Here is the rareish modem complete with Software and crazy controller for the Super Famicom. The Modem as far as I know only had one function and that was to allow you to do online betting Via the official JRA (Japanese Horse Racing) online service. The modem ran on the NTT lines which probably means that NTT (Nippon Telecommunications) also had something to make out of this service or at least they thought they did :-D The front of the modem is nothing too exciting really apart from the Super Famicom logo The back has the power in and the standard dial up connection soccet. The modem connected to the SFC via the control ports The sticker on the bottom doesn't really tell us much that we don't allready know apart from that the modem was made in Taiwan Inside the modem This seems to be one of the main chips on the board. Probably the Bios Another close up, this time of the center chip This is the crazy looking pad that you use for betting. The JRA PAT Software cartridge Finally the instructions. No expense spared I see :smt043 Yakumo
Re: Super Famicom (SNES) Modem & Software - many picture Yakumo, you're the man. Nice one for getting this and sharing it.
Damn that one weird pad, although there in one worse the one for the ps2 that combines a keyboad and pad into one for online gaming
This reminds me a lot of the setup used for the Famicom modem as well - I'm still cursing myself for selling mine a few years back. The modem itself sat on top of the Famicom, plugging into the cartridge port, and required no extra power. However, it did require a HuCard-like access card for going online, and used the normal phone jack for dialup, however there were two jacks on the unit so you could leave your phone plugged in and still use both. The software, like the SFC one, allowed you to bet on horse races, but it also allowed for online banking through one of Japan's banks, and enabled you to trade stock, as well. The controller was very similar to the SFC one - the normal Famicom D-pad on the left, buttons on the right, and a numeric keypad in the middle, and it plugged into the Famicom's 15-pin expansion port. Yakumo, do you have any idea how widely used the SFC modems were - as in, did they ever really take off with a good amount of units produced, or was it more of a gee-whiz thing with people being rather skeptical of betting on horses using Junior-kun's videogame? :smt043
I wouldn't beat myself up over Famicom modems. Theres no shortage and they aren't particularly expensive or uncommon or useful :\ Its sort of like owning a Sega Channel or X-band but even more useless. The SFC modem I think is only used for JRA-PAT.
The Super Famicom modem is quite rare since it was a flop when it was released. Not many can be found these days but saying that I wouldn't say they are impossible to find as long as you look hard enough. I belive that the speed of the modem is 28kbps. I'll have to double check that though. Yakumo
They're not that uncommon: pad: http://page11.auctions.yahoo.co.jp/jp/auction/n8336765 modem: http://page4.auctions.yahoo.co.jp/jp/auction/d52481455 Surprised that there isn't a brand new set right now, every other time I've looked I see one...
Yakumo: pardon my skepticism, but I don't think it is 28k. Heck, the Japanese Saturn modem is 14k4 :smt043
28.8K was pretty expensive when it first came out. I remember my dad buying a 56K modem for $150 when they first came out lol.
You could be right, I'm only going on what I have heard. Won't really know how fast it is until I find some reliable source who knows more about these things. Yakumo
