![]() When the disk cards were working, gamers would often complain of long load times, sometimes lasting over ten seconds compared to virtually no load times with cartridge based games. From the release up until 2003, Nintendo did service faulty Disk Systems for customers. Many gamers were tormented by various disk errors relating to faulty disk cards or issues with the drive belts that would sometimes break or corrode to the point where it became unusable. Other issues, such as reliability, were constant problems for Disk System owners. Piracy was a very big problem for the format, with pirated disk cards running rampant as well as several publications throughout Japan informing the tech savvy crowd how to copy disks. While the price and technical advancements of the disk cards were very attractive for consumers and developers, there were several issues that brought about the downfall of the Disk System. Gamers could take their disks to Disk Fax Machines located throughout Japan and fax their high scores to Nintendo headquarters. Some games, such as Famicom Grand Prix: F1 Race, even allowed gamers to utilize the save data on the disk to compete nationally for high scores in tournaments. The rewritable disks remedied this and allowed for more expansive gaming experiences. Not only this, but at the time following up to the the release of the Disk System, players had no way to save their progress in games. With the advent of the disk cards, developers were not limited to the confines of the Famicom cartridges and were able to make larger games that could fit on the Disk System's larger capacity disk cards. Typically, store clerks would operate the machines for the customers. These machines could be found at various toy shops, department stores, and sometimes even convenience stores throughout Japan. The data was written to the disk cards via the Famicom Disk System Disk Writer, which was more or less a game vending machine. ![]() "A variety of games can be re-written on one Disk Card." (Disk Card shown: Baseball) They could use the disk multiple times to write different games to the disk card for the low price of 500 yen each time. Famicom Disk System owners could opt to purchase a blank disk card for 2,000 yen and then have the game of their choice placed onto the disk. Gamers in Japan also had a very unique option available to them that was only possible with the disk cards. Brand new disk games could be purchased between 2,500 to 3,500 yen. ![]() In the 1980s, Famicom cartridge based games usually retailed for around 5,000 yen. Not only were the games cheaper to manufacture on the disk-based medium, they were cheaper for the consumer as well. One of the big draws of disk based games was the cost. Initially, most of the disks were produced without dust covers in an attempt to cut manufacturing costs, however the dust covers were included in later releases. Many of the titles used both sides of the disk cards for storing game data. The disks themselves were proprietary 2.8” “Quick Disks” manufactured by Mitsumi Electronics and had a capacity of 64KB per side. ![]() The system could be powered with the included AC adapter or six C batteries. The system also had a more advanced sound chip that gave the games a unique sound that could not be easily replicated on a cartridge based game. The RAM adapter housed an additional 32KB of RAM for temporary program storage, 8KB of RAM for tile and sprite data storage, and an ASIC (Application Specific Integrated Circuit) called the 2C33 that controlled various aspects of the floppy drive and the hardware. The Famicom Disk System plugged directly into the Famicom via a RAM adapter that plugged into the cartridge slot. Not only did the Disk System provide gamers and developers with more flexibility, the disk format also provided a larger capacity and the ability to rewrite data directly to the disk. These were just some of the reasons why the Famicom Disk System was released in Japan on February 21, 1986. Not only this, but many gamers were wanting additional features for their Famicom games, such as the ability to save data. In a world and time when the Famicom reigned supreme in Japan, developers were not satisfied with the ROM cartridge format and its limitations. ![]()
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