The reason we got ugly super nintendo in the USA.

[0078265317]

I was browsing another forum and found this interesting.

 

http://www.nintendojo.com/archives/interviews/view_item.php?1130801472

 

Some people don't like the boxy super nintendo original look. Some like the shape and colors of the japan one better. I like the USA one and the purple color. But the japan SFC is better looking in my opinion.

 

8th thing down it says he though the sfc looked like a bag of bread. So that's why we never got it and had the USA version instead. Bag of bread?? How odd for an excuse and interesting of course. Never knew this.

[CatPix]

From what I heard, the design was changed because the Super Famicom/Super Nintendo (we got the Jap design in Europe, so you can call it Super Nintendo ) looked too toyish. This explain the change from the green/blue/yellow/red buttons of the pad to the purple/lavander, too.

 

Also, the Super Famicom was designed rounded, both system and cartridges, to prevent stacking things on the SFC, and stacking the carts. Also there is no end labels because most Japanese and a good share of European gamers considered the box being part of the game, so you don't need end label when your game is sitting into the box, isn't it?

The US carts have been changed to match the design and allow the end label since most US gamers were found to throw the box away and using the end label.

Note that the original Famicom carts doesn't have end labels as well.

[Gregory DG]

"Thought the Jaguar looked like a toilet."

 

Only with the Jaguar CD attached! Alone the Jaguar looks like a hot rod.

[0078265317]

Also, the Super Famicom was designed rounded, both system and cartridges, to prevent stacking things on the SFC, and stacking the carts

 

That is what he meant by bag of bread. It wasn't stackable.

 

"so you had to design with the idea of stacking on top of other components. I though the Super Famicom didn't look good when stacked and even by itself, had a kind of "bag of bread" look."

[CatPix]

I know, but what I meant is that you can't stack things on TOP of it. But for stacking things underneath, you could have redesigned the lower half without modyfiying the upper half.

[Austin]

I like the US edition, but to be fair, the Japanese one is ugly too.

[MagitekAngel]

I'd say the NA Super Nintendo, while being one of my favourite consoles of all time, is truly one of the ugliest console designs of all time. I bought a Model 2 deck from a fellow AA'er and I'm much happier with it.

Edited June 26, 2013 by MagitekAngel

[pixelated]

People always say that it's ugly, but I don't see it:

 

 

In 1991, I thought it was cooler looking than the NES and I still feel that way.

Of course, you could say I'm a little biased, the SNES is my all-time favorite console. But the colors are nice. The Power/Reset switches and the buttons on the controller match well and the grey color is really nice. Sit this thing down next to an Atari 5200 or especially the poor good-looking Genesis with all that crap shoved into it, the 32x and the CD and tell me it's still unappealing. I've seen better-looking consoles but it's still fine. In fact, I like it's look more than the Japanese/European version. Much more.

 

Oh and the SNES cartridges we had in the U.S. were way, way better. END LABELS. Every cart-based console should have them, but several don't.

Edited June 26, 2013 by pixelated

[CatPix]

As I said, End labels are useless.

Just keep the BOXES. That's all. I always wondered when I was young why there was the name on the end of the NES carts... except to see what game is inside your system, what is the point?

Especially when logic dictate that to protect them from dust, you gotta store your loose carts vertically, so unless you store your cart in a drawer, you see the side of the cart, not the end!

[Hatta]

That's one thing I hate about most console designs, they can't be stacked. Of all the consoles I have, only the PS2 and CDI can have things stacked on top of them. Even the front loading NES can't have stuff stacked on it because of that silly door.

[chrisbid]

As I said, End labels are useless.

Just keep the BOXES. That's all. I always wondered when I was young why there was the name on the end of the NES carts... except to see what game is inside your system, what is the point?

Especially when logic dictate that to protect them from dust, you gotta store your loose carts vertically, so unless you store your cart in a drawer, you see the side of the cart, not the end!

 

Cheap chipboard boxes that don't hold their shape are useless

[Algus]

I think "ugliest console" is a bit of an overstatement. Try the Colecovision or Genesis with some of their attachments included. Talk about eyesore. It may not be the prettiest but I really like the colors.

[Atariboy]

I always thought the Super Nintendo was an attractive console. Not ugly at all in my book.

 

As I said, End labels are useless.

Just keep the BOXES. That's all. I always wondered when I was young why there was the name on the end of the NES carts... except to see what game is inside your system, what is the point?

Especially when logic dictate that to protect them from dust, you gotta store your loose carts vertically, so unless you store your cart in a drawer, you see the side of the cart, not the end!

 

The flimsy cardboard boxes were never meant as reusable storage for the cartridges and the average person never used them as such. Once opened they were throwaway items and their only value today is as a collectible.

Edited June 26, 2013 by Atariboy

[CatPix]

Well, maybe in USA, but a good share of European and most Japanese gamers kept their boxes.

I mean, just look at the Videopac boxes versus the US ones :

 

How can you get the idea of throwing them?

 

Same goes for the Interton VC 400 boxes, even if they are made of (sturdy) cardboard :

 

Even the ads of the time suggest you to keep them :

See? Side labeled boxes to read them. And it's made on purpose, because on Interton boxes, only one side of the box is labelled.

 

To be honest, Japan was helped because of the higher quality of their boxes. Super Famicom boxes feel more solid that their European counterparts.

 

But only from a logical point of view... Like when the AVGN asked in one of those videos "why can't people keep their game manuals" just after saying that throwing the boxes is fine... Well that's what the box is mean for, right?

Just look at the Sega Master System and Megadrive/Genesis boxes, it just doesn't make sense to throw them!

 

Even Intellivision boxes. It might sound strange, but so far, on the 20 games I have, they are all with the box. And I didn't looked for them, it's just that I have yet to find someone selling loose Intellivision carts.

Edited June 26, 2013 by CatPix

[GigaDrive]

As much as I love the Super Famicom that was released in Japan at the end of 1990....I loved even more the first prototype that was shown to the press in late 1988:

 

[JamesD]

I don't care for candy colored buttons and such but I wouldn't call the SNES ugly. I think the Japanese version is a little better looking though.

 

I've never had the room to store games in their boxes and none of the ones I bought back in the day were worth storing.

If they had come in plastic boxes I probably would have found room but since I never had any like that it's a moot point.

[godslabrat]

It seems that there are two schools of thought in America when it comes to boxes. One is that most if not all boxes are meant only to protect the item before purchase, and should be discarded immediately after. This is absolutely where my parents came from. Anything I ever bought as a kid had its box and all packing materials tossed the same day. Exceptions were made for items that were exceptionally fragile, if the box could be used for storage. If that was the case, I had to prove fragility beyond a shadow of a doubt.

 

The other school of thought is that all boxes for everything should be kept, in the event you wanted to resell the item. Those families always seemed like martians to me, but now I can appreciate their logic.

[JamesD]

I can appreciate their logic but I still don't have room for the boxes.

[JohnPCAE]

I wonder what the Famicom switch does -- maybe let it run standard Famicom games? The ad says "Famicom adapter", but I can't make anything else out.

 

(I can't read Hiragana, but I can read some Katakana with *agonizing* slowness since 95% of the time it's used for English loanwords).

[godslabrat]

I wonder what the Famicom switch does -- maybe let it run standard Famicom games? The ad says "Famicom adapter", but I can't make anything else out.

 

Very early concepts for the SFC were for it to be backwards compatible with the Famicom, so it's very likely you're seeing something like that here. Would be nice to know for sure.

[The Usotsuki]

There is a 1:1 correspondence between hiragana and katakana. It's the kanji that kills.

[0078265317]

That prototype looks nice.

[JohnPCAE]

Very early concepts for the SFC were for it to be backwards compatible with the Famicom, so it's very likely you're seeing something like that here. Would be nice to know for sure.

 

This is the best I can make out..."Famicom switch", "Famicom adapter", "Super Famicom", "switch". I can make out a couple of Hiragana characters, but those are used for native Japanese words, and I only know a couple of those

 

It's common for loanwords to be altered somewhat, hence the ending "n" instead of "m" ("n" is the only character in Japanese that doesn't end in a vowel, and is often used in lieu of "ma", "me", etc. at the end of a loanword, in my limited experience).

 

Edit: A "da" was actually a "ta". It's hard to tell which characters have the softening mark and which don't at this resolution...

 

Edit #2: I got "fa" and "fya" mixed up (they look almost identical). It reads "fa-mi-ko-n", not "fya-mi-ko-n". Bleh.

Edited June 27, 2013 by JohnPCAE

[Atariboy]

Just look at the Sega Master System and Megadrive/Genesis boxes, it just doesn't make sense to throw them!

 

Because they aren't even cardboard boxes. They're plastic cases intended to be utilized as storage for the cartridge and manual when not in use.

 

Flimsy Super Nintendo boxes were intended to be throwaway once opened. I'm quite confident that companies like Nintendo didn't expect these type of things to be reused as storage for the contents after being opened no matter how many of the several hundred collectors worldwide that line their walls with cardboard want to think these days.

 

There's a reason why so few survive compared to things like Sega Genesis game cases, Playstation jewel cases, etc. Their purpose was served once they were opened for 99% of their customers.

 

 

 

Well, maybe in USA, but a good share of European and most Japanese gamers kept their boxes.

 

I've never been to Japan and don't plan to ever be, but I've been in several European game stores and have purchased games online from over there as well. Seems like there's a ton of loose classic games just like in America and Canada. Doubt they saved flimsy cardboard boxes anymore than people over here did, notwithstanding the occasional exception like myself that appreciated them and did tend to keep such material.

 

See? Side labeled boxes to read them. And it's made on purpose, because on Interton boxes, only one side of the box is labelled.

 

That they're side labeled to read them doesn't imply anything. It's a useful identifier at retail as well and I bet is what the designer primarily had in mind.

 

And it's a promotional piece, it doesn't suggest that the customer will be necessarily be doing likewise. Particularly if they're not sturdy and are as such ill-suited to be continually reused for storage. Heck, you can often find shots like that with the console box itself right next to the system. Are we going to claim that's evidence people would widely unhook their console after play and store it in the box when not in use?

 

I doubt the percentage of kids that would go to the trouble of putting their cartridges back into their flimsy cardboard packaging even came close to the 1% mark. Even with a durable case obviously meant for re-use, loose games are unfortunately very far from uncommon even today (Despite optical discs that need protection far more than the cartridges of the past did and with reusable cases all but standard packaging for them outside of the occasional cardboard sleeve).

Edited June 27, 2013 by Atariboy

[SSG]

Well, maybe in USA, but a good share of European and most Japanese gamers kept their boxes.

I mean, just look at the Videopac boxes versus the US ones :

 

How can you get the idea of throwing them?

 

Same goes for the Interton VC 400 boxes, even if they are made of (sturdy) cardboard :

 

Even the ads of the time suggest you to keep them :

See? Side labeled boxes to read them. And it's made on purpose, because on Interton boxes, only one side of the box is labelled.

 

To be honest, Japan was helped because of the higher quality of their boxes. Super Famicom boxes feel more solid that their European counterparts.

 

But only from a logical point of view... Like when the AVGN asked in one of those videos "why can't people keep their game manuals" just after saying that throwing the boxes is fine... Well that's what the box is mean for, right?

Just look at the Sega Master System and Megadrive/Genesis boxes, it just doesn't make sense to throw them!

 

Even Intellivision boxes. It might sound strange, but so far, on the 20 games I have, they are all with the box. And I didn't looked for them, it's just that I have yet to find someone selling loose Intellivision carts.

 

All my Odyssey 2 Games are CIB because there only a few dollars more. I love having the boxes!