I've always wonder what the games look like before then nes, I know that there is the Atari and apple ][ he says the game move like jankyness. But what were the games exactly?
A hot topic in Japan has been that a book called "History of Video Games" came out from a major publisher but was soon found out to be full of BS in almost every single page. It made everyone who heard about it hope that the actual people who worked in the industry come out more often to speak about what it really was, like what Mr. Sakurai is doing here.
One that's good is called "Game Over: How Nintendo Conquered The World", from 1994. However, after the initial phase in Japan, it focuses more on Nintendo of America. So, Japanese people are left without a reliable history of their own side
If anyone's curious, the book is called ゲームの歴史 (Gēmu no Rekishi), published by 講談社 (Kōdansha). The three-volume book was published in November last year and it was retracted last week.
If you're interested in more developer interviews, check out The Untold History of Japanese Developers. It has a great variety of perspectives and cool information from the industry side.
Hahaha He kinda did tho! “You know there’s a lot of directors the same age as me but i was the one of the only ones who actually gotta develop for the famicom” Never change Sakurai, never change.
He flexed on just about everyone: fellow devs his age, us "internationals," and even other Famicom owners. To call him "lucky" might be underselling it a little.
Imagine buying a console at 13 and then developing an official first-party game for that same console 10 years later. That's an incredible lifespan for a games machine.
I don't like Yoko Taro specifically because he's just greedy and doesn't seem to have any passion for making games, he just sees it as a job and wants to get it over with. Look up some interviews with him, it's surprising how little he cares.
The Family Computer/NES will always be my favorite console of all time. It pretty much revived the entire video game industry in the West and gaming today wouldn't be the same without it. We actually had an original Famicom because that's what they sold here in the Philippines back in the day!
Same. It and the Super Nintendo were and are the biggest influences on modern game design and history by a country mile. There's so many things on either console that still to this day haven't been bested, IMHO, and to have had it as a 10 year old makes me feel absurdly lucky.
The Philippines also had the big access to the Disk System accessory for the Super NES. The ubiquitous nature of universal floppy disks instead of proprietary floppies used in both Famicom did result in rampant piracy there as a side effect.
@@Fabio-lq7wb I feel no shame in using save states when I played that game for the first time via NSO (though for some challenge, I would only reset to the start of the level I was in, or the boss I was in).
@@paperluigi6132 I use the rewind feature whenever is possible if the game is this ridiculously hard. That game setup way too many traps, and the punishment you get when you continue the game is normally a bit too much.
Really interesting to learn about these consoles. The difference between the music of Castlevania on the different consoles is wild, that's like a remake level of audio improvement!. Adding chips to the cartridge was such a great piece of innovation, I remember seeing similar inside the transparent GBC cartridges and always thought they were cool.
Even the NA release of Castlevania III has a special chip to help the console process the music and graphics that game has, but not even with that, they could replicate the exact same music as in the Japanese release. I think that's because Castlevania III was also a Disk System game.
@@eduardopazhurtado3882Nope! Castlevania III was a cartridge release only in Japan. Castlevania 2 _was_ a Disk System exclusive over there, though. The Japanese version specifically provides its expansion audio through Konami's own VRC6 mapper, while the overseas one uses Nintendo's MMC5. The MMC5 does support simpler expansion audio compared to the VRC6, but the game doesn't use it because overseas NES consoles don't support it. The reason for that is because the NES moved the pins for it to the expansion slot on the bottom of the console (the one covered by that big plastic block). You can get it working if you modify the console or plug in an ENIO board into the expansion slot.
Yeah I've been hardcore in to the cartridge consoles since I was a kid in the 80s and have never known that. Leave it to the mad lad Sakurai to tell us something really, really interesting.
A long time ago at an anime convention I got a CD that was basically "The best of Zelda" from Zelda 1 to the Wind Waker. Almost all the songs from Zelda 1 and 2 were doubled because there was a Famicom version and a NES version. The difference is insane. I'm sure you can find a comparison on TH-cam somewhere.
I'm glad the custom chips were brought up as a part of the FC's history. This might sound weird, but when I think of FC custom chips, it will be the VRC6 sound chip that was used for Castlevania III/Akumajou Densetsu amongst a few other games. One of the greatest 8-Bit soundtracks I've ever heard.
I knew a decent amount of this information, but it's really interesting to see the Famicom from the perspective of a developer who was there when it came out. Definitely learned more than just straight facts, and hearing about how revolutionary it was from someone who was there at the beginning makes me appreciate it even more
I think it the core idea is well known. Put video bus on cartridge slot to save on SRAM, making the base console cheaper but more expandable. With early carts using cheap tiny mask ROMs but later games using sophisticated mappers.
Diskun is actually still referenced from time to time. He is in Super Mario Maker as one of the Mystery Mushroom costumes, and he is also in Super Smash Bros. Ultimate as a collectible spirit.
@@cube4547 (spoilers, obviously) During the Brooklyn finale, one of the shop signs is "Disk-kun Hardware Co.", with Diskun prominently featured. I believe it's easiest to spot right before rubble falls around DK, Peach, and Toad.
The mario movie may have barely had a plot, but i can't deny that I made an irl pog face when I noticed that diskun sign in the theater, and that's probably what they were going for in the first place.
Very happy to see you cover the Famicom Mr. Sakurai. Not a lot of folks in the west tend to talk about the red and white machine all that much in comparison to the overseas counterpart the NES. There isn't even a whole lot of documentation on the English web about the Famicom specifically, I actually opened up a wiki website recently that I hope fixes that in the future where English speakers outside of Japan can learn the impact the Famicom and its library left on the gaming industry.
I love getting videos that feel less like lessons, and more like just hearing Sakurai talk about something that any other TH-camr would. It’s the coolest thing!
One of the best videos yet! It's refreshing to see the development of the industry from the japanese perspective when they are behind so many classic games and most media only tackles things from the perspective of the US market. I hope you can discuss the Mega Drive, Gameboy and Saturn too!
The Famicom and SNES revived the US video gaming after the Crash, albeit in a much stricter and toy-like approach to avoid the mistakes of the predecessors of an unregulated market. And this was before the ESRB and games developed for older players in mind.
I still remember the day I played a NES for the first time. It was that same combo pack, Super Mario Bros. and Duck Hunt, and my neighbor across the street had it. I had never seen a video game in a house before, only at arcades and the laundromat. It was amazing.
I own a NES and I feel so blessed! My SMB3 games on this bad boy are really addictive. Thanks for saving the video game industry with this one Nintendo!
I got the NES Classic for Christmas the year it came out. I hooked it up immediately and sat in front of the TV the whole day. I wasn't born until the GCN era, but I can only imagine that's how it felt to play the NES back in the 80s
Ah yes the difference between the NES and the Famicom was like 5 or 6 other sound chips. Nes chip: 2A03 Famicom chips: VRC6, VRC7, N163, FDS, SB5, MMC5. The N163 is extremely interesting because it's basically a near-CD quality sampler with up to 8 additional channels. Considering the 2A03 only has 2 pulse channels, a noise channel, a triangle channel, and a DPCM channel (for lower quality sampling, it shocked me to learn that you can do ALL of that in just 3 channels of the N163 chip if you juggle the instruments used around a bit.
Nope, no lesson today. Sakurai just want to flex his collection and share his love for the Famicom, and he looks so happy having done so at the end. XD But yeah, I really like the Famicom’s design. The red, gold combo colour scheme is really nice and just the way you can put the controllers on the console itself to keep everything nice and tidy! In a way, the Switch is kinda like that. You can put the controllers onto the console, too. LOL
From what I've heard and read about the Nes, the Saper and R.O.B really help sell the NES due it being easier to market as a toy than this very new concept of a gaming console
In the US, gaming was such a dirty word after Atari collapsed. No one wanted to sell video games, thinking the fad was over. Nintendo of America had to repackage the NES as a toy rather than a game console. It's also believed that's why it loads on the side instead of the top, so it looks more like a VCR and less like an Atari.
@@paperluigi6132 By then it was too late. Kids were hooked to the "Toy" and adults realized it was another video gaming system, but the "fad" wasn't dying this time. This led to the ESRB eventually forming, because adults were worried kids would be corrupted by Night Trap and Mortal Kombat. It's also why Nintendo of America would censor a lot of stuff.
@@Chadius I read that after the ESRB was formed, Nintendo toned down on censorship. And nowadays, while they still censor some of their first-party stuff, they do not force censorship on third-party games.
@@paperluigi6132 Mortal Kombat 1 on the SNES was heavily toned down with less messy fatalities and sweat instead of blood. The mostly uncensored Sega Genesis version easily outside it. Mortal Kombat 2 was ported after the ESRB with no real changes and Nintendo's version barely outsold Sega's.
Hmm, I feel that knowing Masahiro Sakurai purchased, or was able to purchase the Nintendo FamiCom in 1983 and still has the impression of the arcade at home just makes him so cool. Note that this was the actual case of the NES too, especially before the competition ramped up because the NES also had that feeling of arcade cutting edge games at home and beyond with home exclusives. Great video Masahiro Sakurai and thank you.
The glee in which Sakurai talks about the NES/Famicom makes me so happy. I grew up with the NES, and the NES was pretty much a staple console in our household YEARS after they were released. We kept going back and getting them refurbished and used. For all my formative years until college, we kept getting NES. It was THE NINTENDO console and much cheaper to get back than used.
The way Masahiro Sakurai gushes on about the Famicom, it's graphics, sound effects, and music, I wonder just how many people nowadays will appreciate it as much as he does. Like, I remember showing my mom character sprites from Final Fantasy VI and she remarked that they looked ugly. I suppose beauty is in the eye of the beholder...
This video is a pure, sweet and hearted love letter from not only your developer side but most importantly your (young) player side and it clearly shows. Please never stop being like this, Mr. Sakurai
4:06 once Sakurai already mentioned music and the chips used for the famicom, I knew densetsu and Dracula's curse were going to be the prime example. It's not the 1st or last game to do this, but definitely the most famous amongst the nes/fami/retro crowd. Shout out to Lagrange point another konami game as well.
Ninja Gaiden! That game over theme is burned into my memory! We had a garage sale NES when I was young, with only a few games. We always had to blow into the cartridges or wiggle them about just right to get the game to start. Good times (?)
I was eleven years old when I got my NES, way back in the dark ages of 1991. It was my first major purchase and I bought with my paper route money. I still have it, and it still runs!
I imagine the sound system especially was a huge upgrade: being able to simultaneously play a chord AND play a sound effect meant that music could be more than a droning melody that you’d get on some of the older systems, and develop actual harmonics. It’s one of those “how did we ever live without it?” type things
Super Mario Bros. was the game that kickstarted my gaming career. My parents owned the Action set and me and my dad would play it to. He often would say things like "you need the fire flower for this level", but now I've got to the point where I don't even need the power up to finish the level. I chuckled a little bit when I saw R.O.B from Super Smash Bros Ultimate peaking out from the screen.
When I saw this pop into my feed I thought it was a Sharopolis video at first. I didn't know Mr. Sakurai made retrospective console videos like this, very fascinating!
Wow I did not know about the controller having different buttons at the start. Amazing to have Sakurai tell us the story about the NES. Would never have thought that would be a think before this channel.
The NES, and the Famicom by extension, has a large following that persists to this day. Games are still being made for both, albeit unofficially, along with other 65xx-based computers and consoles. I think the IC is still being produced.
Very true, haha. Maybe this is like わびさび (wabisabi) or like finding the beauty in imperfection and transience. His Japanese account refers to the FC as 「無敵!」 (muteki) or 'invincible/unbeatable!"
While I never owned it myself, NES was one of the first consoles I ever played. Aside from Super Mario Bros and Duck Hunt the game I remember most fondly on it was Mega Man 5. The music in that game felt so special to me, and when I first heard the title theme as a part of Dark Man Stage remix in Smash Bros Ultimate I was actually brought to tears.
Watching Sakurai-san talk about the things like loves talking about always brings a smile to my face. Also, as a music enthusiast, seeing the famicom's custom cartridges expand the audio capabilities for the games was not only crazy cool to not only learn about, but to hear the comparison was INCREDIBLE to listen to.
I grew up with the PS1, PS2, and GBA, but when I learned about the NES, I was amazed at all the great games that were made back then within its limitations! I grew to appreciate the challenges they provided back then and learned how to get better at games in general thanks to them! ^^
Very interesting to see the Japanese culture of sharing games and how it helped give kids the chance to play multiple titles even though game cartridges were quite expensive! I don’t think that phenomenon could happen overseas. My experience when I was a kid was the opposite and nearly every time I shared a game it meant I would never see it again. 😢
From a technical standpoint, going from a square button to a circle button is pretty clever. When you think about it, square buttons can be pretty uncomfortable to hold after an extended period of time.
I really liked hearing about the hype of the Famicom/NES from someone who was around at the time! I hope you can do more videos covering different hardware, maybe even non-Nintendo consoles.
I never thought that the Famicom's audio has a bigger difference in 8-bit music quality compared to the NES. Truly an eyeopener (and earopener as well)!
Duck hunt still has unmatched gameplay because it’s one of the few first-party games for consoles that actually use an external peripheral to play the game. Aiming at the screen was so intuitive and satisfying. Closest thing I can think of to provide a similar experience would be Guitar Hero/Rockband. Sad to see peripheral gaming so… absent nowadays.
The console where the Megami Tensei franchise began, eventually sprouting into Shin Megami Tensei and Majin Tensei with the Super Famicom, Persona with the PlayStation, Devil Summoner with the Sega Saturn, Last Bible and Devil Children with the Game Boy & Colour, and so on
It's interesting to see such a different perspective on the Famicom/NES since a fair amount of gamers today consider its library to be very outdated, myself included. Being born in '96 though, I entered gaming with a lot more quality control and bigger games than what was possible in the 80s.
Sakurai doing Jeremy Parish's job today, or so it seems. Still, your love for the Famicom clearly shows through this video. Also, nice image of the inside of a copy of Akumajou Densetsu there at 3:42
I absolutely loved the NES and played way too much of it when I was little, but it's crazy thinking about the leaps in what games could do just in its life cycle. Like Mario Bros to Super Mario Bros is crazy, but then Super Mario Bros 3 is just as crazy! Really was ahead of its time.
ปีที่แล้ว +1
Kirby's Adventure was my favorite game on the NES! it was the first time i finished a game from beginning to end, thank you Mr. Sakurai
Castlevania III/Akumajou Densetsu is (imo) _the_ quintessential example of the difference between North American console sound and Japanese console sound capabilities and I'm so happy it's highlighted here.
In the West, Super Mario Bros. was the system seller and the base line for what people expected from the NES going forward, but in Japan, the Famicom has two years of games like Balloon Fight and Excite Bike. The impact and importance of Super Mario Bros., a game designed to be the best possible thing Shigeru Miyamoto could make on the basic NES without expansion chips, cannot be overstated.
Ahh, when I was a kid in the 90s (in UK) I basically never heard of the NES. it was Mega Drive alllll the way over here. That being said, I can definitely appreciate the NES / Famicom now that I'm older and into retro games
I wasn’t born during that time, but in the US, there was basically a war between Nintendo and Sega. Sonic was created purely so he could rival Mario, and during his peak, he was actually bigger than the plumber.
I have been watching Jeremy Parish's NES Works videos and its kinda funny how the NES launched with Super Mario Bros a game which was essentially designed to push the stock Famicom hardware to its absolute limit. Mapper chips really went a long way in improving the NES/Famicom's longevity.
The NES was not marketed as a video game console in the West at the time, due to the stigma attached with them after the Great Video Game Crash of 1983. Hence, it was billed as an 'entertainment system', and R.O.B.'s inclusion had made it seem more like a toy. It's not an exaggeration to say that the NES may well have saved the Western video game industry.
Another thing about Dragon Quest is that there had to be decisions made to only sell it on weekends because a few kids were starting to skip school to play it early. I've been getting into trying to create games with limitations and ended up hearing about Konami's legendary VRC6 and VRC7 chips making music that was thought impossible on the NES. Sunsoft also loves to play with that sample channel that the iconic Super Mario Bros 3 used for its bongo sounds in the soundtrack. Additionally, I've been trying out the NES colour palette to see what I can make with it. So far, it does NOT like the colour red, ironically.
As someone who didn't grow up with the NES/Famicom, I think my love for it has outclassed the nostalgia I have for the SNES and N64. Also: that Kenji Eno nod -- the dude knows his shit!
Ah, he brought up how the Famicom had access to pins that allowed for the usage of custom soundchips, such as VRC6 (which Castlevania used) and N163 (the Namco chip, used often in their Megami Tensei games, and had 8 channels). If you dive a bit into Trackers, you'll come across 0CC Famitracker, which has the capability to utilise these chips as well as them in tandem with each other. It's really neat stuff.
Incredible, i've been collecting games for more than 25 years now, and I didn't know that the Famicom itself had better sound than the NES, I knew for sure that Disk based games did, like Zelda, but I didn't know about standards cartridge games. Thanks daddy Sakurai!
![Development Secrets of the Original Kirby [Grab Bag]](http://i.ytimg.com/vi/ZUY2AtBD6Sk/mqdefault.jpg)
![Development Secrets of the Original Kirby [Grab Bag]](/img/tr.png)
![Family BASIC [Programming & Tech]](http://i.ytimg.com/vi/89_FhHQ5n-g/mqdefault.jpg)
Seeing Sakurai talk so earnestly and enthusiastically about how cool the Famicom was warms my heart.
Yes same here ☺️
@@novamarpo3 great pfp
Straight up.
He really really loved it.
I've always wonder what the games look like before then nes, I know that there is the Atari and apple ][ he says the game move like jankyness. But what were the games exactly?
I had no idea the Famicom originally had square buttons! It's so cool to still learn about small things like this
But what of this? 0:07
Me too
Yo Sakurai pogged, what a great video opening.
Yeah IT was so Funny XD 😂
He pogged in a very unpoggers moment
He did the classic "oh, didn't see you here" opening, what a mad lad
It is CANON now!
haha yes it's real now
epic
A hot topic in Japan has been that a book called "History of Video Games" came out from a major publisher but was soon found out to be full of BS in almost every single page. It made everyone who heard about it hope that the actual people who worked in the industry come out more often to speak about what it really was, like what Mr. Sakurai is doing here.
One that's good is called "Game Over: How Nintendo Conquered The World", from 1994. However, after the initial phase in Japan, it focuses more on Nintendo of America. So, Japanese people are left without a reliable history of their own side
If anyone's curious, the book is called ゲームの歴史 (Gēmu no Rekishi), published by 講談社 (Kōdansha). The three-volume book was published in November last year and it was retracted last week.
@@PabbyPabbles Wow, that full english title is a handful. But the book is pretty good indeed. Read it in the late 90s as a kid and once more later on.
If you're interested in more developer interviews, check out The Untold History of Japanese Developers. It has a great variety of perspectives and cool information from the industry side.
I love how Sakurai low-key flexed on other game devs in the beginning
It was so slick I barely noticed. I’m not a programmer though xD
Hahaha
He kinda did tho!
“You know there’s a lot of directors the same age as me but i was the one of the only ones who actually gotta develop for the famicom”
Never change Sakurai, never change.
He flexed on just about everyone: fellow devs his age, us "internationals," and even other Famicom owners. To call him "lucky" might be underselling it a little.
Obviously it was out of love, he was just grateful he was able to develop for a system he loved.
Imagine buying a console at 13 and then developing an official first-party game for that same console 10 years later. That's an incredible lifespan for a games machine.
Indeed. It's pretty amazing how the system was still going even well into the 16-bit era.
I love Sakurai history lessons!
I would never imagine Mr. Sakurai and Yoko Taro were the same age. Difficult to imagine two more different (but equally amazing) creators!
Kamiya too
Tetsuya Nomura and John Carmack as well.
I don't like Yoko Taro specifically because he's just greedy and doesn't seem to have any passion for making games, he just sees it as a job and wants to get it over with. Look up some interviews with him, it's surprising how little he cares.
@@Jordan3DS You couldn't be more wrong even if you tried to.
@@pinkjolyne5432 I've actually read interviews with the guy... why not actually do some research rather than blindly telling me I'm wrong out of bias?
The Family Computer/NES will always be my favorite console of all time.
It pretty much revived the entire video game industry in the West and gaming today wouldn't be the same without it.
We actually had an original Famicom because that's what they sold here in the Philippines back in the day!
Same. It and the Super Nintendo were and are the biggest influences on modern game design and history by a country mile. There's so many things on either console that still to this day haven't been bested, IMHO, and to have had it as a 10 year old makes me feel absurdly lucky.
What store did you actually buy the Famicom from the Philippines at back then?
@@DigiPen92 Not sure, it was my Dad who bought it back when I was a kid.
Probably one of the local department stores.
The Philippines also had the big access to the Disk System accessory for the Super NES. The ubiquitous nature of universal floppy disks instead of proprietary floppies used in both Famicom did result in rampant piracy there as a side effect.
I absolutely love the grab bags. The regional differences between the Famicom and NES are very interesting.
He sounds so happy to be talking about this. It’s wonderful
His expression playing Ninja Gaiden (including when he died), pretty much sums up every player at the time. It is a fun and BRUTAL game.
@@Fabio-lq7wb I feel no shame in using save states when I played that game for the first time via NSO (though for some challenge, I would only reset to the start of the level I was in, or the boss I was in).
@@paperluigi6132 I use the rewind feature whenever is possible if the game is this ridiculously hard. That game setup way too many traps, and the punishment you get when you continue the game is normally a bit too much.
Really interesting to learn about these consoles. The difference between the music of Castlevania on the different consoles is wild, that's like a remake level of audio improvement!. Adding chips to the cartridge was such a great piece of innovation, I remember seeing similar inside the transparent GBC cartridges and always thought they were cool.
Even the NA release of Castlevania III has a special chip to help the console process the music and graphics that game has, but not even with that, they could replicate the exact same music as in the Japanese release. I think that's because Castlevania III was also a Disk System game.
@@eduardopazhurtado3882 you are correct. same w/ Metroid, Zelda 1, 2
@@eduardopazhurtado3882Nope! Castlevania III was a cartridge release only in Japan. Castlevania 2 _was_ a Disk System exclusive over there, though. The Japanese version specifically provides its expansion audio through Konami's own VRC6 mapper, while the overseas one uses Nintendo's MMC5. The MMC5 does support simpler expansion audio compared to the VRC6, but the game doesn't use it because overseas NES consoles don't support it.
The reason for that is because the NES moved the pins for it to the expansion slot on the bottom of the console (the one covered by that big plastic block). You can get it working if you modify the console or plug in an ENIO board into the expansion slot.
Yeah I've been hardcore in to the cartridge consoles since I was a kid in the 80s and have never known that. Leave it to the mad lad Sakurai to tell us something really, really interesting.
A long time ago at an anime convention I got a CD that was basically "The best of Zelda" from Zelda 1 to the Wind Waker. Almost all the songs from Zelda 1 and 2 were doubled because there was a Famicom version and a NES version. The difference is insane. I'm sure you can find a comparison on TH-cam somewhere.
I'm glad the custom chips were brought up as a part of the FC's history.
This might sound weird, but when I think of FC custom chips, it will be the VRC6 sound chip that was used for Castlevania III/Akumajou Densetsu amongst a few other games. One of the greatest 8-Bit soundtracks I've ever heard.
The sakurai classic japanese humor shocked jaw drop
My father bought me the NES Action Set, and it completely changed my life. I will always cherish the memories I had with it.
I knew a decent amount of this information, but it's really interesting to see the Famicom from the perspective of a developer who was there when it came out. Definitely learned more than just straight facts, and hearing about how revolutionary it was from someone who was there at the beginning makes me appreciate it even more
He's more legitimate than most people who are talking about it on TH-cam.
I think it the core idea is well known. Put video bus on cartridge slot to save on SRAM, making the base console cheaper but more expandable. With early carts using cheap tiny mask ROMs but later games using sophisticated mappers.
The disk system had an interesting little mascot. (Diskun)
I remember it being a trophy in Super Smash Bros Melee.
It even has a cameo appearance in the Super Mario Bros movie
@@paperluigi6132 really..? When?
Diskun is actually still referenced from time to time. He is in Super Mario Maker as one of the Mystery Mushroom costumes, and he is also in Super Smash Bros. Ultimate as a collectible spirit.
@@cube4547 (spoilers, obviously)
During the Brooklyn finale, one of the shop signs is "Disk-kun Hardware Co.", with Diskun prominently featured. I believe it's easiest to spot right before rubble falls around DK, Peach, and Toad.
The mario movie may have barely had a plot, but i can't deny that I made an irl pog face when I noticed that diskun sign in the theater, and that's probably what they were going for in the first place.
The best Sakurai videos are the ones where he's obviously got so much love for what he's talking about.
I love how these videos are localised. In the Japanese version R.O.B (at 3:28) is shown in its Famicom colours.
Going to check :)
@@Hes_Gone well?
Very happy to see you cover the Famicom Mr. Sakurai.
Not a lot of folks in the west tend to talk about the red and white machine all that much in comparison to the overseas counterpart the NES.
There isn't even a whole lot of documentation on the English web about the Famicom specifically, I actually opened up a wiki website recently that I hope fixes that in the future where English speakers outside of Japan can learn the impact the Famicom and its library left on the gaming industry.
Sakurai playing Ninja Gaiden is life! That’s like Miyamoto playing Final Fight on Super Famicom
4:06 Castlevania 3 audio differences sure gives me the chills
I love getting videos that feel less like lessons, and more like just hearing Sakurai talk about something that any other TH-camr would. It’s the coolest thing!
One of the best videos yet! It's refreshing to see the development of the industry from the japanese perspective when they are behind so many classic games and most media only tackles things from the perspective of the US market. I hope you can discuss the Mega Drive, Gameboy and Saturn too!
Yeah, I kinda got tired of the western bias.
The Famicom and SNES revived the US video gaming after the Crash, albeit in a much stricter and toy-like approach to avoid the mistakes of the predecessors of an unregulated market.
And this was before the ESRB and games developed for older players in mind.
I'm currently on Act VI of Ninja Gaiden and that opening sound effect has become waaay too familiar to me, lol
I still remember the day I played a NES for the first time. It was that same combo pack, Super Mario Bros. and Duck Hunt, and my neighbor across the street had it. I had never seen a video game in a house before, only at arcades and the laundromat. It was amazing.
I actually knew about people lining up for DQ3 because of Yakuza 0. One of the first side quests is based off of it!
I own a NES and I feel so blessed! My SMB3 games on this bad boy are really addictive. Thanks for saving the video game industry with this one Nintendo!
I got the NES Classic for Christmas the year it came out. I hooked it up immediately and sat in front of the TV the whole day. I wasn't born until the GCN era, but I can only imagine that's how it felt to play the NES back in the 80s
Ah yes the difference between the NES and the Famicom was like 5 or 6 other sound chips.
Nes chip: 2A03
Famicom chips: VRC6, VRC7, N163, FDS, SB5, MMC5.
The N163 is extremely interesting because it's basically a near-CD quality sampler with up to 8 additional channels. Considering the 2A03 only has 2 pulse channels, a noise channel, a triangle channel, and a DPCM channel (for lower quality sampling, it shocked me to learn that you can do ALL of that in just 3 channels of the N163 chip if you juggle the instruments used around a bit.
This is incredible information!
which games used that chip?
That face at 0:07 is gonna become an emote on so many discord servers
All of twitch will have it too😂
Smash community pogging so hard right now
Literally we all just pogged alongside him amirite
Yoink!
His pog ignited a Pog by myself.
Glad I got see a Sakurai video that referenced formless weaver of the interdimensional illusion we call reality John Carmack.
That Ninja Gaiden death sound at the start, lol
Nope, no lesson today. Sakurai just want to flex his collection and share his love for the Famicom, and he looks so happy having done so at the end. XD
But yeah, I really like the Famicom’s design. The red, gold combo colour scheme is really nice and just the way you can put the controllers on the console itself to keep everything nice and tidy!
In a way, the Switch is kinda like that. You can put the controllers onto the console, too. LOL
My jaw dropped at the Famicom music difference, that's crazy!!!!
From what I've heard and read about the Nes, the Saper and R.O.B really help sell the NES due it being easier to market as a toy than this very new concept of a gaming console
In the US, gaming was such a dirty word after Atari collapsed. No one wanted to sell video games, thinking the fad was over. Nintendo of America had to repackage the NES as a toy rather than a game console. It's also believed that's why it loads on the side instead of the top, so it looks more like a VCR and less like an Atari.
@@Chadius I wonder how people reacted when the truth became widespread.
@@paperluigi6132 By then it was too late. Kids were hooked to the "Toy" and adults realized it was another video gaming system, but the "fad" wasn't dying this time. This led to the ESRB eventually forming, because adults were worried kids would be corrupted by Night Trap and Mortal Kombat. It's also why Nintendo of America would censor a lot of stuff.
@@Chadius I read that after the ESRB was formed, Nintendo toned down on censorship. And nowadays, while they still censor some of their first-party stuff, they do not force censorship on third-party games.
@@paperluigi6132 Mortal Kombat 1 on the SNES was heavily toned down with less messy fatalities and sweat instead of blood. The mostly uncensored Sega Genesis version easily outside it. Mortal Kombat 2 was ported after the ESRB with no real changes and Nintendo's version barely outsold Sega's.
Hmm, I feel that knowing Masahiro Sakurai purchased, or was able to purchase the Nintendo FamiCom in 1983 and still has the impression of the arcade at home just makes him so cool.
Note that this was the actual case of the NES too, especially before the competition ramped up because the NES also had that feeling of arcade cutting edge games at home and beyond with home exclusives.
Great video Masahiro Sakurai and thank you.
The glee in which Sakurai talks about the NES/Famicom makes me so happy. I grew up with the NES, and the NES was pretty much a staple console in our household YEARS after they were released. We kept going back and getting them refurbished and used. For all my formative years until college, we kept getting NES. It was THE NINTENDO console and much cheaper to get back than used.
The way Masahiro Sakurai gushes on about the Famicom, it's graphics, sound effects, and music, I wonder just how many people nowadays will appreciate it as much as he does. Like, I remember showing my mom character sprites from Final Fantasy VI and she remarked that they looked ugly. I suppose beauty is in the eye of the beholder...
anyone with an open mind and who understands the context will be able to appreciate it i think. kind of like black-and-white movies
Your mom sounds like a tool.
This video is so rich in information and warms my heart seeing Sakurai so happy talking about what he loves.
This love of the famicom is very infectious. I want more content like this that shares this love of old classics
This video is a pure, sweet and hearted love letter from not only your developer side but most importantly your (young) player side and it clearly shows. Please never stop being like this, Mr. Sakurai
4:06 once Sakurai already mentioned music and the chips used for the famicom, I knew densetsu and Dracula's curse were going to be the prime example. It's not the 1st or last game to do this, but definitely the most famous amongst the nes/fami/retro crowd. Shout out to Lagrange point another konami game as well.
Ninja Gaiden! That game over theme is burned into my memory!
We had a garage sale NES when I was young, with only a few games. We always had to blow into the cartridges or wiggle them about just right to get the game to start. Good times (?)
I recognized the music! That was the original Ninja Gaiden for the NES! Notoriously difficult and rage inducing.
He was playing Ninja Gaiden in the opening bit for anyone who's curious.
I was eleven years old when I got my NES, way back in the dark ages of 1991. It was my first major purchase and I bought with my paper route money. I still have it, and it still runs!
I can feel your passion and joy talking about Famicom. Keep it up!
Sakurai Pogging
I imagine the sound system especially was a huge upgrade: being able to simultaneously play a chord AND play a sound effect meant that music could be more than a droning melody that you’d get on some of the older systems, and develop actual harmonics. It’s one of those “how did we ever live without it?” type things
One of my absolute favorite things to talk about is this. The way it paved gaming as we have it today is crazy to think about.
Super Mario Bros. was the game that kickstarted my gaming career. My parents owned the Action set and me and my dad would play it to. He often would say things like "you need the fire flower for this level", but now I've got to the point where I don't even need the power up to finish the level. I chuckled a little bit when I saw R.O.B from Super Smash Bros Ultimate peaking out from the screen.
When I saw this pop into my feed I thought it was a Sharopolis video at first. I didn't know Mr. Sakurai made retrospective console videos like this, very fascinating!
Wow I did not know about the controller having different buttons at the start.
Amazing to have Sakurai tell us the story about the NES. Would never have thought that would be a think before this channel.
Sakurai is so expressive in this video. You can really feel his excitement.
I absolutely love these historical video of the video game industry. Sakurai is a perfect industry statesman to share his knowledge. Thank you!
The intro reminds me a lot of AVGN videos, especially at 0:07 with the shocked face he makes.
Another awesome video from Sakurai! I loved hearing about his perspective on the Famicom/NES from when he was growing up and experiencing it.
My first video game console I'd played when I was five years old.
The NES, and the Famicom by extension, has a large following that persists to this day. Games are still being made for both, albeit unofficially, along with other 65xx-based computers and consoles. I think the IC is still being produced.
Thank you for singing the praises of the Famicom Mister Sakurai, sometimes we need to be reminded how far we've come in this great hobby of ours.
A legend talking about a legend. A fitting tale and no better narrator then sakurai
He's so happy and excited talking about the Famicom, you can't help, but smile from start to end. :D
Sakurai-san: That was then, this is now!
Also Sakurai-san: The Family Computer! Pure perfection!
Very true, haha.
Maybe this is like わびさび (wabisabi) or like finding the beauty in imperfection and transience.
His Japanese account refers to the FC as 「無敵!」 (muteki) or 'invincible/unbeatable!"
From wanting people to enjoy the new to admiring literally the first Nintendo console
While I never owned it myself, NES was one of the first consoles I ever played. Aside from Super Mario Bros and Duck Hunt the game I remember most fondly on it was Mega Man 5. The music in that game felt so special to me, and when I first heard the title theme as a part of Dark Man Stage remix in Smash Bros Ultimate I was actually brought to tears.
Watching Sakurai-san talk about the things like loves talking about always brings a smile to my face. Also, as a music enthusiast, seeing the famicom's custom cartridges expand the audio capabilities for the games was not only crazy cool to not only learn about, but to hear the comparison was INCREDIBLE to listen to.
I grew up with the PS1, PS2, and GBA, but when I learned about the NES, I was amazed at all the great games that were made back then within its limitations! I grew to appreciate the challenges they provided back then and learned how to get better at games in general thanks to them! ^^
Very interesting to see the Japanese culture of sharing games and how it helped give kids the chance to play multiple titles even though game cartridges were quite expensive! I don’t think that phenomenon could happen overseas. My experience when I was a kid was the opposite and nearly every time I shared a game it meant I would never see it again. 😢
From a technical standpoint, going from a square button to a circle button is pretty clever. When you think about it, square buttons can be pretty uncomfortable to hold after an extended period of time.
Thank you for telling me about the Famicom and NES, Mr. Sakurai!!
I really liked hearing about the hype of the Famicom/NES from someone who was around at the time!
I hope you can do more videos covering different hardware, maybe even non-Nintendo consoles.
I never thought that the Famicom's audio has a bigger difference in 8-bit music quality compared to the NES. Truly an eyeopener (and earopener as well)!
Sakurai: pogs
Every Twitch streamer: *its free real estate*
Duck hunt still has unmatched gameplay because it’s one of the few first-party games for consoles that actually use an external peripheral to play the game. Aiming at the screen was so intuitive and satisfying. Closest thing I can think of to provide a similar experience would be Guitar Hero/Rockband.
Sad to see peripheral gaming so… absent nowadays.
The console where the Megami Tensei franchise began, eventually sprouting into Shin Megami Tensei and Majin Tensei with the Super Famicom, Persona with the PlayStation, Devil Summoner with the Sega Saturn, Last Bible and Devil Children with the Game Boy & Colour, and so on
My dad got me an NES copy of Kirby's adventure as a Christmas gift back in 2019. It was cool to own the game in its original form
It's interesting to see such a different perspective on the Famicom/NES since a fair amount of gamers today consider its library to be very outdated, myself included. Being born in '96 though, I entered gaming with a lot more quality control and bigger games than what was possible in the 80s.
Sakurai doing Jeremy Parish's job today, or so it seems.
Still, your love for the Famicom clearly shows through this video.
Also, nice image of the inside of a copy of Akumajou Densetsu there at 3:42
I absolutely loved the NES and played way too much of it when I was little, but it's crazy thinking about the leaps in what games could do just in its life cycle. Like Mario Bros to Super Mario Bros is crazy, but then Super Mario Bros 3 is just as crazy! Really was ahead of its time.
Kirby's Adventure was my favorite game on the NES! it was the first time i finished a game from beginning to end, thank you Mr. Sakurai
I love seeing, hearing Sakurai sharing this enthusiasm for these small fantastic 8 bit machines!
Castlevania III/Akumajou Densetsu is (imo) _the_ quintessential example of the difference between North American console sound and Japanese console sound capabilities and I'm so happy it's highlighted here.
The "creators in my age range" map was eye-opening
That sound of dying in Ninja Gaiden is burned into my brain
I never knew some Famicom controllers had square buttons. You learn something new every day!
In the West, Super Mario Bros. was the system seller and the base line for what people expected from the NES going forward, but in Japan, the Famicom has two years of games like Balloon Fight and Excite Bike. The impact and importance of Super Mario Bros., a game designed to be the best possible thing Shigeru Miyamoto could make on the basic NES without expansion chips, cannot be overstated.
Ahh, when I was a kid in the 90s (in UK) I basically never heard of the NES. it was Mega Drive alllll the way over here. That being said, I can definitely appreciate the NES / Famicom now that I'm older and into retro games
I wasn’t born during that time, but in the US, there was basically a war between Nintendo and Sega. Sonic was created purely so he could rival Mario, and during his peak, he was actually bigger than the plumber.
Whenever Mr. Sakurai makes a video about a certain topic or game he really likes, I really love those videos. :)
Oh damn, never realized the batch of 1970 people in japanese game dev are so stacked!
I have been watching Jeremy Parish's NES Works videos and its kinda funny how the NES launched with Super Mario Bros a game which was essentially designed to push the stock Famicom hardware to its absolute limit. Mapper chips really went a long way in improving the NES/Famicom's longevity.
The NES was not marketed as a video game console in the West at the time, due to the stigma attached with them after the Great Video Game Crash of 1983. Hence, it was billed as an 'entertainment system', and R.O.B.'s inclusion had made it seem more like a toy. It's not an exaggeration to say that the NES may well have saved the Western video game industry.
Nintendo saved gaming.
Duck Hunt, R.O.B., and especially Mario saved gaming.
Another thing about Dragon Quest is that there had to be decisions made to only sell it on weekends because a few kids were starting to skip school to play it early.
I've been getting into trying to create games with limitations and ended up hearing about Konami's legendary VRC6 and VRC7 chips making music that was thought impossible on the NES. Sunsoft also loves to play with that sample channel that the iconic Super Mario Bros 3 used for its bongo sounds in the soundtrack.
Additionally, I've been trying out the NES colour palette to see what I can make with it. So far, it does NOT like the colour red, ironically.
As someone who didn't grow up with the NES/Famicom, I think my love for it has outclassed the nostalgia I have for the SNES and N64.
Also: that Kenji Eno nod -- the dude knows his shit!
Thanks for this amazing review to that beautiful era of videogames Mr sakurai.!
Always heartwarming to see Sakurai reminisce like that
Ah, he brought up how the Famicom had access to pins that allowed for the usage of custom soundchips, such as VRC6 (which Castlevania used) and N163 (the Namco chip, used often in their Megami Tensei games, and had 8 channels). If you dive a bit into Trackers, you'll come across 0CC Famitracker, which has the capability to utilise these chips as well as them in tandem with each other. It's really neat stuff.
Incredible, i've been collecting games for more than 25 years now, and I didn't know that the Famicom itself had better sound than the NES, I knew for sure that Disk based games did, like Zelda, but I didn't know about standards cartridge games. Thanks daddy Sakurai!
Being a kid and being able to exchange cartridges with your friends was the coolest thing ever. I did it all the time with friends and neighbors
It was all fun 'n games until those times when you're left with your friend's bad games after they moved out the neighborhood with your good games. 😭
I would love to see Sakurai do a video like this for each Nintendo console tbh