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The system Nintendo came up with was named Family Computer or Famicom for short, which was based on the popular 8-bit CPU. Nintendo, now having it's own home system decided it would no longer license its games away. The title Donkey Kong 3 became the first exclusive arcade translation for Nintendo's machine in Japan.

The Famicom debuted in July 1983 in Japan with popular titles such as Donkey Kong, Donkey Kong Jr., and Popeye as launch games. By the end of the year, the system also had titles such as Mario Bros., Baseball, math games based on Popeye, Donkey Kong Jr., and two board games. Nintendo had no third-party developers but still was able to sell more than a million Famicom systems on the strength of its own software. Based on Nintendo's growing success, more and more third party developers came to make games for the Famicon. Though there was strong competition from Sega, who had already released an 8-Bit console Nintendo controlled 90% of the home game market in Japan by the time they decided on releasing the Famicom in the US.

Atari, among others, destroyed the game market in the US. The games they marketed went for as low as 99 cents. Despite the horrible market Nintendo still decided to market the Famicon in the US. They first offered Atari the rights to sell the Famicon in the US. Atari showed interest and a deal was signed but the agreement fell through.

During the negotiations between Atari and Nintendo, Miyamoto was hard at work on a new arcade game title Super Mario Bros. featuring Mario and Luigi from the game Mario Bros. This time though they are on a quest to save the Mushroom Kingdom and rescue the Princess from an evil turtle named King Koopa. Because of the months of delay the NES had been through Super Mario Bros., which had not launched with the system in Japan, was ready for the machine's US debut in 1985.

In 1984 though, Nintendo of America had an artist come up with a number of designs that would change the Famicom's image from that of a toy to something that looked more like a mini home computer which would be more appealing in the crushed market. A box like design with two controller ports and a front loading cartridge system ended up being the design that was chosen for its release. Along with controllers a light gun was made so shooting games such as Duck Hunt could be marketed along with the system.

The original NES package was sold for the first time in a test in New York City during the fall of 1985. The package included the console, two controllers, a power supply, and the cables to connect it to a television. Because of the favorable reaction to New Yorkers the system began to be marketed throughout the country. And in just a few years, Nintendo rebuilt the entire US home video gaming market which was earlier ruined by systems such as Atari. With its low price, impressive graphics, and wide variety of games, the NES became the 8-bit game console of choice and it out sold its competitors by a huge margin.

In the following years, because Nintendo was not yet well established in the US, they decided to hold off on a disk drive that was currently being used for games in Japan. Metroid, Kid Icarus, and Castlevania were released on cartridges in the US. And in 1987, The Legend of Zelda became the first NES title other than Super Mario Bros. to sell one million copies. The adventure game created by Miyamoto became a huge success and a Nintendo franchise.

The sequel created for the popular to Super Mario Bros. was determined to be too difficult for American players. Nintendo of America then took a game called Dream Factory: Doki Doki Panic and replaced its main characters with Mario, Luigi, Toad and the Princess called it Mario Bros. 2 and released it in the US and later in Japan named Super Mario Bros. USA

For the release of Super Mario Bros. 3, Nintendo decided to build up anticipation for the game by delaying it a year and having it feature in the movie The Wizard. The movie features the game as the final game in the movie. This move may have been a factor in making the game the best selling game in US history with more than 7 million copies by the end of 1990.

Confidently and feeling secure with the recent phenomenal sales of Super Mario Bros. 3, Nintendo was fearless on the forthcoming release of the Super Famicon (SNES) in the US. With 16-Bit games from the Sega Genesis already stealing the spotlight Nintendo had its mind set to taking back its thunder. Nintendo continued support for the NES/FC in Japan until 1994.