Gooday Gaming Guests - Nintendo Famicom FDS and Cartridge Code Process

Episode Date: January 15, 2025

The FDS had a Disk Writer Kiosk you could take yours to and put a different game on it.

Alright, so today I'm going to do Famicom. So, related to the Super Nintendo, I mean, to the Nintendo, yeah, it was completely different. Because it had those really cool hard floppy disks that were really designed well. So the first cartridge is for the Famicom, which is short for Family Computer. It was in 1983. Donkey Kong came out in 1983. And Donkey Kong Jr. A sequel to Donkey Kong. Popeye. Mario Brothers.

So the Famicom looks completely different. But it's a really cool design. It had the controls attached to it. Big fan of the Famicom. I have a sharp twin Famicom that I'm going to pull out maybe for tomorrow. Today, all day, I worked on Magnavox motherboards, Odyssey 2. And I actually, after a few hours, I got three of the motherboards to work. I had to do a bunch of wiring.

It was all wrong, but we got there. All right, so the typical Mario sports choo-choo land. Famicom early games led to the foundation of these. So the first one was the hard disks. Was the hard disks first? Disks first? So you need an adapter on your Famicom to put the hard disks in my shop twin Famicom plays both hard disks and plays the no hard disks were not the first form of storage for the Famicom or any other gaming storage key points of

the storage evolution cartridges before discs the Famicom and many other early game systems like Atari use cartridges cartridges were robust introduced introduction of the disc based storage for Famicom in 1986. It's called an FDS. And I have the Legend of Zelda 1 and 2 on one of those and it's all really designed really neat. It's used like a floppy disk. Legend of Zelda. Oh, Metroid.

Oh, I didn't know there was a Metroid one. Mario Brothers 2. So a Metroid. That would be cool to find. 1986. 1986. The hard disks were not introduced in the game console much later. Systems like Xbox One.

I'm not going through there. So what's the library of the FDS? Library. We'll start with the FDS. What are we calling it? Those are more fun than FDS library we'll start with the FDS what do we call it those are more fun than FDS library of FD now let's just do FDS boot code process I seem to find things if I do it by the codes. It doesn't really give me any game codes. But sometimes.

It has a unique process of loading and executing games. It involved prioritizing disk format and hardware. So this is like a diskette, but it's hard. You can

just type that into eBay or anything the FTS was used double-sided diskette with a maximum capacity of 64 kilobytes per side disk encoding coded on the format save disk progress right onto the disk FTS hardware components RAM adapter you needed the adapter temporary loaded games BIOS RAM ROM was 8 kilobytes and then the disk road to the disk drive loaded games to the BIOS powered the FDS put it in the BIOS on the RAM the users inserted the diskette, the FDS read it

so on my Sharp Twin Fancom that FDS doesn't work. However, I also had a separate FDS adapter for the original Famicom and I tried swapping out the inside disk drive but I didn't have adapter for the original famicom and i swap try swapping out the inside

disk drive but i didn't have any luck but they're both basically the same all right so code execution is prg program code containing instructions and there's a chr code disc specific features so see it says this specific features games like Zelda use a re re writable feature on the FDS to save progress right on the disc oh there's actually utilized by Castlevania 2 Simon's Quest one my favorite all-time games as a young kid. Played it for hours and hours. Utilized the game's FDS. Disk flopping. Many games required

used to flop the disk to the other side. Debugging and programming. Developers used tools to write on the FDS disks. You could copy those disks, I believe, and put different games on them. In Japan, they had a kiosk.

Is there a kiosk in Japan to make, to copy other games? I think I remember that. On these? I believe there was a kiosk of some kind. I could be wrong. Yes, there was. It was called Introduce Disk Writer Kiosk for the FamCon Disk System. Cool, I do remember that now.

So that's interesting. Disk Writer Kiosks. Disk Writer was installed in various locations such as toy stores. You bring your disk in, blank or previously used disk. You choose a new game. Kind of reminds me of the no longer red box. You pay a fee and then you put a new game on it. That's pretty cool Cost we're writing this was much cheaper than purchasing a new disc convenience environmental impact less used So disk writer sets and popular games like Zelda and Metroid were often included Data corruption you're prone to wear and tear obviously Piracy issues legacy that disk writer kiosk was an early example of the digital distributing of games what is the law so so disc writing kiosk originally for a while redbox had games and then they got rid of them and then

then they went obsolete as soon as all the places started streaming. Library. I would have loved to grab one of them before they... Library of these. Let's get the library of these. It says it has substantial library. 200 to 220 games officially of the

FDS games. Zelda being the one I have. Metroid. Kid Incas. A hybrid performing RPG. Castlevania. YS.

I. Bubble. Bubble. Bobble. Eagerland. Some of these I can't even say. Octaga. Kokodaka.

Something Mario Brothers. Disc writing exclusive. Those are for the disc writing. You can get a K-A-E-T-T-E-K-I-T-A Mario. Only at the disc writer kiosk. All Ninja Nippon, Super Mario Bros. So, breakdown. So, there's shooters, puzzle games, RPGs, action-adventure, platform, legacy.

Similar library to Famicom's base system. Library remains highly reliable. Any, any, um, I like to do this. Any rare FDS? Rare FDS. Has several rare ones sought after. Promotion

variant of the Super Mario Brothers. Based on the original game and the lost levels. It was rare. Distributed during a promotion of Japan radio station all night nippin'. Donkey Donkey Panic, original game that was reworked into Mario 2

for the West. Yuki Yuki a Japanese adventure game based on Journey to the West Time Twist and a whole bunch of Japan words two part

time travel themed visual novel with darker themes it was rare released overshadowed

that one looked pretty cool Golf US Golf US Course specialized version of Golf It was a rare release. It overshadowed. That one looked pretty cool. Golf US Course. Specialized version of Golf. Legend of Zelda Gold Disc. It was a Gold Disc. Another lots of... A dating simulation game.

Japanese Idol. Famicom Grand Prix 2, Okutoka, a rhythm shooting game, another of that Mario Brothers with the K on it, Kataki, Honorable Mentions vs. X-Bike, Super Mario

Brothers 2 Lost Levels, Famicom, why they're rare? Because they're hard to find. Niche Market. So I want to see what this one is. why they're rare because they're hard to find niche market so I want to see what this one is so let's go to eBay I want to know what

time twist something something is let's look at that one I've been doing this and I found three games from Sega. That are coming in. They're remakes of. I mean they're.

They're not originals. Because originals were like in the hundreds. 500. But somebody. Some guy. From a pawn shop. Had them for sale. So cool.

Splatterhouse 2 and 3 and the one that's supposed to be supposed to be Legend of Zelda but for Genesis. I can't think of the name right now. Let's go to eBay for a minute. So I like to cross-reference a couple of things I see.

I want to see if I can find one of those disc writer kiosks we'll look in a second oh there's one $77 time twist time twist $77 time twist 2

so there's a time twist and there's a time twist 2 time twist 1 oh that's pretty cool I'd be interested in those Time Twist 2. So there's a Time Twist and there's a Time Twist 2. Time Twist 1. That's pretty cool. I'd be interested in those. Although I've got to get my Famicom to work. Yeah, so those look like... I wonder why this guy has $77 I see time twist 1 and time twist 2

1 and 2 and $99 to deliver time twist 1 and 2 for $180 for the whole whole set so one of the problems when I start cross-referencing on eBay, then I want to get one. So it's 10, 20, 30, 40.

Time twist 1, time twist 2. It's 77. Why is it so cheap? Pre-owned. It's like the same ones. Alright, so that's that. So let's go to the famicom famicom cartridge rich code process so now we're going which is it's theicom. Design was designed with a program ROM. Stores games using 16 kilobytes. Use a character ROM. Use a copy protection chip in it to prevent unauthorized additional chips

optional so some of the chips were some of these cartridges had additional I've still Magna box early and some of those cartridges have extended memory on them so same thing here on some of the Famicom I had some really fun stuff too. I sold it all. Reset vector read. Searches for program ROM. Initializes memory. PPU,A03, a modified version of the 6502 processor. So that's the processor that was in the Famicom running these games. It used different program ROMs, character ROMs do bank switching I hear that a lot, bank switching it was big back then, early

so you throw in memory from one bank to another to free up space, enhance graphics improve gameplay common mappers included MMC1 used in games like Legend of Zelda, MMC3, used in games like Super Mario Bros. 3, and Unrom, a simpler mapper used in many earlier games. Not quite sure what the word mapper is. Common mapper.

Let's replace this where the memory is stored. Code execution powered on initialized game loop a lot of such kind of breeze over CPU handles debugging use the 6502 assembly language put the chip so let's go to a library game game library for those I bet you there's a lots of Famicom games so the family currently over a thousand titles okay notable ones Super Mario Bros. Adventure Island Castlevania Dragon Quest mother a quirky and Hereford RGP released in the West as earthbound beginnings puzzle games like Tetris shooters across the dreaded sports games puzzle games

puzzle adventure a girl and a precursor to the event adventures of Lola multiplayer excite bike iconic famicon titles joy mech fight famicom wars special editions all night nipping nipping gold cartridges rare limited uh cartridges such as zelda uh disc system games like zelda and mario like Zelda Mario the FDS we talked about any rare those got the rare ones are rare rare games it's good that I don't have to type all of it if I'm on a doing something it's it knows and I'm still talking about the same thing all night nippin super mario brothers promotional version uh adventureland four adventureland series action it's rare in japan popular was so it wasn't as popular as that last one adventureland four let's see what else we got here. It's kicking out some more stuff here.

Adventureland 4. So there's a whole Adventureland... Yeah, hold on. Alright, let's see what other rare games are out then. So a lot of them are all Japan gimmick.

A platform of the Sunsoft. Beautiful graphics, unique physics-based game. Japan gimmick. A platform of the sun's soft. Beautiful graphics. Unique physics based game. An excellent soundtrack. It was a rare release. Family Con's life cycle. Late in the life cycle.

We're at RECA. Summer Carnival 1992. Shoot em up. Bio. Medical. Buka Hopa. Originally. summer carnival 1992 shoot them up bio medical buka hopa cupa originally uh joy mech fight robot fighting game mr gimmick that's the one she just said right mr gimmick oh there's gimmick and then there's mr gimmick it's a beautiful design a limited release overlooked during its original launch mine violation a RPG game niche over horizon a side-scrolling shooter special editions and variants the Legend of Zelda of course. The gold.

Rare. It's only a few in production. Kira Kira Star Knight DX. A modern homebrew game. Created for Famicom. This is a homebrew game. What makes the game rare? Limited production.

Japanese only. Special editions. Niche. So that's all the Famicom. production, Japanese only, special editions niche. So that's all the Famicom, but the big takeaway out of this is the kiosk and the FDS games. So you could take your FDS, bring it to a kiosk,

and it would override it and put a new game on it. That's pretty fun, I think. I do remember that and so it's Why you have they were rare so the FDS so see if there's what's it called a kiosk again? So disk writer kiosk is what's called Let's see if there's anything like that on eBay. I'm sure there...

Oops. Oh, I can't get any else. Disc Writer Kiosk. Bet you they're real expensive though, like in thousands. Disc Writer Kiosk. Nothing found. Famicom. Famicom. Famicom.

Disc writer kiosk. It's got to be somewhere. Someone's got to have them. Oh, there's one. Famicom disc system cabinet writer. Type family. Oh, really? Wow.

$230. Oh, I think it's just a remake of it. Oh, there's another one. $249. No, I can't do that. Oh, yeah, they were really small. Why does it look so big? Disc writer.

That's X. Oh, it's just a case. Oh, I see. It's a case. I'm like, what? It's a. Oh, it's just a case. Oh, I see. It's a case. I'm like, what? It's a fake one, but you can, I'll use that as my image so you can see what the disc writer looked like. I'm like, how can it be $200? It's an empty, it's a generic case that looks like one.

I was going to say, there's no way that could be $249. Oh, that's pretty cool, though. Now I know what it looks like. Let's see if I can find that. It's a JPEG here. So that's... I'll try to get one really cool thing that I can pull out of each of my podcasts.

So that's definitely it. The Famicom... Famicom Disc Writer Kiosk. JPEG. We'll put that one. Alright, so that's my thing. Tomorrow I'll do... Oh yeah, I found it.

I got one with the lady next to it. Really cool. So that's my system for today. Tomorrow we'll do Super Fan Con. See what else we can come up with. Alright, so you guys have a good afternoon. Talk to you then. Bye.