The Family Computer (and the NES) [Grab Bag]

Without the Famicom (and NES), the video game industry might have grown in an entirely different direction. Today, I'd like to talk about what it was like experiencing this legendary game console back in its heyday.

[sakarver]

Seeing Sakurai talk so earnestly and enthusiastically about how cool the Famicom was warms my heart.

[NathanielBandy]

I had no idea the Famicom originally had square buttons! It's so cool to still learn about small things like this

[NamelessGamer]

I love how Sakurai low-key flexed on other game devs in the beginning

[Minty_Meeo]

Yo Sakurai pogged, what a great video opening.

[VieShaphiel]

A hot topic in Japan has been that a book called "History of Video Games" came out from a major publisher but was soon found out to be full of BS in almost every single page. It made everyone who heard about it hope that the actual people who worked in the industry come out more often to speak about what it really was, like what Mr. Sakurai is doing here.

[rabiroden]

Imagine buying a console at 13 and then developing an official first-party game for that same console 10 years later. That's an incredible lifespan for a games machine.

[goodboi]

I would never imagine Mr. Sakurai and Yoko Taro were the same age. Difficult to imagine two more different (but equally amazing) creators!

[FloatingSunfish]

The Family Computer/NES will always be my favorite console of all time.
It pretty much revived the entire video game industry in the West and gaming today wouldn't be the same without it.
We actually had an original Famicom because that's what they sold here in the Philippines back in the day!

[metal_face]

I absolutely love the grab bags. The regional differences between the Famicom and NES are very interesting.

[AspiringHeroGames]

Really interesting to learn about these consoles. The difference between the music of Castlevania on the different consoles is wild, that's like a remake level of audio improvement!. Adding chips to the cartridge was such a great piece of innovation, I remember seeing similar inside the transparent GBC cartridges and always thought they were cool.

[CreatorofSecks]

He sounds so happy to be talking about this. It’s wonderful

[RebelliousTreecko]

The disk system had an interesting little mascot. (Diskun)
I remember it being a trophy in Super Smash Bros Melee.

[gamefreakDX]

I'm glad the custom chips were brought up as a part of the FC's history.

This might sound weird, but when I think of FC custom chips, it will be the VRC6 sound chip that was used for Castlevania III/Akumajou Densetsu amongst a few other games. One of the greatest 8-Bit soundtracks I've ever heard.

[keysignal]

My father bought me the NES Action Set, and it completely changed my life. I will always cherish the memories I had with it.

[Jingleboy]

I love how these videos are localised. In the Japanese version R.O.B (at 3:28) is shown in its Famicom colours.

[tas]

The best Sakurai videos are the ones where he's obviously got so much love for what he's talking about.

[FlumpyTripod]

I knew a decent amount of this information, but it's really interesting to see the Famicom from the perspective of a developer who was there when it came out. Definitely learned more than just straight facts, and hearing about how revolutionary it was from someone who was there at the beginning makes me appreciate it even more

[helloyanis]

That face at 0:07 is gonna become an emote on so many discord servers

[likky]

The sakurai classic japanese humor shocked jaw drop

[Bro]

Very happy to see you cover the Famicom Mr. Sakurai.
Not a lot of folks in the west tend to talk about the red and white machine all that much in comparison to the overseas counterpart the NES.
There isn't even a whole lot of documentation on the English web about the Famicom specifically, I actually opened up a wiki website recently that I hope fixes that in the future where English speakers outside of Japan can learn the impact the Famicom and its library left on the gaming industry.