The New-Style Super NES was designed by Lance Barr, who previously designed the North American versions of the NES, and Super NES, as well as the redesigned NES. Released at a lower price point, Nintendo marketed it as an entry-level gamer's system for customers who were on a budget and who may have been put off by the higher price of other more modern systems such as the Nintendo 64, Sega Saturn and PlayStation. Nintendo marketed the system in North America simply as the "Super Nintendo Entertainment System", just as the company had done the original SNS-001 model. It was released in North America on October 20, 1997 and retailed for US$99.95. The system was available as a stand-alone package or in a variety of bundles, each including one pack-in game such as:
The system was released in Japan as the Super Famicom Jr. on March 27, 1998 and retailed for ¥7,800. It was given the model number SHVC-101 and is very similar to the New-Style Super NES in both appearance and functionality. It was manufactured until September 2003.
Hardware changes
The design of the SNS-101 is a large departure from that of the North American version of the original Super NES. The system features a smaller footprint than the older model and contains a much less angular design language. To reach an affordable price point, several features were removed. The system lacks the expansion slot on the bottom of the console featured on the SNS-001, making it incompatible with the Japan-exclusive Satellaview add-on. The power and reset buttons were moved to the left hand side, and the cartridge eject button has been removed entirely. Additionally, it lacks a power LED to indicate when the unit is on. The internal RF modulator was also removed; however, an external RF modulator can be used. The SNS-101 features the same AV multi-out port used on the original model. However, the SNS-101 only supports composite video through this port, whereas the SNS-001 supported composite video, S-Video and RGB. The video encoder used in the system still supports S-Video and RGB, but these pins were left unused. Users are able to modify the system to restore the removed functionality, and is considered to be an improvement of video quality over earlier revisions of the SNES. The included controller underwent slight changes and was given a new model number. The "Super Nintendo Entertainment System" marking on the front was replaced by a general Nintendo logo molded into the casing. In fact, the Japanese controller also underwent this same change and actually shares the same model number as its U.S. counterpart, as the back of the controller has both, the Super NES and Super Famicom logos. Despite this, the colors and shapes of the ABXY buttons still differed between regions.
