The Famicom is 40 years old. Five curiosities show that we have not changed

He July 15, 1983 marked the birth of Famicomhe Nintendo Family Computer that would bring to the homes of all Japanese what was already a success in arcades, the video game Donkey Kong.

Then many more would come, some terribly good and others terrifyingly bad. That was 40 years ago and, surprisingly, the situation, the strategies and, ultimately, the ideas of the brands, do not differ much from what we can see today.

Of course there is a huge technological advance between the current machines and the one that revitalized the video game industry during the third generation of consoles, but some clues were already given about what the future held for us. New ways to play, content downloads, games for everyone… the best excuse for those who think that everything has been invented.

Famicom, turn on

Now something like Alexa adapted to a console like Famicom, as if it were a change that required a jump in time. Nintendo’s machine didn’t go to those extremes, but controlling a video game using your voice from your sofa at home was one of the advances that the machine offered. The second controller included in the Japanese version of the machine, the original Famicom, featured microphone that allowed voice recognition to be used in some games

although in this case, more than the voice, what he recognized was noise.

Among the supported titles was The Legend of Zelda, in which the description of the Pols Voice monsters, large-eared ghosts that have subsequently appeared in other titles in the series, indicated that they were especially sensitive to noise. The problems came when the game landed in the west, with a revision of the machine that did not include that functionality but an enemy description that remained the same.

Online purchases and DLC

Talking about the beginnings of the internet in the world of videogames always generates debate. There are those who stay in the Saturn NetlLink and do not look back, but the truth is that Nintendo He already flirted with the network of networks two years before launching Super Nintendo.

Via cartridge and expansion pack, the Japanese could connect their Famicom to the telephone network, and from there access content downloads, information about the weather, bank transactions or even the Super Mario Clubwhere gaming news and reviews were posted.

It only came to the West as a project that began to be tested in the United States. Thanks to the modem, NES owners could buy lottery tickets

from home, which added to the relationship of children with the machine and the lack of limitation of its use to minors, ended up stoning the idea.

PlayStation VR

Famicom 3D System, that was the name of the invention that Nintendo took out of its sleeve to offer a new point of view to its players. This is another of the especially unknown cases for not having landed in the West, and it is that although the technology seemed to be up to expectations for the time, it was not very successful in Japan.

That didn’t stop Sega He also launched into the adventure with the Master System SegaScope 3-D glasses, and neither did companies of the stature of Konami, or Nintendo itself, develop compatible titles. Truly surprising is the case of Squarewhich went on to publish three games that made use of the glasses.

crazy about fitness

The case of Power Glove and his intentions to change the way of playing are well known, but he was not the only surreal Nintendo peripheral, the party and the dance came hand in hand with Family Trainer

a flexible carpet that served as a controller in the purest style Dance Dance Revolution.

With two faces with different button layouts, playing on the peripheral meant the start of fitness games, aerobics, dance and all those other genres that many still believe Wii invented. Herds He found a vein that he took advantage of with 10 developments for the machine and it must not have gone particularly badly for him, because shortly after he would take his invention to the United States and Europe as Family Fun Fitness.

And the BAFTA goes to…

It has become typical for awards in the category of the Emmy Awards to recognize the advances and achievements of the video game industry, but it is not a sector that has always been kept in mind. Luckily we can close the special on the 40th anniversary of Famicom with recognition from the prestigious academy, the one achieved during the 2005-2006 edition.

Sharing the prize with the analog controls of the PlayStation DualShock, the Famicom and NES directional pad It has the honor of being the most significant technical development in the world of video game controllers. Owing only that, and it is by no means the only thing, we should already pay homage to Nintendo Famicom for another 40 years.