1986 · Famicom · Japan · console
Famicom Disk System
The Famicom add-on where Zelda was born, on a disk you could rewrite.
Mixed Easy to run ▶ Watch on YouTube ↗
A 1986 add-on that gave Japan's Famicom a rewritable magnetic disk — cheaper games, more storage, and a save feature the cartridge could not yet afford. Kiosks let you overwrite a disk with a new game for pocket change.
The Legend of Zelda was born on it, complete with that save function; Metroid and the original Castlevania followed before cartridges caught up and made it obsolete.
What it cost
only about 6% of a month’s pay in 1986 · about $253 today
| Japan launch price (¥15,000 with RAM adapter) |
¥15,000 (1986)
QuickDisk add-on with rewriteable disk writer kiosks; birthplace of Zelda and Metroid. |
|---|---|
| Typical street price | — No verified mass-market street price recorded yet. |
| Units sold | 4,440,000 4.44 million units sold in Japan. |
Why it mattered
The Disk System let Nintendo take risks — bigger games, saved progress, cheap rewrites — that shaped Zelda and Metroid before cartridges caught up and Nintendo abandoned it. Its influence outlived the hardware.
Emulating it today
| Emulators | Mesen, Nestopia UE, FCEUmm |
|---|---|
| Setup effort | Easy to run (2 on this site's scale) |
| Controls | A standard modern controller covers the ordinary controls, though unusual accessories may need custom mapping. |
| Runs on a handheld | Yes |
The emulator names above are starting points, not a promise that every title or accessory behaves identically. Computer platforms usually add model selection, disk handling and keyboard setup even when CPU emulation itself is mature.
system firmware or BIOS
Firmware is the startup code copied from chips in the original hardware. The emulator needs it before software can boot.
How many files you need: 1. Start with the firmware for the exact model and region you are emulating; some families need additional revisions for later models.
Where it stands legally: Firmware normally remains copyrighted. The clean route is to extract it from hardware you own unless the rights holder offers a download or licensed package.
Firmware details checked 2026-08. Emulator requirements change — see Libretro documentation for the current list.
Where the software is
Preservation catalogues describe verified dumps; they do not grant permission to download commercial software. A curated, correctly matched set is easier to use than an undifferentiated archive.
Copyright: Commercial software remains copyrighted unless its owner explicitly released or relicensed it. Homebrew, public-domain programs and current reissues should be treated separately from abandoned commercial titles.
This site names preservation projects and explains what they are. It does not link to ROM downloads.
Where to start
- The Legend of Zelda 1986 action adventure
Born on disk in Japan, complete with a save feature the cartridge world could not yet afford.
- Metroid 1986 action adventure
- Akumajō Dracula 1986 platformer
The first Castlevania, later re-cut for the cartridge West.
- Kid Icarus 1986 platformer
- Zelda II: The Adventure of Link 1987 action RPG
- Yume Kōjō: Doki Doki Panic 1987 platformer
Reskinned into Super Mario Bros. 2 for the rest of the world.
The verdict
Worth it for the original disk versions of landmark games, several of which differ from the cartridge releases.
Most of its essential games later reached cartridges in some form — dig in here for the originals and the Japan-only titles.
- Worth it if
- Players curious about nintendo home consoles, 8- and 16-bit and willing to learn how the original machine worked.
- Not for
- Anyone who wants a large, instantly accessible library and no model, firmware or control decisions.
Scored 3/5 for fun today and 3/5 for historical importance. Those two scores decide the label at the top — a machine can matter enormously and still be no fun.
Read more & watch
This page is 50% complete against the facts we try to record for every system. Gaps are shown as gaps.