Topic: prototype Super Famicom and Famicom systems, circa 1989

[airraid1]

on the right is one of the first, if not THE first, Super Famicom prototypes.   on the left is an unreleased(?) version of the 8-bit Famicom. this most likely unreleased redesign of the 8-bit Famicom is called the 'Famicom Adaptor' according to Chris Covell on his website disgruntleddesigner.com.   Although clearly it is a stand-alone Famicom console, and a very good looking one IMO. much better than the later re-designed A/V Famicom of the early 1990s, which was just horrible looking.
again, just IMO.

Chris Covell writes:

Quote

And below is a really amazing find! This comes from an announcement of the Super Famicom hardware, in February 1989. The article discusses some of the features of the new system (stereo sound, scaling, ROM size, etc...) But the system pictures are intriguing, to say the least! The system on the left side of the page is a redesigned Famicom, called a "Famicom adaptor". Who knows if it connected with the SFC as an adaptor, or if it was just a fancy name for a redesigned Famicom to complement the SFC design. This new FC design wasn't produced.

BUT! That picture on the right side of the page shows an early design of the SFC, as above. This time, the labels of the switches are clearly visible: Power Switch; FAMICOM Switch, and Reset Switch! Is this the fabled Super Famicom prototype that was backwards-compatible with Famicom games? It looks possible...

another pic of the 8-bit Famicom redesign (upper right)



a b&w photo of the early 16-bit Super Famicom prototype


another b&w photo of the redesigned 8-bit Famicom


found here



another color photo of the early 16-bit Super Famicom design



a much better picture



and another really nice picture because of the angle, showing the headphone jack and volume control not found in the SFC that came out!



now this is another Super Famicom prototype that came later. it is much closer to the Super Famicom that Nintendo released

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[King of Twitch]

Wow that thing is pretty good looking for its time; looks a lot like the Game Boy also. I wonder what made them go with the pink buttons.

[KDR_11k]

They weren't pink, they were red, green, blue and yellow. NoA made them purple.

How come that prototype had five pin controller connectors and the final SNES had seven pin ones?

[Ian Sane]

I wouldn't be surprised if the SNES was originally supposed to be backwards compatible.  I remember at the time it was a big issue.  The Genesis technically had a SMS converter to make it backwards compatible.  At the time the idea of consoles being regularly replaced every five years was a new idea so it was discussed.

I read once that originally the SNES had more RAM and they cost down on it to lower the price, thus resulting in the infamous SNES slowdown.  Imagine if the SNES didn't have slowdown and was backwards compatible with the NES?  That would have just kicked ass.

[jasonditz]

The venerable Power Base Converter: if the Master System had more than a handful of decent games that would've been a big boost for Sega.

[Guitar Smasher]

I wonder if those controller had L/R buttons.  You can't really tell from those images.

EDIT: Nevermind, you can see them in the third image.

[Dasmos]

I am pretty sure that last "protoytpe" is the Japanes and PAL SNES, except is has the EXT port on the front and the controller ports are smaller.

[oohhboy]

I thought slow down on the SNES was related to the capable yet sluggish GFX/CPU chip that ran at something like 3.8 MHz. The Genisis had a 16 MHz cpu but had a much smaller feature set and it had to do sound. SNES had a sound chip to take the load off.

[KDR_11k]

The power switch isn't red on my PAL SNES. I'm glad they changed that, it looks really silly on those pictures.

[Ghisy]

The last prototype looks exactly like the Euro SNES and the SFC, except for the front ports (controllers and EXT) and the power swith being red.
Wow, a backward compatible-SNES would have been freaking sweet!

[KDR_11k]

The PAL SNES has a cooling vent below the front part.

[Ghisy]

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Originally posted by: KDR_11k
The PAL SNES has a cooling vent below the front part.

My bad! You're right. I didn't notice the prototype version was lacking it.

[airraid1]

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Originally posted by: Ian Sane
I wouldn't be surprised if the SNES was originally supposed to be backwards compatible.  I remember at the time it was a big issue.  The Genesis technically had a SMS converter to make it backwards compatible.  At the time the idea of consoles being regularly replaced every five years was a new idea so it was discussed.

I read once that originally the SNES had more RAM and they cost down on it to lower the price, thus resulting in the infamous SNES slowdown.  Imagine if the SNES didn't have slowdown and was backwards compatible with the NES?  That would have just kicked ass.

The Super Famicom was originally supposed to have (among other things)

1.) backwards compatibility with 8-bit Famicom games
2.) a 68000 CPU like the Sega Genesis, but probably a little faster (10 MHZ ?) which would have allowed games to run much faster without slowdown like so many Genesis games.
3.) more extensive built-in persudo 3D hardware for manipulating 2D graphics like scaling & rotation and other special effects in hardware--a lot of that hardware was gutted from the Super Famicom and was put back in only in specific games with the various DSP chips.

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The first batch of games for the Super Famicom were developed around 1988 and 1989. Popular Super Famicom titles, like F-Zero and Super Mario World, were the most difficult for several reasons--if nothing else, the Super Famicom hardware specifications changed in small ways at least twice during the development project, requiring changes to existing code. (Trivia tidbit: the original Super Famicom plans called for much more extensive onboard 3D hardware--PilotWings was developed assuming that this hardware would be present, and since this chip was scrapped from the Super Famicom at the last minute, Nintendo was forced to include this 3D chip on the PilotWings board in order to keep the game on schedule.)

source

naturally when he says 3D hardware he doesn't mean 3D polygon hardware like SuperFX chip, he meant (like I said) pesudo 3D hardware for sprite scaling & rotation, and other 2D graphics manipulations.

 I would imagine other things including some RAM got cut out too.  although I think they did increase the VRAM a little.

[airraid1]

Quote
Originally posted by: Ghisy
The last prototype looks exactly like the Euro SNES and the SFC, except for the front ports (controllers and EXT) and the power swith being red.
Wow, a backward compatible-SNES would have been freaking sweet!

the controller ports are in a different position on the near-final SFC proto, too

proto SFC



released SFC





btw, not knowing any better in 1989,


......I thought that's ^ what the Japanese NES / Famicom looked like

but that was 1989, 6 years after the Famicom came out in Japan.  I'd like to see some of the original prototype Japanese Famicoms, circa 1982-1983, and I don't mean the American AVS proto of 1984 which got redesigned into the NES.




 

[airraid1]

Quote
Originally posted by: oohhboy
I thought slow down on the SNES was related to the capable yet sluggish GFX/CPU chip that ran at something like 3.8 MHz. The Genisis had a 16 MHz cpu but had a much smaller feature set and it had to do sound. SNES had a sound chip to take the load off.

the slowdown in SNES games is because of the slow 3.58 MHz CPU, not the graphics chip.    The MegaDrive~Genesis CPU, a 68000, runs at 7.6 MHz not 16 MHz.

Quote
Originally posted by: Dasmos
I am pretty sure that last "protoytpe" is the Japanes and PAL SNES, except is has the EXT port on the front and the controller ports are smaller.

it *is* a prototype.  the released Japanese SFC is slightly different, as I've shown.



btw, for those people discussing wether or not those SFC prototype controllers had shoulder buttens, I can't really tell, but I did find a prototype controller that definitally lacked them



source

 

[airraid1]

two completely different artist concepts of the American Super NES





though very different, they both look FAR superior to the design of the final American Super NES.

now where are the American SNES artist concepts or prototypes that were in Nintendo Power? I wanna see those

[animecyberrat]

>>I thought slow down on the SNES was related to the capable yet sluggish GFX/CPU chip that ran at something like 3.8 MHz. The Genisis had a 16 MHz cpu but had a much smaller feature set and it had to do sound. SNES had a sound chip to take the load of<<



Sorry but your a little misindofrmed the Sega Genesis had a Z80 sound chip. It was the exact same chip used as main CPU for Master system. It was not quit as capable as Nintendos in that it lacked  a few sound chanels, but it could still out put in stereo.


It was possible for teh Z80 to be used for graphics and such BUT Sega opted not to do so except a select few games, because it was put there as a sound chip. Also the 68K chip which was the main CPU for Genesis also had some sound capabilities but was rarley used for that. If sega ram both chips together, which I beleive they did for a couple games I will have to look them up, they were basicaly capable of out performing the SNES in every way because the Z80 added extra ram and colors but since only Sega had the tools for using the z80 (it was set as sound chip in the dev kits so 3rd parties could not access it for anything else)

Also Sony had a hand in developing the Sega CD sound chip which was actualy superior to that in the SNES.


Nintendo stated they chose to switch from the 68K chip set to the custom chip they desgined (which was a modified 68K family chip anyways) because they were caught off gaurd by Segas early success and needed to have a better looking system. If Genesis hadnt taken of right away Nintendo could have taken their time and finshed developing the System to be even more powerful, but If Sega hadnt been cheapskates they could have used a custom chip also instead of the same chip they had recycled in every arcade they had made up to that point.


That is one interesting article BTW. This thread is way cool and needs to stay alive.