List_of_Nintendo_Entertainment_System_games

List of Nintendo Entertainment System games

List of Nintendo Entertainment System games

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This is a list of games for the Japan-only Family Computer (Famicom) home video game console (1983) which was rebranded as the Nintendo Entertainment System in NTSC and PAL regions (1985 & 1986 respectively). Its launch games were Donkey Kong, Donkey Kong Jr., and Popeye. The final licensed game released is the PAL-exclusive The Lion King on May 25, 1995.

This article is about the list of video games for the Nintendo Entertainment System and Family Computer (Famicom). For the list of video games for the Famicom Disk System, see List of Famicom Disk System games.

An NES cartridge (top) is taller than a typical Famicom cartridge

As was typical for consoles of its era, the Famicom utilized ROM cartridges as the primary method of game distribution;[1] measuring 3 inches (7.6 cm) high by 5.3 inches (13 cm) wide, each cartridge featured 60 pins, with two pins reserved for external sound chips.[2][3] For the console's North American release in 1985 as the Nintendo Entertainment System, Nintendo redesigned the cartridge to accommodate the console's front-loading, videocassette recorder-derived socket by nearly doubling its height and increasing its width by one centimeter (0.39 in).[4]: 108 [5] Referred to as "Game Paks", each NES cartridge sported an increased total of 72 pins, with two pins reserved for the CIC lockout chip and ten pins reserved for connections with the console's bottom expansion port; however, the two pins for external sound were removed and relocated to the expansion port instead.[3][4]: 367  Though the extra space of the NES cartridge was not utilized by most games, it enabled the inclusion of additional hardware expansions; in contrast, some copies of early NES games like Gyromite (1985) merely paired the printed circuit board of the game's Famicom version with an adapter to convert between the different pinouts.[4]: 108 [6]

Nintendo later released the Famicom Disk System (FDS) in Japan in 1986, intending to have developers distribute all future games on proprietary 2.8-inch (7.1 cm) floppy disks to avoid the cost and size limitations of cartridges; however, developers began re-releasing FDS games on cartridges as advancements in cartridge technology made them feasible again with the limitations of the floppy disks and their ecosystem apparent, pulling support for the FDS by the 1990s.[3]

Licensed games

There are a total of 1386[lower-alpha 1] officially licensed games released for the Nintendo Entertainment System and Family Computer during their lifespans plus 4 official multicarts and 2 championship cartridges. Of these, 672 were released exclusively in Japan, 186 were released exclusively in North America, and 19 were released exclusively in PAL countries. Worldwide, 521 games were released.

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  1. This number is always up to date by this script.
  2. This game was originally released on the Famicom Disk System.
  3. This game was released on an unlicensed cartridge in this region. As such, the title is considered to be unreleased within this table.
  4. This game received a full localization for this region, but was not released.
  5. This game received an official re-release with permission of the current rights holder of the game title, at the time of re-release, in limited quantities on either a refurbished licensed cartridge or an unlicensed reproduction cartridge long after the Nintendo Entertainment System's lifespan. Usually this is done as the result of a promotional stunt or to capitalize on the retro game collecting market.
  6. This game was first released on licensed cartridges, but was re-released on unlicensed cartridges. This was due to the unlicensed version's publisher not wanting to pay Nintendo's license fees after discovering a means to bypass Nintendo's lockout chip.
  7. This game was later released on the Famicom Disk System
  8. The 72-pin NES cartridge version of this game was only available in Hong Kong. The NES was officially released in Hong Kong around 1987, and it is fairly rare. This game is the rarest licensed and commercially available NES game produced with fewer than 10 copies known.
  9. A different port by the same publisher was released in this region.
  10. In North America, this game was released initially by Tengen as a licensed cartridge, then as an unlicensed cartridge a year later. In November 1993, Namco rereleased the game in North America on licensed cartridges once again. The game was released solely by Namco in Japan and Europe.
  11. Another port by a different developer and publisher was released in this region.

Compilations

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Championship games

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Unreleased games

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  1. In 2015, it was officially localized on the Wii U's Virtual Console as EarthBound Beginnings.
  2. In 2009, reproduction cartridges of the game were released.

Unlicensed games

NES's lifespan

More information Title, Publisher ...
  1. This game was released on both licensed and unlicensed cartridge. This was a result of the Publisher initially using licensed cartridges at the game's release, but then moving the game's production to unlicensed cartridges to avoid paying Nintendo's license fees after discovering a means to bypass Nintendo's lockout chip.

Famicom games

More information Title, Year ...

After lifespan

More information Title, Publisher ...

See also

References

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