History

Designed by Nintendo's Masayuki Uemura, the Super Famicom was the successor to the Famicom and Nintendo's answer to Sega's Mega Drive and NEC's PC Engine, which had begun to chip away at Nintendo's dominant share of the home videogame market in Japan. The 16-bit Super Famicom featured superior sound and graphics over the 8-bit Famicom. The SFC launched with only two games in Japan - Super Mario World and F-Zero. Interestingly, the console did not come with a power adapter or cables to connect the console to the television as Nintendo arrogantly assumed that the consumer already owned a Famicom so they could just recycle the AC adapter and RF switch. Imagine the frustration and disappointment of thousands of Japanese children when they anxiously opened their new consoles on Christmas or Oshogatsu day only to discover they can't play it because they don't have the cables. Although the SFC (or Super Nintendo as it was known outside of Japan) eventually beat out its 16-bit competitors for the top position in hardware sales, the SFC sold 13 million less units than its 8-bit predecessor.

Primarily, three factors were involved in the global decline of Nintendo console sales. First, Nintendo was late to the 16-bit market releasing the SFC years after its competitors' 16-bit systems. Enjoying the spoils of a near global monopoly in the 8-bit generation, Nintendo arrogantly sat back while its competitors, particularly Sega in America and NEC in Japan, aggressively captured an ever increasing share of the market with their superior technology. Second, the SFC had a notoriously slow CPU, which gave developers fits in the early days of development. This led to the release of some sub-par titles that created the perception amongst fans of the action and shooter genres that the SFC was technologically inferior to the Mega Drive and PC Engine. The arcade ports of Gradius III, which suffered from frequent slowdown, and Final Fight, which didn't include cooperative play, were the most infamous examples. Third, SFC game carts reached prices as high as 15,000 yen ($140) as compared to 4200 yen ($40) for Famicom games. These exorbitant prices turned off many casual gamers, many of whom decided to skip the 16-bit generation all together.

In the end, the SFC's strong line up of first and third party titles helped it emerge victorious from the infamous console wars of the early 90's. From Nintendo, the SFC welcomed the birth of some of Nintendo's most beloved franchises such as F-Zero, Star Fox, and Mario Kart. From third party publishers, the SFC was graced with some of what are still considered to be amongst the greatest videogames ever released such as Final Fantasy VI, Seiken Densetsu 3, Chrono Trigger and Tales of Phantasia.

Super Famicom Timeline

November 21, 1990 - The launch of the Super Famicom in Japan. Only two launch titles are available: F-Zero and Super Mario World.

December of 1990 - Sharp releases the SF1, a television and SFC combination, in a 14 inch and a 21 inch model.

July of 1991 - Square releases Final Fantasy IV significantly increasing the SFC's installed user base.

The year 1992 - This year sees a marked increase in games with a MSRP of over $100. Thanks to the popularity of games like Street Fighter II, Super Mario Kart and Dragon Quest V, the SFC's market share increases and continues to do so through 1996.

Spring of 1992 - The limited edition Motoko-chan no Wonder Kitchen game is released ushering an era of limited edition games not sold in stores.

February 21, 1993 - Star Fox, the first Super FX chip game, is released.

June 14, 1994 - Nintendo releases the Super Game Boy adapter, which allows gamers to play Game Boy games on their television via the SFC.

April 23, 1995 - Nintendo launches the Satellaview download service.

September of 1997 - Nintendo begins the Nintendo Power download service at Lawson convenience stores. Similar to the Famicom Disk System kiosks, the Nintendo Power stations allow users to download games onto rewritable SFC carts. Some games are released exclusively through Nintendo Power.

March 27, 1998 - Nintendo releases a redesigned SFC, appropriately named the SFC Jr. as it was considerably smaller and lighter than the original console.

June 30, 2000 - Nintendo ceases support for Satellaview.

December 1, 2000 - The last SFC game to be released in Japan, Metal Slader Glory Director's Cut is made available exclusively for download via Nintendo Power kiosks.

August 31, 2002 - Nintendo removes the Nintendo Power kiosks from Lawson convenience stores but continues to offer the service on a restrictive basis.

February 28, 2007 - Nintendo ends the Nintendo Power service.

October 31, 2007 - Nintendo stops servicing the SFC.

Backwards Compatibility

Much to the disappointment of gamers, but more importantly the ire of gamers' parents, the SFC was not backwards compatible meaning that Famicom games could not be played on the SFC. For a brief period in Japan, Nintendo advertised that the SFC would in fact be backwards compatible and early mock ups of the console exhibited a port on the side of the console to be used to connect something called the Famicom Adapter. But alas these plans were abandoned just before the console launch.

Import Mods

Nintendo employed several types of regional lockout, including both physical and hardware incompatibilities.

On a physical level, SFC cartridges are shaped differently than SNES games. SNES carts have a rectangular bottom with inset grooves matching protruding tabs located inside the cartridge slot. SFC carts on the other hand are narrower with a smooth curve on the front and no grooves. The physical incompatibility can be overcome with use of various adapters, or through modification of the console.

Modification of an SNES to play SFC games is relatively simple. Take a pair of sturdy needle-nose pliers and simply snap off the tabs located in the cartridge slot. In about five minutes you should be ready to play Umihara Kawase on your SNES.

Inserting a SNES cart into a SFC is literally like sticking a square peg in a round hole making the SFC more difficult to modify. To play SNES games on your SFC, you essentially need to increase the size of the cartridge slot by cutting away the plastic casing. Not only is it difficult to do but your modded SFC will probably look pretty hideous when you're done. We recommend avoiding this mod all together.

Even though PAL games are shaped the same as SFC carts, a region lock out chip makes the PAL carts incompatible with both the SFC and SNES systems.

Accessories

A number of peripherals were released which added to the functionality of the SFC. Here is a list of some of those accessories.

Mouse
Satellaview
Sufami Turbo
Super Game Boy
Super Game Boy 2
Super Multi-tap
Super Scope light gun
Turbo File Twin

The most intriguing of all the SFC peripherals was the Satellaview, a modem that attached to the SFC's expansion port. Similar to the Famicom and Disk System combo, the SFC was stacked on top of the Satellaview. Once connected to the St. GIGA satellite radio station, Satellaview users could download games, extra content and participate in high score contests. Satellaview was launched on April 23, 1995 and ran through June 30, 2000. Continue reading here for Pink Godzilla's full write up on the Satellaview.

The most infamous SFC peripheral never released (as originally intended) was of course the Playstation, developed by Sony. The Playstation was intended to be Nintendo's answer to the Mega Drive's CD-Rom attachment. In a surprise announcement, however, Nintendo reneged on their agreement with Sony and partnered with Philips. Sony exacted their revenge by releasing the Playstation peripheral as a stand alone console in 1994. The Playstation went on to sell through over 100 million units worldwide, three times more than the Nintendo 64.

Pink Godzilla's Top Ten Super Famicom Games

In compiling this list, we focused on games that were either not released or were a little more obscure in the US.

1. Umihara Kawase
2. Seiken Densetsu 3
3. Nangoku Shonen
4. Karuraou
5. Kiki Kaikai Nazo no Kuro Manto
6. Bahamut Lagoon
7. Hagane
8. Demon's Blazon
9. Rendering Ranger R2
10. Sutte Hakkun

Honorable Mentions - Magical Pop'n, Final Fantasy V, Dragon Quest V, Rockman & Forte, Dezaemon, Mr. Nutz, Daruma Doujou, Do Re Mi Fantasy Milon no Doki Doki Daibouken, Ganbare Daiku no Gensan, Sparkster and Wrecking Crew 98.

Rare And Collectible Titles

There are quite a few rare and collectible games for the Super Famicom as there were many limited edition gold carts released for the system, one of the most valuable being Kunio-kun no Dodge Ball Zenin Shuugou Tournament Special Gold Cart with a retail price of close to $6,000.

Metal Slader Glory Director's Cut
Gourmet Sentai Bara Yarou
Kunio-kun no Dodge Ball Zenin Shuugou Tournament Special - Gold Version
Super Bomberman - Gold Version
Yoshi's Cookie - Kuruppon Oven de Cookie
Chrono Trigger Taiken-ban
Fire Emblem Thracia 776 Box Set
Motoko-chan no Wonder Kitchen

Fun SFC Commercials