Retronauts Episode 359: Famicom Disk System
To flip this podcast to Side B, stand on your head
The Nintendo Famicom, later exported as the Nintendo Entertainment System, is rightly seen as a landmark video game console that paved the way for the entire medium to shift to the living room and explore longer, more complicated experiences. But the Famicom Disk System, an expansion for the Famicom that was released in Japan 35 years ago, was just as key in that development.
And even though we never got to see the Famicom Disk System outside of Japan, anyone who likes Nintendo games has a fondness for at least one - and probably three or four - games that started their existence as a small yellow floppy disk. The Legend of Zelda? A Disk System launch title! Super Mario Bros. 2? Why that's just a reskinned Doki Doki Panic! Castlevania? Metroid? Kid Icarus? All were created for the Disk System (and all turn 35 soon, FYI).
Joining Jeremy to highlight this hardware are two experts and recurring Retronauts guests: Chris Kohler, certified owner of multiple Famicom Disk Systems, and Kurt Kalata, co-author of The Complete Guide to the Famicom Disk System.
Description: Jeremy Parish sloooowly loads input from Chris Kohler and Kurt Kalata to celebrate the 35th anniversary of Nintendo's Famicom Disk System, the most important console expansion never to have made its way to America.
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Artwork for this episode by John Pading and editing thanks go to Greg Leahy.
