AV Family Computer
From Biocrawler, the free encyclopedia.
The AV Family Computer was a redesign of the original Family Computer video game console released by Nintendo in Japan in the early 1990s. Like the original model, it is commonly referred to by the nickname "Famicom," hence AV 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 to major design flaws of the original Famicom hardware. Firstly, the console as originally designed (and as opposed to the NES) 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 order to introduce these 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 original Famicom featured only audio/video output via RF modulator. By the early 1990s, many Japanese television sets had dropped support for RF input, and featured only RCA composite input jacks. The AV Famicom replaced the original Famicom's RF output switch with RCA cables. This represented the biggest difference between the AV Famicom and the NES 2, which included only RF modulator output functionality.
