— which both could play cartridges and had Basic, with absolutely unlicensed Mario sprites in the mem.
But never connected the dots that there was an official thing like that, even though vaguely heard of the Famicom brand's various forays into neighboring markets of the day.
Yes, the Famicom had Family BASIC (it was a Family Computer after all!), an official Nintendo release only in Japan. What you had on your Subor was probably a totally unlicensed copy of Family BASIC, as that program did come with Mario and Donkey Kong assets to play with.
— which both could play cartridges and had Basic, with absolutely unlicensed Mario sprites in the mem.
But never connected the dots that there was an official thing like that, even though vaguely heard of the Famicom brand's various forays into neighboring markets of the day.