8/7/2023 0 Comments Mitsumi quick disk drive beltTo reduce costs the original, yellow, disks had no shutter to protect the sensitive internals (and were packaged with a protective sleeve in a plastic box) as was common with other floppy disks, however, six FDS games - which are blue - do have a shutter and are as follows: ![]() Some disks were released with a different game on each side and some games were released on multiple disks. Games either made use of just one side of the disk or both, meaning at some point during the game the floppy had to be ejected, turned over and reinserted. For a technical overview of the disk format please see: The disk type that the FDS uses, known as Disk System Card, is a proprietary format based on the Mitsumi Quick Disk 3-inch floppy disk, and uses a 3-inch × 4-inch plastic housing, holds 56KB per side (in total as much as four times the capacity of a Famicom cartridge) with access speed of 12Kb per second. ![]() Releasing games on disk was a cheaper alternative to cartridge technology, however, because the Famicom with the FDS or a NES lacks the extra sound capabilities afforded by the FDS the cartridge versions featured inferior sound. A number of games that started life originally as a disk version include Kid Icarus in 1986, Metroid in 1986, The Legend of Zelda in 1986 (a launch title for the FDS), Zelda II: The Adventure of Link in 1987, games that would see a NES release a year after the disk releases. In total 200 games were released for the Famicom Disk System which includes both exclusives to the disk technology and others that were later released also on cartridge. ![]() Without a disk inserted you will get an animation as seen in the video below with a large Nintendo logo and the instruction to 'PLEASE SET DISK CARD' while Mario and Luigi run along the bottom of the screen and interact with the Nintendo logo. When bought new the FDS package included the disk drive unit itself (HVC-022), the RAM adapter (HVC-023), two manuals (a guide for the parents and another designed for children in manga style) but the power supply (HVC-025) had to be purchased separately as the disk system could be powered off batteries. The FDS is typically placed underneath the Famicom, somewhat dwarfing the console above it, but matching its colour scheme. The FDS can be powered either by the included AC adapter or six 'C' batteries with the advantage of running off batteries being that it freed up a power socket (traditional Japanese homes had few mains sockets) which was very hand as the batteries last a month or so. Interestingly, the RAM adapter has a connector behind a sliding door that has resemblance to the same connector on the FDS itself that the RAM adapter plugs into, possibly planned for future expansion. The RAM adapter contains 32KB of RAM for disk caching, 8KB video memory, and an ASIC (Application-Specific Integrated Circuit) which acts as a disk controller and also contains a sound synthesizer and the disk drive BIOS. While the Famicom does not have a specialist connection for the FDS, the disk drive instead is connected to a RAM adapter which in turn plugs into the Famicom's cartridge port. Please read on to learn more about the FDS in more detail. Disk-kun was popular in Japan and even had his own line of merchandise, and cameoed in a number of games: Famicom Golf: Japan Course (FDS, 1987), Smash Ping Pong (FDS, 1987), and WarioWare: Smooth Moves (Wii, 2006). The FDS had its own mascot, Disk-kun, a simple character sort of resembling an FDS disk with eyes, feet and hands, and mainly yellow in colour, matching the colour of the original line of FDS game disks. ![]() Nonetheless, the FDS saw the release of the first in a series of beloved games such as The Legend of Zelda and Metroid and for a time was considered by Nintendo the future for the Famicom. The FDS enabled advanced, cheaper (not taking into account the cost of the FDS), quicker to release games to become reality although marred by slow loading and saving times (although saving to a cartridge game wasn't even available at the time). Family Computer Disk System) or FDS for short, is a disk drive add-on for the Famicom, released in Japan only on 21st February 1986 for ¥15000 (USD $80).
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