SNES - Different cart styles?

[Steven Pendleton]

Well, this is a fairly old thread, but okay.

 

I have extremely little experience with the US SNES, but all of my friends had it. I don't remember seeing any of them ever using the eject button; they just ripped that shit out of the cart slot whenever we wanted to play something else.

 

Also, the US SNES is super ugly and the SFC reminds me of the Space Shuttle for some reason. Space Shuttles are badass, so that means the SFC is also badass. It was also fortunately spared those godawful dented buttons that the US SNES controller has. Too bad the cable on the SFC controller is uselessly short.

Edited December 22, 2022 by Steven Pendleton

[CatPix]

Pick up PAL controllers then, they come with long cords (I guess, US-lenght cords) but SFC design.

Interesting fact : when you open a Super controller, on the shell, you read both SFC and US SNES colours. I wonder if very early SuFAmi controller also have those or not...

 

Edited December 23, 2022 by CatPix

[+atari2600land]

I always thought it was so people couldn't use Game Genies on the games any more.

[Atariboy]

The redesigned shell doesn't inhibit use of the Game Genie at all.

[Tanooki]

The only time the Game Genie was actively blocked was Nintendo redesigning the old NES into the top loader.  The GG won't fit in that thing at all without a special adapter that you had to I believe mail/call in for and pay some small charge and shipping to get.  Nintendo lost their suit with galoob, so they legally middle fingered them with the top loader and caused them a little loss and annoyance on the side with that one.

[Lord_of_Sipan]

I grew up with an American New Style/“jr” SNES so I had honestly forgot that the SNES had an eject button.

 

what other cartridge consoles have had one I wonder? Only ones I can think of off hand are the Bally Astrocade and, I think, the Channel F?

 

edit- I guess technically the DS handheld family have a spring assist to push the cartridge out/unlock it when you push on an already loaded cart.

Edited December 25, 2022 by Lord_of_Sipan

[CatPix]

Astrocade and Channel F indeed, with the caveat that for those systems, the cart slot physically move (not unlike the NES ZIF connector) so you couldn't remove the eject button without redesigning the whole system.

The Famicom and derivates have eject buttons too, but without a cart locking system.

The Super A'can have an eject button, tho I don't know how it operates.

 

In a different category, while the GB and GBC doesn't have an eject button, those systems feature a locking mechanism preventing cart removal when the system is powered. The PC-Engine feature that system too.

[NeonSpaceBeagle]

I used to always feel uneasy pushing the eject lever.. it always seemed so harsh and like it was going to fly out so I would press it so slow and hold the top of the cart as it was coming out.. probably totally unnecessary.

 

I love the north American SNES with the purple it's so beautiful, but prob a lot of nostalgia. My everdrive is in a jaanese style cart and I don't like those as much as the na carts.. I wish could swap it out.

[Tanooki]

I mean, you could, it would just require some retooling of your shell so you can get to the memory card, not sure if much else would really have to happen.  My SD2SNES is in a SFC red translucent shell with that slightly older cool sticker they did with the rockets on it, like it just as it is.  But, I also grew up out west, lived on the coast, had access to asian stuff better than most states because of it.  So in 1995 when I started buying 2nd hand, the one go to I hit every few days or like 1-2x a week had ample supply of the stuff, so I've had SFC carts that far back so it's not strange to me.  I decided to get back my SFC games largely early this year, sadly loose because snakes make things painful, and it's nice seeing them all lined up.  Miss the boxes and manuals, do like their type carts kind of outside of the no flapped over sticker so you can see what they are from the top...that's a huge oversight.

[CatPix]

On 12/25/2022 at 10:28 PM, NeonSpaceBeagle said:

I used to always feel uneasy pushing the eject lever.. it always seemed so harsh and like it was going to fly out so I would press it so slow and hold the top of the cart as it was coming out.. probably totally unnecessary.

 

I love the north American SNES with the purple it's so beautiful, but prob a lot of nostalgia. My everdrive is in a jaanese style cart and I don't like those as much as the na carts.. I wish could swap it out.

As someone else said, I was the opposite, I sometime would slam the Eject button and see how high it could fly. My best was about 20 cm. After a while, I also developed the habit of trying to make it fly as high as possible BUT have the cart fall back on the system and stay upright. It's REALLY hard, and some carts being heavier make it basically impossible.

 

 

[NeonSpaceBeagle]

2 hours ago, CatPix said:

As someone else said, I was the opposite, I sometime would slam the Eject button and see how high it could fly. My best was about 20 cm. After a while, I also developed the habit of trying to make it fly as high as possible BUT have the cart fall back on the system and stay upright. It's REALLY hard, and some carts being heavier make it basically impossible.

 

 

I'm totally trying that out later. I'm not as fussy these days. We only live once and it's all just metal and plastic.

[0078265317]

This is my unit.

 

http://mvvg.blogspot.com/2017/05/super-nintendo-inside.html?m=1

[CatPix]

Early model with the additionnal sound board thing, apparently?

 

Interesting.

 

 

That explain better the more "solid" feel. Obviously with a shorter "lever" the piece of plastic has less flex.

And the size and position of the US eject button makes it so that you want to press on the furthest point, which is deeper and will have more "flex" since you have more lenght.

[CatPix]

So, there is at least ONE cart for the Super Nintendo and Super Famicom that feature the "no-eject-button" design, for some reason.

The Super Game Boy Player (and the SGBP2)

Absolutely no idea why. Perhaps because ripping off the adapter from the SNES would cause less damages that removing the GB cart fro mthe GB player, which would be more likely to happen if the GB player was locked in place?

[Atariboy]

Quote

 

So, there is at least ONE cart for the Super Nintendo and Super Famicom that feature the "no-eject-button" design, for some reason.

The Super Game Boy Player (and the SGBP2)

 

I have no interest in checking it first hand with my SNES powered on, but I see no evidence of that in your picture nor as I compare my US Super Game Boy with a model 2 SNES cartridge shell. The portion going into the system appears identical to me and should be able to be ejected with the lever while the system is powered on just as the model 2 cartridge can be.

 

This is the no eject style of cartridge as originally seen when the Super Nintendo was young. Every release from the first few years of the system's life utilized this format, so there's far more than just one.

Not this style, which eliminates the locking tab and was introduced circa 1993 or 1994. The lower portion with the absent locking tab is what the Super Game Boy uses. This also was commonplace with tons of releases (and reissues) that utilized it the last several years of the platform's life and isn't uncommon nor SGB specific. 

Then there's a final variant. If we call the above SMW cart a Model 2 cartridge, perhaps this one should be the Model 2B or 2M. It was Majesco specific and was used for all of their reissues (and Frogger). The rear sticker seen in the Model 1 and Model 2 cartridge style is replaced with information molded into the plastic.

 

Majesco cartridge

 

Standard rear SNES label for the Model 1 or Model 2.

Edited January 2, 2023 by Atariboy

[CatPix]

I forgot a word and can't edit it, it should read "no eject required".

Also as already mentioned, this design exist on absolutely no other Super NES PAL/Super Famicom cart I ever saw, and on no other cart I can find.

For exemple, one of the very last game for the SNES :

 

 

Still use the original cart design that prevent removal.

So far, only the GB player, in both SuFAmi and PAL SNES versions, can be removed without switching the console off.

[Atariboy]

That makes a lot more sense, thanks for clarifying.

 

I'm not all that familiar with Super Famicom and European Super Nintendo cartridges (I own three of the former and only one for the latter), so I wasn't aware that they never evolved overseas like they did here in North America.

 

So I can see now why this specific instance where they did eliminate the locking mechanism on a shell not used for the North American Super Game Boy, stands out.

Edited January 3, 2023 by Atariboy