| Manufacturer: | Nintendo |
| MSRP: | 14,00 yen
($150 US) |
| Country: | Japan |
| Licensed: | Yes |
| Year: | Unknown |
| Number of games supported: | Many (I only have 5 listed) |
Thanks to Rory Mitchell for the following info on the Satalliview.
I know what the PCMCIA slot is for on the SNES (or should I say Super Famicom).
The device that fits under the SNES is called a Satellaview,
it was a satellite uplink unit. It linked up to a system called "St GIGA
which is just a normal digital satellite channel, except instead of just
downloading video images, you instead download games, demos, cheats, etc.
St GIGA was a normal TV channel as well and the data you could download
only made up a small fraction of the channel's air-time. You couldn't download
something any time you wanted, only at a certain time.......just like recording
a video off the TV.
The new base unit (the one under the SFC) had 512k of memory added to boost the SNES's onboard memory. It also had a 1 megabit ROM chip in there as well which held the O.S. And a 256k flash memory chip inside, just in case the user hasn't paid for a flash memory cart (around $30) for the memory card and another $50 for the Super Game Boy style adapter.
It had an AV slot and an AC adapter in the back, with ports for the antenna, just in case the television didn't have the necessary satellite antenna ports (most Japanese TV's do).
It cost around $150, or should I say, around 14,000 yen. Plus you needed to pay subscription fees to the St GIGA channel.
The actual time that you could download stuff was only from 4pm till 7pm every day. Everything you downloaded was free, and Nintendo intended to make up for this by making the user download advertising from other companies at the same time.
The two software companies that I heard of that actually supplied software to the St GIGA system was Nintendo (well theres a surprise), and Square (Nintendo has about a 25% share in Square last time I heard). There was some mention of multi-player RPG's; how they intend to manage that with a one way broadcasting system I don't know. It sounds like to me that they are going to make you use the phone line as well in order to use the multiplayer facility (that's my guess).
It came out in March 1995. This add-on for the SNES was
only availabe in Japan, and only then through mail-order. I don't think
it took off.
Anyway thats what the PCMCIA port was for.
Now, folks, this is where it gets really interesting. One of the games planned for the Satallaview, and released on the system I believe, was a 16 bit version of the original Legend of Zelda, a la Super Mario All-Stars! Sadly, this game was Satallaview only, and was not released as a cartridge game, and there are no plans to do so in the future.
The following is a list of games released for the Satallaview: