For those of us who are old enough to remember the early console game systems, the iconic NES and SNES were among the most popular. Nintendo’s NES in particular changed the landscape forever in regards to home entertainment. Although relatively prehistoric when compared to the modern consoles such as the Wii-U, X-Box one and PlayStation 4, not to mention the high end gaming pc’s, the level of entertainment they provided was by far much more than we had ever been accustomed to. In saying that, many of the games released on those early consoles are still extremely popular and can provide huge amounts of entertainment, even compared to todays games. However, despite their popularity the NES and SNES had one feature included in them that could cause some concern if it malfunctioned. That was the eject button or lever. But did you know it wasn’t included to protect the cartridge from damage and could have been left out altogether?
That’s right. There was no need for Nintendo to include the cartridge eject feature on the NES and SNES. The cartridges, as demonstrated in the SEGA consoles, could be removed without damage. So what was Nintendo’s plan behind the NES and SNES eject button? Were they just being extra careful? Not at all. It was for entertainment. Masayuki Uemura, who designed the NES, thought that children could get some entertainment and fun by ejecting the games. That was the only reason the lever and button were ever included on the NES and SNES consoles. Who can argue? It was fun!
