Talk:Super Nintendo Entertainment System

Timing

References to a variable speed bus and different system clock speeds are mentioned. In reality the entire memory system runs at a constant clock speed, and wait states are inserted depending on the address ranges accessed and the ROM speed control register bit setting. I think it would be less confusing to clarify this statement.

This isn't anything new, Z80 and 68000 based systems commonly had different wait states inserted to use fast RAMs, slow ROMs, and even slower periperhals while running at 4/8 MHz or faster.

From the VillagePump:

The user WhisperToMe is moving all videogame systems to their Japanese rather than English title. I checked on Google "Super Nintendo" returns 373,000 hits, while "Super Famicom" returns 32,700. I think they should stop and return the pages to where they were originally to avoid creating confusion. M123 16:50, 17 Aug 2003 (UTC)

This is the English language wikipedia. The names he is using are the correct international names used in most of the English speaking world. For example, I'm English and I am used to the names he is using (in most cases). CGS 17:02, 17 Aug 2003 (UTC).

• I've never heard of Super Famicom. If the page exists as Super Nintendo, it should be left there and Super Famicom set up as a redirect. There is no need to create extra work by moving pages around. Angela 17:10, 17 Aug 2003 (UTC)

I've followed the video game market a little, and have heard of Super Famicom. I'm fairly certain that in Japan, only, was the SNES marketed as the Super Famicom; almost everywhere else in the world, it was marketed as the Super NES. I think it should stay at its old title, with perhaps a mention of the Super Famicom name. Same for Famicom and NES, and any others that had different Japanese market names. -- Wapcaplet 17:58, 17 Aug 2003 (UTC)

Since almost the entire world (except Japan) calls the system SNES, the article should be Super Nintendo Entertainment System and not Super Famicom. Marknew 19:25, 17 Aug 2003 (UTC)

Super Famicom is only one example. A better example is moving Genesis to Megadrive because that is the name most people know it by. CGS 18:12, 17 Aug 2003 (UTC).

• The terms Famicom and Megadrive are unknown in North America. As for Genesis/Megadrive. Google gives 196,000 for "Sega Genesis" and 47,200 for "Sega Megadrive". Whisper is moving pages from where they've been for years to new places, which I think is unneccesary. M123 18:16, 17 Aug 2003 (UTC)

• Just moved "Mega Man" to "RockMan" a quick googling 109,000 '"Mega Man" Nintendo' vs. 1,660 '"RockMan" Famicom'. M123 18:48, 17 Aug 2003 (UTC)

One of the problems created by these moves is that throughout the entire article it apparently becomes necessary to say "Mega Man/Rock Man" or "NES/Famicom", which makes it pretty hard to read. I don't have a problem with articles being moved to a new name as long as the majority of the English-speaking population knows it by that name, but I disagree with moving Mega Man to Rock Man. Every gamer I have ever met, and even a lot of non-gamers, are familiar with Mega Man. Only the more dedicated gamers are aware of the name Rock Man. -- Wapcaplet 19:37, 17 Aug 2003 (UTC)

That's gamers that you have met. Unless you have travelled a lot, that's just your neck of the woods. CGS 20:35, 17 Aug 2003 (UTC).

I think the Google counts are a good indicator of which name is more popular in the online English-speaking world. We are not interested in English speakers who are not online because they are not reading Wikipedia. Therefore, let us bow to the majority, and put everything back to their US names. --Nelson 00:20, 18 Aug 2003 (UTC)

Well, Google counts are a good indicator of which name is more popular among those who are involving "English web-site creation"! The first change is not necessary, but a revert maybe equally unnecessary. wshun 01:33, 18 Aug 2003 (UTC)

I seriously think that English pages on the WWW are definitely skewed towards the United States. So it should be no surprise that most names would be the American version. I myself know MegaMan as RockMan. --seav 05:00, Aug 19, 2003 (UTC)

proposed merge

Shouldn't we merge Super Famicom with this article? They're just different names for essentially the same thing... Martin 13:43, 24 Aug 2003 (UTC)

• Yes, but people will argue over whether to merge Super Famicom into the SNES article or to merge SNES into Super Famicom. User:WhisperToMe was moving all the video game system to their "correct" names not so long ago. See Talk:Sega Megadrive for an idea of the problems this could cause. Also technically the Super Famicom is different, but only trivially. M123 15:31, 24 Aug 2003 (UTC)
• They're not just slightly different, they're exactly the same. You can cut two small clips inside a super nintendo and play super famicom games. I should know, I've done it! You can sum up the differences in a single paragraph in the console's history. While there's no limit to the size of wikipedia, there's no sense in having two articles on the exact same system. --Gamera2 04:18, 25 Aug 2003 (UTC)
• I don't care which article they are merged to, but I agree that they should be merged. Though, they aren't "exactly the same" - the exterior appearance of the PAL console is different from the US version - but for all intents and purposes they are the same machine, with the same technical specifications (aside from minor differences). A picture of both systems would be super (no pun intended). -- Wapcaplet 23:34, 25 Aug 2003 (UTC)
  • Clarification: "Super Famicom" is the japaneese name. "Super Nintendo" is the NSTC version name and the europian name is also "Super Nintendo" Extremely Simple Summary. Until the Genisis/megadrive mess is sorted out, I'm going to put the contents of Nintendo Super Family Computer into Super Famicom since the Offical Nintendo Name is "Super Famicom" --Gamera2 01:36, 26 Aug 2003 (UTC)
  • Clarification: The NTSC standard isn't USA only. NTSC is used in Japan as well. You were right about Super Famicom being the Japanese Model though. As for the merge, I would say do the same thing that has been done with the Famicom and NES. When Famicom is searched, it redirects to Nintendo Entertainment Center. So do the same thing for Super Famicom redirecting to Super Nintendo Entertainment System. --Eiberri 12:45, 2 Apr 2005
• There is history to be written about the super famicom. But for now, a good idea might be to put the super famicom under a "model" subsection of sorts. Does this sound good? Since there's the super famicom, the european model, the NA model, and the revised NA model. Any objections to this? Just my 2 cents. --Gamera2 05:39, 28 Aug 2003 (UTC)

This discussion (and problem) is also taking place elsewhere. --Gamera2 01:36, 26 Aug 2003 (UTC)

• Talk:Super_Famicom
• Talk:Sega Megadrive
• Sega Genesis
• Sega Megadrive
• User_talk:WhisperToMe

-- What I did with the Megadrive/Genesis articles was... talk about how the console did in the United States in the Genesis article, and how it did in Europe, Japan, Asia, and Australasia in the Megadrive article.

See, each console can have different things happen to it under a different name. There are interesting notes about the Super Famicom logo, since that logo appears in all 3 version of Super Mario World (although the SNES name was used in Europe and the US)

Hence, I split the articles and talked about the US stuff under its US name, the European stuff as its European name, and the Japanese stuff under its Japanese name. The SNES name is used in Europe and the US, so the specific things that apply to the console in those two markets are documented under the SNES article. Likewise, the stuff in Japan that happened to the Super Famicom is talked about in the Super Famicom article.

Likewise, the Genesis was only released in the Americas, so only stuff that was related to the console in the Americas is under the Genesis name. And stuff in Europe, Japan, and Australia relating to the console is under the Sega Megadrive name.

Also, the Japanese language links point to the Super Famicom and Sega Megadrive articles.

-- Whisper

Nothing seems to be happening (at least not lately), but just thought I'd throw my 2 cents in. I think that although the Super FamiCom is ultimately the same as the SNES, if I were to actually type in that title, I would like to know about the Japanese model (at least its key differences, fan following, etc). Unless the model explanations were put at the top of the SNES' entry, I would NOT appreciate being redirected to the Super Nintendo entry. That being said, information that is duplicated should be removed and kept on the Super Nintendo page to ensure it is correct. -- Dunro

Nintendo Entertainment System and Famicom were merged, and I don't think anyone has complained. Fredrik | talk 17:54, 20 Mar 2005 (UTC)

Yeah. Doing so also helped the flow of the article, and provided for a much easier way of highlighting the similarities/differences between the two versions. – Seancdaug 18:35, Apr 6, 2005 (UTC)

Very last licensed game ever released?

Anyone know the very last licensed SNES game ever released in the final months of the SNES's market in North America? I remember there was a Kirby game I think in 1998 and a game with giant robots (whose limbs were each individual sprites and they walked humanoid-realistically, at least for a 2D game) soon after... --69.234.233.69 04:53, 19 Feb 2005 (UTC)

According to NOA it was Zoop released in January 2000 [1]. Masken 11:21, 19 Feb 2005 (UTC)

That's amazing and bizarre. Zoop was released for the Jaguar, Saturn and Playstation in 1995. Why in the world would they bother releasing it for the SNES five years later? Druff 11:28, 26 January 2006 (UTC)

That's probably a typo: Zoop was released in 1995 according to GameFaqs. The last SNES game ever released in North America was probably NBA Live '98, released in March 1998. Mushroom 11:39, 26 January 2006 (UTC)

Sorry for the italic Druff, it was a mistake. Mushroom 20:35, 27 January 2006 (UTC)

I remember reading in an issue of Nintendo Power a long time ago that it was a Kirby game. GoodSirJava 07:25, 27 February 2006 (UTC)

Correction

"The redesigned model was never released outside of North America."

This is incorrect, as a similar redesigned "Super Famicom Jr." was sold in Japan, and was still for sale possibly as late as 2001. It used to be on Nintendo's official (Japanese) site up until around then anyway.

I have also noted how the PAL SNES looks identical to the Super Famicom, and how the SNES was released in Ireland the same time as the UK (though I don't know how much the price was here). I changed the part saying how the MD/Genesis was cheaper to say how the games were also cheaper - this was certainly the case over here anyway, as new SNES games were often £10-20 more than MD games.--Zilog Jones 10:39, 11 Apr 2005 (UTC)

CPU speed vs Mega Drive

I want to explain why I removed the statement that the SNES's CPU "could process instructions twice as fast as the Sega Megadrive". The SNES has a 3.58Mhz 65C816. The Mega Drive has a 7.67MHz 68000. The Mega Drive therefore has more than twice the clock speed, which isn't in any way determinative of the issue but is an important thing to note.

For comparison's sake, let's consider the most trivial operation - the addition of two numbers. In its fastest addressing mode, the 65816 can add two 16bit numbers in 2 cycles. Conversely the 68000 can add two 32bit numbers in 4 cycles. Other operations end up with similar comparisons.

I therefore believe the comment was based simply on comparing the number 4 to the number 2. However, as the Mega Drive's clock speed is more than double that of the SNES, it's 4 cycles are shorter than the SNES's 2. In addition, the SNES takes at least 4 cycles to do the same amount of work as the 68000 - i.e. a 32bit add and probably more because the 68000 has many more registers than the 65816 so much more commonly gets its minimum number of cycles.

Of course the SNES is in many ways streets ahead in its other components and graphically surpasses the Mega Drive in most areas but that doesn't mean that asserting as the article did that the SNES can process instructions twice as quickly as the Mega Drive is correct.

ThomasHarte 20:22, 28 September 2005 (UTC)

Cartridge size

Is there an easy way to tell the size of an SNES cartridge for a given game, or any Nintendo console cartridge for that matter? For example, Final Fantasy IV is 24 megabits. There are several articles I'd like to confirm this with, and several more in which I'd like to include the information. ~ Hibana 02:00, 21 October 2005 (UTC)

The biggest cartridge size was 48Mbit and was used in Yoshi's Island.

Easiest way is to search for the ROM and see what size the file is. Fredrik | talk 07:39, 1 November 2005 (UTC)

Biggest cartridge was Star Ocean, Yoshi's Island is not that large. Anonymous, 09 Jan 2005

the failed system between sony and nintendo

i had heard that they had made and produced 200,000 systems and i want to know more about it it had happened to be made to create the snes i heard

You mean the Playstation? =D Btw, please sign comments on talk pages with for tildes (~~~~) 132.162.213.109 04:49, 16 December 2005 (UTC)

Unofficial disc copying device

Any mention of the disc copying device that used be very common in Asia, as I used to own one WilliRennen 17:11, 22 Dec 2005 (UTC)

"Disc copying" device? I'm confused: the SNES wasn't a disc-based system. Do you mean game copiers (most of which used floppy diskettes)? – Seancdaug 18:56, 22 December 2005 (UTC)

Market Share.

There seems to be two different sources of how many units the SNES sold.

The older edit says 49 Million units [2] The newer edit says 36 Million units [3]

The nintendo site seems to be a lot more credible, as the other site seems to opinion based as well as having a very reoccuring anti-gamecube theme.

If no-one objects I'll change it back.

FlyHigh 22:59, 8 January 2006 (UTC)

I would trust the Nintendo link too. -- ReyBrujo 23:31, 8 January 2006 (UTC)

Oks I've changed it back FlyHigh 23:42, 9 January 2006 (UTC)

Somebody put in comments about the PlayStation and PlayStation 2 being the most sold, however this is incorrect: The PSone and PS2 have shipped 100 million, quite different from sold. And there's no exact sales figures of those two, so I say the statement be reverted to a previous revision, or be edited. -TonicBH 20:53, 20 February 2006 (UTC)

SNES gfx resolution

I have removed an incorrect remark stating that the SNES is capable of displaying a 320x224 resolution. The SNES can only display 256x240, 256x480, 512x224, 512x480.(VIG) Feb 7th, 2006 — Preceding unsigned comment added by 80.141.247.108 (talk • contribs)