In the UK we got the Super Famicom design but it was branded as a Super Nintendo

I love the eject button on the super nes, I would eject the game so hard it would get air and then i would catch it while it shot out the system 3 feet high!

I always envied the famicom for having a better overall look, they have an actual logo lol, the fact the controller looks a bit nicer too and coincides with the logo too. Wish we would have gotten quite a few of the japanese exclusives too, thankfully translated roms online have fixed that and reproduction carts too lol

Dude watching you guys brings back my enjoyment with all the NES I had as a kid since the 80's

"Don't you wanna eat those buttons!" I thought I was the only person in the world who thought like this about colours

In Australia we had the good looking colourful snes. I had a mate whos dad imported the purple one from singapore. always preferred the coloured one!

I do think the Super Famicom looks way better as well. Great video

The planet had the Super Famicom design, only North America got the boxy design. I'd like to have the American version sat next to my Super Nintendo.

"Oh what a religious experience" Damn straight!

In the UK we got the Super Famicom design, but it was call the Super Nintendo. I remember seeing an American Super Nintendo and not knowing what it was at first as it looked so different to what I had at home.

I'm glad we got the Super Famicom design in Europe, though we were permanently gimped with PAL and 1 to 2 year late releases. I am really attuned to the speed of games and music and every time I play american versions of games I loved back in the day it's weird hearing the music faster. I think the biggest difference is in NES Super Mario Bros.

One thing i can say, is that i def prefer the pushed in or "concave" i believe, buttons of Y and X on Super Nintendo..! ;)

I prefer the Super Famicon/PAL SNES design.

Long live the Super Famicom and the Super Nintendo

Yep, Europe had the Japanese design. one of my friends bought the US one and i was "meh"...

In PAL territories. It was the Famicom design that was used

We got the proper design, and colours in Europe. Strange how they change things for the US. The Genesis is called the Mega Drive here, just like in Japan.

I prefer the SNES color scheme with a simpler two-tone approach. I do like the Super Famicom logo a lot, but the controller is a bit tacky looking with all the bright colors.

I just imported a SFC (new?) and I am now happy. The scars of owning the free and purple box have finally healed. :)

The European Snes is exactly like the Super Famicom :) except the name.

I got a SNES at ten years old for xmas. Came with Street Fighter 2 Turbo. What an awesome system it was. I feel so old now in my 30's

Growing up in England, I had no idea that the US Super Nintendo looked so strange. The European version looked like the Japanese version. So odd to discover years later what The US got.

I always thought the North American SNES had the better less kiddy controller design but thought the Super Famicom console looked cool.

I love both but, Gotta be Honest. Ever get home from Grocery shopping and pull out a smashed loaf a bread? That's the Super Famicom lol

I had the EU version which had the same design as the Super Famicom :)

its funny how to other the system on the left is super famicom but here in australia that exact looking system is our super nintendo

I saved up all summer and bought the Super Famicom with Super Mario and F-Zero on launch day when I was 14. When the US Snes came out I had to uncase the cartridges to play them on it. Thankfully the Game Shark came out not long after which worked nicely as a cartridge adapter lol.

I honestly didnt know before today that that blocky thing is the same as what we Europeans knew as the SNES. Granted we had to wait till 1992, but still... classic sleek console. The North merican SNES reminds me of how a car company stuck some brutal panels and overexaggerated body parts on an old GMC bus and called it Hummer H2, knowing it would appeal to the US market...

I grew up in America, and didn't even know what the Super Famicom looked like until probably the early 2000s when I saw it on the internet. But I'm glad we got the version we got. I think the American one looks way better, and the controller looked cooler too, I like the purple over the rainbow.

I've seen a Super Famicom before.. and my first impressions were, "That looks like a miniature printer", BUT, then I saw the Super Nintendo, and those purple buttons and the grey exterior gave it MUCH more appeal (It looked like it could do a bit more) It actually looked fun.

Really appreciated hearing your thoughts and opinions looking back.

I laughed hard when the beat up controller was shown with the wire pulled.. i can't remember how many times i opened up those controllers to get the wire back into place.. ahh memories

I am from the UK, but I always preferred the look of the NTSC SNES/Cart design. Maybe it's a grass is always greener thing, haha. I have a modded SNES now with 50/60Hz and region switching, so I have the best of both these days. Amazing being able to play games like Earthbound from the actual cart

16 bit era was my favorite system of all times. Still got them and play them. all snes, super famicom, and genesis are all top systems. The new systems today ps3, ps4, xbox 1 amazing graphics but a little to real and could encourage anger or even killing, hard to distinguish reality from fantasy for many. I,m a peacemaker and love alll, don,t support war or fighting, international peace and unity to all MANKIND.

This must sound so weird, but I'm so nostalgic for your older, badly lit videos.

We had the "Famicom" style in Scotland, happy memories. I'm 28 and have a tune from super mario world as my ringtone. makes me happy with every phone call.

I will always defend the NA SNES Design I love it! I love the purple Gray color scheme and the concave convex buttons. I prefer its look. I never remember people saying it was ugly back in 1991. I think that was a later thing when the internet came along and people saw the Super Famicom. It became cool to hate the design of the NA SNES. Not me I adore that purple gray design. I still love your look SNES

I agree that the Super Famicom is the better looking console. It's sleeker and more elegant. But the design of the NA Super Nintendo is not horrible. I think just one small change to it would improve it quite a bit in the looks department...Change the color of the power and reset switches. I don't know why they went with purple, but it gives the SNES a very toy-like look. Change the switch color to red, black, or even dark grey, and it would look more serious. there is another video of an SNES that a guy painted gloss black and red that looks sexy as heck. Granted, Nintendo probably didn't want to color the SNES in black since its main competitor the Genesis was black, but hey what can you do?

In France, we have the same design as the super famicom for our "super nintendo".

that purple / grey pallet was a bold choice the yellow, green, blue, red is pretty standard

Super Famicom = Eve, SNES = Wall-E

i love the look of the super famicom, the snes looks lame.

Donkey Kong Country, Super Castlevania, and Super Mario Kart. I can't recall how many hours I put into those 3 games. Those were the DAYS!

The European version of the SNES has the same design of the Super Famicon.

I'm surprised how strongly you both prefer the Super Famicom's design. I think it looks pretty bland compared to the SNES though I think the colors on the controller looks great.

Thats not a super famicom... thats a european SNES....

it was redesigned because people in japan were balancing drinks on the flat cartridge slot so o the USA version had a rounded bit there.

theres alot of video game chanels out there, but you guys are easily the best, goodshit guys keep em commin.

The SNES is much nicer looking than the Super Famicon.

There is a mistake at the beginning. The Super Nintendo sketches were from the development of the proposed USA version and were shown well after they showed the Japanese Super Famicom in earlier issues.

"Don't you want to eat those fuckin buttons"... lol!

The SNES L/R buttons are all one piece with the pin plastic. The Super Famicom L/R buttons have metal pins instead of plastic. That's why the SNES ones break.

That diamond layout for the 4 face buttons (where the distance between the left-most and right-most buttons is greater than the distance between the top-most and bottom-most buttons) on the SNES controller was amazing. Wish they'd go back to that design.

NOA changed the shape to prevent people from putting liquid containers on top of the console. This is why cartridge slot on the North American console was slight rounded. Furthermore, NOA still had a lingering perception that US gamers wouldn't buy a system that looked like a "toy", hence the elimination of the curved corners and colorful logos, to a more boxy shape and mono-chrome color palette. The only positive change was the concave B & A buttons, but otherwise the JPN version looks better.

Great episode! I love the super famicom design over the wester design. I remember the christmas snes launched in 1991, the mall had an eb games mini store with a kiosk of super mario world which was playable for about 20 minutes. the line of people was WRAPPED around half the mall all day everyday!! I've never seen new console kiosk excitement like that since.

You and James, the Angry Video Game Nerd, need to combine your collections and RULE THE WORLD!

Forgot to mention that in Europe the SNES actually is identical to the Super Famicom in design. a part from the name on imprinted on the machine obviously.

Im sure you guys know by now but apparently its because at the time, in america, videogames were getting a bit of a bad reputation something to do with the video game market crash maybe? So Nintendo wanted to make it look more like a PC/video box looking system so parents would buy it

I find it funny that even given the chance to rectify third parties often adopted the US style buttons on their controllers

I know I'm late to the party, but just bought a Super Famicom out of the blue because it's the system that my best friend and I saw in Nintendo Power and wanted. We talked about it forever, and he got the Super Nintendo (we are in the US) a year later. My parents thought video games were a waste of $$, so no system for me... but I could always go over his house and play it. Years later, I just decided to see what they are going for, and ended up buying one. I'm excited. Makes me want to start collecting video games again.

I love the button colours. When I was younger, I thought it was sweets embedded in the controller.

I'm glad you brought this up. It's such a small footnote in history but the SNES design always bugged the hell out of me as the previews in magazines in 1989 were showing the beautiful Super Famicom. Even the multicolor logo was this awesome touch as it artistically made sense because the SNES was such a colorful system at the time. SNES reminded me of the Master System on steroids. Lance Barr who designed the case clarified that "The Super Famicom was maybe okay for the market in Japan. For the US, I felt that it was too soft and had no edge. We were always looking at future modular components (even the NES had a connector on the bottom), 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." Ended up still being a very poor aesthetic choice. It also doesn't explain the bland muted colors. No offense to Lance but I trust Japanese designers over American ones 9 times out of 10 when it comes to these type of things. For example has anyone ever compared the artwork from the Japanese boxes to American ones? American ones are terrible across the board. Here's an example of UN Squadron for U.S. www.mobygames.com/images/covers/l/236949-u-n-squadron-snes-front-cover.jpg UN Squadron for Japan(renamed the proper title Area 88) otaku.com/files/images/fullsize/51334Y.JPG Super Mario World US cdn11.bigcommerce.com/s-ymgqt/images/stencil/original/products/26439/35831/snes-super-mario-world-box__93325.1489073566.jpg?c=2&imbypass=on Super Mario Word Japan www.supergabygames.com/wp-content/uploads/2018/11/SMW_SMB4-JAP_-_COVER.jpg

its funny that the Super Famicom became the European SNES but I am cool with that because the system looked alot sleeker back when I was younger.

I remember seeing the Super Famicom in the 90s when I visited Japan and Philippines and being confused. I bought Donkey Kong Country 2 Super Famicom version and the cartridge worked on my US SNES to my surprise.

The reason it was desgined that way was because so many set glasses of water, coke, whatever, on the NES. So, with the SNES, parents wouldn't have to worry about their children dumping coke or whatever liquid into the console. That was an article from Nintendo Power.

sure the famicom looks better but i like the snes cartridges allot more

The US SNES is ugly but nostalgic. I wish they would have gone with the Super Famicon design instead.

us europeans got the famicom desings on our snes wooo candy buttons!

I had the uk pal version but also bought the USA version and loved it so much more because of the ntsc scart output 17 percent faster and cleaner looking you really could tell the difference and I loved my USA SNES and the purple buttons felt different than the other versions great video

Here in Europe/Hellas, SNES was the left console. We never knew the right one. The left looks better anyway.

Additional point: I have, hooked up to a four-way composite selector switch, a Super Famicom, a Genesis, an NES, and a PC Engine, and here's the kicker: I bought a guitar pedal daisy chain, and all four consoles are connected to ONE aftermarket Genesis model 1 AC adapter (warning: it's probably not a good idea to turn on more than one at a time with this setup). This is not possible with the North American SNES, because it used a proprietary AC adapter (that breaks more easily, to boot!).

interesting... in Australia we got the rounded version but labeled Super NES... All that changed was the label. (as an Aussie, I like the purple on the US version. Grey on Grey isn't that nice)

I still have my US SNES even though I’m from the UK I always loved the NTSC systems over the pal ones I love both shapes and the Famicom is nice but the US SNES had the better game cartridge design and the system was so easily modded to play famicom games so I always gave the US SNES the edge

I don`t know I kinda like the SNES design better. Could be that it`s connected to fond memories, but I also just feel like the color scheme is balanced better, and I just really like how the power and reset buttons just slide right along that ridge on the top of it.

The PAL consoles look like the famicom which is what I have and it was the controller that made me fall in love with it along with super mario brothers. I went to my friend's house for a sleep over and we played it (this was in something like 2002) and I fell in love instantly! Then about 10 years later I finally got one for my birthday off ebay with mario world and allstars :D

omg i remember getting my SNES for christmas the year it came out from my grandpa, he was so happy to buy it for me. i got the mario paint edition while my cousin got the mario kart. i still have it to this day and love it!

I believe that the design of the American Super NES was Nintendo of America's response to the fact that the majority of repairs to NES consoles made by the Nintendo World Class Service Centers were due to beverages spilled on the internals components. The NES' flat top begged kids to put drinks on it and that's what they did. Lance Barr, designer of the Super NES was directed to create a console without flat surfaces that beverages could be placed on.

this video brings back such great memories

Great episode! Keep doing episodes like this one! I love this show!

I grew up in Russia playing the Super Nintendo there, and after I left to the states I did not see a Super Nintendo anywhere, I didn't even think of looking it up on Google because I thought I knew what it looked like. When I learned what the SNES looked like in the US (only a few weeks ago) I was shocked and (almost disgusted) because even though the games were the same, it just didn't feel right with me! I grew up with that awesome sleek and colorful design and can't imagine the SNES any other way

Personally, I don't really care that we didn't get the SFC design, I'm just glad that North America is NTSC like Japan, which makes playing SFC games on an SNES very simple. Cut out the tabs in your SNES or grab a Game Genie or pass-through cart, and you're good to go. Sure, the PAL regions got the Japanese shell, but playing SFC carts on their system requires some difficult modding. Even if you get it to work, you've then got to deal with the different frame rate.

The SNES in Australia looked like the Super Famicom. I've never seen the one with the purple buttons in real life.

@HappyConsoleGamer Thanks for the response! I know some would say "Do it yourself" but I don't want to half ass my Mega Man X retrospective with lacking equipment. I know you guys can do it justice but I'll video response my memories of the X series to your review. Until then guys...

9 year old me reading an article about the Super Famicom : "That looks awesome!" 10 year old me reading an article revealing the North American redesign : "oh" Oh well, at least we didn't have to deal with a different refresh rate. The PAL folks got to keep the beautiful Super Famicom design in their SNES, but they often had to play inferior versions of games that weren't properly optimized for PAL resolution and refresh rate. PAL SNES - Identical to Super Famicom outside, but different inside. NTSC SNES - Different from the Super Famicom outside, but identical inside.

i never even heard of snes until as late as 94. when i moved into a new house and the neighbors had it and donkey kong country. i never even got to play but i loved to watch. i begged my parents and got one for Christmas.... i played that thing right through the n64 days right up until i got a game boy advance. the controller cord is duck taped and my favorite games where the 3donkey kong countries, yoshis island, and turtles in time. i just remember playing it then watching that 70's show...

i'm looking at this, honestly the words are being drowned out by me thinking 'i want that god damn sword and shield in the backround'

You know I had an SNES.. and NEVER knew any history FAMICOM until well after.. It's sooo damn cool to see an actual Super Famicom.. Thank You!!!!

As an American who rocked hand in hand with the Super NES in the 90s I have to agree that the famicom looks a lot cooler. HOWEVER, I simply cannot imagine the controller without the 2/2 convex/concave buttons. It just feels so right. It's all I've ever known. Are the cables longer on the American?

I think we got a box with big buttons because it was geared towards kids. So it has that simple fisher price look to it. Where in Japan they got a sleek futuristic looking system because most of the country plays Video Games and they see it as a serious piece of hardware.

I cant describe what im feeling right now... So epic feelings... I ask myself, if our parents got so epic memories from their childhood. It was so epic times back then, and today im still lovin it, and the snes is still my personal favourite console. I had so much fund and epicness with it. Nice to see that others loved it like me :) we got the same feel

I live in Australia and we got the Super Famicom design, to me it just looks more colourful and aesthetically pleasing.

One time I opened one of my extra n64 controllers and noticed a lot of the rubber parts were similar to the snes controller so I basically made my snes controllers like new by replacing some of the parts

SFC design was so much cooler. Man, back in those days systems just looked cool. Now everything looks like a dvd player.

I was probably too young to have any real release memories (born in 1990) but I have had a lot of memories with my SNES back when I was 5. The very first game I ever got my hands on at home was Super Mario World 2: Yoshi's Island. I played the crap out of that game. I also lived right across Willows Videos at the time and that's when we rented the N64 when it first came out and I was blown away, I mean I was like 7 at the time. In fact that Willows Videos is still there today. I still go there

Johnny says "welcome back to another episode" in less than a second?

You guys are trippin. The SNES is way cooler looking, like something out of Bladerunner. The SFC is very plain by comparison, and next to a Model 1 Genesis... come on, the Genny would give that thing wedgies.

I broke my shoulder buttons on the SNES controllers and I found that a little super glue fixed them quite well.

Funny I liked the U.S. Grey purple machine, we got the super famicom body over here in Australia so I bought a U.S. Import snes just coz I thought it looked cool - and if you broke these little tabs inside the cartridge bay you could play super famicom games without an adapter - talk about being versatile - oh my gawd you got a purple Super Nintendo - that is soooo cool - my friends would say !! Yep I sure did

The European SNES had exactly the same design as the Super Famicon, saved for having "Super Nintendo" written on it. And i still playing the Hell out of it after 20 years :P

I grew up with the clunky SNES design, so I really remember it fondly. But I have to admit, that from a straight forward design perspective, the Super Famicon is a lot nicer looking. Either way, it was and still is one of the best gaming consoles of all time. SMW, FF6, ChrTrg, Earthbound, FZero, LttP, MMX, UN Squadron, Yoshi's Island, MarioRPG, Goemon, Pocky, etc. the list goes on and on and on and on... This device left a lasting impression on my life and I couldn't be more happy about that!