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Super Nintendo Entertainment System

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UK / IE April 11, 1992
EU June 6, 1992[1]
Super Nintendo
Entertainment System

The North American SNES (circa 1991)
A Japanese Super Famicom
Top: North American SNES (circa 1991)
Bottom: Japanese Super Famicom, which has the same casing later used in European and Australian consoles.
Other variations are pictured under Casing below
Also known asSuper NES
  • JP: Super Famicom
  • KOR: Super Comboy
ManufacturerNintendo
TypeHome video game console
GenerationFourth generation
Lifespan1990-2009[2]
Units soldWorldwide: 49.10 million[5]
Japan: 17.17 million
North & South America: 23.35 million
Other: 8.58 million
MediaROM cartridge
CPURicoh 5A22 @ 3.58 MHz
SoundNintendo S-SMP
Online servicesSatellaview (Japan only), XBAND, Nintendo Power (Japan Only)
Best-selling game
PredecessorNintendo Entertainment System
SuccessorNintendo 64

The Super Nintendo Entertainment System (also known as the Super NES, SNES[b] or Super Nintendo) is a 16-bit home video game console developed by Nintendo that was released in 1990 in Japan, 1991 in North America, 1992 in Europe and Australasia (Oceania), and 1993 in South America. In Japan, the system is called the Super Famicom (Japanese: スーパーファミコン, Hepburn: Sūpā Famikon, officially adopting the abbreviated name of its predecessor, the Family Computer), or SFC for short. In South Korea, it is known as the Super Comboy (슈퍼 컴보이 Syupeo Keomboi) and was distributed by Hyundai Electronics. Although each version is essentially the same, several forms of regional lockout prevent the different versions from being compatible with one another.

The SNES is Nintendo's second home console, following the Nintendo Entertainment System (NES). The console introduced advanced graphics and sound capabilities compared with other consoles at the time. Additionally, development of a variety of enhancement chips (which were integrated on game circuit boards) helped to keep it competitive in the marketplace.

The SNES was a global success, becoming the best-selling console of the 16-bit era despite its relatively late start and the fierce competition it faced in North America and Europe from Sega's Genesis/Mega Drive console. The SNES remained popular well into the 32-bit era, and continues to be popular among fans, collectors, retro gamers, and emulation enthusiasts, some of whom are still making homebrew ROM images.

History

File:Super NES designs.png
Early concept designs for the SNES, referred to as the "Nintendo Entertainment System 2".

To compete with the popular NES/Famicom, NEC launched the TurboGrafx-16 in 1987, and Sega followed suit with the Sega Genesis/Mega Drive in 1988. Both systems were built on 16-bit architectures and offered improved graphics and sound over the 8-bit NES. However, it took several years for Sega's system to become successful.[12] Nintendo executives were in no rush to design a new system, but they reconsidered when they began to see their dominance in the market slipping.[13]

Launch

The four color Super Famicom mark was also used as part of the Super NES logo in the PAL region. They correspond to the colors of the ABXY buttons of the control pad in those regions.

Designed by Masayuki Uemura, the designer of the original Famicom, the Super Famicom was released in Japan on Wednesday, November 21, 1990 for ¥25,000 (US$210). It was an instant success; Nintendo's initial shipment of 300,000 units sold out within hours, and the resulting social disturbance led the Japanese government to ask video game manufacturers to schedule future console releases on weekends.[14] The system's release also gained the attention of the Yakuza, leading to a decision to ship the devices at night to avoid robbery.[15]

With the Super Famicom quickly outselling its chief rivals, Nintendo reasserted itself as the leader of the Japanese console market.[16] Nintendo's success was partially due to its retention of most of its key third-party developers from its earlier system, including Capcom, Konami, Tecmo, Square, Koei, and Enix.[17]

File:Supermarioworld map.PNG
"Nintendo's strongest selling point, however, was the game that came packed in with the SNES console—Super Mario World."[18]

On August 23, 1991,[a] Nintendo released the Super Nintendo Entertainment System, a redesigned version of the Super Famicom, in North America for US$199. The SNES was released in the United Kingdom and Ireland in April 1992 for GB£150, with a German release following a few weeks later. Most of the PAL region versions of the console use the Japanese Super Famicom design, except for labeling and the length of the joypad leads. The Playtronic Super Nintendo in Brazil, although PAL, uses the North American design.[24] Both the NES and SNES were released in Brazil in 1993 by Playtronic, a joint venture between the toy company Estrela and consumer electronics company Gradiente.[25]

The SNES and Super Famicom launched with few games, but these games were well received in the marketplace. In Japan, only two games were initially available: Super Mario World and F-Zero.[26] In North America, Super Mario World launched as a bundle with the console, and other launch titles include F-Zero, Pilotwings (both of which demonstrated the console's "Mode 7" pseudo-3D rendering capability), SimCity, and Gradius III.[27]

Console wars

Main article: Console wars

The rivalry between Nintendo and Sega resulted in what has been described as one of the most notable console wars in video game history,[28] in which Sega positioned the Genesis as the "cool" console, with more mature titles aimed at older gamers, and edgy advertisements that occasionally attacked the competition.[29] Nintendo however, scored an early public relations advantage by securing the first console conversion of Capcom's arcade classic Street Fighter II for SNES, which took over a year to make the transition to Genesis. Despite the Genesis's head start, much larger library of games, and lower price point,[30] the Genesis only represented an estimated 60% of the American 16-bit console market in June 1992,[31] and neither console could maintain a definitive lead for several years. Donkey Kong Country is said to have helped establish the SNES's market prominence in the latter years of the 16-bit generation,[32][33][34][35] and for a time, maintain against the PlayStation and Saturn.[36] According to Nintendo, the company had sold more than 20 million SNES units in the U.S.[37] According to a 2004 study of NPD sales data, the Sega Genesis was able to maintain its lead over the SNES in the American 16-bit console market.[38]

Changes in policy

During the NES era, Nintendo maintained exclusive control over titles released for the system—the company had to approve every game, each third-party developer could only release up to five games per year (but some third parties got around this by using different names, for example Konami's "Ultra Games" brand), those games could not be released on another console within two years, and Nintendo was the exclusive manufacturer and supplier of NES cartridges. However, competition from Sega's console brought an end to this practice; in 1991, Acclaim began releasing games for both platforms, with most of Nintendo's other licensees following suit over the next several years; Capcom (which licensed some games to Sega instead of producing them directly) and Square were the most notable holdouts.[39]

The company continued to carefully review submitted titles, giving them scores using a 40-point scale and allocating Nintendo's marketing resources accordingly. Each region performed separate evaluations.[40] Nintendo of America also maintained a policy that, among other things, limited the amount of violence in the games on its systems. One game, Mortal Kombat, would challenge this policy. A surprise hit in arcades in 1992, Mortal Kombat features splashes of blood and finishing moves that often depict one character dismembering the other. Because the Sega Genesis version retained the gore while the SNES version did not,[41] it outsold the SNES version by a ratio of three or four-to-one.[42]

Game players were not the only ones to notice the violence in this game; US Senators Herb Kohl and Joe Lieberman convened a Congressional hearing on December 9, 1993 to investigate the marketing of violent video games to children.[c] While Nintendo took the high ground with moderate success, the hearings led to the creation of the Interactive Digital Software Association and the Entertainment Software Rating Board, and the inclusion of ratings on all video games.[41][42] With these ratings in place, Nintendo decided its censorship policies were no longer needed.[42]

32-bit era and beyond

While other companies were moving on to 32-bit systems, Rare and Nintendo proved that the SNES was still a strong contender in the market. In November 1994, Rare released Donkey Kong Country, a platform game featuring 3D models and textures pre-rendered on SGI workstations. With its detailed graphics, fluid animation and high-quality music, Donkey Kong Country rivaled the aesthetic quality of games that were being released on newer 32-bit CD-based consoles. In the last 45 days of 1994, the game sold 6.1 million units, making it the fastest-selling video game in history to that date. This game sent a message that early 32-bit systems had little to offer over the SNES, and helped make way for the more advanced consoles on the horizon.[43][44]

In October 1997, Nintendo released a redesigned model of the SNES (the SNS-101 model) in North America for US$99, which included the pack-in game Super Mario World 2: Yoshi's Island.[45] Like the earlier redesign of the NES (the NES-101 model), the new model was slimmer and lighter than its predecessor, but it lacked S-Video and RGB output, and it was among the last major SNES-related releases in the region. A similarly redesigned Super Famicom Jr. was released in Japan at around the same time.[46]

Nintendo ceased production of the SNES in 1999,[4] about two years after releasing Kirby's Dream Land 3 (its last first-party game for the system) on November 27, 1997, a year after releasing Frogger (its last third-party game for the system). In Japan, Nintendo continued production of the Super Famicom until September 25, 2003,[3] and new games were produced until the year 2000, ending with the release of Metal Slader Glory Director's Cut on November 29, 2000.[47]

Many popular SNES titles have since been ported to the Game Boy Advance, which has similar video capabilities. In 2005, Nintendo announced that SNES titles would be made available for download via the Wii and Wii U's Virtual Console service.[48] On October 31, 2007, Nintendo of Japan announced that it would no longer repair Family Computer or Super Famicom systems due to an increasing shortage of the necessary parts.[49]

Technical specifications

Main article: Super Nintendo Entertainment System technical specifications

The 16-bit design of the SNES[50] incorporates graphics and sound co-processors that allow tiling and simulated 3D effects, a palette of 32,768 colors, and high-quality 8-channel audio. These base platform features, plus the ability to dramatically extend them all through substantial chip upgrades inside of each cartridge, represent a leap over the 8-bit NES generation and some supposed significant advantages over the higher bit-rate competition such as the Sega Genesis.[51]

Central processing unit

CPU reference
Processor Ricoh 5A22, based on a 16-bit 65c816 core
Clock rates (NTSC) Input: 21.47727 MHz
Bus: 3.58 MHz, 2.68 MHz, or 1.79 MHz
Clock rates (PAL) Input: 21.28137 MHz
Bus: 3.55 MHz, 2.66 MHz, or 1.77 MHz
Buses 24-bit and 8-bit address buses, 8-bit data bus
Additional features
  • DMA and HDMA
  • Timed IRQ
  • Parallel I/O processing
  • Hardware multiplication and division

The CPU is a Nintendo-custom 5A22 processor, based on a 16-bit 65c816 core. The CPU employs a variable bus speed depending on the memory region being accessed for each instruction cycle: the input clock is divided by 6, 8, or 12 to obtain the bus clock rate. Non-access cycles, most register accesses, and some general accesses use the divisor of 6. WRAM accesses and other general accesses use the divisor of 8. Only the controller port serial-access registers use the divisor of 12.[52]

The chip has an 8-bit data bus, controlled by two address buses. The 24-bit "Bus A" is used for general accesses, while the 8-bit "Bus B" is used for support chip registers (mainly the video and audio processors).[52] Normally only one bus is used at a time; however, the built-in direct memory access (DMA) unit places a read signal on one bus and a write signal on the other to achieve block transfer speeds of up to 2.68 MB/s.[d][53][unreliable source?]

The DMA unit has 8 independent channels, each of which can be used in two modes. General DMA transfers up to 64 kB[e] in one shot, while H-blank DMA (HDMA) transfers 1–4 bytes at the end of each video scanline. HDMA is typically used to change video parameters to achieve effects such as perspective, split-screen, and non-rectangular windowing without tying up the main CPU.[53]

The 5A22 also contains an 8-bit parallel I/O port (which is mostly unused in the SNES); controller port interface circuits, including both serial and parallel access to controller data; a 16-bit multiplication and division unit; and circuitry for generating non-maskable interrupts on V-blank and IRQ interrupts on calculated screen positions.[53]

Video

Video reference
Resolutions Progressive: 256×224, 512×224, 256×239, 512×239
Interlaced: 512×448, 512×478
Pixel depth 2, 4, 7, or 8 bpp indexed; 8 or 11 bpp direct
Total colors 32768 (15-bit)
Sprites 128, 32 max per line; up to 64 × 64 pixels
Backgrounds Up to 4 planes; each up to 1024 × 1024 pixels
Effects
  • Pixelization (mosaic) per background
  • Color addition and subtraction
  • Clipping windows (per background, affecting color, math, or both)
  • Scrolling per 8 × 8 tile
  • Mode 7 matrix operations

The graphics processing unit (GPU) consists of two separate but closely tied IC packages, which may be considered as a single entity. It also contains 64 kB[e] of SRAM for storing video data (VRAM), 544 bytes of object attribute memory (OAM) for storing sprite data, and 256 × 15 bits of color generator RAM (CGRAM) for storing palette data. The VRAM is actually divided into two 32 kB sections with separate address and data buses, essentially for the necessary access patterns used by BG Mode 7. The GPU is clocked by the same signal as the CPU, and generates a pixel every two or four cycles. Both NTSC and PAL systems use the same GPU chips, with one pin per chip selecting NTSC or PAL operation.[53]

Images may be output at 256 or 512 pixels horizontal resolution and 224, 239, 448, or 478 pixels vertically. Vertical resolutions of 224 or 239 are usually output in progressive scan, while 448 and 478 resolutions are interlaced. Colors are chosen from the 15-bit RGB color space, for a total of 32,768 possible colors. Graphics consist of up to 128 sprites and up to 4 background layers, all made up of combinations of 8×8 pixel tiles. Most graphics use palettes stored in CGRAM, with color 0 of any palette representing transparency.[53]

Sprites can be 8 × 8, 16 × 16, 32 × 32, or 64 × 64 pixels, each using one of eight 16-color palettes and tiles from one of two blocks of 256 in VRAM. Sprites may be flipped horizontally and vertically as a whole. Up to 32 sprites and 34 8 × 8 sprite tiles may appear on any one line; excess sprites or tiles would be dropped. Each sprite lies on one of 4 planes, however a lower-numbered sprite will always cover a higher-numbered sprite even if the latter is on a higher priority plane. This quirk is often used for complex clipping effects.[53]

Background layers in most modes range from 32 x 32 to 64 × 64 tiles, each of size 8 x 8 or 16 x 16 pixels, with each tile on one of two planes ("foreground" and "background") and using one of 8 palettes. Tiles are taken from a per-layer set of up to 1024 (as VRAM permits) and can be flipped horizontally and vertically. Each layer may be scrolled both horizontally and vertically. The number of background layers and the size of the palettes depends on the mode:[53][54]

  • Mode 0: 4 layers, all using 4-color palettes. Each BG uses its own section of the SNES palette. Up to 96 colors can be displayed on the backgrounds, 24 colors per layer.
  • Mode 1: 3 layers, two using 16-color palettes and one using 4-color palettes. Up to 120 colors can be displayed by first two layers and 24 colors by third layer.
  • Mode 2: 2 layers, both using 16-color palettes. Each tile can be individually scrolled. Up to 120 colors can be displayed on screen.
  • Mode 3: 2 layers, one using the full 256-color palette and one using 16-color palettes. The 256-color layer can also directly specify colors from an 11-bit (RGB443) colorspace. Up to 256 colors displayed by first layer and 120 colors by second layer.
  • Mode 4: 2 layers, one using the full 256-color palette and one using 4-color palettes. The 256-color layer can directly specify colors, and each tile can be individually scrolled. Up to 256 colors displayed by first layer and 24 colors by second layer.
  • Mode 5: 2 layers, one using 16-color palettes and one using 4-color palettes. Tile decoding is altered to facilitate use of the 512-width and interlaced resolutions. Up to 120 colors displayed by first layer and 24 colors by second layer.
  • Mode 6: 1 layer, using 16-color palettes. Tile decoding is as in Mode 5, and each tile can be individually scrolled. Up to 120 colors can be displayed on screen.
A test image demonstrating the SNES's Mode 7 capability
  • Mode 7: 1 layer of 128×128 tiles of size 8x8 from a set of 256, which may be interpreted as a 256-color one-plane layer or a 128-color two-plane layer. The layer may be rotated and scaled using matrix transformations. HDMA is often used to change the matrix parameters for each scanline to generate perspective effects.

Background layers may be individually pixelized, and layers and sprites can be individually clipped and combined by color addition or subtraction to generate more complex effects and greater color depths than can be specified directly.[53]

The GPU may be instructed to latch the current pixel position at any time during image output, both by game software and by the device attached to controller port 2. The game software may then read back this latched position. The GPU may also be used for fast 16-bit by 8-bit signed multiplication.[53]

Audio

Audio reference
Processors Nintendo S-SMP
Clock rates Input: 24.576 MHz
SPC700: 1.024 MHz
Format 8 channel ADPCM
Output 32 kHz 16-bit stereo
Effects
  • ADSR envelope control
  • Frequency scaling and modulation using Gaussian interpolation
  • Echo: 8-tap FIR filter, with up to .24s delay
  • Noise generation

The audio subsystem consists of an 8-bit Sony SPC700, a 16-bit DSP, 64 kB[e] of SRAM shared by the two chips, and a 64 byte boot ROM. The audio subsystem is almost completely independent from the rest of the system: it is clocked at a nominal 24.576 MHz in both NTSC and PAL systems, and can only communicate with the CPU via 4 registers on Bus B.[55][unreliable source?][56][unreliable source?]

RAM is accessed at 3.072 MHz, with accesses multiplexed between the SPC700 (1⁄3) and the DSP (2⁄3). This RAM is used to store the SPC700 program and stack, the audio sample data and pointer table, and the DSP's echo buffer.[55] The SPC700 runs programs (uploaded using the boot ROM program) to accept instructions and data from the CPU and to manipulate the DSP registers to generate the appropriate music and sound effects. The DSP generates a 16-bit waveform at 32 kHz by mixing input from 8 independent voices and an 8-tap FIR filter typically used for reverberation. Each voice can play its sample at a variable rate, with Gaussian interpolation, stereo panning, and ADSR, linear, non-linear, or direct volume envelope adjustment. The voice and FIR filter outputs are mixed both for direct output and for future input into the FIR filter. All audio samples are compressed using ADPCM and a linear predictive coding, a method dubbed BRR.[55]

Hardware on the cartridge, expansion port, or both can provide stereo audio data for mixing into the DSP's analog audio output before it leaves the console.[57] Since the audio subsystem is mostly self-contained, the state of the audio subsystem can be connected to, or emulated on, a host computer. Its output may be saved as an SPC700 sound format (.SPC) file, or the audio subsystem can be emulated in a stand-alone manner to play back all game music except for a few games that constantly stream their samples from ROM. Custom cartridges or PC interfaces can be used to load and play .SPC files onto a real SNES SPC700 and DSP.

Onboard RAM

Memory reference
Main RAM 128 kB[e]
Video RAM 64 kB main RAM
512 + 32 bytes sprite RAM
256 × 15 bits palette RAM
Audio RAM 64 kB

The console contains 128 kB[e] of DRAM. This is mapped to various segments of Bus A, and can also be accessed in a serial fashion via registers on Bus B. The video and audio subsystems contain additional RAM reserved for use by those processors.[53]

Regional lockout

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

A cartridge shape comparison
Top: North American design
Bottom: Japanese and PAL region design.
The bottom cartridge also illustrates the optional pins used by enhancement chips such as the Super FX 3D chip.

On a physical level, the cartridges are shaped differently for different regions. North American cartridges have a rectangular bottom with inset grooves matching protruding tabs in the console, while other regions' cartridges 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.[58][59]

Internally, a regional lockout chip (CIC) within the console and in each cartridge prevents PAL region games from being played on Japanese or North American consoles and vice versa. The Japanese and North American machines have the same region chip. This can be overcome through the use of adapters, typically by inserting the imported cartridge in one slot and a cartridge with the correct region chip in a second slot. Alternatively, disconnecting one pin of the console's lockout chip will prevent it from locking the console; hardware in later games can detect this situation, so it later became common to install a switch to reconnect the lockout chip as needed.[60]

PAL consoles face another incompatibility when playing out-of-region cartridges: the NTSC video standard specifies video at 60 Hz while PAL operates at 50 Hz, resulting in approximately 16.7% slower gameplay. Additionally, PAL's higher resolution results in letterboxing of the output image.[58] Some commercial PAL region releases exhibit this same problem and therefore can be played in NTSC systems without issue, while others will face a 20% speedup if played in an NTSC console. To mostly correct this issue, a switch can be added to place the SNES PPU into a 60 Hz mode supported by most newer PAL televisions. Later games will detect this setting and refuse to run, requiring the switch to be thrown only after the check completes.[61]

Casing

Original Japanese SNES
Original Japanese SNES
Original U.S. SNES
Original U.S. SNES
Original PAL SNES
Original PAL SNES
Super Famicom Jr.
Super Famicom Jr.
Super Famicom Jr.
Super Famicom Jr.
Original Japanese version
(1990–1998) 		Original North American version
(1991–1997) 		Original PAL version
(1992–1998) 		Super Famicom Jr.
(1998–2003) 		North American redesign
(1997–1999)

All versions of the SNES are predominantly gray, although the exact shade may differ. The original North American version, designed by Nintendo of America industrial designer Lance Barr[62] (who previously redesigned the Famicom to become the NES[63]), has a boxy design with purple sliding switches and a dark gray eject lever. The loading bay surface is curved, both to invite interaction and to prevent food or drinks from being placed on the console and spilling as had happened with the flat surfaced NES.[62] The Japanese and European versions are more rounded, with darker gray accents and buttons. The North American SNS-101 model and the Japanese Super Famicom Jr. (the SHVC-101 model), all designed by Barr, are both smaller with a rounded contour; however, the SNS-101 buttons are purple where the Super Famicom Jr. buttons are gray. The European and American versions of the SNES controllers have much longer cables compared to the Japanese Super Famicom controllers.

All versions incorporate a top-loading slot for game cartridges, although the shape of the slot differs between regions to match the different shapes of the cartridges. The card-edge connector has 62 contacts; however, many cartridges only connect to the middle 46. All versions also incorporate two 7-pin controller ports on the front of the unit, and a plug for a power supply and a Nintendo-proprietary "MULTI OUT" A/V connector on the back.[57][unreliable source?] The MULTI OUT connector (later used on the Nintendo 64 and GameCube) can output composite video, S-Video and RGB signals, as well as RF with an external RF modulator.[64][65] Original versions additionally include a 28-pin expansion port under a small cover on the bottom of the unit[57] and a standard RF output with channel selection switch on the back;[66] the redesigned models output composite video only, requiring an external modulator for RF.[67]

Yellowing of console plastic

The ABS plastic used in the casing of some older SNES and Super Famicom consoles is particularly susceptible to oxidization on exposure to air, likely due to an incorrect mixture of the stabilizing or flame retarding additives. This, along with the particularly light color of the original plastic, causes affected consoles to quickly become yellow; if the sections of the casing came from different batches of plastic, a "two-tone" effect results.[68] The color can sometimes be restored with UV light and a hydrogen peroxide solution.[69]

Game cartridge

The cartridge media of the console is officially referred to as Game Pak in most Western regions,[70] and as Cassette (カセット, Kasetto) in Japan and parts of Latin America.[71] While the SNES can address 128 Mbit,[e] only 117.75 Mbit are actually available for cartridge use. A fairly normal mapping could easily address up to 95 Mbit of ROM data (48 Mbit at FastROM speed) with 8 Mbit of battery-backed RAM.[52] However, most available memory access controllers only support mappings of up to 32 Mbit. The largest games released (Tales of Phantasia and Star Ocean) contain 48 Mbit of ROM data,[72][73] while the smallest games contain only 2 Mbit.

Cartridges may also contain battery-backed SRAM to save the game state, extra working RAM, custom coprocessors, or any other hardware that will not exceed the maximum current rating of the console.

Peripherals

Top: Japanese Super Famicom controller, bottom: North American SNES controller

The standard SNES controller adds two additional face buttons (X and Y) to the design of the NES iteration, arranging the four in a diamond shape, and introduces two shoulder buttons. The inclusion of six active buttons was made with the popularity of the Street Fighter arcade series in mind.[74] It also features an ergonomic design by Lance Barr, later used for the NES-102 model controllers, also designed by Barr.[62][63] The Japanese and PAL region versions incorporate the colors of the four action buttons into system's logo. The North American version's buttons are colored to match the redesigned console; the X and Y buttons are lavender with concave faces, and the A and B buttons are purple with convex faces. Several later consoles derive elements of their controller design from the SNES, including the PlayStation, Dreamcast, Xbox, and Wii Classic Controller.[75][76][77]

Throughout the course of its life, a number of peripherals were released which added to the functionality of the SNES. Many of these devices were modeled after earlier add-ons for the NES: the Super Scope is a light gun functionally similar to the NES Zapper (though the Super Scope features wireless capabilities) and the Super Advantage is an arcade-style joystick with adjustable turbo settings akin to the NES Advantage. Nintendo also released the SNES Mouse in conjunction with its Mario Paint title. Hudson Soft, under license from Nintendo, released the Super Multitap, a multiplayer adapter for use with its popular series of Bomberman games. Some of the more unusual controllers include the one-handed ASCII Stick L5, the BatterUP baseball bat, and the TeeV Golf golf club.[78][79]

The Super Game Boy allowed Game Boy games to be played on the SNES

While Nintendo never released an adapter for playing NES games on the SNES (though the instructions included a way to connect both consoles to the same TV by either daisy chaining the RF switches or using AV outputs for one or both systems), the Super Game Boy adapter cartridge allows games designed for Nintendo's portable Game Boy system to be played on the SNES. The Super Game Boy touted several feature enhancements over the Game Boy, including palette substitution, custom screen borders, and (for specially enhanced games) access to the SNES console.[80] Japan also saw the release of the Super Game Boy 2, which added a communication port to enable a second Game Boy to connect for multiplayer games.

Like the NES before it, the SNES saw its fair share of unlicensed third-party peripherals, including a new version of the Game Genie cheat cartridge designed for use with SNES games. In general, Nintendo proved to be somewhat more tolerant of unlicensed SNES peripherals than they had been with NES peripherals.

Soon after the release of the SNES, companies began marketing backup devices such as the Super Wildcard, Super Pro Fighter Q, and Game Doctor.[81] These devices were sold to create a backup of a cartridge, in the event that it would break. However, they could also be used to play copied ROM images that could be downloaded from BBSes and the Internet, or to create copies of rented video games, often violating copyright laws in many jurisdictions.

Satellaview with Super Famicom.

Japan saw the release of the Satellaview, a modem which attached to the Super Famicom's expansion port and connected to the St.GIGA satellite radio station. Users of the Satellaview could download gaming news and specially designed games, which were frequently either remakes of or sequels to older Famicom titles, released in installments. Satellaview signals were broadcast from April 23, 1995 through June 30, 2000.[82] In the United States, the similar but relatively short-lived XBAND allowed users to connect to a network via a dial-up modem to compete against other players around the country.

During the SNES's life, Nintendo contracted with two different companies to develop a CD-ROM-based peripheral for the console to compete with Sega's CD-ROM based addon, Mega-CD. Ultimately, deals with both Sony and Philips fell through, (although a prototype console was produced by Sony) with Philips gaining the right to release a series of titles based on Nintendo franchises for its CD-i multimedia player and Sony going on to develop its own console based on its initial dealings with Nintendo (the PlayStation).[83]

Enhancement chips

Main article: List of Super NES enhancement chips
Star Fox, the first game to utilize the Super FX chip, as shown with the polygonal models that compose a large portion of the game's graphics

As part of the overall plan for the SNES, rather than include an expensive CPU that would still become obsolete in a few years, the hardware designers made it easy to interface special coprocessor chips to the console (just like the MMC chips used for most NES games). This is most often characterized by 16 additional pins on the cartridge card edge.[84]

The Super FX is a RISC CPU designed to perform functions that the main CPU could not feasibly do. The chip was primarily used to create 3D game worlds made with polygons, texture mapping and light source shading. The chip could also be used to enhance 2D games.[85]

The Nintendo fixed-point digital signal processor (DSP) chip allowed for fast vector-based calculations, bitmap conversions, both 2D and 3D coordinate transformations, and other functions.[86] Four revisions of the chip exist, each physically identical but with different microcode. The DSP-1 version, including the later 1A and 1B bug fix revisions, is used most often; the DSP-2, DSP-3, and DSP-4 are used in only one title each.[87]

Similar to the 5A22 CPU in the console, the SA-1 chip contains a 65c816 processor core clocked at 10 MHz, a memory mapper, DMA, decompression and bitplane conversion circuitry, several programmable timers, and CIC region lockout functionality.[85]

In Japan, games could be downloaded for a lower price (than standard cartridges) from Nintendo Power kiosks onto special cartridges containing flash memory and a MegaChips MX15001TFC chip. The chip managed communication with the kiosks to download ROM images, and provided an initial menu to select which of the downloaded games would be played. Some titles were available both in cartridge and download form, while others were download only. The service was closed on February 8, 2007.[88]

Many cartridges contain other enhancement chips, most of which were created for use by a single company in a few titles;[87] the only limitations are the speed of the SNES itself to transfer data from the chip and the current limit of the console.

Emulation

See also: List of SNES emulators
Snes9x 1.43 on Windows 8.1

Like the NES before it, the SNES has retained interest among its fans even following its decline in the marketplace. It has continued to thrive on the second-hand market and through console emulation. The SNES has taken much the same revival path as the NES (see History of the Nintendo Entertainment System).

Emulation projects began with the initial release of VSMC in 1994, and Super Pasofami became the first working SNES emulator in 1996.[89] During that time, two competing emulation projects—Snes96 and Snes97—merged to form a new initiative entitled Snes9x.[85] In 1997, SNES enthusiasts began programming an emulator named ZSNES.[90] These two have remained among the best-known SNES emulators, although development continues on others as well. In 2003, members of both the Snes9x and ZSNES teams and others began a push for exact emulation;[f][91] this movement is now led by the development of higan by a developer named byuu.[92]

Nintendo of America took the same stance against the distribution of SNES ROM image files and the use of emulators as it did with the NES, insisting that they represented flagrant software piracy.[93] Proponents of SNES emulation cite discontinued production of the SNES constituting abandonware status, the right of the owner of the respective game to make a personal backup via devices such as the Retrode, space shifting for private use, the desire to develop homebrew games for the system, the frailty of SNES ROM cartridges and consoles, and the lack of certain foreign imports.

The SNES was one of the first systems to attract the attention of amateur fan translators: Final Fantasy V was the first major work of fan translation, and was completed in 1998.[94]

Emulation of the SNES is now available on handheld units, such as Android devices,[95] Apple's iPhone[96] and iPad,[97] Sony's PlayStation Portable (PSP),[98] the Nintendo DS[99] and Game Boy Advance,[100] the Gizmondo,[101] the Dingoo and the GP2X by GamePark Holdings,[102] as well as PDAs.[103] While individual games have been included with emulators on some GameCube discs, Nintendo's Virtual Console service for the Wii marks the introduction of officially sanctioned general SNES emulation, though SNES9x GX, a port of SNES9x, has been made for the Wii.[104]

Legacy

49.10 million SNES units were sold worldwide, with 23.35 million of those units sold in the Americas and 17.17 million in Japan.[5] Although it could not quite repeat the success of the NES, which sold 61.91 million units worldwide,[5] the SNES was the best-selling console of its era.

In 2007, GameTrailers named the SNES as the second-best console of all time in their list of top ten consoles that "left their mark on the history of gaming", citing its graphic, sound, and library of top-quality games.[105] In 2015, they also named it the best Nintendo console of all time, saying, "The list of games we love from this console completely annihilates any other roster from the Big N."[106] Technology columnist Don Reisinger proclaimed "The SNES is the greatest console of all time" in January 2008, citing the quality of the games and the console's dramatic improvement over its predecessor;[107] fellow technology columnist Will Greenwald replied with a more nuanced view, giving the SNES top marks with his heart, the NES with his head, and the PlayStation (for its controller) with his hands.[108] GamingExcellence also gave the SNES first place in 2008, declaring it "simply the most timeless system ever created" with many games that stand the test of time and citing its innovation in controller design, graphics capabilities, and game storytelling.[109] At the same time, GameDaily rated it fifth of ten for its graphics, audio, controllers, and games.[110] In 2009, IGN named the Super Nintendo Entertainment System the fourth best video game console, complimenting its audio and "concentration of AAA titles".[75]

See also

Notes

  1. ^ a b According to Stephen Kent's The Ultimate History of Video Games, the official launch date was September 9.[18] Newspaper and magazine articles from late 1991 report that the first shipments were in stores in some regions on August 23,[19][20] while it arrived in other regions at a later date.[21] Many modern online sources (circa 2005 and later) report August 13.[22][23]
  2. ^ The acronym SNES can be pronounced by English speakers as a single word (compare "NATO") with various pronunciations, a string of letters (compare "IBM"), or as a hybrid (compare "JPEG"); some even claim SNES should be pronounced "Super Nintendo". In written English, the choice of indefinite article can be problematic due to these differences in pronunciation.[10][11]
  3. ^ While some contend that Nintendo orchestrated the Congressional hearings of 1993, Senator Lieberman and NOA's Senior Vice President (later Chairman) Howard Lincoln both refute these allegations.[42]
  4. ^ This quantity uses the standard decimal meaning of megabyte: 1,000,000 bytes.
  5. ^ a b c d e f Unless otherwise specified, kilobyte (kB), megabyte (MB), and megabit (Mbit) are used in the binary sense in this article, referring to quantities of 1024 or 1,048,576.
  6. ^ As opposed to emulation "good enough" for most purposes, exact emulation facilitates the use of the emulator for homebrew game development and documents the operation of the hardware against such time as all existing consoles cease functioning.

References

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Bibliography

Media related to Super Famicom and variants at Wikimedia Commons

Retrieved from "https://en.wikipedia.org/w/index.php?title=Super_Nintendo_Entertainment_System&oldid=689363167"