The Nintendo Entertainment System, or NES, is an 8-bit video game console released by Nintendo in North America, Brazil, Europe, Asia, and Australia. Its Japanese equivalent is known as the Nintendo Family Computer or Famicom. The most successful gaming console of its time in Asia and North America (Nintendo claims to have sold over 60 million NES units worldwide [1]), it helped revitalize the video game industry following the video game crash of 1983, and set the standard for subsequent consoles in everything from game design (the first modern platform game, Super Mario Bros., was the system's first "killer app") to business practices. The NES was the first console for which the manufacturer openly courted third-party developers.
Following a series of arcade game successes in the early 1980s, Nintendo made plans to produce its own console hardware that had removable cartridges, a feature not included with the company's earlier Color TV Games product. Designed by Masayuki Uemura and released in Japan on July 15, 1983, the Nintendo Family Computer (Famicom) was slow to gather momentum: during its first year, many criticized the system as unreliable, prone to programming errors and rampant freezing. Following a product recall and a reissue with a new motherboard, the Famicom's popularity soared, becoming the best-selling game console in Japan by the end of 1984. Encouraged by their successes, Nintendo soon turned their attentions to the North American markets.
In June 1985, Nintendo unveiled its American version of the Famicom at the Consumer Electronics Show (CES). With a completely redesigned case and a new name, the Nintendo Entertainment System (NES) proved to be just as popular in America as the Famicom was in Japan, and played a major role in revitalizing interest in the video game industry. Originally Nintendo only released 50,000 units in New York City, and because of its great success it was released nationwide. Nintendo rolled out its first systems to limited American markets on October 18, 1985, following up with a nationwide release of the console in February of the following year.
Several months later, in June 1986, the Sega Master System (SMS) entered the US market. The SMS faced a very tough time in the US, due to Nintendo's virtual monopoly on US software developers. Without domestic software support, the SMS failed to make any impact in the US. However in Europe, where the SMS was released earlier than the NES, it was much more successful and gained some third-party support. When the NES was introduced there, it faced much harder competition. Though still successful, it was not able to take over the market as it had in Japan and in the US, and Nintendo's market share stayed behind Sega's. Late in the console's life, Nintendo even licensed popular SMS titles for the NES.
