The Famicom (known as the Nintendo Entertainment System outside of Japan) had a peripheral that never made its way across the seas - the Disk System.

Much like the home computers of old, it added the functionality to read and write portable, double-sided disks, but the unit also added extra RAM and a new audio channel with FM synthesis for improved sound.

Having these type of disks as media for games produced both blessings and curses - The blessings came in the form of unique features, such as the ability to write games to a disk using vending machine-style kiosks and being able to upload your high scores directly to official Nintendo leaderboards (over fax technology!). The curses included how easily the disks could be damaged, the long loading times when reading those disks, and (an issue for business rather than for consumers) how easily it was to copy, edit, and make bootlegs of games.

Some believe that Nintendo's hard stance on piracy, emulation, and hacks in current times probably started here, facing those troubles for the first time with the Disk System.