SuFami Turbo

Sufami Turbo

Manufacturer	Bandai
Type	Nintendo Hardware
Generation	Fourth generation (16-bit era)

The SuFami Turbo (スーファミターボ), often compared to the Aladdin Deck Enhancer was an accessory released by Bandai for Nintendo's Super Famicom system and was released in 1996.

The System

This device is designed to sit on top of the Super Famicom, and features two cartridge slots. The premise behind this idea is that games could be produced at a much cheaper rate (not having to rely on Nintendo). Unlike the Aladdin Deck Enhancer this device was officially approved by Nintendo under the proviso that Bandai handle all the hardware manufacturing themselves.

The two cartridge slots are designed to share data between the games. The cartridge placed in slot 1 is the game that will be played, while the cartridge in slot 2 supplies additional data for use in the main game. Only nine of the thirteen SuFami Turbo titles make use of this system.

Games that are linkable are identified by a yellow diagram showing a SuFami Turbo with either 1 or 2 cartridges in the lower right corner of the game box. If the pictures has 1 cart plugged into the SuFami Turbo it is not linkable. If it has 2 carts plugged into the SuFami Turbo then it is linkable with the games mentioned on the box.

In Japan the SuFami Turbo was released as a standalone unit, or with a pack in game. There is a list of known pack in games below.

The advertising pamphlet that comes packaged with the SuFami Turbo features Tetris 2 + Bombliss. This game was never released for the system, but was released as a standalone SNES game.

The Games

The system was designed with lower development times & cheaper games in mind. Games debuted for 3980 Yen, with many offering the ability to link for added playability. Not all of the 13 released games had the ability to link however. Each game's box had a little picture in the lower left corner indicating whether linking was possible or not.

Pack In Games

This is a list of known games that were packaged with the Sufami Turbo in special packs.

• Poi Poi Ninja
• SD Gundam: Generations part 1
• SD Ultra Battle: Ultraman Legend
• Sailor Moon Stars Panic 2
• Gegege No Kitarou

Linkable Games

• Poi Poi Ninja - links to Poi Poi Ninja
• SD Gundam: Generations part 1 - links to all other SD Gundam games
• SD Gundam: Generations part 2 - links to all other SD Gundam games
• SD Gundam: Generations part 3 - links to all other SD Gundam games
• SD Gundam: Generations part 4 - links to all other SD Gundam games
• SD Gundam: Generations part 5 - links to all other SD Gundam games
• SD Gundam: Generations part 6 - links to all other SD Gundam games
• SD Ultra Battle: Ultraman Legend - Links to itself & other Ultraman game
• SD Ultra Battle: Seven Legend - Links to itself & other Ultraman game

Non Linkable Games

• Crayon Shin Chan
• Gegege No Kitarou
• Sailor Moon Stars Panic 2
• Gekisou Sentai Carranger: Zenkai Racer Senshi

Japanese Release Dates

June 28, 1996

• Sufami Turbo hardware
• SD Ultra Battle: Ultraman Legend
• SD Ultra Battle: Seven Legend
• Poi Poi Ninja

July 19, 1996

• Gegege No Kitarou

July 26, 1996

• SD Gundam Generations: part 1
• SD Gundam Generations: part 2

August 23, 1996

• SD Gundam Generations: part 3
• SD Gundam Generations: part 4
• Car Ranger

September 27, 1996

• SD Gundam Generations: part 5
• SD Gundam Generations: part 6
• Sailor Moon Stars Panic 2
• Crayon Shin Chan

Unreleased Games

• Tetris 2+ Bombliss

How The Linking Works

Of the 13 games released, only 9 of them were designed with the ability to link up. Contrary to popular belief, you cannot link every game with every other game. Only certain combinations exist, & those combinations only exist within series of the same game.

SD Gundam Generations

SD Gundam Generations featured 6 games in the series, each game containing a certain amount of Gundam fighters that were unique to each of the 6 games. By combining 2 of the games at a time you could use Gundam fighters from the cartridge in slot 2, in the main Gundam Generations game in slot 1.

SD Ultra Battle

SD Ultra Battle is a beat em up based on the Ultraman series which would allow you to use the characters from whichever cart was in slot 2, in the main game in slot 1. It would link with other copies of the same game (Battle 1 would link with Battle 1) allowing both players to use the same character & saved data, or with the opposing game using characters from both games. The first game was based on Ultraman, while the second was based on UltraSeven.

Poi Poi Ninja

Poi Poi Ninja did not link with any other game, but rather linked with other copies of Poi Poi Ninja. The manual indicates that this was designed to share save data or character data for vs battles.

See also

• List of Super Nintendo Entertainment System accessories
• Datach - a similar mini-cartridge adaptor, with additional barcode reader, but with only one cartridge slot (from Bandai, for Famicom)

External links

• SuFami Turbo article on SNES Central
• SuFami Turbo article on Retrospekt