Nintendo entered the video game industry as a game developer, designing hit games for arcade machines and licensing them to home console makers such as Atari and Coleco. In 1983 Nintendo entered the home console market with the 8-bit Family Computer (Famicom) released in Japan. The Nintendo Entertainment System was the equivalent system released in the U.S. and Europe in 1985-86. The NES era witnessed the launch of Nintendo's blockbuster hit franchises Super Mario Bros., Legend of Zelda, and Metroid, along with Capcom's Mega Man and Konami's Castlevania. All of these series gained enormous success and spawned sequel after sequel, continuing on to later consoles even to the present day.
