Nintendo M82

Credits

Descriptions by
SnowflakesOmega

Editions by
Nightspears and Ashley Taylor

Background

The M82 was a demo unit by Nintendo for NES games that could hold 12 games at once. A play time limit of 30 seconds, 3, 6 or 128 minutes would be set by a button on the rear of the unit, after which the system would reset. The console was exclusively used in stores so people could play the games as demos before buying them. There is another version made called M8 that holds a total of 15 built-in games which could not be easily swapped out by the owner. The Japanese equivalent to the M82 was the FamicomBox and Sharp FamicomStation, a system with a similar purpose that could hold 15 Famicom games.

(August 1985)

Logo: On a starfield, the red letters of "Nintendo" shoot in from above one-by-one. The oblong border of the logo then draws in from the sides. "ENTERTAINMENT" and "SYSTEM" slide in from the sides and place below the logo. The logo cuts into another screen with the same background telling how to use the console and play a game. The animation loops until a game starts to play.

Variant:

• On the M8 demo unit, the border of the logo is a rounded rectangle instead of oblong.
• On FamicomBox, the logo appears with the Nintendo text in yellow. "ENTERTAINMENT SYSTEM" fades in below, while the green "FAMICOMBOX" logomark scrolls in below near the bottom.
• On Sharp FamicomStation, the "SHARP" and "FAMICOMSTATION" slide in from the sides and then scrolls in below near the bottom with "NINTENDO ENTERTAINMENT SYSTEM" appearing.

Technique: 2D sprite animation.

Music/Sounds: A triumphant 8-bit theme.

Music/Sounds Variants:

• The M8 demo unit used another 8-bit theme.
• The Famicombox and Sharp FamicomStation variant also used another 8-bit theme, which is quite similar to the one from the Famicom Disk System startup.

Availability: Ultra rare. The M82 and M8 was only used in stores to promote the NES and its video game library, and very few M82s and M8s are known to still appear today, mostly by the hands of video game enthusiasts. They might appear for sale very occasionally on websites like eBay, usually for very high prices (one was sold at 5,500,000 dollars with the arcade cabinet!), but this is a must for collectors. As for the Famicombox and Sharp FamicomStation variant, it is ultra rare as well, having been exclusively presented at Japanese stores; finding them at Japanese marketplace sites is the most viable option.