Speaking of not knowing, it pretty much all changed after SMB3 was released. Magazines like EGM and GamePro got more popular, and they stole some of Nintendo Power's thunder because there was more than just the NES worth having to play games on (sorry Master System fans, but that's how it was).
So gamers started hearing about the Super Famicon from the pages of EGM and GamePro. But to show you just how cray it was back then, ABC's TGIF lineup was a staplehood of American TV watching. And ABC's newest Saturday morning cartoons, which aired the next morning (TGIF aired on Friday 'Thank God/Goodness Its Friday', get it?), would get a preview every new TV season the night before on TGIF every year. Thats when I first saw the Super Nintendo. I had NO idea the sfami would come to the US so soon, and the commercial was simply..........I dunno how to describe how I felt as a 10 year old kid then. Seeing Bowser on his air car from the end of SMW zoom into the screen with thunder going off in the background was just jaw droping.
"Now you're playing with power.......SUPER POWER!" That just blew me away.