Why was the original NES console designed with a spring loaded cartridge elevator thingy?

I thought they did it just to be gimmicky.

@mrentropy You are absolutely correct. The original NES in Japan – Famicom – had a very similar design to the Super NES, so because Nintendo wanted to really conquer the American market they believed that a more “modern” design could be one of the clinchers.

@mrmijunte I’m not sure why they thought they needed a clincher; they didn’t have any competition at the time.

And now you’re going to make me talk about the stupid Atari overlords who decided to not handle the NES in the US for Nintendo.

Given that there doesn’t seem to be an indication that there was a practical reason for it…I’m going to stick with my initial gut reaction answer:

Because…it…was…AWESOME.

I don’t see how this concept was flawed. I’ve had my Snes for nearly 15 years, these things were built like tanks. Granted, you still had to be careful with it, but it was some tough business.
That said, I have no idea why it was like that, but it’s from Japan, so who knows. XD

The video game market was a disaster in the US when the NES was released. The design was made to look and behave like a VCR.

Ichibun wins