NES Consoles, Games and Accessories

The Nintendo Entertainment System (commonly known as the NES, to the relief of game website writers across the globe) was released here in Australia in 1987.

Its release followed the US video game crash of 1983-1985, in which a number of video game companies (including Atari) went bankrupt due to the sheer number of consoles and poorly-made games flooding the market, as well as a number of other factors. The NES has been credited as the major reason that the North American gaming industry managed to recover, and it cemented Nintendo as a major video game console and software maker.

This was where many of Nintendo’s most famous series had their 8-bit beginnings, with Super Mario Bros. (which became the best-selling game of all time, retaining the title for over 30 years until it was dethroned by Nintendo’s Wii Sports), The Legend of Zelda and Metroid released for the console. Third-party developers also had the NES to thank for their successful series launches, including Final Fantasy, Mega Man, Dragon Quest and Castlevania.

Although it became the most popular system of its time (and wasn’t actually discontinued in Japan until 2003), the NES was not without its problems. The method for inserting the cartridges into the system produced a lot of wear and tear over time, with dirt build-up causing poor connections between the game and the console. This led many gamers to try blowing into the end of the cartridge to clear the dust so they could play their favourite games – but what they didn’t realise was that this actually made the problem worse.