)
A Japan-ified version of Activision's computer sim Little Computer People.


Arumana no Kiseki(Konami)
Indiana Jones meets Castlevania. I don't think it's as good as Castlevania but it's worth checking out for Konami fans.


Dirty Pair: Project Eden(Bandai)
I usually steer clear of Bandai anime-based stuff but I like this side-scroller.

Falsion(Konami)
This rail shooter was also compatible with the 3d glasses.


Famicom Grand Prix II: 3D Hot Rally(Nintendo)
This quality racing game was compatible with the Famicom 3D System glasses peripheral(it was similar to Sega's SMS ones). I think it was Mario's first appearance a racer too.


Famicom Mukashi Banashi(Nintendo)
I love the style and music of this graphic adventure series but since I can't read what's going on I'm hoping they get translated roms some day. Maybe if we're lucky Nintendo will translate games like this for the Virtual Console(I'm not counting on it). Some characters from this series have appeared as trophies in Super Smash Bros. Melee.


Kaettekita Mario Bros.(Nintendo)
This was a special version of the original 1983 Mario Bros.. It had some cinemas added(which were ads for food products and Nintendo stuf), some new music and the ability to save high scores. The best part was the improved controls. Mario 1 in general needs more love if you ask me.


Meikyuu Jin Dababa(Konami)
It's kind of weird how your character constantly jumps but I still like it.


Nakayama Miho no Tokimeki Highschool(Nintendo)
I think this might have been the first console date sim and Nintendo's first celebrity endorsement.


Nazo no Murasame jou(Nintendo)
An overhead view samurai game. I think it's one of exclusive gems of FDS. It's not in Mario or Zelda's league but it has a lot of charm and a kick ass soundtrack. It's too bad the game's appearance in Pikmin 2 isn't playable.


Otocky(ASCII/Sedic)
An odd game from the creator of Electroplankton. It was sort of shooter where you hit musical notes.


Samurai Sword(Capcom)
This was a dark graphic adventure game and it does have a translated rom. It's too bad this never had a domestic release back in the day as I know I would have loved it. It's still pretty cool.


Super Mario Bros. 2(Nintendo)
Later dubbed "The Lost Levels" in the SNES All-Stars remake, this was the Mario sequel we didn't get back in the 8-bit era. It was super similar to the first game except it had slightly nicer graphics and worse level design. Even though I don't like it as much as the first it's still damn good.


Sword of Kalin(Square/Xtalsoft)
Xtalsoft isn't well known but they were ones of the early pioneers of JRPGs on computer formats. Kalin differed from most games in the genre of its day by not having random battles.


There were also plenty of cartridges FC games that were ported to FDS.

Your thoughts on the add-on?

[Brisco Bold]

Tobidase Daisakusen/3-D World Runner

!!!

This looks interesting.

[Some Stupid Japanese Name]

I bought one of these a few years ago. Hooked it up once, then let it sit in the closet.
My biggest disappointment at the time was it was too hard to find actual real releases.
All of the games I had purchased were either bootlegs or the generic disks used in the convenience store writer.

[magnifiedplaid]

WOW. This was a really informative thread! Thanks for posting this, because I never knew some of these titles originated on the disk system. It would have been so much nicer to have a disk system and not have to worry about passwords.

I also like those pictures of what would become Super Mario Bros. 2!

[Diff-chan]

!!!

This looks interesting.

Its okay. I played it a lot when I was a kid.

[Thief Silver]

Still, this was some amazing information that really impressed me, once again NeoZeedEater is awesome

[raystorm]

!!!

This looks interesting.

Its sorta like Space Harrier except you jump long distances (over pits of various sizes) instead of fly. Like Space Harrier you dodge enemies and columns but you can accelerate or decelerate to time your jumps and stuff. At the end of level you fight some snake like boss (same boss all the time if I remember correctly) and you fly in those sequences (I think). The game used those old school blue and red 3D glasses for a terrible 3D effect. Its been a long time since I played it so maybe I could be a bit off with my discription.

[Kev]

Great stuff, NZE. Personally, I'd rather have seen some of the third-party mappers come out. Castlevania III in all it's glory would've been nice.

Gyruss

Never knew this was an FDS game. It's still one of my favorite Konami NES shooters to this day.

[rama]

wow, the save feature was removed for what would be mario 2? does anyone know if mario 3 originally had a save or password feature?

[kingoffighters]

!!!

This looks interesting.

No it isn't. It is a poor man's Space Harrier. SH on SMS destroy this game. It had those 3D Blue/Red glasses mode too.