I wanted to start off "5PM" with a bang. Well, here it is!
A few weekends ago, I went to Utsunomiya (Tochigi-ken) to pick up my Zaurus. I got there too late and I couldn't find the service center. I did, however, find some really good shops on National Route 4. One shop had a ton of toys, video game characters, and hard-to-find games. While their prices were slightly inflated, the rarity of some of the stuff was first rate. For example, they had the Zelda: Minish Cap promotional edition GBA SP - It's all gold with the Triforce etched on the front - for something like 30,000 yen (around $300). There was a ton of interesting stuff there: A working Sony MSX computer (the actual Metal Gear 2 was released on this system [Snake's revenge is actually the third one and changed the style completely] ), various Mario and Pikmin plush dolls, and even some straight-from-China ripoffs that looked like the DS and PSP, but only played crappy LCD games...
...But the coolest thing I found there was an in-box, complete with manual Famicom Family BASIC set, for only 1000 yen! I absolutely had to buy it. And I'm glad I did, because the next store I went to had five or six in stock, but they were selling them for 10,000 yen each!
This set has the keyboard, the BASIC cartridge, and the programmer's manual. This thing is a gold mine for anyone interested in how the NES works / worked. You can even make your own simple games with it! Several sites have various tidbites of information about this, but there's nothing like the real thing for answers. So without further adieu, I give you...
NINTENDO'S FAMILY BASIC KEYBOARD SET
The Family Basic box. A little worse for the wear, but when you consider that this thing is actually 20 years old (released in 1985), it's still in great shape. I bet it would look even better if I cleaned the silvery box, but I'm afraid of damaging it.
The contents - keyboard, manual, and cartridge. Not shown: form-fitted foam blocks, warning sheet, and warranty card.
The Family Basic cartridge - much bigger than a normal Famicom cartridge, and with a "back up switch" [sic] to keep your stored information from getting erased. On the back is a panel for the two AA batteries that maintain the memory. Mine still had the original, slightly corroded batteries in it. I switched them out for some nice new ones.
The manual. It's seen some use, too, but is otherwise in great condition. It's all in Japanese, but the commands are in English. Things like the error messages and command lists have the English expansion of the abbreviation, and then a Japanese explanation. Back in the 80's, they knew how to make easy to read, yet comprehensive computer manuals. This one is on a par with the manuals that came with the Apple II or the Commodore 64. I hope to do something with the manual soon - translate it, scan it, post some faq's... I'll keep you updated!
The keyboard part one - notice the distinctly 80's teletype-style keys. If you look carefully, you can see the Japanese characters on the keys as well. I haven't cleaned it, so you can see some yellow cruft on the baseboard. This design just screams retro cool. Why they went with such a weak color scheme in America, we'll never know.
The keyboard part two - You can tell that this was keyboard designed by a game company, who would understand the importance of the arrow keys. They are oversized and logically placed.
The "HVC-007" label is the Famicom part number for the keyboard. HVC stands for "Home Video Computer". The connector above it how you connect the keyboard to the peripheral controller port on the Japanese Famicom. On the original Famicom, the two controllers were hardwired to the system.
When Nintendo brought the Famicom to America, they standardized the controller ports into the style we're familiar with today. Because of this, Family BASIC never gained even a cult following in America because of the inability to interface with the US NES. I wonder if it would be possible to make an adapter for the keyboard, or if the "expansion port" that was never used is actually the Famicom port in disguise?
The keyboard, part 3. These are input-output headphone jacks for the (archaic) tape storage system.... You can use a tape recorder to save your games. A nice touch. The disk system was yet to be announced (1986), memory was entirely too costly, and tapes were cheap and recorders simple to use. It makes sounds much like a modem, from what I understand. The manual also says the transfer speed is 1200 baud. I have not tried it yet. I would like to try a few things: - hooking it up to a computer and recording the sounds as a WAV, then playing them back to the system,
- decoding the signals and tokens it uses
- creating an IDE to write, debug, parse, and emulate(?) Family Basic programs
- saving the finished program as a Famicom-understandable WAV file
It might even be interesting to dig deeper, bypass the D/A conversion, and create a real serial connection (some serious hacking/tweaking required for that).
When it came to the graphical data, Nintendo did something brilliant yet limiting. They hard-coded the sprites and the background tiles into the cartridge. This saved memory, but also limits the user's creativity a bit. However, the biggest limit of creativity is the memory space. At a measly 2000 bytes of storage, only simple games can be made. Was the reasoning behind this because of the high cost of memory, or some other reason? We may never know.
Here is the sprite table and the graphics table. The sprites can be flipped and inverted easily (ever wonder why Super Mario uses his left hand to break bricks while running right and uses the right hand to break brick when he turns to the left?) The background sprites are more useful than they first appear. Anyone comfortable with ANSI art would be comfortable with this. Note the examples to the right of what can be created with these basic building blocks. The drawback is, these are static screens. Games have to take place on one field. For Space Invaders-style games, this is no problem. For other types, you'll have to be creative.
Apparently there is a Family BASIC V3 that has more memory and lets you make your own sprites. I've been looking for it, but I don't think I'll be able to find it before I leave Japan. Like lightning, awesome game deals rarely strike twice. If I find V3 it will probably be behind a glass case with the really-rare games, taunting me with a price tag that is ridiculously high, yet still within the realms of plausibility for a desperate collector or fanboy. Nevertheless, my Family BASIC is a piece of history that I am happy to own and cherish.
# posted by 22samurai @ 7:09 AM
