TODAY: The FAMICOM’S 30TH ANNIVERSARY.

Today is the Famicom’s 30th anniversary. Naw, not the Nintendo Entertainment System. That son of a bitch launched two years later. Still, this was the system that launched a zillion-childhoods. It may have been repackaged before crossing into the Western World, but this was the console that started it all for a lot of us.

Thirty years.

Jesus.

It was 30 years ago today, on July 15, 1983, when Nintendo launched the Family Computer, the 8-bit video game console, commonly called Famicom — known better as the Nintendo Entertainment System (NES) in the United States.

This original Nintendo home system looked much more toy-like than the redesigned console which would eventually come to U.S. audiences two years later, with a white, red, and gold motif.

Unlike the NES system released in the U.S., the two controllers were hardwired to the console, and could be stored in the system by attaching them to the top. The Player 1 controller on Famicom had the same button layout as the U.S. NES controller, but the second controller also had a built-in microphone in place of the Select button.

As part of the anniversary, Nintendo is releasing a Virtual Console title each month at a 30-day special reduced price of 30 cents in the Nintendo eShop, a digital storefront accessible from your Wii U console.

[CNET]