Look at the Guts of a Vintage Famicom
Aug. 7
PC World has a completely awesome feature up that I felt obligated to link. Vintage computing expert Benj Edwards has completely disassembled a vintage Famicom - NES's Japanese counterpart - with great big photos and explanations of how the hardware differed, how it was the same, and how it caused some features to be altered or removed in American games. For instance, did you ever know this about the Famicom P2 controller? (I didn't.)
You'll notice that the second controller... lacks the start and select buttons of the first but features a built-in microphone and volume slider (more on that in a moment). This idiosyncracy of the Japanese system had some effects in the United States version. Early NES games such as Super Mario Bros. wouldn't pause with a press of the second controller's start button, because the Japanese counterpart had no equivalent button.
Comments
And so the longstanding tradition of screwing over player 2 started. Believe me, I know. I've been player 2 all my life, because I was the younger brother.
Maybe that's why I like Luigi better. Not only did I play with him the most, but he's also the younger brother that always gets screwed.
Damn it, I need Dr. Phil.
As I recall this is also the reason for a misleading entry in the Legend Of Zelda manual. Pols Voice is stated to be "afraid of loud noises", referring to the P2 microphone in the Famicom version ("polls voice" as in "checks the voice input while it's onscreen"). A lot of players assumed that this meant the Flute, which in fact has no effect on the creature.
You must be registered and logged in to leave comments.
If you are already have a login with GamePro.com, Gamerhelp.com, Games.net or GameProFamily.com, then use that login!