In 1984, Nintendo released Family BASIC, a programming suite for its Famicom (NES) console. Including a swish keyboard and data recording unit, it was designed to allow consumers to, with a little teaching, program their own basic games for the system.
Including a few stock titles as templates, it was sadly never released outside Japan. While a common approach for home computers at the time, like the C64, this DIY approach to console gaming was nowhere near as popular, with only Sony's efforts around the turn of the millennium really comparable.
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Total Recall is a look back at the history of video games through their characters, franchises, developers and trends. You'll find Total Recall stories every Tue-Fri between 1am -2am Eastern.