First use of the word "Famicom"

[JC]

A while back we talked about the first use of the word "Famicom," trying to get at its origin. I couldn't find that thread.

There were plenty of games that came to use the word "Famicom" in their titles. I recall there being a mention of Famicom Wars before. I've been trying to find the earliest use of the word by any official gaming entity, Nintendo or otherwise, since it would be much tougher to find such a use in Japanese gaming media. The term may have been coined by the media for all I know, but the earliest use I've found by a gaming entity is Nintendo's:

10/13/1986 = Pro Wrestling

Pro Wrestling has on its title screen: "Famicom Wrestling Association."

Anyone got some earlier use, I'd love to know about it.

[satoshi_matrix]

Famicom Wars came out in '88, so its definitely not the first use. Actually now that you mention it,  I don't think Nintendo ever once referred to the system by the name Famicom, only third part developers. Maybe it was the media? I'd love to know either way.

[Trium Shockwave]

Just looking at the references I have (Famicom box & manuals, Palutena no Kagami manual, carts, disks and hardware) I can't see anywhere that Nintendo uses the term Famicom. Whether in English or katakana, they always have Family Computer completely written out. Starting with the Super Famicom, they use the word all over the place.

One possible place they use it is the Twin Famicom's FDS BIOS. I would assume that since the Twin was officially licensed, that Nintendo themselves altered the FDS BIOS to say Famicom rather than Nintendo. It could conceivably have been Sharp though.

It's probably something that was created by fans or the media, then retroactively adopted by Nintendo. They'd never refer to the Family Computer by a nickname in any sort of official documentation, but I'm sure they trademarked it well before officially naming the Super Famicom.

[nintendodork]

What about the plain ol' FDS startup screen?  Doesn't it say FAMICOM Disk System?

[ericj]

The Twin Famicom by Sharp says "Famicom", but the FDS by Nintendo shows "Nintendo".

Also, the Twin Famicom displays "Famicom" on the console.

[JC]

Yeah, the FDS license screen says "Family Computer."

Just looking at the references I have (Famicom box & manuals, Palutena no Kagami manual, carts, disks and hardware) I can't see anywhere that Nintendo uses the term Famicom.

Well, they use it on several disk games, including Pro Wrestling, as stated above. They also used it when titling Famicom Wars.

[ericj]

What about the FF symbol on Nintendo games and consoles? Doesn't that stand for "Famicom Family"?

[JC]

OK. Now we're getting somewhere. I wonder when they started using the "FF" and on what, other than the Famicom.

[Rogles]

My 1984 Famifom has the FF logo on it.

[nintendodork]

Mine doesn't, and I thought the FF symbol was only on Famicoms released after 1985..

[JC]

I wouldn't trust that. Many Famicoms sold loose are taken from bits and pieces of other Famicoms.

I found a reference to "FF" Famicom Family on the promotional handbill for Joy Mech Fight in 1993. I also see a lot of "Famicom" written into the artwork for F1 Race in 1987.

Still nothing earlier than October 1986.

EDIT: Oooo. The FamicomBox came out sometime in 1986.

[nintendodork]

So are you saying that all loose Famicoms are a bunch of freaky Frankenstein-like SILICON BEASTS?!?!?

I shall call it... a Frankenfami...or Famistien..yeah

[Trium Shockwave]

Oh, I forgot about the FF logo. That means Nintendo was using the Famicom nickname for official branding. If that's the case, why were they so anal about writing it all the way out in the manuals and packaging? I also noticed Doki Doki Panic has ファミコンソフト (Famicom Soft) written really small above the blue box on the cover where it says Yume Koujou (夢工場), but DDP wasn't entirely a Nintendo release, and I don't see this mark on any of my other disk games.

[Doc]

That was probably done to make sure that they had their name and trademark on the disk. Could be wrong though!