How come Japan needed a disc drive for certain Famicom games when the US didn’t need it for the NES? If it’s because the US carts were bigger, then couldn’t they just make a longer/taller cart for the games that would need it rather than require an entirely separate add-on?
>>10882153The FDS was developed back when mask ROMs were only 32k and they wanted to make bigger games with cheaper media. Nintendo didn't realize how fast 128k mask ROMs became available; they were being used in Famicom games by late '86 around the same time nationwide distribution of the NES in the US started so there was never any need to bring the FDS to North America.
the disk system allowed for saving without expensive batteries/chips and a much better sound system. the NES versions of fds games(like the legend of zelda) were more expensive to produce and also had worse music.
The NES came out in late 86, when memory was starting to get cheap. The Famicom came out in 83, when ROM chips were very expensive, and the disk system was a solution to this, released early in 86. Nintendo couldn't exactly just shitcan the FDS, it sold well and it was cheap to produce the disks, so it made more sense to release games on that format for cheaper in Japan, but didn't make much sense to risk an addon in America.
FDS was also a vector for piracy and unlicensed software that Nintendo didn’t need to bother with in the US. Unlike in Japan, Nintendo controlled all cartridge production for the NES except for games by rogue publishers like Color Dreams, so that represented a significant revenue stream.
>>10882164>the NES versions of fds games(like the legend of zelda) were more expensive to produce and also had worse musicThey also had to replace the FDS IRQ timer with sprite 0 hit for status bars so they would break up when there was too much stuff happening.
>>10882164The disk system doesn't allow for more powerful games though, only larger ones than were available at the time (for a few months, maybe). You can get bigger games with more advanced features and no insane load times from putting extra chips on the carts.Everyone that praises the FDS never played it on a real system because the loading times are absolutely fucking atrocious and frequent
>>10882170>The NES came out in late 86, when memory was starting to get cheap. The Famicom came out in 83, when ROM chips were very expensive, andThe big change came when manufacturers began licensing the 1.5 um process from Intel so they could have higher yields and higher density memory. In 1983 the industry standard was 3.5 um.
>>10882186you also have to flip the disk over a lot. it was obsoleted once 128k ROMs and ASIC mappers were out.
>>10882202The total capacity of an FDS disk on both sides is 112k so it's less than you get with a 128k ROM.
Not only were ROMs expensive in the beginning but the Famicom needed two of them and one had to be a more expensive higher speed part because the PPU was clocked faster than the CPU. Partially for that reason the SG-1000 sold better at first as its games were cheaper.
Oftentimes a game that has both FDS and cartridge versions will have gameplay or other differences between the two.
>>10882153Probably because the FDS versions came first. The floppies were cheaper to make than carts, but the games had to be converted to carts if they wanted to release them in the West. FDS got obsoleted because its games were too easy to pirate, and cartridge technology surpassed it with the development of mapper chips. Also, have you seen how fucking long those loading screens are? Thank fuck it didn't come out in the West.
>>10882202128k ROMs arrived in '86, then they had 256k ones a year later and 512k by '88.
>>10882328it seems that 256k and 512k Famicom games were usually RPGs and adventure games and those larger ROMs were never as common for action games which mostly stayed 128k right to the end. it wasn't like the 16-bit consoles where 16 megabit and 32 megabit ROMs became the standard for later games.
The US got most of its NES games years after they were released in Japan. In 86' in Japan, the FDS made a lot of sense. By the time it would have been time to bring it overseas, it made no sense whatsoever. By that point the FDS was only being used for budget games, FDS games costing 3000yen on average versus 5000-6000y for carts; that's without mentionning disk writer games that cost 500yen. In the US Nintendo didn't need a budget NES, because it already was. NES games were originally sold for 30$; and on the contrary prices went up (Contra cost 30$ at release, but 35$ a year after).
>>10882336Well the 16-bit consoles were different; a lot of space could be used for animation. Boogerman for instance is a relatively short platformer that uses 24 megabits mostly for all the sprite frames. Also most 32 megabit SNES games were RPGs, platformers tended to not exceed 16 megabits.
>>10882340NES carts were slightly more expensive to produce than Famicom ones because cost saving tricks like epoxy blob ROMs weren't used and the lockout chip was also a small additional cost.
>>10882340>In 86 in Japan, the FDS made a lot of senseOtherwise you only had NROM or CNROM at that point. The first carts with larger ROMs and ASIC mappers began appearing in the fall of '86; games like Doraemon, King Kong, Pro Yakyuui Stadium etc.
>>10882340>NES games were originally sold for 30$; and on the contrary prices went up (Contra cost 30$ at release, but 35$ a year after).The priciest games were Koei ones; they were selling for close to $100.
So component prices were falling and also the Japanese market was a little more cost-conscious as Japanese have less disposable income than Americans, and this was true even during the boom years of Japan in the 80s.
>>10882186>the loading times are absolutely fucking atrocious and frequentI've only played Zelda so far, but aside from the initial start up, it only loads when entering or exiting dungeons and doesn't take particularly long, so I didn't find it to be a big deal. Maybe some games are worse.
I've only played SMB2j. That game isn't multiload IIRC, just the initial boot up.
>>10882153It's because burgers were filthy little pirates. Simple as.>>10882186Hilariously embarrassing and cringingly ironic shitpost.
they tended to like using the FDS for adventure games as you could save without an expensive battery
I never figured out just how they were planning to connect an FDS to a toaster NES if it had ever gotten released here.
>>10882538Try Zelda II and especially Castlevania II have horrible constant loading screens
>>10882609Probably through that unused bottom expansion port on the NES
>>10882189ROMs were pricey enough in the early 80s that only Atari themselves and CBS made Atari 2600 carts bigger than 4k.
>>10882186>it didn't allow for more powerfull game>game that used the whole power had to be ported to sfc due to the famicom being unable to handle the game.>>10882212not really the total size was 800 kb each side.
>>10883319>not really the total size was 800 kb each side.
>>10882162>Gunsmith CatsI haven't watched these in a while
>>10883319It didn't add any extra power, that's why most games were released on cartridges anyway due to using mapper chips and other enhancements.What game are you referring to?
>>10884273The FDS had an IRQ counter for game status bars; cartridge conversions of games to MMC1 or UNROM had to use sprite 0 hit instead so cartridge LOZ, Castlevania, and Zelda II have issues with the status bar breaking up when too much stuff happens which didn't occur on the FDS originals.
emulated FDS sound is never quite right
