Famicom Disk System

The was released on February 21, 1986 by Nintendo as a peripheral for the Family Computer ("Famicom") console in Japan. It was a unit that used proprietary floppy disk for data storage. It was announced, but never released, for the North America Nintendo Entertainment System. Through its entire production span, 1986-2003, 4.5 million units were sold. The device was connected to the Famicom deck by plugging a modified cartridge known as the RAM Adapter into the system's cartridge port, which attached via a supplied cable to the disk drive. The RAM adapter contained 32 kilobyte of RAM for temporary program storage, 8 kilobytes of RAM for tile and sprite data storage, and an ASIC known as the 2C33. The ASIC acted as a disk controller for the floppy drive, and also included additional sound hardware featuring primitive FM synthesis capabilities. The floppy disks used were double-sided, with a capacity of 64 kilobytes per side. Many games spanned both sides of a disk, requiring the user... full article at wikipedia