How the Famicom was born

[P]

http://www.glitterberri.com/developer-interviews/how-the-famicom-was-born/
I haven't read it all yet but it is a very interesting article so far.

Porting Donkey Kong to Famicom involved measuring the screen and the use of stop watches to get the correct timing for animations and such (since the processor architecture is different between Famicom and the Donkey Kong arcade system). Convincing everyone to use the 6502 CPU instead of the more familiar z80 was quite a task according to the article.

Hudson initially tried to sell advanced graphic chips to Nintendo without success (which later resulted in the powerful PC Engine). Apparently Hudson's Bee-cards inspired the disk system:

Hudson brought the concept of using IC cards over to Nintendo. The company explained that IC cards equipped with built-in RAM could be programmed with game software. Players would be able to overwrite their existing cards with new game software using IC card writers installed at retail outlets. This way, Nintendo could sell software without being controlled by the time required to ship MASK ROM cartridges to stores. Moreover, consumers would be able to play new games, all for the price of a rewrite fee.

[zmaster18]

I just read these the other day, great articles. Does anyone know of any books about the Famicom's history that is even more detailed than these articles?

[chowder]

Very cool, thanks for posting it!