Nintendo Famicom Disk System logo
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The Family Computer Disk System (Japanese: ファミリーコンピュータ ディスクシステム) is a peripheral for Nintendo’s Family Computer home video game console, released only in Japan on February 21, 1986. It uses proprietary floppy disks called “Disk Cards” for data storage. — Wikipedia
Nintendo used an outline version of Othello for the Disk System font, along with Avant Garde (with alternate sloped A) for the Family Computer logo. The Japanese typeface is unidentified [it’s System-N or a precursor thereof, see comments].
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9 Comments on “Nintendo Famicom Disk System logo”
The Japanese typeface is System N. Fontendo, fif sinclarie, and MaxiGamer found it on April 4, 2022. It was published through the now-defunct website DEX WEB, and also distributed through a CD distributed by DEX WEB. It is also used for the Super Famicom typeface.
twitter.com/Fontendou/statu…
According to this, System-N was designed by Nendo and included on Designers’ Fonts 01 FONTROM, a 2002 CD by font vendor Dex Image (DesignEXchange), compiling fonts designed between 1990 and 2000. It was also included on an earlier collection from font distributor Shift Factory, titled FONTROM#2. The Nendo in question is likely Nendo Graphixxx, a graphics outift formed by Kentaro Fujimoto in 1993 (see Author Profile). Both Kentaro Fujimoto and Tsuyoshi Kusano designed many, if not all, of the fonts.
Based on this, I would say System-N is likely based on the type seen on Nintendo’s packaging but not the original font used.
Also, some of the other fonts included on the Shift Factory CD FONTROM#2 where not designed until 1998, meaning that is the earliest the CD could have been released.
Antonia, Patrick, thank you for your comments! I have created an entry for this typeface. You know more about this than me. Can you have a look and tell me whether this is accurate?
I don’t read Japanese. The font is not Unicode-compliant. That’s why I had to select the glyphs visually. Does the sample read “システムエヌ”?
I know nothing more of the font itself, nor reading Japanese, sadly. I was simply dubious that it was the original font used as it likely didn’t appear until 1998, which I researched and laid out in my previous comments.
Gotcha! If Fontendo’s claim is right and the font was included in the first Fontrom issue as well (and that issue wasn’t released in the same year as the second one from 1998), then a version of Nendo’s (?) interpretation might have come out earlier.
But yes, it looks like it’s a recreation, not the original that was used by Nintendo in the 1980s. We will tag thoses uses with System-N for now. If we ever learn about the origins of this design (including its original name), we can always update the entry.
Fontrom#1 by Shift Factory does not include System-N but includes Solvalou [E], another font by Nendo Graphixxx. This CD-ROM is also from 1998, as other fonts included on it were not released until that year. Shift Factory was an online magazine produced by Shift, which were first established in 1996.
As for Designers’ Fonts 01 Fontrom, that was a 2002 CD-ROM released by font vendor DEX Image (DesignEXchange Co., Ltd.) compiling various fonts made between 1990 and 2000. The CD-ROM collections released by Shift Factory and DEX Image are not related, aside from containing some of the same fonts.
As per founder Kentaro Fujimoto, Nendo Graphixxx were founded in 1993. Therefore, the System-N font by Nendo could have only been released between 1993 and 1998, and more likely closer to the latter. Although clearly based on the type seen on Nintendo’s packaging, it is not the original font used, merely a digital recreation of it.
Any reason why my previous 2 comments are not showing up? The ones with all my research and links?
Oh shoot. They were spammed by the system. Sorry about that. I’ll unspam and publish them now; they might appear further up in the chronology. Dang, I could have saved myself the research, you already covered all of that and then some!