NES Toaster

For its US release, Nintendo wanted to differentiate the NES from previous game consoles, which had developed a poor reputation following the video game crash of 1983.

The new design featured glossy plastic more reminiscent of modern A/V equipment, rather than the beige and wood-grain of previous consoles.

The NES featured a new front-loading system which was designed to resemble contemporary VCRs. The mechanism, which would later be known as the "toaster", used a so-called zero-insertion-force slot, which would theoretically reduce wear on the cartridge contacts.

Unfortunately, this mechanism proved unreliable. As the systems aged, connector failures became more frequent. For later consoles, Nintendo would return to top-loading slots with industry standard card-edge connecotrs.