Compiling NES 101 Information

[racketboy]

Some of you may remember some of the "Retro Gaming 101" posts we've done in the past. The basic idea is to have a basic run-down of the historical impact of a given console and the information a newbie would want/need to know when shopping around for the console in question and things to make the best use of the machine.

Instead of long paragraphs of information, I prefer to have concise, but useful sentences arranged in bullet points. You can find examples of this in our previous posts:
http://www.racketboy.com/guide/retro-gaming-101

I'm going to post this same info for different consoles, so forgive me if some of the questions are obvious for this given console.

To help out, just write up sentences (or paragraphs, I guess) of useful information. I'll compile them up here and we can keep going until we get a useful guide. Sound good?



Points of interest include:

Background Info: This stuff is what you would typically find in Wikipedia, but if you have anything interesting to add, that would be great

Historical Impact: What innovations did the console bring to the table? what makes it relevant today?

Different Variations of the Hardware

Accessories: What are the essential and unique accessories that didn't come standard with the machine?

Video Connections: What connections are availible for the machine?

Strengths and Weaknesses: This can be for both at the time of its release and in regards to its current relevancy (current perspective preferred)

Emulation: What are the best emulators for PC, Mac, Linux, other, if availible... If there are two good ones, does one have advantages over the other?

Playing Imports: How do you play imports

What other unique things should people know about the machine, what to look for when shopping for one, etc....

[diehllane]

I'm not going to reply to each segment of the post... just a few.

Historical impact: The Nintendo NES brought the Power Glove which is more or less the basis for the WiiMote. Also, the Nintendo had a large selection of educational video games. With the Wii and DS having many educational titles, this shows us that Nintendo is getting back to its roots and being geared for kids or anyone who wants to gain more knowledge and information.

Different Variations: NES 001 - Frontloading "toaster" model, NES 101 - Toploader, MANY MANY knockoffs.

Accessories: The Power Glove is a unique and important accesory that didn't come standard with the NES. The Power Glove added to Nintendo's interactive capabilties (the Power Pad was already out, both the Bandai and Nintendo versions).

Video Connections: NES 001 - RF adapter or mono AV cable, NES 101 - RF adapter only, but AV cable capability is available with modding.

What to look for when shopping for one: Being made out of Nintendo plastic, the systems and even controllers do tend to yellow. If you buy a system that isn't working, there are MANY replacement parts available on ebay for a reasonable price (except doors for the frontloader model).

[fastbilly1]

I can add a bit about R.O.B. in the near future, if need be.

[racketboy]

There are plenty of funky NES accessories, aren't there?

[Pullmyfinger]

There are plenty of funky NES accessories, aren't there?

Yeah, I got a few:

Game Genie
NES Advantage
Game Action Replay
Joycard Sansui SSS
NES to Famicom converter
Cleaning Kit
Those plastic shells for games
NES Max controller
Zapper (grey and red)
Four Score

I also have a PAL NES around, it lacks the AV and RF ports and has a SCART port. Let me know if you want info or pix.

[racketboy]

There are plenty of funky NES accessories, aren't there?

Yeah, I got a few:

Game Genie
NES Advantage
Game Action Replay
Joycard Sansui SSS
NES to Famicom converter
Cleaning Kit
Those plastic shells for games
NES Max controller
Zapper (grey and red)
Four Score

I also have a PAL NES around, it lacks the AV and RF ports and has a SCART port. Let me know if you want info or pix.

Anything you got would be great
And like I've told others, if you take pictures, it's especially nice to have it on a white background (white sheet or t-shirt) so it blends into the site's background nicely

[marurun]

You know, if you're actually going to go into detail, the NES is almost too big for a single article. It's almost a 2-parter. There were just too many weird accessories, too many variants, and it's been out too damn long :)

[racketboy]

You know, if you're actually going to go into detail, the NES is almost too big for a single article. It's almost a 2-parter. There were just too many weird accessories, too many variants, and it's been out too damn long

You could say that about some of my other articles, but that never stopped me

[Pullmyfinger]

in fact you could make a NES article and a crazy accessories article

[Jubal]

in fact you could make a NES article and a crazy accessories article

that seems the right thing to do, there really are a plethora of different 3rd party NES accessories, more than ten times what pullmyfinger listed. you could just limit to official big N stuff, but its still a hefty list