Disk Writer: Nintendo's 'Solution' for Distributing Games at Low Cost

The year was 1986. Nintendo dominated the Japanese market with its impressive console Famicom, but the technical limits of cartridges at the time led to the creation of the Family Computer Disk System module, based on a proprietary variant of floppy disks. Besides storing more data, saving games and offering better audio, the disks had another advantage: they were much cheaper. Nintendo tried to capitalize on this with its Disk Writer, a platform that allowed players to access new titles paying a fraction of the cost.

Did you know that the original version of The Legend of Zelda wasn't available as a cartridge? In fact, it was one of the launch titles for the Family Computer Disk System, the famous secondary module compatible with the Famicom console.

Disk Writer: Legal Famicom Copies for 500 Yen

This module enabled the use of Disk Cards, with a total capacity of 112 kilobytes per unit. Considering the limitations and high cost of solid-state solutions in the mid-'80s, the Family Computer Disk System seemed like the ideal resource.

Of course, there were big doubts about the use of a magnetic medium, and the keyword was 'piracy.' In the early part of that decade, piracy of games and software on computers across Japanese territory was out of control.

Rental services didn't use original copies, but rather took care of creating bootlegs and cracking protection systems. The authorities responded harshly: they prohibited video game rentals unless the creator of each title authorized it. So the FDS and its Disk Cards could lower the cost of games, but renting them wasn't an option. That's how the Disk Writer was born.

At first glance, the Disk Writer was a kind of vending machine, but the user didn't interact with it. What it did was hand their Disk Card to the clerk, who inserted it into the Disk Writer and wrote the desired game for 500 yen. If the user didn't have any disk, they could buy a blank one for 2,000 yen. In the best case, it was 500 yen versus 5,000 for a new cartridge, and there were no limits on using the Disk Writer.

Another revolutionary aspect of the Disk Writer was Disk Fax, which essentially served as a national leaderboard. Players used 'blue versions' of their Disk Cards and entered their high scores into the Disk Fax, which were then sent to Nintendo via fax. The Japanese giant organized several competitions and gave prizes to the best players.

However, the popularity of the Disk Writer only lasted until 1993. The reasons included mechanical and durability problems in both the Family Computer Disk System and its Disk Cards, the extraordinary advance of cartridges that multiplied their capacity and added batteries for saving games.

Additionally, the hacking of the FDS file system in 1988 (which made piracy explode once again), Nintendo's draconian copyright policies (it claimed 50 percent of the rights on every external game for FDS, eroding interest in the platform), and the poor profit margins sealed its fate.

The Disk Writer found something similar to a continuation in the Nintendo Power cartridge for Super Famicom and Game Boy, which in part reminds us of Blockbuster's Game Factory… but that is another story.

Source: