What are the lessons learned by NES (NES) developers at Nintendo?

ByJason

"Nintendo Entertainment System(NES) "is a nintendo-based home game machine released in North America and other Western countries. In Europe and the United States, the super Nintendo which appeared as the successor of NES was called "SNES (Super Nintendo Entertainment System)", but also from the fact that the influence that NES gave to the world was immeasurable, but that Designed NES and Super NintendoMasayuki UemuraMr. New York UniversityGame CenterMr. Uemura who took the event as a lecturer at the commemorative event of NES '30th anniversary of the US held, talked about Nintendo's first experience designing console aircraft.

7 things I learned from the designer of the NES | The Verge
http://www.theverge.com/2015/10/18/9554885/nintendo-entertainment-system-famicom-history-masayuki-uemura

◆ 1: Mr. Uemura had developed "Gancón" before joining Nintendo
Mr. Uemura who worked as a developer sharply before working at Nintendo applied the photoelectric tube developed by Sharp himself, and "Light gun(Gun Controller) "development technology to Nintendo.


As a result, Nintendo started manufacturing the earliest "Guncon" in the design of Mr. Uemura, and Sharp photoelectric tubes began to be used. Mr. Uemura had sold Sharp's photoelectric tube to many companies, but commented that "Ultimately we will ship ourselves to Nintendo." Since the initial guncon needed a photoelectric tube on the target side, it could only be used in a game like a dartboard, and he could not do "shoot the target reflected on TV" with a gun. However, the Magna box that separately made the television and the console machineOdysseyIt was shocked by the appearance of it, and it seems that I got the idea of ​​moving the photoelectric tube to Gankon itself.


◆ 2: Nintendo's game has led success to various ideas
According to Mr. Uemura, many of Nintendo's successes in game products were inspired by somewhere else. Nintendo first period "Color television game 6"Color television game 15"Aimed at" virtual table tennis "," block break "is a model of Atari's" breakout "," We learn how to make video games like this That's it, "Mr. Uemura is talking about. At the time, although there was demand for video games in Japan, there were many models without input, and it was important to consider customer's equipment in the design of video game machines.

◆ 3: Game & Watch
Also, the turning point of Nintendo at that time was that the handheld game machine "Game & WatchMr. Uemura said what was the development of. Developer'sMr. YokoiIt seems that development of a portable liquid crystal game machine began with Mr. Mr. Sharp's calculator used to see the liquid crystal technology, but Nintendo and electronic equipment are sharp in terms of hardware, manufacturing is carried out separately It was. Until the time that one engineer had to design both hardware and software, it was said that separating design and manufacturing was "revolutionary".

"Two screens above and below"Game & Watch · Multi ScreenWhen it was released, Nintendo realized that the user was satisfied with the two points "cross key" and "second screen". Since the cross key and other button layouts are passed on to the NES as they are and the experience of seeing the two screens while playing further indicated that "watching TV while operating" did not bother me, we promote the development of NES It is said that.


◆ 4: Famicom circumstances in the USA
In the 1980's America, a face-to-face arcade machine "Nintendo VS. System"Was released and used everywhere. "Nintendo vs. system" which enables multiplayer in arcade game shocked Americans, but Japanese at that time did not like this idea. Although such a Nintendo VS. system is not well known, it is the application of the NES system, and some owner of arcade machines seemed to have noticed the existence of hidden Famicom.

◆ 5: Why is the design of the American version NES (NES) different from other countries
Negami 's familiar red and white design NES is familiar with failing in the American video game market as "it looks too game machine". At that time AtariAtari 2600"This is not a toy" advertising in a big way, eventually Atari began calling its game machine "home computer". From Coleco "CorecovisionNintendo decided to change the design of Nintendo so that it does not look like a toy because Nintendo had been stated as "Family Computer System" even when it was released. It has appeared in the United States as "NES" whose design has been changed with reference to a "video deck" that is familiar at home.


◆ 6: "GANCON" contributes greatly to the sale of NES in the US
What seems different in the US market seems to be not only the design of NES, but marketing also aimed at a direction different from other countries. Nintendo considering American gun society sold NES in the bundle set of "Guncon" and was able to succeed, Mr. Uemura said that "Americans love guns" in a joke It was.


◆ 7: Americans did not know how to hold the controller of NES
Because the controller of the early video game had joysticks and knobs attached, it seems that it was difficult for Americans who took NES for the first time to know how to use square controls with buttons and buttons. As shown in the picture below, it is said that the way Americans used to pinch buttons like joysticks and keep the cross key stuck firmly became news in Japan at that time.