Overview
Super Nintendo Entertainment System (スーパー・ニンテンドー・エンターテインメント・システム), often abbreviated as SNES or Super NES is a home video game console released by Nintendo for outside Japanese territories. It is based on the Super Famicom released in Japan.
Regional Difference
North America
The appearance of the SNES version was very different from the Super Famicom, and the shape of the cartridges was also different, so it was not compatible with the Super Famicom. The shape of the controller is the same as the Super Famicom but the colors are different.
However, it is the same NTSC standard, and if you take out the cartridges or insert a conversion adapter between the two, it will work with the Super Famicom.
The lock mechanism of the cartridges is almost the same as that of the Super Famicom, and the design of the main unit and cartridges seems to be different.
When it was featured in NHK's documentary program Shin-Denshi Rikkoku, for some reason this main unit was used as a commentary on the topic of the Super Famicom.
Super Famicom (Top) uses green, blue, yellow and red buttons while SNES (Bottom) uses shades of blue.
Europe
The main unit and controller look almost identical to the Super Famicom, but there are some differences in the writing on them. Since most of Europe uses the PAL standard for video output, "PAL VERSION" is written on the cover of the cartridge slot, whereas the SNES for France, which uses the SECAM standard, does not.
The shape of the cartridge is the same as the Japanese version, but the CIC is different, so it is not compatible with the Japanese version.
Development
As the successor to the NES, it competed with the Mega Drive (Known as the Sega Genesis in North America), but it struggled in the European market, where Sega had been ahead of the competition since the Master System era, and it's sales volume was slightly lower than that of the Mega Drive.
In the North American market as well, the Genesis (Mega Drive), which had been a hit with the Sonic series, seemed to be outpacing the Genesis in terms of sales, but with the huge success of Donkey Kong Country and other titles, the final sales volume exceeded that of the Genesis.
The supply of new software in North America was suspended after 1998, but in 2014, Nightmare Buster, the first new game in 16 years, was released.
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Nintendo Entertainment System SNES Nintendo Super Famicom Video Game Console
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English
Super Nintendo Entertainment System - Wikipedia
Japanese
Super Nintendo Entertainment System - Wikipedia
