Super Famicom (SNES) — 16 Bits and the L and R Buttons

The Super Nintendo Entertainment System (SNES) began reaching North American shops in late August 1991. The date most often given is 23 August 1991, though, as set out below, the official nationwide release date was 9 September. Japan had the machine first, as the Super Famicom, on 21 November 1990—the date Nintendo's own IR data records as its release. Europe followed in 1992.

On price, Nintendo's own Japanese product page lists a later recommended price of ¥9,800 before tax. The launch price of ¥25,000 comes from English Wikipedia.

A delay of a year and four months

According to Famitsu, the Super Famicom had originally been due in July 1989 but was postponed, a semiconductor shortage among the reasons. Seven years after the Famicom of 1983, the CPU went from 8 bits to 16.

When it finally arrived on 21 November 1990, only two games launched with it, both from Nintendo: Super Mario World and F-Zero. Inside, a Japanese games site, recalls that December releases including Pilotwings, ActRaiser and Final Fight then drew players.

According to English Wikipedia, Nintendo's first shipment of 300,000 units sold out within hours, and the consoles were moved at night to avoid theft.

What was new

Famitsu stresses that the ability to enlarge, shrink and rotate images was revolutionary at the time. English Wikipedia describes this as Mode 7, a means of producing pseudo-3D effects.

The other legacy was the controller. Famitsu judges that the shape with the added L and R buttons became the basic form of game controllers from then on.

North America: no single SNES release date

The North American SNES was sold in a different shell from the Japanese machine. According to English Wikipedia, against the rounded Japanese design, the North American model was boxy, with purple sliding switches.

The North American date most often quoted is 23 August 1991. SNES Central, a site documenting the console, has compared contemporary sources:

SNES Central concludes that the official nationwide launch was 9 September, but that the console could be bought in California from 21–23 August. It also dismisses the 13 August date sometimes seen, tracing it to an unsourced Wikipedia edit in 2005. Canada followed in December 1991.

Either way, North America waited about nine months after Japan.

Set beside Nintendo's other home consoles, the gaps between Japan and North America look like this. Dates come from Nintendo IR and the individual pages on this site.

The gap narrowed with each generation, flipped with the Wii and closed with the Switch. The Super Famicom sits near the end of the era in which Japan ran well ahead.

Sales

Nintendo IR publishes these lifetime figures:

Japan sold fewer consoles than the Americas but more games. Per console, that is roughly 11.3 games in Japan against about 5.8 in the Americas.

Afterwards

A cheaper Super Famicom Jr. followed on 27 March 1998 (listed by Nintendo at ¥7,800 before tax). A reissue, the Nintendo Classic Mini: Super Famicom, came out on 5 October 2017.

Nintendo's next home console was the Nintendo 64 of 1996. The story of the CD-ROM add-on Sony was to build for the Super Famicom, and how its collapse led to the first PlayStation, is told on the original PlayStation page. On the handheld side, the Game Boy had arrived the year before, in 1989. For the company, see Nintendo; for the wider story, the game consoles timeline.