Nintendo Entertainment System

The Nintendo Entertainment System (abbreviated to NES or Nintendo) is an 8-bit video game console that was released by Nintendo in North America, Europe and Australia in 1985. In most of Asia, including Japan (where it was first launched in 1983), China, Vietnam, Singapore, Middle East and Hong Kong, it was released as the Family Computer|ファミリーコンピュータ|Famirī Konpyūta, commonly abbreviated as the Famicom|ファミコン|Famikon, or FC for short. In South Korea]], it was known as the Hyundai Comboy (현대 컴보이) and was distributed by Hynix|Hyundai Electronics. In Russia, an unlicensed clone was manufactured called Dendy (Де́нди). Similarly in India, clones were popular by the names of Little Master and Wiz Kid. It was succeeded by the Super Nintendo Entertainment System.

As the best-selling gaming console of its time, the NES helped revitalize the US video game industry following the North American video game crash of 1983|video game crash of 1983, and set the standard for subsequent consoles in everything from game design to controller layout. In addition, with the NES, Nintendo introduced a now-standard business model of software licensing for third-party developers.