To celebrate the 40th anniversary of the Nintendo Entertainment System (NES) in the U.S., the Video Game History Foundation hosted a discussion with three of the key executives behind the big 1985 launch in the U.S. Among the interesting stories told, we were tickled to hear that, in some alternate future reality, the NES might have ended up looking like an Atari 2600 — complete with a wood veneer finish and top switches.
We Launched the NES 40 Years Ago Today - Gail Tilden, Lance Barr, Bruce Lowry - PRGE 2025 Portland - YouTube Watch On
The above panel discussion, headlined “We Launched the NES 40 Years Ago Today,” was recorded at the Portland Retro Gaming Expo 2025.
The panel included Frank Cifaldi, the Founder and Director of the Video Game History Foundation, and three former Nintendo of America employees. In 1985, Bruce Lowry was VP of Sales, Gail Tilden was the marketing communications manager, and Lance Barr was a product designer involved in preparing the NES and the Zapper for the U.S. market.
Many video gaming enthusiasts will already be aware that the NES was a version of the Famicom (Family Computer) that Nintendo marketed in Japan since 1983. However, the North American hardware came with a distinctly different design from the Japanese console, which shared the same MOS 6502-powered 8-bit guts.
Straight off the bat, the panel highlighted their dislike of the Japanese Famicom design and explained how it had to be different in the U.S., with the industry still reeling from the Video Game Crash of 1983. Launching into this market might have seemed foolhardy at the time, with both retailers and consumers skeptical of ‘new’ video game systems. Thus, it was important for Nintendo to do its utmost to give the NES a fighting chance in North America.
The post Video Game Crash of 1983 environment
The panel started by discussing why the Japanese design wasn’t simply brought to the American market, as it was, despite their dislike for the outward appearance.
Barr was first to step up to answer this, and without hesitation opined that “I thought it was awful.” The American product designer said the color scheme wasn’t to his liking, nor was the cartridge door mechanism, which he called “weird.” Even the gold metal section atop the controllers drew criticism for looking like it was made from “leftover beer cans” from recycling.
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