Something I never knew about the NES

[BlueStar]

A few snippets from various pages...

Two controllers were permanently attached to the Famicom. The second player's controller included a built in microphone but lacked the "start" and "select" buttons.
...
Very few game systems built audio input devices into their controllers after this. The Nintendo DS is the first system to use an Integrated Microphone, almost 20 years after the release of the Famicom.
...
A passage in the manual for The Legend of Zelda states that Pols Voices hate loud noises, however for non-Japanese players, this has been a source of confusion. The only item in the game that produces a sound, the recorder, has no effect on Pols Voice. The passage actually describes a feature of the Japanese Famicom version of the game; if the player made a sound into the Famicom controller's built-in microphone, Pols Voice would be slain.

Well fuck me sideways!

Am I the only one with such astounding ignorance, or does this come as a surprise to anyone else?

 

[agami]

That's pretty cool didn't know that either, found the wiki page with some info on it (stuff they got in japan that we didn't)

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Nintendo_Ente...nal_differences

Can't believe both the nes and snes had friggen modems, damn

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Satellaview (snes modem)

 

[pasc]

what a find.

 

[Elrinth]

whoa I never knew zelda actually made use of it. i own a sharp twin famicom and I think my second controller has a microphone for it. I've heard there is some sing-along game(s?) for famicom. but I don't remember it's name.

 

[Westside]

A few snippets from various pages...

Two controllers were permanently attached to the Famicom. The second player's controller included a built in microphone but lacked the "start" and "select" buttons.
...
Very few game systems built audio input devices into their controllers after this. The Nintendo DS is the first system to use an Integrated Microphone, almost 20 years after the release of the Famicom.
...
A passage in the manual for The Legend of Zelda states that Pols Voices hate loud noises, however for non-Japanese players, this has been a source of confusion. The only item in the game that produces a sound, the recorder, has no effect on Pols Voice. The passage actually describes a feature of the Japanese Famicom version of the game; if the player made a sound into the Famicom controller's built-in microphone, Pols Voice would be slain.

Well fuck me sideways!

Am I the only one with such astounding ignorance, or does this come as a surprise to anyone else?

Sure, Where do you live?

 

[jalaneme]

i knew about the nes having a modem in japan, i also knew that there was a mii design 20 years before it ever came out on the wii (youtube has a vid of this or just search my favorites on my channel) but i never knew about the famicom having a built in mic though, interesting stuff, why didn't the western models have a built in mic? was it because of language barriers then?

and yes the snes had a add on for a satellite modem to download games to carts or something one game is BS zelda which was released in japan only (translated english roms are now available though) i believe the n64 had a addon pack aswell similar to the floppy expansion to the faimcom but again was never released outside of japan aswell. (if you do find one on ebay prepare for your wallets to take a hard hard beating lol)

 

[TrolleyDave]

i knew about the nes having a modem in japan, i also knew that there was a mii design 20 years before it ever came out on the wii (youtube has a vid of this or just search my favorites on my channel) but i never knew about the famicom having a built in mic though, interesting stuff, why didn't the western models have a built in mic? was it because of language barriers then?

and yes the snes had a add on for a satellite modem to download games to carts or something one game is BS zelda which was released in japan only (translated english roms are now available though) i believe the n64 had a addon pack aswell similar to the floppy expansion to the faimcom but again was never released outside of japan aswell. (if you do find one on ebay prepare for your wallets to take a hard hard beating lol)

Yep there was a floppy drive add-on for the N64, although it was more like zip discs than floppies. I think they were 3" discs. It was called the N64DD. You're right about them being pretty expensive as well, although the price is dropping a little as most collectors these days are more interested in the development drives as it's the only way to play release protos for the N64DD.

I think someone recently figured out how to actually decrypt the stuff that's on the discs as well, if I remember right they were talking about it over on AssemblerGames.

BTW I know there was a modem out for the MegaDrive in Japan as well, I don't remember it coming out here in the UK but it might've. Does anyone know if it come out States-side?

 

[Bob Evil]

One of the more interesting applications of the Famicom's microphone was in some of the levels of Beat Takeshi's game.

 

[SG]

Yeah it was pretty damn cool, ahead of its time IMO.

Why the rest of the world didn't get it is beyond me.

"Fuck", you say? How swear friendly is GBA Temp? Another site that I frequently post at (Eurogamer) allows it any-which-way.

 

[ben_r_]

I have no idea what any of that means.... WTF is a famicon, who the hell is pol and why heck does any of this matter now?

 

[Bob Evil]

Famicom = Family Computer = NES

 

[Elrinth]

I have no idea what any of that means.... WTF is a famicon, who the hell is pol and why heck does any of this matter now?

we gaming otakus thinkses that tis cool! besides I'm getting zelda disk version someday in the future as i have a sharp twin famicom myself!

 

[TrolleyDave]

One of the more interesting applications of the Famicom's microphone was in some of the levels of Beat Takeshi's game.

I didn't know Beat Takeshi had his own game! He's one of the coolest actors of all time, you ain't got the games name handy have you?

 

[Bob Evil]

He had 4 games released on the NES ... the most notorious of which was Takeshi no Chousenjou (Takeshi's Challenge) in which the players had to do odd things to pass each level ... one level required you to hum or whistle or sing continuously into the mic for a full minute, another level wanted you to leave the joypad untouched for one hour ... and other odd 'challenges' like that.

The games were shit, to be fair.

Side-Note : He invented the show Takeshi's Castle, and even hosted it, on occasion.

 

[jalaneme]

BTW I know there was a modem out for the MegaDrive in Japan as well, I don't remember it coming out here in the UK but it might've. Does anyone know if it come out States-side?

for the megadrive too? i learn something new every day lol

QUOTEWTF is a famicon

i'm guessing u werent born in the 80s then?

 

[Maikel Steneker]

I didnt know the famicom controller had a builtin microphone... That's interesting

Time to read the links

 

[Lost Racer]

BTW I know there was a modem out for the MegaDrive in Japan as well, I don't remember it coming out here in the UK but it might've. Does anyone know if it come out States-side?

We had X-Band here in the states for the Genesis. That was our modem

I miss mine.

 

[The Worst]

x-band? What is that? I remember Sega channel. It was the shit.

 

[podunk1269]

they had x band for the snes too. And goddamn I loved the sega channel

 

[Hero-Link]

BTW I know there was a modem out for the MegaDrive in Japan as well, I don't remember it coming out here in the UK but it might've. Does anyone know if it come out States-side?

We had X-Band here in the states for the Genesis. That was our modem

I miss mine.

Dont you guys remember the Sega Channel? Although it never came to my country i was amazed at it by reading about it in magazines

edit: aw man podunk1269 beat me to it, haha