Editing Famicom Disk System (section)

==History==
By January 1985, Nintendo's [[Family Computer]] was dominating the Japanese home video game market, selling over three million units within a year and a half.<ref name="NLife">{{cite web |last1=McFerran |first1=Damien |title=Feature: Slipped Disk - The History of the Famicom Disk System |url=http://www.nintendolife.com/news/2010/11/feature_slipped_disk_the_history_of_the_famicom_disk_system |website=[[Nintendo Life]] |access-date=20 January 2020 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20191219221055/http://www.nintendolife.com/news/2010/11/feature_slipped_disk_the_history_of_the_famicom_disk_system |archive-date=19 December 2019 |date=20 November 2010 |url-status=live}}</ref><ref name="GameHist">{{cite video|url=https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=r9PuSrn_H1c|date=July 14, 2016|title=The Story of the Famicom Disk System|author=Gaming Historian|work=[[YouTube]]|access-date=November 3, 2024|url-status=live}}</ref> Because of its success, the company had difficulty with keeping up demand for new stock, often getting flooded with calls from retailers asking for more systems.<ref name="NLife"/> Retailers also requested for cheaper games; the cost of chips and semiconductors made cartridges expensive to make, and often cost a lot of money for both stores and consumers to purchase.<ref name="NLife"/> Chip shortages also created supply issues.<ref name="NLife"/> To satisfy these requests, Nintendo began thinking of ways to potentially lower the cost of games.<ref name="NLife"/> Later in July of that year, [[Hudson Soft]] approached and pitched them a new add-on for the Famicom that played games using their patented [[Bee Card (game cartridge)|Bee Cards]], which was experimented on the [[MSX]] computer.<ref name="GameHist"/><ref>{{Cite web|url=http://archive.org/details/basic-1985-07|title=マイコン BASIC 1985 07|via=Internet Archive}}</ref> Nintendo liked this concept, as it had the ability to store full games and overwrite existing ones. However, as the technology for it was expensive, and that they would have to pay royalties for each card sold, Nintendo instead decided to pass on Hudson Soft's proposal.<ref name="GameHist"/> Continuing their research, Nintendo turned towards the home computer market for inspiration; They specifically looked to floppy disks which were quickly becoming the standard for storage media for personal computers.<ref name="NLife"/> Floppy disks were cheap to produce and rewritable, allowing games to be easily produced during the manufacturing process. Seeing its potential, Nintendo began work on a disk-based peripheral for the Famicom.<ref name="NLife"/>

For its proprietary diskette platform, which they dubbed the "Disk Card", Nintendo chose to base it on [[Mitsumi]]'s [[History_of_the_floppy_disk#Mitsumi's_%22Quick_Disk%22_3-inch_floppies|Quick Disk]] media format, a cheaper alternative to floppy disks for Japanese home computers.<ref name="NLife"/> The Disk Card format presented a number of advantages over cartridges, such as increased storage capacity that allowed for larger games, additional sound channels, and the ability to save player progress.<ref name="NLife"/> The add-on itself was produced by [[Masayuki Uemura]] and [[Nintendo Research & Development 2]], the same team that designed the Famicom itself.<ref>{{Cite journal|last=Mago|first=Zdenko|date=April 5, 2018|title=The "Father" Of the Nintendo Entertainment SystemIn Slovakia for The First Time - Interview With Masayuki Uemura|url=https://actaludologica.com/wp-content/uploads/2018/04/05-UEMURA-MAGO-%E2%80%93-AL-1-2018.pdf|journal=Acta Ludogica|volume=1|pages=52–54|quote=Due to the growing demand for development, he was in charge of the management of the Research & Development 2 Division in which they worked on the development of several hardware devices such as games for colour televisions, Nintendo Family Computer (Famicom), Nintendo Entertainment System (NES), Super Nintendo Entertainment System or BS-X Satellaview.}}</ref> Following several delays, the Famicom Disk System was released on February 21, 1986, at a retail price of ¥15000 (US$80).<ref name="NLife"/> The same day, Nintendo released ''[[The Legend of Zelda (video game)|The Legend of Zelda]]'' as a launch title, alongside disk re-releases of earlier Famicom games.<ref name="gamespot history">{{cite web|last=Vestal|first=Andrew|author2=Cliff O'Neill |author3= Brad Shoemaker |date=2000-11-14|title=History of Zelda|website=[[GameSpot]]|url=http://www.gamespot.com/gamespot/features/video/hist_zelda/index.html|access-date=2006-09-30|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20060701053427/http://www.gamespot.com/gamespot/features/video/hist_zelda/|archive-date=2006-07-01 }}</ref> {{anchor|AnchorDiskun}}Marketing material for the Disk System featured a yellow mascot character named Diskun, or Mr. Disk. The Famicom Disk System sold over 300,000 units within three months, jumping to over 2&nbsp;million by the end of the year.<ref name="NLife"/> Nintendo remained confident the Disk System would be a sure-fire success, and ensured that all future first-party releases would be exclusive to the peripheral.<ref name="NLife"/>

[[File:Family Computer Disk System logo, vector.svg|thumb|left|150px|Diskun, the official mascot of the Famicom Disk System]]
Coinciding with the Disk System's release, Nintendo installed several "Disk Writer" kiosks in various toy and electronic stores across the country.<ref name="NLife"/> These kiosks allowed customers to bring in their disk games and have a new game rewritten onto them for a ¥500 fee; blank disks could also be purchased for ¥2000.<ref name="NLife"/> Nintendo then decided to make an early form of online gaming; In 1987, they introduced special high-score tournaments for specific Disk System games, where players could submit their scores directly to Nintendo via "Disk Fax" machines found in retail stores.<ref name="NLife"/> Winners would receive exclusive prizes, including Famicom-branded stationery sets and a gold-colored ''[[Punch-Out!! (NES)|Punch-Out!!]]'' cartridge.<ref>{{cite web |author1=Retro Gamer Team |title=Punch Out Special (Gold) |url=https://www.retrogamer.net/retro_games80/punch-out-special-gold/ |website=[[Retro Gamer]] |access-date=20 January 2020 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20190331210924/https://www.retrogamer.net/retro_games80/punch-out-special-gold/ |archive-date=31 March 2019 |date=19 December 2011}}</ref><ref name="GameHist"/> [[Nintendo of America]] announced plans to release the Disk System for the Famicom's international counterpart, the [[Nintendo Entertainment System]], and began filing patents simultaneously. However, by the time these were approved in November 1988, Nintendo cancelled their plans to release the system stateside.<ref name="Computer Entertainer February 1986">{{cite magazine | magazine=[[Computer Entertainer]] | date=February 1986 | title=Nintendo Update | url=https://nintendotimes.com/1986/05/26/computer-entertainer-nes-reviews-news/ | access-date=July 2, 2019}}</ref><ref name="GameHist"/>

Despite the Famicom Disk System's success and advantages over the Famicom itself, it also imposed many problems of its own. Most common was the quality of the Disk Cards; Nintendo removed the shutters on most Disk System games to reduce costs, instead placing them in a wax sleeve and clear plastic shell.<ref name="NLife"/> The disks themselves are fragile, and the lack of a shutter made them collect dust and fingerprints, eventually rendering them unplayable as a result.<ref name="NLife"/> Piracy was also rampant, with disk copying devices and bootleg games becoming commonplace in stores and in magazine advertisements.<ref name="NLife"/> Third-party developers for the Disk System were also angered towards Nintendo's strict licensing terms, requiring that it receive 50% copyright ownership of any and all software released — this led to several major developers, such as [[Namco]] and [[Hudson Soft]], refusing to produce games for it.<ref name="AHQ"/><ref name="Game Over"/> Four months after the Disk System was released, [[Capcom]] released a Famicom conversion of ''[[Ghosts 'n Goblins (video game)|Ghosts 'n Goblins]]'' on a 128k cartridge - larger than the Disk Card's 112k capacity - which, as a result, made consumers and developers less impressed with the Disk System's technological features.<ref name="AHQ">{{cite web |title=Famicom Disk System |url=https://www.atarihq.com/tsr/fds/fds.html |website=Atari HQ |access-date=20 January 2020 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20191009191536/http://www.atarihq.com/tsr/fds/fds.html |archive-date=9 October 2019 |date=June 1999}}</ref> Retailers disliked the Disk Writer kiosks for taking up too much space and for generally being unprofitable.<ref name="NLife"/> The Disk System's vague error messages, long loading times, and the poor quality of the rubber drive belt that spun the disks are also cited as attributing to its downfall.<ref name="NLife"/>

By 1989, advancements in technology made cartridge games much cheaper and easier to produce, leaving the Famicom Disk System obsolete.<ref name="NLife FC History">{{cite web |last1=McFerran |first1=Damien |title=Feature: The History Of The Famicom, The Console That Changed Nintendo's Fortunes |url=https://www.nintendolife.com/news/2013/07/feature_the_history_of_the_famicom |website=[[Nintendo Life]] |access-date=20 January 2020 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20190731213816/https://www.nintendolife.com/news/2013/07/feature_the_history_of_the_famicom |archive-date=31 July 2019 |date=16 July 2013}}</ref><ref name="NLife"/> Retailers were critical of Nintendo simply abandoning the Disk Writers and leaving stores with large kiosks that took up vital space, while companies began to release or move their games from the Disk System to a standard cartridge; towards the end of development, [[Square (video game company)|Square]] ported ''[[Final Fantasy (video game)|Final Fantasy]]'' over to the Famicom as a cartridge game, with its own battery backup save feature.<ref name="NLife"/> Nintendo officially discontinued the Famicom Disk System in 1990, selling around 4.4&nbsp;million units total.<ref name="Game Over">{{Cite book|url=https://archive.org/details/0966961706 |title=Game Over: How Nintendo conquered the world|last=Sheff|first=David|date=1994|publisher=Vintage Books|isbn=9780307800749|edition=1st Vintage books|location=New York|oclc=780180879 | access-date=July 27, 2019}}</ref> Disk writing services were still kept in operation until September 30, 2003,<ref name="dskend">{{cite web | title=ディスクカード書換えのご案内 | publisher=Nintendo Co, Ltd. | url=http://www.nintendo.co.jp/n10/fc_disk/index.html | url-status=dead | archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20030806065944/http://www.nintendo.co.jp/n09/fc_disk/index.html | archive-date=August 6, 2003 | language=ja | access-date=April 28, 2023}}</ref> while technical services were provided up until October 31, 2007.<ref name="endrp">{{cite web|title=修理の参考価格|publisher=Nintendo Co, Ltd.|url=http://www.nintendo.co.jp/n10/repair/price.html#uketsuke_syuryo|url-status=dead|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20071021081932/http://www.nintendo.co.jp/n10/repair/price.html#uketsuke_syuryo|archive-date=October 21, 2007|language=ja|access-date=April 28, 2023}}</ref>

===Hardware versions===
[[File:Sharp-Twin-Famicom-Console.jpg|thumb|The Sharp Twin Famicom is a Famicom with built-in Disk System.]]
[[Sharp Corporation|Sharp]] released the [[Twin Famicom]], a Famicom model that features a built-in Disk System.

==={{anchor|Famicom Disk Writer kiosks|Disk Writer|Disk Fax}}Disk Writer and Disk Fax kiosks===
Widespread copyright violation in Japan's predominantly personal-computer-based game rental market inspired corporations to petition the government to ban the rental of all video games in 1984.<ref name="Why You Can't Rent Games in Japan">{{cite web | title=Why You Can't Rent Games in Japan | publisher=[[Kotaku]] | url=http://kotaku.com/5914749/why-you-cant-rent-games-in-japan | first=Richard | last=Eisenbeis | date=June 1, 2012 | access-date=June 26, 2014}}</ref> With games then being available only via full purchase, demand rose for a new and less expensive way to access more games. In 1986, as video gaming had increasingly expanded from computers into the video game console market, Nintendo advertised a promise to install 10,000 Famicom Disk Writer kiosks in toy and hobby stores across Japan within one year.<ref name="Game Over"/>{{rp|75–76}} These jukebox style stations allowed users to copy from a rotating stock of the latest games to their disks and keep each one for an unlimited time. To write an existing disk with a new game from the available roster was {{JPY|500}} (then about {{US$|3.25}} and 1/6 of the price of many new games).<ref name="Revisiting the FDS"/><ref name="Game Over"/>{{rp|75–76}} Instruction sheets were given by the retailer, or available by mail order for {{JPY|100}}. Some game releases, such as ''[[Kaette Kita Mario Bros.]]'',<ref name="Obscure Mario Bros.">{{cite web | title=Obscure Mario Bros. Famicom Disk System Game Gets Translated Into English | first=Gonçalo | last=Lopes | date=May 24, 2016 | work=Nintendo Life | url=https://www.nintendolife.com/news/2016/05/obscure_mario_bros_famicom_disk_system_game_gets_translated_into_english | access-date=July 29, 2019}}</ref> were exclusive to these kiosks.<ref name="Game Over"/>{{rp|75}}{{elucidate|reason=make a list|date=June 2014}}

In 1987, Disk Writer kiosks in select locations were also provisioned as Disk Fax systems as Nintendo's first online concept. Players could take advantage of the dynamic rewritability of blue floppy disk versions of Disk System games (such as ''[[Famicom Grand Prix#Famicom Grand Prix: F1 Race|Famicom Grand Prix: F1 Race]]'' and ''Golf Japan Course'')<ref name="Nintendo History">{{cite web | title=Nintendo History | publisher=[[Nintendo of Europe]] | url=https://www.nintendo.co.uk/Corporate/Nintendo-History/Nintendo-History-625945.html | access-date=October 12, 2019}}</ref> in order to save their high scores at their leisure at home, and then bring the disk to a retailer's Disk Fax kiosk, which collated and transmitted the players' scores via [[fax]] to Nintendo. Players participated in a nationwide leaderboard, with unique prizes.{{citation needed|date=June 2023}}

The kiosk service was very popular and remained available until 2003. In subsequent console generations, Nintendo would relaunch this online national leaderboard concept with the home satellite-based [[Satellaview]] subscription service in Japan from 1995 to 2000 for the [[Super Famicom]]. It would relaunch the model of games downloadable to rewritable portable media from store kiosks, with the [[Nintendo Power (cartridge)|Nintendo Power]] service in Japan which is based on rewritable flash media cartridges for the Super Famicom and [[Game Boy]] from 1997 to 2007.{{citation needed|date=June 2023}}

Calling the Disk Writer "one of the coolest things Nintendo ever created", [[Kotaku]] says modern "[[Digital distribution in video games|digital distribution]] could learn from [the Disk Writer]", and that the system's premise of game rental and achievements would still be innovative in today's retail and online stores.<ref name="Digital Distribution Could Learn">{{cite web|last=Eisenbeis|first=Richard|title=Digital Distribution Could Learn from Nintendo's Disk Writer Kiosk|url=http://kotaku.com/digital-distribution-could-learn-from-nintendo-s-disk-w-1542718404|access-date=June 11, 2014|publisher=Kotaku|date=March 14, 2014}}</ref> ''[[Nintendo Life]]'' said it "was truly ground-breaking for its time and could be considered a forerunner of more modern distribution methods [such as] [[Xbox Live Arcade]], [[PlayStation Network]], and [[Steam (service)|Steam]]".<ref name="NLife"/>