Hubbard - HG101 Presents The Complete Guide to the Famicom Disk System

Hardcore Gaming 101 Presents: The Complete Guide to the Famicom Disk System

First eBook Edition: April 2018

The images reproduced in this book are printed under the banner of fair use as supplemental visuals to support critical and historical writing. All images contained herein are copyright of their respective rights holder. This book is not affiliated with any video game developers or publishers in any official capacity.

Introduction

The Famicom Disk System (FDS) is something of an oddity for non-Japanese video gamers. During a trip to Japan in 2011, I picked up a Twin Famicom (a Famicom cartridge/disk system combo) and lucked out into getting many of the well-known titles out of a 500 yen junk bin in Kyoto. When I hit eBay to start fleshing out my collection, though, it returned all kinds of weird titles Id never heard of. Outside of the games by Nintendo and Konami, theres little documentation for many of these on the English internet. Five years later, Dustin Hubbard, owner of the website Gaming Alexandria and part of the community devoted to dumping and preserving FDS titles, pitched me an idea for a book that would cover the entire library of the system. I thought it was a cool idea, especially since much of it was either uncharted or thinly detailed, so both of us began work on playing and documenting everything. A little over a year later, and here we are with the completed product!

Of course, during that time we learned that the reason that the FDS isnt all that well-covered is because much of the library is either garbage or inscrutable to non-Japanese speakers. During our regular communications, Dustin and I often cringed at having to suffer through yet another Bandai-published licensed game. Yet I cant say I regretted playing all of the games for this project. Theres a whole lot of interesting history behind some of these titles, and theres still plenty worth trying out. Its fun to see some of the changes made during their conversions to cartridge format for overseas release, as well. It helps that Konami had a number of interesting games, too. (Please see our other book, HG101 Presents: Contra and Other Konami Classics, for more reading on these games!) Plus, Nintendos library of adventure games is sorely underserved, as the company seems to have little interest in presenting this part of its history outside of Japan.

This book is broken down into a few sections. The reviews are presented in three different formats: full page, for the most significant titles; half page, for the ones that didnt quite need a full length write-up; and capsule reviews, mostly for titles that were already released on cartridge or are already pretty well-known. Weve also included a few unreleased games, as well as some screens and write-ups of the many unlicensed FDS titles near the end, most of which are softcore pornography wrapped around bad games.

Anyway, we hope you enjoy this comprehensive look at Nintendos strange little system, and can hopefully come away with some appreciation for it, even if its life was short.

-Kurt Kalata

September 2017

Editor-in-Chief/Co-Author:

Kurt Kalata

Co-Author:

Dustin Hubbard

Managing Editor:

Jason Kowalczyk

Copy Editor:

Nick DiNuzzo

Screenshots, Artwork and Reference:

Gaming Alexandria, Mobygames, Vizzed, The Video Game Den, Strategy Wiki, Famicom Disk System Database ( http://www.geocities.jp/gponys/fmcmdskw.html ), Game Catalog @ Wiki: From Kusoge to Masterpiece ( https://www26.atwiki.jp/gcmatome/ ), Adventure Island.org, Chrontendo, Famicom Disk System World

Special Thanks:

Sophia Freire and Violetta Freire-Kalata for the support, Kevin Christman for various scans, Austin Russell for his translation help, and Adrienne, Chad, Amy, Mike, and Trudy Hubbard for their support and encouragement

Language Barrier:

Weve sorted how difficult it is for each game to be played by non-Japanese speakers into the following categories:

None: No Japanese outside of maybe a logo or simple instructions (press Start, flip to side B, etc.)

Low: Some Japanese required to navigate menus, but otherwise totally playable. As long as you know some hiragana and katakana, and common video game nouns/verbs, its all good.

Medium: This is mostly for action-RPGs and other games that are technically playable, but may require some reading skill in order to determine objectives or read story text. Playable with a FAQ.

High: For text-heavy command-based RPGs and adventure games, where unless youre either fluent in Japanese or have a full translation and walkthrough, its basically going to be unplayable.

Rarity Guide:

For collectors, this gives a rough estimation as to how difficult a game is to find, and a guideline of how expensive it may be to purchase, at least based on the market in 2017.

1 - 3 : A common title. Some of the better known names may command a little more money, but they will be reasonably priced.

4 - 6 : Less common titles that are either in demand or relatively obscure, and dont have too many copies floating around, especially complete.

7 - 10: Varying levels of rare and expensive titles, some only released through the Disk Writer service or otherwise not commercially available.

What is the Famicom Disk System?

The Famicom Disk System was released in February 1986, solely in Japan, and was initially sold for 15,000 yen (equivalent to $100 US at the time). This contrasts to the price of the Famicom in 1983, which was 14,800 yen, about the same price. It primarily consists of two pieces of hardware the disk drive itself and the RAM adapter, which connects to the cartridge slot of the Famicom. The disk drive requires another power source, so it supports the use of an AC adapter. Nintendo realized, however, that most power outlets only have two plugs, which would already be used by a television and the Famicom itself, so the FDS can be powered by batteries, too six C-batteries, to be precise. The battery slot actually comprises the bulk of the unit, and it's quite light without it. Many pictures show the Famicom on top to the disk drive, though this is not required, as it can be positioned in pretty much any way, as long as the wires from the RAM adapter can be connected to the disk drive. Sharp licensed the technology and issued a two-in-one unit called the Twin Famicom, which also has the benefit of composite video output.

The launch titles for the FDS were simple, mostly stuff already available in cartridge format Baseball, Golf, Mahjong, Soccer, Super Mario Bros., and Tennis. The selling piece of the system, though, was Zelda no Densetsu (The Legend of Zelda), an exclusive game that showed off what the hardware could do. In Japan, its slogan was "Yareba Yaruhodo Disk System", which means "If you play, play more, Disk System". The mascot is a little yellow disk with eyes called Disk-kun, and the official term for the format is "disk cards".

So why was the Famicom Disk System released? What were its biggest advantages? The most obvious reason was simple: price. ROM chips were still quite expensive in the mid-80s, especially for a product that was primarily aimed at children. On the other hand, floppy disks were significantly cheaper. After the initial investment of a Disk System, games could be purchased for about 3000 yen, nearly half of what cartridge games cost. Furthermore, many department stores had Disk Writer systems. Blank disks cost 2000 yen, and could be rewritten as long as they weren't broken. Rewriting a game only cost 500 yen, so this was a great deal, especially for children without much money. This unique delivery format also got around Japan's anti-game rental restrictions. Nintendo later used the same concept of the Disk Writer for their Nintendo Power system (unrelated to the American magazine), which they used for Super Famicom and Game Boy games.