NES Hardware and Accesories

The hardware of the NES is designed to take a cartridge that holds the game software, take input from controllers and peripheral devices, and output graphics and sound through a television (or other audio/video device.) The NES was originally modeled to have cartridges input thorugh the front of the system as opposed to the top of the system like other consoles had done before, but the design was later changed to a top-loading system when it was discovered that the original design allowed for too much dirt to accumulate inside the system.

NES cartridges connect with the system by the use of copper contacts on both the cartridge and the connector in the system. The cartridges use a 72-pin layout, as opposed to the 60-pin layout used by Famicom games. Over time these connectors can accumulate dirt, corrode, or get bent out of place, and all three of these things can lead to the hardware not being able to access the software. When the system can't read game data properly the game may have garbled graphics or sound, or the game may not function at all.

Another piece of hardware also causes some games to not be playable on an NES. The lockout chip is a part of the NES that searches for a certain signal from the cartridge to determine if a game should be allowed to run on the NES. In European markets, the lockout chips prevented games made for one market from being played on machines from another market. Unlicensed companies in the United States learned how to include chips in their cartridges that would fool the NES into believing that the game should be allowed to run. If the lockout chip does not return a valid signal to the NES, the hardware continues to reset itself until a valid signal is received. Reasons for a game not running would include dirty, bent, or corroded connectors on the appropriate pins, the cartridge returning an invalid signal, or the cartridge not returning any signal.

If a valid signal is received by the lockout chip, the NES then takes information from the cartridge and process the information into game code which is then output to the screen and speakers. The part of the NES that process graphical information is called the PPU, or Picture Processing Unit. The PPU determines what sprites should be delivered to which pixels and what color each sprite should display. The PPU refreshes the screen with new graphical information at a pre-defined rate of 60 frames-per-second on NTSC standard machines (used in North America and Japan) or 50 frames-per-second on PAL standard machines (used in Europe, Asia, and Australia.) The CPU, or Central Processing Unit, must also adjust the speed at which it handles information based upon this refresh-rate. The CPU controls all functions of the NES including sending and receiving information from the PPU, reading information to the sound synthesizer, receiving information from the controller, and putting everything together to output a functioning game.

Other features of the hardware of the NES include Power and Reset switches to either turn the NES on and off or to reset the system, two controller ports to connect the various accessories to the NES, a port for the AC adapter that powers the NES, a port for an RF Switch to connect the NES to your TV, and audio/video ports as an alternate means for connecting the NES to an output device. The many different parts of the NES are not as complicated as a modern video game console, but they nevertheless form a highly sophisticated piece of equipment that changed the history of home video game systems forever.

The original NES came with two gamepad controllers with a direction pad and four buttons on each - Start, Select, A and B. Some of the newer or pirated Nintendo gamepads, had two extra "turbo" buttons. These turbo keys had the same function as the A and B buttons, except that they emulated short and rapid pressing thus coming in handy for many quick-paced games.

Nintendo also had a Light gun controller, known as the Zapper. It was a futuristic-looking pistol that was plugged into the console's standard controller port. Few NES releases supported the Zapper - shooting games like Duck Hunt.

The Power Pad was a special rug split into 3 x 4 section-buttons. This controller was manipulated by actually stepping on different sections. The main purpose of the Power Pad was to introduce an active element to gaming where the player actually moves his body to provide input. Popularity remained low of the exercicing games supported by the Power Pad. Years later the Power Pad was reborn in modern consoles with better success. Another peculiar controller which marketed poorly was the Power Glove.