A while back an artist on pixelation / pixel joint known as Arne (not sure if he frequents here) wrote up a fairly detailed and interesting proposal for a console that would sit somewhere in-between the NES and SNES in terms of technology. The reasons why might not be apparent from a programming side but for artists, the NES had a difficult palette and the SNES had almost too many colours to choose from. Arne is well known on those forums for his excellent concept art and custom palettes "Arne 16" etc.
It would be interesting to hear from the NesDev community about how you would spec this fantasy machine. I have my take on it written below, but first the original spec put forward by Arne:
> Link to original article <
(Full specs of the consoles are on the link above)
My initial thoughts are that although the Disc system is a good cheap way of shovelling game data, there still needs to be a cartridge port on the machine. This could serve two purposes; 1. Reverse compatibility with Famicom library, 2. Expansion slot to extend performance of console. Without cartridge based games we would have never of had the likes of starfox etc.
Also at the time Nintendo were still experimenting with disc based data and didn't make the full jump till the gamecube. It is debatable that systems like the famicom and snes / sfc were consumer friendly because users could actually see the game they had inserted into the system. (Remember this is a time when record sleeves and tapes were still a thing, consumers were tactile and visual)
My other point is that "Fami-do" wouldn't really work in Japan as "fami" just means "family" - I had a "fami-chiki" the other day, which is chicken I bought from FamilyMart (a convenience store). "do" is pronounced "doh" in Japanese, it would more likely be "du", as with mainland european languages, Japanese vowels are voiced: ah(a) ee(i) uu(u) eh(e) oh(o), not: ay(a) eye(i) you(u) e(e) oh(o).
So I would propose FC-DX or Famicom Advance. The late 80's in Japan was the rise of countless gadgets and abbreviations were the order of the day. For the western version maybe CNES works. Although I take it in North America it was pronounced N. E. S. not "nes" or "snes".
Any thoughts welcome!!
It would be interesting to hear from the NesDev community about how you would spec this fantasy machine. I have my take on it written below, but first the original spec put forward by Arne:
> Link to original article <
Quote:
The CNES-88 was partially built on the foundations of the failed Commodore 128, using similar MOS Technology chips. However, instead of the VDC&VICII the CNES-88 used an upgraded version of the Ricoh PPU which was used in the Famicom.
- CPU: N65SC02, a 6502 derivative with improved bit operations, running at 4MHz.
- MMU and RAM: N8722 managing four banks of 64kB for a total of 256kB.
- Sound and I/O: "Pauline" chip, 4 channels (Square, Triangle, Noise, and DPCM) extended by up to 8 wavetable channels.
- Video: "Daisy" (Ricoh PPU II):
- Media: 3½ inch 720kB microfloppy drive.
Quote:
(Full specs of the consoles are on the link above)
My initial thoughts are that although the Disc system is a good cheap way of shovelling game data, there still needs to be a cartridge port on the machine. This could serve two purposes; 1. Reverse compatibility with Famicom library, 2. Expansion slot to extend performance of console. Without cartridge based games we would have never of had the likes of starfox etc.
Also at the time Nintendo were still experimenting with disc based data and didn't make the full jump till the gamecube. It is debatable that systems like the famicom and snes / sfc were consumer friendly because users could actually see the game they had inserted into the system. (Remember this is a time when record sleeves and tapes were still a thing, consumers were tactile and visual)
My other point is that "Fami-do" wouldn't really work in Japan as "fami" just means "family" - I had a "fami-chiki" the other day, which is chicken I bought from FamilyMart (a convenience store). "do" is pronounced "doh" in Japanese, it would more likely be "du", as with mainland european languages, Japanese vowels are voiced: ah(a) ee(i) uu(u) eh(e) oh(o), not: ay(a) eye(i) you(u) e(e) oh(o).
So I would propose FC-DX or Famicom Advance. The late 80's in Japan was the rise of countless gadgets and abbreviations were the order of the day. For the western version maybe CNES works. Although I take it in North America it was pronounced N. E. S. not "nes" or "snes".
Any thoughts welcome!!