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The Video Game History Foundation starts NES Launch Collection archive

by rawmeatcowboy
27 February 2017
GN Version 5.0

In developing the Foundation’s Digital Library, one need we identified early on was the ability to house special collections – that is, groups of related media, typically all tied together by one subject matter. One of our core beliefs is that historians are missing many of the tools needed to tell the stories of video games, so we felt that collecting an extensive group of digital artifacts related to one subject matter might go far in “open sourcing” telling that subject’s story.

Our first special collection is one near and dear to me, having written several articles on the subject myself: The Nintendo USA NES Launch Collection.

Our collection focuses mainly on 1985, a tumultuous year to have been one of the handful of employees of Nintendo’s relatively new American division. Its Japanese parent company had launched its Family Computer console two years earlier and seen tremendous success – in January 1985, the company reported the “Famicom” had sold 2.5 million units in its first 18 months, commanding 90 percent of the home video game market. Despite this, it was an uphill battle for Nintendo of America to convince retailers to stock the unit, and as a result, the very nature of the product evolved rapidly throughout the year.

Check out the full rundown here

[Link]