The Lost NES Console Add-On! - Gaming History Secrets 

Early versions of the NES had the expansion port just covered by the removable cover & no screwdriver was required to access it

*Flathead screwdriver, not a Phillips. Still, an NES modem would be fun to tinker with for homebrew projects...

My cousin had the Sega channel add-on for his Genesis and it would take so long for games to download. I also remember playing Sega Saturn Netlink modem and duke nukem online. And this was back in like 1997 I believe? Amazing video Lady Decade!

300 bits per second was a standard speed used by the C64 game "Modem Wars". I think the C64 MMORPG Habitat also used 300 bits per second. With Modem Wars, you dialed your opponent's landline phone line directly. With Habitat, you dialed into a centralized server that had multiple phone lines (sort of like a dialup ISP).

Even as a kid I figured they wouldn't have installed all these additional ports unless there were peripherals I'd never heard of.

You don't use Phillips head screwdriver tho, that would be a weird choice for breaking that cover of

Doesn't surprise me that Bushnell was behind this. There was even a modem cartridge for the 2600. It was called the Game line from 1983

That little box under the console always reminded me of the RF adapter

1:02 bloody love that retailer “How to Nintendo” video. Keep up the good work lass and, as always, stay safe!

Back then people were .. watching the radio. 😂 lady decade you have me rolling on the floor in tears. Good episode.

Yet another extremely well made video. Always such a pleasure to watch! Crazy to think online gaming could have happened so much sooner.

Thanks Lady Decade, love to you and the fam!

Thank you, Great work!, excellent piece of historical information.

Absolutely love the Metroid music in the background:)

Damn the nostalgia 😔

I learn so many new things about all my old games and consoles from watching your videos. And you're so good-looking :-)

Now this is a great educational video. Thanks

Awesome video. Hope everything is going well with you.

Was wondering what they were thinking about doing with that ext port on the bottom. Neat!

Feel like the VO quality is had a jump up since the last video I watched. Great video as always!

Thanks for the video. Good stuff.

All this talk about jamming things into slots... seriously I love your content. I learn a lot, and you're very entertaining.

You should make a video about the later/current attempts to make expansion port devces for the nes, the ENIO, EPSM, there has been something that could tweet and probably more :)

Lady Decade you are very Informative about old consoles so you deserve my sub and thumbs up 😁 Also nice Simpsons ref "Will someone think of the children" lol

You subtlely slipped in the phrase wizard sleeve lmao. Subbed.

Bloody love this channel

Interesting and thank you for bringing this up about the NES console add on lady decade because I’m 22 years old and I’m learning about this from you. ❤😆👍

Wow 🤩 another great video! Maybe you can do a few on the psvita ? Would love to see some obscure history on nextgen consoles.

i always thought the expansion port was the one in front of the famicom, turns out that port is actually the p1 and p2 ports of the NES, with the actual expansion port being a mirror of several data and address cpu lines, with the OG controller ports of the famicom being buried in the nes motherboard

To be fair, Nintendo was planning on releasing the Famicom in the US & abroad as the Nintendo Advanced Video System. A home computer system with wireless control pads, light gun, and keyboard. It was a home computer system like the Sinclair ZX Spectrum. But when shown at a electric convention, it garnered little enthusiasm. Kind of wish they also released the AVS with the NES and brought cross play with it LOL

I always wondered what that little compartment was for underneath the console lol.

Discovered this port while having to clean out the inside of my NES in the mid 90's when games would no longer play. I had to clean and adjust the pinset prolly because of the Game Genie.

Wait…. So cross play between Nes and the Genesis? They’re two different generations of systems. I can see between Nes & Master System but not Genesis. Hell, I don’t think there were any mutual games between the Nes & Genesis was there?

I always enjoyed slamming my cartridge into Nintendo secret slot as a kid. Granted, sometimes I had to blow on it to get thing working, but I never minded doing that

That’s interesting Nolan Bushnell was originally on that Project as C= paid him $$$$$$ to promote their CDTV at the same time too!

Loving that BVTSM lvl. 2 soundtrack in the outro, by the way! ;)

*the way you ripped that expansion port out with no care and caused that damage! arggg triggering!!! , awesome video nonetheles lol* 💪👍

I love watching your videos

I really love your videos Lady Decade.

Where my legend began. The NES

2:24 Cough cough, flathead, cough 😜

Always good to get a lady decade vid

Most impressive on the music changes, Chojin Sentai Jetman, to Castlevania, to Kick Master to Double Dragon.

The earliest experiments relating to online connectivity on game consoles were done as far back as the early 1980s. For some consoles, Dial-Up internet connectivity was made available through the use of special cartridges, along with an adapter. The GameLine for the Atari 2600 and the PlayCable for the Intellivision are two notable examples of this. Services like these did not have multiplayer online gaming capability, but did allow users to download games from a central server and play them, usually requiring a fee for continued access. However, neither the GameLine or PlayCable attained mainstream popularity and both services were shut down during the 1983 video game crash. Source: Wikipedia online console gaming page

2:24 that's not a phillips head screw driver..... It's a slotted, or flat head.

Wait.. was that a picture of EvE when talking about loot boxes? Do they have them now?

At the 12 second mark, I have wanted that giant SNES prop since the first time I saw it. So rad....

In the USA, they came out with a moderm in the last 80s in 2 state that was use for people to play real lottery on the game system. It was very short live, last about 6 month due to legal reason

If, I recollect correctly, I think Microsoft, did have a product called an X-box, sometime, somewhere, back in the 1980's, I'm pretty sure.

Interestingly, the Atari 2600 even had an online service and that one used it for downloadable games. I never had that, and certainly not this Japan exclusive thing, but I did have an XBand Modem for my SNES. Well, I still have it. It's got the most 90's interface ever. Street chalk art and Rob Liefeld styled comic art abound on the thing, as well as "pumping" jams and record-scratch sound effects. There was a Genesis version as well, but sadly no cross-play. There was a good reason though. The online functions weren't actually supported by the games themselves. They basically used real-time patches to turn those games into online multiplayer, and in those cases where those games are on both systems they have enough significant differences in gameplay that they just can't talk to each other anyway.

I always thought it was meant to store the RF adapter when I was a kid.

2:32 well done depreciating your consol.

Love the Mega Man 2 music in this, pretty sure I still have PTSD from the game. 😂

Off topic, but I really like the top you are wearing! That's a cool looking, uhm, sweater? 🤟😎

You Should Do A Kingdom Hearts Video Retrospective. Also Great video Lady Decade!

Do you think you'll cover the original SNES version of the PS1 game Punky Skunk, Cooly Skunk, that was thought to be lost but was found i think in early 2020 or maybe 2021?

12:19 - Look at the Koopa Troopa card; I feel they should be wearing underpants under their shells, along with the t-shirt. This idea is kinda shown in the graphics for "Super Mario World 2: Yoshi's Island".

I think that Nintendo should have let you download the old 8 bit and 16 bit games and play them offline rather than stream them. They would make a fair few quid this way.

Great video, like always. I thought it was neat, that in the background you have my 2 favorite N64 games on display, Mystical Ninja and Turok 2.

Famicom, I want one...or do I? We only have a finite time on this planet. Still...very cool

My NES has a secret wizard sleeve cover with tabs. No violation required!

all good slots are always being used for a good purpose

Excellent background music choice. 8 or 16 bit?

Fun facts over 9000

I would have used a pair of nippers/ flush cutters to remove that port cover myself.

That was a flathead screwdriver, not a philips.

My sega plays nes games. But it was built recently.

back in 1988 i was watching Saturday Morning Cartoons on TV

Been enjoying your videos anyways, then you said fuddy-duddies and that just brings things to a whole other level. 10/10

Neither the modem for the NES/Famicom nor any others for game systems connected to the internet in the 1980s for a simple reason. ISPs didn't exist until the end of 1989 and commercial services weren't allowed to operate on/through the internet until 1991. They didn't use network cables either because the network cables everybody uses now with RJ45 connectors didn't exist until 1990. Except for very early ones that used acoustic couplers all dial up modems on all platforms connected using standard telephone RJ11 jacks. Before everybody was doing everything mostly over the internet you used dial up modems to connect directly to somebody elses modem, you connected to a system that could only serve one or a few users at a time with a different phone number for each line (Think local BBSes), or you dialed into a service that paid to have a ringdown number and racks and racks of modems to connect with each user that dialed in (think stuff like AOL, Compuserve, Prodigy, or dedicated gaming and information services like the one mentioned for gambling). And while 300 baud was quite slow games were played over connections that slow. The graphics of the game had nothing to do with the speed of the modem. Except for modern game streaming services where the content is rendered remotely the graphics of the game aren't sent over the connection, only data such as character position and movement. Latency is a far bigger issue for most games during gameplay than the actual connection speed and that still holds true today.

i like how you and top hat's manner is way over the top. its a mix of circus carneys and contemptuous blueblooded etonian

Just be sure that whatever you downloaded on Wii you never deleted because as long as you still have that saved to your console's harddrive you'll still be able to play it. I don't mind the switch online service because I'm paying a small price for an entire year of service and to get all these games included instead of having to actually spend money for each individual game and the fact that they continue to add more games to their service is pretty nice. I have been doing the $20 per year basic pack over the yearsband enjoying a lot of NES and SNES games and of course playing new switch games on the internet like Super smash Bros ultimate and Mario striker's battle League. I caved in and upgraded to the $50 per year service so I can get some Sega Genesis and N64 games but I'm actually pretty disappointed. I'm enjoying Mario Kart 64 and earthworm Jim and other things, but it's pretty frustrating that they decide to charge more than double the price just to add two additional things and some kind of free DLC for animal crossing and like seriously I've looked at the library of games and there's not very many Genesis games and not very many N64 games to choose from. They really shouldn't have brought the price up so high.

I think Nintendo allowed the gambling service in Japan in the famicom since unlike the US/euro nes It was made to be a family "computer" (i mean, yeah, consoles are still computers but you get what i mean), so that even adults could get entertained with. However in the west the nes was initially made to look like a "hi-tech" (if we can call It that way) home entertainment system due to the US 1983 videogame market crash. But with the success and rapid diffusion of the NES, people started to see It like a Toy for children more than a vcr thing, especially in the US due to the fact that the system was more popular than elsewhere here in the west (in Europe the market was dominated by home computers til the early 90s when consoles like the sega master system dominated across Europe). Because of this, the gambling modem would've (obviously) been inappropriate since the NES was a "Toy", cuz It would be like adding a "smoking kit" to Barbie dolls.

That's not what a Phillips head screwdriver looks like...

Nintendo's past is a little darker than Illegal playing cards or online betting, they used to run a Hotel for extra marital activity's.....

I find it funny I found this video today I was just talking to people online about how Nintendo has been networking online games forever and a day at least as far as I know the first one to do it but you go on to the switch website and it tells you to open up all your ports (if you don't know that's a bad thing) and how they've been giving poor advice since I think 2013 but I could be wrong. I guess it boils down to they should know better.

I bet this can be made for the NES now days but someone has to want to do it

This is actually a good video.

Wouldn't 300 bps be enough to transfer sprite positions?

Nintendo was smart tho thinking of the future possibilities they had sega so be cheaper to make a add on then a whole new system while gives them time to develop the snes

Phillips head screwdriver, LOL that not a phillips😆

I wasn't a sub but I kept seeing your vids in my recommended. Watched a few and really like the content. I've now subbed. But I think it was mainly bc of your accent and no-nonsense delivery. 😃

I’m glad you ended how you did with the statement on Nintendo & its practices.

stocks, weather and cheats, great functionality.

Maybe the 4 score indicator th that the controllers are working Oh it's for the Disk Sistem, that we never got, just The Famicon did.

Why am I UNSUBSCRIBED ?!?! Awesome video as usual. Very informative.

Show what the red led does

Just because Nintendo was among the first to do online doesn't mean they've learned how to do it well over the years.

I don't understand why no one hacked this extension port for anything interesting.

You used a flat head screw driver, not a Phillips. Lol!

that just wasn't a Phillips head screwdriver "wasn't even posidrive"

Hi lady decade!

With many people creating home brews and mods for the Nintendo, you would think modern day enthusiasts would create, at least a bluetooth adapter where two systems can work within 30 meters (10 feet) of each other. I would say a WI-FI adapter but who is going to fork up the money to create a server for a nearly 40 year old console?

Maybe the Famicom Network System was an attempt to duplicate the French Minitel system?

Lady decade u should have been the next queen of England.

I don't have a switch. When I get one later this year in anticipation for the new Zelda, I'm not paying for the online service. The only game I play online is Wizard101 and only play it with my fiancee on a nice empty server where we can avoid other people easier. And I plainly refuse to continually pay for classic games I've have paid for multiple times already. My classic gaming lives comfortably on my laptop.

When I play Dying Light 2 on my PC I listen to Double Dragon 2 NES soundtrack as I beat that a--. I'm weird like that, no you

Expansion for the lotteri ? On the tv.

Secret Wizard sleeve 😂😂😂

Ahh, Batman NES soundtrack. Noice