I'm slowly getting back into gaming and game development and I am going to start with my favorite console, the SNES. I currently do not even own one. So the first step is to actually choose an SNES to start with. I believe these models were produced: - japan super famicom - euro PAL super famicom - north american NTSC super nintendo - snes2/mini/whatever So, is there any reason to choose one of these over the others ? My plan is to RGB mod, or otherwise get the best possible video quality out of it, so if one of these is unsuitable for that, I would like to avoid it. Further, I plan on eventually adding a swcdx2, as well as using a psy-q development kit. So again, if these plans are incompatible with any one of those units above, I would like to avoid them. All comments appreciated.
Get a super famicom it has superior components. The us models, specifically the snes2 were stripped down versions compared to their Japanese counterparts. The PAL super nintendo runs slower than the NTSC model. Super famicom: 1. copiers fit easier 2. better video out quality
i would start with a - north american NTSC super nintendo or a modded pal... where are you from? do you have 110 or 220v? otherwise you might chose depending on wheter you want to buy an adapter or not... cheaper to find and no problems to get rgb out of them... but as kev said, copier fits better.
I have and use a Super Famicom with a Gamecube (PAL) RGB cable with my Sony PVM monitor, and have a Game Doctor SF7 with parallel link to my PC. I highly recommend this setup. I think that the SWCDX is overrated and overvalued as well. I'm not sure what this psy-q dev kit is, but you could do homebrew development with a setup like mine easily enough. All you really need is a capable copier and a pc link. The GD series is alot cheaper than the SWC series and just as capable.
AFAIK the systems even use the same PCB, the only difference is just the case. And there's absolutely no reason to "RGB mod" the system :lol: Also I really think the Psy-Q is redundant with a copier, it's memory decoding isn't as flexible as most copiers, you must use really clumsy old proprietary software and setup a legacy PC for it just to have software driven debugging. Using modern tools such as emulators and assemblers, even if they are "unofficial" and free, you still have more power than developers ever had in the early 90s. I suggest if you're interested in developing at all, you immediately start by using what's available for free on the net. Even with the expensive hardware, that's what you'll be doing anyway if you're smart, and only use the hardware to test release builds.
So the cable you use is from a PAL gamecube, but what about your super famicom itself ? Is it NTSC or PAL ?
In Europe, we called it SNES, too! No such thing as a Famicom here. There were some other regions that had different systems, so you can get an Asian PAL machine. The PAL machines can be modded to do 50/60Hz and country modded, so the difference isn't really huge. You're best off just getting a machine locally, the one that was originally sold in your country. Was there a Psy-Q for the SNES, then? As said, you don't really need it. Good luck finding one, I'd say! Just use whatever copier you get for devving. Once again, why is this in the rare thread? There's nothing rare about a SNES!
Hmmm ... I guess I misunderstood - when I look over the big "my setup" post from "consolefun": http://assemblergames.com/forums/showthread.php?t=6836 I see all the surgery he did to his super famicom, but now I see that that was just to add CIC disable and Pal50 / Pal60 switch. So it looks like nothing needs to be done to the system at all to get RGB, I just need the proper cable, yes ?
Some Nintendo consoles didn't output RGB, such as PAL N64s. Even NTSC ones needed modification. However, I'm pretty sure all SNES consoles should output RGB. I'm sure I have an RGB cable that came with a US SNES.
Hmm ... the only other nintendo-specific forum was the development one, and I'm only just figuring out which unit to buy here ... so I didn't want to post in the dev forum. What forum would be appropriate for just general, non-development, SNES chatter ? Thanks for your help so far...
Haha, you'd be the first - most think it is a general forum for everyday SNES chats - well done for noticing the dev bit ;-) General gaming suits it fine. Just pop a relevant title on it and it'll get read. I must admit, before I looked at the thread I thought from the title you were attempting to build a SNES from scratch! I was horrified! :lol:
The NTSC SNES and Super Famicom systems need a PAL Gamecube RGB cable because there are resistors or something in there. The PAL SNES and SNES RGB cable for PAL lack these resistors. I forget the specifics I just know that you want a GC RGB PAL cable for your NTSC SNES. Calpis is definitely right about the hardware. I really don't believe you need to get some rare development kit they used back then. You can get a copier which will let you test on real hardware (just make sure to init properly) and you can use emulators with debuggers to really debug your creations probably better than they ever could in the 90s. Best of all it won't or shouldn't cost much. The GDSF6 or 7 would be excellent as you can test your code very fast via parallel port transfer. Ofcourse you can get pretty far without testing on real hardware with emulators like BSNES.
Ok, thanks to all for all of the help. I am going to start with a Japanese super famicom (NTSC) and add a PAL gamecube RGB cable to it. Edit: One last thing ... I am searching for RGB cables from a PAL gamecube, and all I am finding are ones with SCART on the end. None of my LCD monitors, nor my plasma TV have an SCART connection ... Am I just looking in the wrong place, or do I really need to find a way to deal with SCART ?
You won't have SCART if you're in the US. Do you have RGB on your television at all? Of course all RGB cables have SCART plugs on them. What's the problem there? Cut it off or buy a SCART socket and make an adapter. No, you can't just plug it into a 31kHz PC monitor, unless it does 15kHz too. In short, you need a television, Amiga monitor or Sony broadcast monitor with an RGB input.
Hmm... perhaps I misunderstand. On my plasma tv, I have a VGA input, a DVI input, and two "RGB" inputs - or at least, that is what I called them. Three component cables ... for instance, my cable box connects that way, as well as my DVD player. Is that not an RGB connector ? It's analog HDTV, basically ... in the case of the SNES, I assume it will be 480i, but still ... This is what I am talking about: http://www.plasmatvbuyingguide.com/plasmatvpics/panasonic/panasonic_plasma_tv_slots.jpg
I have a US model 1, super famicom, and a US model 2. US and japanese model 1 the video looks the same. US model 2 the composite video looks better than my model 1s. But the model 2 needs modding to get rgb. Model 1s already have rgb. I had to install a capacitor on the composite sync line to get sync out of it (beats me why). I don't know how they work with devkits I don't use that sort of stuff.
Component isn't RGB. American TVs don't, in general, do RGB. It is rare to find an input on a television for RGB that isn't a SCART socket (or the Japanese equivalent). I'm squinting to see what else you might mean. All I see is composite and component. You know what I'm going to say with regard to what kind of screen you need, so I won't say it. ;-)
