THE NINTENDO VS. SYSTEM

WHEN THE NINTENDO ENTERTAINMENT SYSTEM, OR NES, RELEASED IN 1985, IT WAS AN EXTREME HIT. IT SPAWNED LOTS, AND LOTS, AND LOTS OF THE CLASSICS WE KNOW TODAY; SUPER MARIO BROS, CONTRA, TETRIS, DUCK HUNT, TECMO BOWL, BATTLETOADS, EXCITEBIKE, AND THE LIST GOES ON. IT WAS SO POPULAR THAT NINTENDO DECIDED TO LATER CREATE AN ARCADE SYSTEM THAT RAN ON SIMILAR HARDWARE AS THE FAMICOM, CALLED THE VS. SYSTEM. THE VS. SYSTEM FOCUSED ON CONVERTING NES AND FAMICOM GAMES TO BE PLAYED IN ARCADES. THE SYSTEM FOCUSED MAINLY ON MULTIPLAYER GAMES, HENCE THE "VS." IN THE NAME, WHILE SINGLE-PLAYER GAMES WERE STILL RELEASED ANYWAY.

THERE ARE THREE TYPES OF VS. SYSTEM CABINETS; THE VS. UNISYSTEM CABINET, WHICH WOULD RUN ONLY RUN ONE GAME LIKE A REGULAR ARCADE CABINET, ALONG WITH THE VS. DUALSYSTEM CABINET, WHICH LET AN OPERATOR RUN EITHER TWO DIFFERENT GAMES, OR TWO LINKED GAMES, ON TWO DIFFERENT CABINETS COMBINED TOGETHER, AND THE RED TENT, WHICH OPERATED LIKE A VS. DUALSYSTEM, BUT INSTEAD BEING SIT-DOWN WITH THE GAMES ON TWO SIDES.

GAMES THAT WERE PUT ON THE NINTENDO VS. SYSTEM INCLUDE SUPER MARIO BROS, EXCITEBIKE, DUCK HUNT, HOGAN'S ALLEY, TENNIS, BASEBALL, CASTLEVANIA, GRADIUS, SKY KID, AND MORE. SINCE THEY WERE IN AN ARCADE ENVIRONMENT, THEY WOULD GENERALLY HAVE THE DIFFICULTY INCREASED. FOR EXAMPLE, SOME ITEMS IN SUPER MARIO BROS ARE MOVED, AND SOME ENEMIES ARE ADDED. THE NINTENDO VS. SYSTEM WAS VERY SUCCESSFUL, SELLING OVER 100,000 UNITS.