This article has a talk page!As video game consoles begin to incorporate interchangeable game cartridges, Nintendo enters the ring with their own home game system after the success of their Color TV-Game line.
The Family Computer released in Japan on July 15, 1983 (the same day as Sega's ultimately less popular SG-1000) and while not an immediate smash-hit, by the end of 1984 the Famicom would become the best selling video game console in Japan. The immense popularity of the system marks the beginning of the Famicom boom era.
Meanwhile in North America, the video game crash of 1983 was in full swing. Nintendo originally negotiated with Atari to distribute the Famicom there, but when the deal fell through Nintendo decided to release the system themselves. When nobody was interested in the Advanced Video System, Nintendo went back to the drawing board with the final design we know and love today.
The Nintendo Entertainment System was specifically designed not to look like a video game console (unlike the Famicom where it does look very much like a video game console), in an attempt to revive the video game market in the United States. Initially launched in New York on October 18, 1985 and later nationwide on September 27, 1986, the unit was marketed less as a game console and more like a toy, to the point of advertising the included toy robot peripheral that only (barely) worked with two games more heavily than the system itself. Fortunately, it worked out in the end, thanks in no small part to a library of great games.
As the Famicom and NES share the same 8-bit hardware but with a different cartridge format (Famicom 60-pin vs. NES 72-pin), this category will cover both systems.