Platform: Nintendo Entertainment System

According to the Masayuki Uemura, one of Nintendo's hardware designers who oversaw the design of the Famicom, the reason the console was named the "Family Computer" was because during the '80s, words like "personal computer" and "home computer" became widespread in Japan, and the word 'Family' hadn't been used yet. Uemura also wanted to call it "Famicom" for short, after having it suggested to him by his wife, but the idea was rejected by Nintendo's then boss, believing "Family Computer" to be easier to understand, although the moniker was still colloquially used by many.

The Famicom's final design incorporated this red color because of an order from Hiroshi Yamauchi, the president of Nintendo at the time. Yamuchi often wore a scarf of a similar color and decided to include this favorite of his in the system as well.

It should also be noted that at the time of manufacturing, red and white plastics were the cheapest color of plastic to produce.

Nintendo was originally going to release a home computer in place of the NES. Known as the Advanced Video System, or the AVS, it was going to be a home computer with a heavy gaming twist.

The Famicom Disk System was an early attempt at expanding the capability of the Famicom, which was the original Japanese version of the NES. This new add-on used discs rather than cartridges, which were cheaper to produce and held more data. Unfortunately the technology at the time was faulty; so much so that Nintendo of Japan continued servicing them until their patents expired in 2003. Interestingly enough, NES has an expansion port located on the bottom of the console. This is because Nintendo planned to release a version of the Famicom Disk System for international markets. This expansion port is absent on the original Famicom, and the Famicom Disk System connects to the Famicom by the cartridge slot. However, the international version of the Famicom Disk System never saw the light of day, and the NES expansion port went unused.

Nintendo once planned to release a knitting add-on for the NES. The slogan was 'Now you're knitting with power.'

The Minnesota state lottery was considering using the NES to let people play the lottery. The player would use a game cartridge made by the company to play the lottery, and a modem that would allow them to communicate with the central computer. The plan eventually fell through due to concerns that minors would illegally purchase tickets.

Due to South Korea banning Japanese cultural imports at the end of World War II, the NES was distributed by South Korean company Hyundai, and was named the Comboy.

Many consoles in South Korea were released under alternate names and published by various Korean companies, including the Game Boy, Genesis, Master System, Game Gear, SNES and Nintendo 64.

Known in Japan as the Famicom, it originally came with 2 hardwired controllers attached to the console, with the second controller featuring a microphone, but no start or select buttons.

In 2023, a webpage on Nintendo of Japan's website was created to celebrate the 40th anniversary of the Family Computer. One of the subpages is a list of nearly every game published by Nintendo for the system, including those released exclusively for the Disk System peripheral. The only other known official list of Nintendo-published Famicom games available is the Chronicle in the Japanese version of Super Smash Bros. Brawl.

However, the Famicom 40th Anniversary subpage omits several games that were included in Brawl's Chronicle. These include:
• Popeye, as well as its spin-off titled Popeye no Eigo Asobi, likely due to licensing issues with King Features.
• Spartan X (released as Kung Fu outside of Japan), likely due to the game being a license, as it is based on the movie Wheels on Meals.
• Miho Nakayama's Tokimeki High School, likely due to the game heavily featuring real-life Japanese idol, Miho Nakayama.
• Ginga no Sannin, a port of the home computer game The Earth Fighter Rayieza by Enix. It is not known why this game was excluded from the list.
• All re-releases of standard Famicom games for the Disk System (such as Super Mario Bros., Tennis, and Mahjong). The Famicom cartridge re-release of The Legend of Zelda is also omitted.

In addition to these omissions, while the Chronicle lists Mike Tyson's Punch-Out!!, the Famicom 40th Anniversary subpage instead lists the original Gold Version released exclusively in Japan, which did not include Mike Tyson.