VGFacts

I'm not sure if this can be fully classified as a trivia dispute but there has surfaced some new information as to why the reason the Famicom was given the red and white color scheme.

"The Famicom (Japanese NES) is red and white because at the time it was manufactured red and white plastics were the cheapest color plastics to produce."

http://didyouknowgaming.com/post/4393285...do-famicom

According to a recent interview, Masayuki Uemura, one of Nintendo's hardware designers who oversaw the design of the Famicom, told Weekly Playboy that the reason it was red was because the company's then president, Hiroshi Yamauchi, liked the color and had ordered the designers to use it.

Furthermore, he revealed that the reason the console was called the 'Famicom' was because during the 80s words like "personal computer" and "home computer" were spreading through Japan and nobody had used the word 'Family' yet so the word "Family Computer" was created. Initially Uemura also wanted to call it "Famicom" but was reject by the boss thinking that the prior would've been easier to understand, however the moniker was still colloquially used by many to refer to the console.

http://kotaku.com/report-nintendo-didnt-...-486192930
http://wpb.shueisha.co.jp/2013/04/27/18636/

The original source mentioned the president, saying part of the reason for the colour scheme was that Hiroshi Yamauchi liked the red colour. Switching from steel to plastic also doesn't conflict with the claim that the colours they chose were the cheapest at the time. Choosing cheap colours would also line up well with Nintendo cutting cost in the design in other areas, like having permanently attached controllers. Also, the fact remains that Nintendo are a business, and red and white plastics were the cheapest at the time. Money is always paramount in business, and I get the impression Uemura is denying it because he doesn't want to be associated with a "cheap" console.

I'm interested to hear other peoples thoughts on this.

We could of course add both statements to the trivia explaining the two different accounts as to why the console was supposably made red.

I think I'll do that.