Talk:Super Nintendo Entertainment System

North American release date: August 23, 1991

We have three basic dates supported by sources:

• August 13, 1991 Supported by various online sources dated 2006 and later, 15 years after the actual release.
• August 23, 1991 Supported by newspaper and magazine articles dated late 1991, a few months after the actual release.
• September 9, 1991 (originally September 1, 1991) Supported by Kent and some other online sources; this is stated as the "official" release date, which could plausibly differ from the actual street date.

All of these dates were used in the article at some point: "September 1" from August 2003 to April 2004; "September 9" from April 2004 to September 2004; "August" from September 2004 to October 2005; "August 13" (after a short edit war between that date and "August 14") from October 2005 to July 2008; "August or September" from July 2008 to March 2010; "August" again from March 2010 to June 2010; and now "August 23".

The problem with the August 13 date is that it is certainly plausible that the date was mis-stated by one online source and copied by others. It could be that someone mistyped "23" as "13", it could be that someone somewhere misinterpreted the date the system was given to certain reviewers in advance of the actual release as an "available to the public" date, and it's even possible that it was copied from this very article. All the sources for this date are well removed from the actual event. August 23, on the other hand, is supported by newspaper and magazine articles written within weeks or months of the release; while it is certainly possible for them to be mistaken, given the editorial control and the proximity to the actual date this seems far less likely. Therefore, in the body of the article we use the best-supported date, and we include in a footnote the fact that other (less reliable) sources disagree.

If you intend to change this, particularly to the August 13 date, please bring very reliable sources to the table to address the issues discussed above. Thanks. Anomie⚔ 02:43, 11 June 2010 (UTC)

The problem here is that there was no defined "release date" for the SNES, the way that consoles come out now. The SNES was rolled out gradually in different centers in August and September 1991. I've drudged through a ton of old newspaper articles on Google News from that time period, and got conflicting stories. I think it would be preferable to state "August 1991" as the release date, rather than a specific date that may or may not be accurate. 122.148.127.22 (talk) 12:05, 9 September 2010 (UTC)

Sure there is. The official release date was September 9 (pushed back from September 1). The street date varied by location, but the earliest reliably reported date is August 23. All this is stated in the footnote. Anomie⚔ 14:32, 9 September 2010 (UTC)

Does this mean its North American launch games need to find a source that lists August 23? « ₣M₣ » 16:48, 15 November 2010 (UTC)

I would think if they have sources for being a launch title, they could just cite that and use a footnote like we have here. Anomie⚔ 18:48, 15 November 2010 (UTC)

Of the North American launch titles, a few had the 23rd as their release date and others the 13th. Based on this I changed the release date to the 23rd for those that had the 13th listed. Miles Blues (talk · contribs) 20:52, 27 May 2011 (UTC)

Handheld SuperNintendo

Announced earlier at E3, Hyperkin has released a handheld SNES console in the shape of a SNES controller with the screen in the middle. It plays SNES cartridges, and you can plug it into the TV and plug two SNES controllers into it to play it on the TV as well. I may or may not get around to adding this info, so I thought I would put it here if someone else wanted to.AerobicFox (talk) 07:04, 24 December 2011 (UTC)

Is there a source that it's licensed by Nintendo? That thing looks really cool.--SexyKick 22:51, 24 December 2011 (UTC)

It looks as though it is unlicensed, but I cannot confirm that. Apparently it plays Super Famicom games as well as games that require the FX chip like Starfox and Donkey Kong.[1]AerobicFox (talk) 01:44, 25 December 2011 (UTC)

US Region Redesign

I'd really like to know why Nintendo America changed the design of the Super Famicom so radically. With the NES/Famicom, it's clear - they wanted to make the system look less like a traditional game console because of the video game crash. With the SNES… not so much. But they had to have a good reason for it, since they did away with the color-coded buttons. Can't find an online source about this though. — Preceding unsigned comment added by 95.33.14.16 (talk) 10:36, 7 January 2012 (UTC)

only info I could find was from magazine scans before the north american debut speculating that NOA would change pin spacing on the cartridges (they didn't) and other things to thwart the still young import scene.

final hardware changed the shell probably to kill two birds with one stone: design ref to the toaster nes and prevent casual importing of games (latter which would make sense considering how anal nintendo was and still is when it comes to controlling aspects of the console and software). Reset by peer (talk) 11:12, 1 February 2012 (UTC)

Donkey Kong Country Sales

I've been reading a lot of Kent's book lately for various reasons. It says DKC sold 9 million copies (and so does vgchartz, though I am aware that's not a reliable site). I wanted to know what people thought about this before I updated the number in the article and cite his book.--SexyKick 11:32, 20 January 2012 (UTC)

I've updated the sales numbers for Donkey Kong Country.--SexyKick 01:31, 28 January 2012 (UTC)

Which game saved the Super NES and gave it the victory over Sega?

I am wondering, which game helped the Super NES defeat Sega? Super Metroid or Donkey Kong Country? — Preceding unsigned comment added by 99.57.69.127 (talk) 23:53, 27 February 2012 (UTC)

Super Metroid, while critically acclaimed and a fan favorite came near the end of the SNES's lifecycle and remained sort of underground during that generation, becoming more and more popular as time went on. Donkey Kong Country also came relatively near the end of the SNES's life but was a huge commercial success and helped boost SNES sales forward a bit. Mostly though I would say Super Mario World was the most important game for selling consoles. Sega had arcade ports, licensed sports games, less censored games, and Sonic, but Nintendo still had the strength of its first party titles particularly Mario and Zelda as well as a slew of third party support giving it an incredible array of RPGs, many classics like Mega X, Super Castlevania, Chrono Trigger, Final Fantasy, etcAerobicFox (talk) 04:08, 28 February 2012 (UTC)

I find your partisan rhetoric rather silly. Both consoles did really well didn't they? It's not a pissing contest. Vranak (talk) 05:32, 28 February 2012 (UTC)