The common and easy ability to record gameplay on PCs and consoles is something that's only been possible in recent years, and especially so since the growth of platforms like Twitch and Youtube streaming. Now you can use any number of pieces of software and it's even built into some gaming platforms as a default option.
Before that FRAPS was one of the only solutions and before that, it would often require specialist hardware.
That was certainly the case back in the 1980s, where Nintendo actually had a special console that could record gameplay footage and as you might expect from a technology so ahead of its time, it was expensive and overly complicated.
Known as the Famicom Titler, the Nintendo machine was released only in Japan in 1989 and could play Famicom games, as well as record footage for them. The theory was likely that it would be a great system for gaming magazine and TV show producers, as they could much more easily record gameplay footage for broadcast and images.
The Titler could reproduce full RGB colour footage with ease, thanks to the inclusion of an S-Video out but it's real selling point was built in editing functions, allowing those that recorded footage to chop it up and move it about if needed. There was even a facility for the creation of subtitles.
In 1989. Forget flying cars, this is what BTTF should have been predicting.
[Thanks Kotaku]
