Tag: famicom

Nintendo Mach Rider – 1972 was a good year

We all know of Nintendo video games, and of course we all know of Mario, but what about the days before Mario hit the scene, or even before Nintendo had anything connected to a television? That’s where the Nintendo Mach Rider comes in. 😀

nintendo-mach-rider-vintage-toy-car

The Nintendo Mach Rider must have been one of those toys that every kid wanted. I can just imagine the line-up of kids with long scruffy hair, flared pants, and huge sunglasses waiting to get their grubby little hands on this thing. It really is a cool toy.

nintendo-mach-rider-vintage-toy-car-3

nintendo-mach-rider-vintage-toy-car-5

Made in 1972, the Nintendo Mach Rider is a battery operated toy car that basically shoots off in toe breaking fashion. You place the car on the ramp, then adjust the gear shifter to go through the gears (with each gear increasing the speed of the drive wheel), then once you hit the fourth gear the thing shoots off the ramp.

Cats must have hated this thing! 😀

The instructions printed on the inside of the box in the following picture give some insight of how the thing works, but I will also link you to HairballNick’s youtube video which shows this actual car in action. Nick bought this one off me, and I am sure he won’t mind me linking to his vid.

nintendo-mach-rider-vintage-toy-car-2

I would have loved to keep this car in all honesty, but I have to draw the line somewhere – I just don’t have the space!

nintendo-mach-rider-vintage-toy-car-6

If you want to read about this particular toy in more detail, or read about any of the other toys before Mario, then definitely follow the link on the right to the ‘before-mario’ site. His collection of Nintendo is amazing to say the least. 🙂

Nintendo Disk System Card Cleaner

The Nintendo Disk System was an attachment that you would sit your Famicom on top of to play floppy disk based games.

Nintendo actually had game kiosks (vending machines) that would allow you to put in some money, put in an old Disk System game, and then have a new game copied on top of the disk – ahhh, the good ol’ days when piracy was not an issue at all.

But what happens when those disks get covered in grime? Well, you throw it in Nintendo Disk System Card Cleaner for a few spins.

nintendo-disk-system-disk-cleaner

These little units have a tape like substance that you can wind until you found a clean spot, then once your game was placed, you would rotate the disk to clean. Quite simple and it does the trick quite well.

Click to enlarge:
nintendo-disk-system-disk-cleaner-1 nintendo-disk-system-disk-cleaner-2

Unfortunately, the tape like material doesn’t really stand the test of time too well at all, and honestly speaking I probably wouldn’t trust it to clean my Super Mario 2, or my Kid Icarus.

It is a nice little unit to add to any hoard though. 🙂

1 2 3