AV Family Computer

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The AV Famicom

The AV Family Computer was a redesign of the original Family Computer video game console released by Nintendo in Japan in the early 1990s. Nintendo itself called it simply Family Computer, exactly the same as the original, but users called it AV Famicom or New Famicom to distinguish from the original. Like the original model, it is commonly referred to by the nickname "Famicom”. It was stylistically similar to the NES 2 released in North America at roughly the same time.

The AV Famicom was designed to address two major design flaws of the original Famicom hardware. The original Famicom featured hardwired game controllers; users who wished to add additional, specialized controllers were forced to make use of the deck's single expansion port. In bringing NES-style removable controllers to the Famicom, Nintendo removed the microphone which had been originally included on the second controller in place of the "start" and "select" buttons. The microphone was originally intended to introduce extra functionality for certain games, but, in practice, very few games had ever made use of it.

Secondly, the Famicom featured audio/video output via RF modulator only. By the early 1990s, many Japanese television sets featured composite input jacks. The AV Famicom replaced the original Famicom's RF output switch with composite AV cables, hence the name AV Famicom. This represented the biggest difference between the AV Famicom and the NES 2, which included only RF modulator output functionality (even though the original NES had composite as well as to RF modulator outputs).

See also

• Nintendo Entertainment System hardware clone

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