Idem

1985 - Yamauchi decides to rejig the internal structure of Nintendo and split its internal development teams into four groups: R&D1, R&D2, R&D3 and R&D4.

1985 - The Famicom is released in the US and Europe as the NES (Nintendo Entertainment System). Selling for $300, it would sell 60 million units worldwide. Trivia - To stop the NES from playing unlicensed software – anything without Nintendo’s Seal of Quality badge – Nintendo fitted each machine with the 10NES lockout system, much to the annoyance of many developers of the time.

Famicom/NES
In the box
CPU: Ricoh Custom 8-Bit
6502 NMOS (Negative Channel Metal Oxide Semiconductor)
CPU Speed: 1.79MHz
RAM: 16Kbit (2Kbyte)
Resolution: 256 x 240
Colours: 52
Maximum Sprite Size: 8 x 16 Pixels
Maximum Sprites : 64 Sprites
Maximum Colours Displayed At Once: 16
Sound: 5 Channel Mono PSG

1986 - The Legend Of Zelda is released in Japan and is the first game to make use of the FDS (Famicom Disc System), a disc add-on for the machine that used rewritable discs to allow saving in games.

Inspired by a love for exploring, Miyamoto’s intention for The Legend Of Zelda was always to create a ‘virtual garden’, a game the player could nurture and watch blossom gradually. Similar in his approach to Super Mario Bros, Miyamoto would also look to outmode the notion of high-score chasing and replace it with the idea of completion and finishing the game.

Playing the role of Link, it was left to the player to explore an ‘open world’ that gave little direction. Despite some initial concerns by Miyamoto soon after the game’s release – he feared that this new style of gameplay could alienate some people – The Legend Of Zelda would prove a huge success and go on to become arguably Nintendo’s most well-loved creation.

Trivia - The Legend Of Zelda was a launch title for the NES in North America. It came encased in special gold cartridges containing an internal battery to facilitate save games – the first game cartridge to offer this.

1987 - Nintendo vs Blockbuster Entertainment
When Nintendo discovered that Blockbuster was renting out NES games to its customers, it would threaten the rental giant with legal action. The case was eventually settled out of court, but when it later transpired that Blockbuster was also supplying its customers with photocopied instruction manuals, the companies would again clash in the courts, and Blockbuster would later agree to supply its own instruction cards with rental games.

1989 - Tengen Inc vs Nintendo
In 1989, Tengen (an arm of Atari) would drag Nintendo into the courts on the grounds it felt the company was conducting monopolistic business practises – essentially using bully-boy tactics to dominate the market. Nintendo would later repay the favour by taking Tengen to court over the latter’s NES version of Tetris (which Nintendo had just won the licence for). Nintendo won the case and Tengen was forced to pull all copies of the game from shop shelves.

1989 - Nintendo releases the Power Glove. The accessory is designed by Mattel and, similar to the Wii Remote, allows players to recreate hand movements on screen using motion sensors attached to televisions.

1989 - The Wizard movie is released in the US. Starring Fred Savage, Christian Slater and Beau Bridges, it chronicles the story of a young boy with a talent for videogames who enters a Nintendo tournament in Florida. Nintendo uses it as a vehicle to promote the NES and unveil Super Mario Bros 3 in the West.

1989 - Nintendo launches its most successful console of all time: the Game Boy. Thanks to its impressive battery life, and it being packed with Tetris, it would go on to dominate the handheld market.

Game Boy
In the box
CPU: Z80 8-bit CMOS
CPU Speed: 4.19MHz
RAM: 64 Kbit (8Kbyte)
Resolution: 160 x 144
Pixels
Colours: n/a
Maximum Sprite Size: 8 x 16 Pixels
Maximum Sprites: 40 Sprites
Maximum Colours Displayed at Once: n/a
Sound: 4 Channel

1990 - Trailing behind in the home console market because of the development of the Game Boy and a reluctance to stop software support for the NES, Nintendo releases the Super Famicom in Japan. Developed and designed by Masayuki Uemura, such is the wave of anticipation that leads up to the machine’s launch, the console would sell out in just three days.


End of part 4.