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Why did NoA redesign the SNES for the US?
- Thread starter ggx2ac
- Start date
I'm not keen on the US SNES, but as a kid was always wowed by the cooler square carts that we used to import - and the boxart. So we got a nicer looking console and controller, but 50hz and worse boxart.
Yup mine's yellow as fuck. For years I just put it down to people smoking in the house but it happens anyway. Mine also used to toast my socks before I went to school in the winter. Bought my brother a JP Famicom when I was visiting him in Japan - found one that was absolutely pristine. I hadn't seen a SNES like that since the early 90s. Made me wonder if the JP ones were made of different stuff (obviously not with this image but still).
This problem was not exclusive to NA chassis:
Yup mine's yellow as fuck. For years I just put it down to people smoking in the house but it happens anyway. Mine also used to toast my socks before I went to school in the winter. Bought my brother a JP Famicom when I was visiting him in Japan - found one that was absolutely pristine. I hadn't seen a SNES like that since the early 90s. Made me wonder if the JP ones were made of different stuff (obviously not with this image but still).
Dr_LucienSanchez
Banned
I cant believe that nobody else picked up on this. This is truly one of the more interesting things to emerge in this thread (PAL SNES was better-looking tho).
My Dreamcast has turned an unpleasant yellowly shade too. Strangely enough, the PSOne I bought at about the same time stayed white for much longer - it's only in the past couple of years that it started turning yellow.
sixteen-bit
Member
Enter The 36 Chambers
Member
I assume someone was trying to sabotage the company by designing that horrendously ugly US Snes.
Hes commending the controller design, and Id agree, having concave buttons is good design.
The American SNES console is still an abomination. SFC is too curvy and colourful? Americans sound really boring!
The JP version looks better but I played a few thousand hours on my US SNES and I never gave a fuck about what it looked like. The controller melted in my hands and that was my main concern.
I should also point out that as ugly as the Genesis and SNES look today, I thought they both looked amazing at the time.
For years I would grumble at how much better the Super Famicom multicolored buttons were compared to the SNES. How could NoA ever decide that those buttons weren't attractive and iconic?
Lately, the nostalgia has kicked in, and I really love the two tone purple buttons. It's just different.
Super Nintendo/Famicom should be loved and cherished by all. What an amazing system.
Lately, the nostalgia has kicked in, and I really love the two tone purple buttons. It's just different.
Super Nintendo/Famicom should be loved and cherished by all. What an amazing system.
xXRedxSlugXx
Member
I grew up with the NA SNES and I still gotta say the EU one is definitely the best. Its got the bold Super Nintendo logo AND the colors and style of the famicom. I don't hate the shape of the NA SNES but I think we can all agree the colors were a mistake. PHOTOSHOP CHALLENGE! Lets make the NA SNES look better.
Business
Member
Pretty much.
The Genny definitely looked better at the time than the US SNES. It aged horribly though and looks really bad to me now.
Also, its controllers felt so cheap compared to the SNES controllers.
Head.spawn
Junior Member
Simple answer is they wanted it to look better.
Success.
Success.
The boxier design with hard edges is used today over the bag of bread though.
The Omega Man
Member
USA went for that "superior" 'murican look
MercuryLS3
Junior Member
Yeah I agree, love the SNES but the European and Japanese models looked way way better in every way.
Dee Dah Dave
Member
Man I loved my Super NES. I always wondered why they gimped the American version when I saw it in magazines.
tkscz
Member
The EU one has a hideous color scheme, Those grays do not mesh at all.
The Hermit
Member
Og us Snes is great, but I really wanted the colored buttons
Zombie James
Banned
What a terrible first post. The original Japanese design is way better than what North America got. I'd even say that extended to the controller and carts, too.
Polioliolio
Member
The American Super Nintendo might be among the ugliest consoles to grace this planet
Haha, wat!
Hyperbole.
I prefer the SNES to the Superfamicom even.. Superfamicom is nice, but the carts... yick.. They don't stack, they have an ugly ass grill.. SNES forever!
I think there's this trend right now to call the SNES ass ugly, for some reason.. And you're all caught up in it.
Hyperactivity
Banned
I'm guessing to maybe match up more with what the original NES looked like, make it a more obvious successor. As for the NES, op already mentioned the reason it changed
I love the Super Famicom/European Super Nintendo design.
I picked up a SFC when I was in Japan back in 2005 and it's now my default SNES.
Even back in the 90's when we first got our SNES, I didn't care for the design. Sure, I got over it and enjoyed the games, but my mind was blown when I first saw the SFC design and always wanted to get one.
I picked up a SFC when I was in Japan back in 2005 and it's now my default SNES.
Even back in the 90's when we first got our SNES, I didn't care for the design. Sure, I got over it and enjoyed the games, but my mind was blown when I first saw the SFC design and always wanted to get one.
hikarutilmitt
Member
Oh yeah? Well I like them both.
Hell, I wouldn't mind seeing a SFC with the SNES colors from the US, just because it would be an interesting mish-mash in its own right.
Also, SFC and US SNES boxes are great because the SFC boxes are like VHS tapes and don't have a real "form" to them for the branding, mostly. The US boxes have that form that is also sleek.
PAL version tries to skirt the line between them and usually fails.
Hell, I wouldn't mind seeing a SFC with the SNES colors from the US, just because it would be an interesting mish-mash in its own right.
Also, SFC and US SNES boxes are great because the SFC boxes are like VHS tapes and don't have a real "form" to them for the branding, mostly. The US boxes have that form that is also sleek.
PAL version tries to skirt the line between them and usually fails.
Chittagong
Gold Member
NTSC box art is so black. Every game with the same colour scheme. I just love the colourful variety of our PAL versions, even if the contents were the subpar 50Hz.
Link to the Past was my first boxed games. Look at all the gold all the way around. It was majestic. Then we have Kirby, which is just so pink. It instantly caught my eye (coincidentally, it was my last ever new from store game I bought). The NTSC version on the other hand looks like the designer had to make up for the fact they weren't allowed to draw angry Kirby, so instead had him dancing in the darkness of his soul.
Obviously, for the SNES Classic, including 60Hz versions meant some games didn't have the corresponding PAL boxart, i.e. the Kirby example above where the name is different or Contra III as that was called Super Probotector. Of course someone at NoE surely has a photo manipulation application they could have used it to change the logo from to the other while keeping the original PAL look.
If they ever homebrew the SNES Classic, my incentive to hack my own will not be to add more games, but to change the box art for all the games lol
Anyone else love how PAL Super NES box art had colourful sides?
USA went for that "superior" 'murican look
I heard "La Cucaracha" as I looked at this.
John Dunbar
correct about everything
never ceases to amaze me how hideous the us snes was. thank christ our japanese overlords gave europe the superior one.
hikarutilmitt
Member
I see those and my design sense wants to barf because of that one strip of color or, in the case of stuff like DKC, artwork just kind of peeks out and then that's it.
The DKC is awful anyway because the PAL boxes arbitrarily cut off the edges but not at the edges. Look at the sings on the hornet up top and you'll see what I mean. It's like they stuck to a design idea so ardently that they didn't check to make sure it was good in all cases.
The SOM box bothers the hell out of me too because they matched a color for the artwork used but the artwork is just awkwardly framed in this big green mess.
Mr_Antimatter
Member
It is interesting how the companies design philosophy really started the change, as well as the insutstry.
Curvy consoles gave way to flatter ones, to fit in with your current stereo setup. Sony's two biggest wher flat, angular and black, while nintendo has basically adopted the apple style of white, rounded and a bit of clear plastic in places (save for the switch).
But as for the SNES? Famicom style wins I think. It's beautiful in retrospect, and very neat looking. SNES looks more like a 80's toy.
Curvy consoles gave way to flatter ones, to fit in with your current stereo setup. Sony's two biggest wher flat, angular and black, while nintendo has basically adopted the apple style of white, rounded and a bit of clear plastic in places (save for the switch).
But as for the SNES? Famicom style wins I think. It's beautiful in retrospect, and very neat looking. SNES looks more like a 80's toy.
Frost Walrus
Member
The SNES was just a bit before my time but I gotta say that the NA box looks superior. JP box looks like an old VCR player.
The common prevailing theory in the 90s was that America preferred boxy, rigid shapes to more compact or smooth/rounded designs. It's also the reason why the NES is a giant box compared to how tiny the Famicom is.
I think the Super Famicom looks better than the SNES but also I'm partial to the SNES design because I grew up with it. People saying the SNES looks disgusting or hideous are being hyperbolic, at worst it's just super boring.
I think the Super Famicom looks better than the SNES but also I'm partial to the SNES design because I grew up with it. People saying the SNES looks disgusting or hideous are being hyperbolic, at worst it's just super boring.
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