The Family Computer Disk System, often shortened as Famicom Disk System or FDS, is an add-on peripheral for the Family Computer - the Japanese version of the Nintendo Entertainment System - that was released on February 21, 1986 exclusively in Japan by Nintendo. It was designed to enhance features already present in the base Famicom, offering better sound and cheaper, rewritable games with double-sided Quick Disks ("Disk Cards") to store game data rather than ROM cartridges. However, it came with drawbacks, including a high initial price for the device along with the storage medium's slower load times and reduced reliability. The Disk System connected to the Famicom via a port on the bottom of the console. These Disk Cards were some of the first console games to allow a player to save their game progress.
The title screen of the FDS release of The Legend of Zelda
Certain popular NES games or franchises such as Metroid, Kid Icarus, and Konami's Castlevania series were originally released as Family Computer Disk System titles, including The Legend of Zelda and Zelda II: The Adventure of Link. Therefore, this particular console is the technical debut of The Legend of Zelda series. Its launch titles are Super Mario Bros: The Lost Levels (known as Super Mario Bros. 2 in Japan) and The Legend of Zelda. Most Disk System titles were later re-released as regular cartridges, using passwords or battery-backed memory to save game progress in lieu of the Disk Cards' rewritable memory, albeit extremely late in the Famicom/NES' lifespan when its successor, the Super Famicom/SNES, was the dominant Nintendo home console (as the case of the Zelda games were in 1994). The Famicom Disk System's unique sound in its game counterparts was rather revolutionary for the time, as it adds an extra channel over the original system's five.
Although it was successful, as the Disk System sold 4.4 million units, making it the best-selling console add-on of all-time, it did not last in the market for long. Due to the fragility of floppy disks, low quality of the disk drive and various other criticisms by Japanese players such as taking up physical space, as well as becoming obsolete as early as 1989, it was discontinued in 1993. However, Nintendo continued its support for repairs until 2007, the same time the company ends with all other cartridge-based consoles (NES, Super NES, Game Boy, etc.)
Gallery[]
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The logo of the Family Computer Disk System -
The official mascot of the FDS, Disk-kun -
The Famicom, the base of the add-on -
The box art of the Famicom Disk System release of The Legend of Zelda, one of the two launch titles of the console -
A FDS copy of The Legend of Zelda
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Gameplay screen of FDS The Legend of Zelda, featuring the famous Old Man quote
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The box art of the Famicom Disk System release of The Adventure of Link
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A FDS copy of The Adventure of Link
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Gameplay screenshot of FDS The Adventure of Link, with Link standing by King's Tomb
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Artwork of two Links carrying a large Game Disk
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Artwork of Link riding a large Game Disk
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NBA Pixel Collection sprite of the FDS' The Legend of Zelda
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Super Mario Bros.: The Lost Levels, a Mario game and one of the two launch titles of the FDS
Trivia[]
- Surprisingly, despite having more advanced sound, the memory size limit of the Family Computer Disk System is 112KB, which is significantly less than the maximum capacity of the Famicom/Nintendo Entertainment System itself - 1MB (though games in general were between 128 to 384KB).
- Only 194 officially licensed games were released for the Famicom Disk System. For comparison, the base Famicom's library had as many as 1377.
- Not unlike the Famicom itself, the FDS is a popular collector's item among retro gamers overseas due to its exclusive content.
A New Famicom model attached to the Family Computer Disk System
- It's possible to use the Family Computer Disk System on the later released New Famicom and even the New-Style NES models (though the latter requires an adapter).
- Super Mario Bros.: The Lost Levels of the Mario series is the console's best-selling title, with 2.65 million copies sold. For comparison, The Legend of Zelda and The Adventure of Link released on the FDS is estimated to have sold 1.75 and 1.61 million copies, respectively.
- The reason why the NES never had its own disk system add-on is because although Nintendo of America did announced plans to release the Disk System internationally and began filing patents simultaneously, by the time these were approved in November 1988, Nintendo cancelled their plans to release the peripheral stateside.
- The Super NES, Nintendo 64, and Nintendo GameCube would have add-on devices of their own attached to the bottom of the console, known as the Satellaview, 64DD, and Game Boy Player, respectively. The former two, like the FDS, were only released in Japan.
- The Famicom Disk System is the primary reason why The Legend of Zelda was released a year (or two, internationally) after Super Mario Bros.. While it is confirmed by Shigeru Miyamoto that both games were developed simultaneously by the same team at Nintendo, as the latter was created specifically for the standard Famicom and the former for this device, he and his fellow developers decided to finish the Mario title, first.
A defeated Link as seen in The Legend of Zelda's FDS commercial
- In the original Japanese commercial for The Legend of Zelda, which also features Super Mario Bros.: The Lost Levels, players are seen failing to beat their levels and scream in frustration, while both Link and Mario are shown injured afterwards. The former's Sword even breaks in half as the hero speaks toward the viewers. Although The Legend of Zelda's high difficulty is mainly associated with the Second Quest, if one looks closely, the commercial actually shows the Game Over animation at Level-6 on the First Quest while fighting its Mini-Boss, Gleeok (who itself previously was the boss of Level-4).
- As an Easter Egg, the start-up melody of the Famicom Disk System is reused for the main menu music for the Nintendo GameCube, the company's first CD-based console released in 2001, 15 years later, although it's played very slowly. If sped-up 19 times, it will match the speed of the original version. The opposite is possible if the FDS' theme is heavily slowed down as well.
- The Legend of Zelda artwork exists of Link - one case two of him - carrying or riding a giant copy of a Famicom Disk System game.
