Question about Bandai's Sufami Turbo

[ShaoMappy]

So, I've been thinking about buying a Sufami Turbo, the odd little Super Famicom add-on for playing bite-sized carts, for a while now. But I was just wondering if anyone here would happen to know, is it okay to use it on a modded American SNES? I've heard that some Japanese add-ons, like the Satellaview, can't be used with an American SNES, but does anyone have any experience with the Sufami Turbo?

[ShaoMappy]

So, there's no one out there with both a Sufami Turbo and an American SNES, eh? Well, I suppose I might as well just buy the damn thing and try it myself. Was this a decent deal for one of them?
http://cgi.ebay.com/ws/eBayISAPI.dll?ViewItem&ssPageName=STRK:MEWAX:IT&item=380113790114


Also, I've noticed that when playing some SF Turbo games on an emulator, they have SRAM save features. Did the Sufami Turbo games use battery backup? Has anyone ever opened one up to see what the inside looks like?

SO MANY QUESTIONS THAT WILL LIKELY GO UNANSWERED.

[importaku]

Japanese & American snes stuff can generally be used on each others consoles the only barrier to stopping them working is physical, due to them been the wrong shape to fit in.

[ShaoMappy]

Yeah, I know that, but I still wonder because of the fact that it was a later, out of-the ordinary thing. Plus, supposedly most of the later (circa 1996-upwards) games that used special chips like the SA1 also had region lockout (which reminds me, does anyone know if Jikkyō Oshaberi Parodius will work on a modded American SNES? Supposedly it's another SA-1 chip game, so I'd assume it wouldn't).

Anyhoo, I guess I'll just wait and see if the Sufami works.

[ShaoMappy]

Not that anyone gives a crap, but the SF Turbo arrived in the mail today, and it appears to work perfectly fine with an American SNES. I was a bit worried it wouldn't fit, since the upper part of the Sufami is designed to stick out a little bit horizontally from the cart slot, and I think that games in a Super Famicom stick out of the cart slot just a barely noticeable bit more than they do in an American system.
http://pictureposter.allbrand.nu/pictures/Mappy/sfturbo.jpg
But nevertheless, it still (just barely) fits into my modded snes. This is exciting, no? No?

...Yeah, I'm beginning to think 20 bucks and all these posts was too much trouble for the tradeoff of playing a shovelware Bomberman clone starring a cast of furry animals. But hey, at least they're NINJA furry animals.

[smork]

Sorry I read this thread too late - I seriously have at least 10 of these and would have sent you one for the price of postage. There always seems to be 5 of them in every big lot of SFC carts I get.

If anyone else wants one let me know :)

[ShaoMappy]

Huh. That's odd, reading various internet accounts, I was under the impression they were kind of rare, with a limited printrun, half of which was discarded after poor sales. I guess it's the old lesson, don't believe everything you read on the internet, kids. Then again, if no one wants one even now, I guess that would affect their availability.

But yeah, thanks for the offer anyway. Do you have any of the games for it? The only other Sufami Turbo game I'm really interested in is Carranger, a Power Ranger-based platformer I'm pretty sure was programmed by the same team that did Wild Guns, Pocky & Rocky, and other games for Natsume in the SNES heyday.

[Kid Fenris]

The only other Sufami Turbo game I'm really interested in is Carranger, a Power Ranger-based platformer I'm pretty sure was programmed by the same team that did Wild Guns, Pocky & Rocky, and other games for Natsume in the SNES heyday.

That got my attention. Was this an internal Natsume team or some outside developer?

Sup Mappy. I would've replied here earlier if I'd known jack shit about the SuFami Turbo.

[DDCecil]

Not sure if you had this answered, but Jikkyou Oshaberi Parodius works just fine in an American SNES.

[ShaoMappy]

That got my attention. Was this an internal Natsume team or some outside developer?

Hey, Mr. Fenris. I'm pretty sure it was some sort of internal Natsume team, though I don't really remember any of the Natsume games I've finished mentioning a specific team, group, or company name. If I recall, they just use a list of staffers, many of whom also show up on the credits of pretty much any other Natsume game from that era. http://www.mobygames.com/game/wild-guns

What's odd, though, is that apparently this group also programmed a lot of Bandai-published games around the same time, which encompassed all the SNES Power Ranger games ( FYI: Power Rangers: The Movie is probably the most stylistically similar to Wild Guns. There's even a section where enemies in the background shoot grenades at you, and you have to huck the grenades back into the background, which sorta brings to mind the Cabal-like gameplay of Wild Guns). They also did a nifty SNES platformer based on the obscure anime Ghost Sweeper Mikami, though I can't remember if that was published by Bandai or not.

On this site they list all the aforementioned Natsume and Bandai games as just having been done by Natsume. (http://gdri.smspower.org/wiki/index.php/Natsume) So I dunno if Natsume was just outsourcing themselves or what. In far fewer words, I don't really know.


Not sure if you had this answered, but Jikkyou Oshaberi Parodius works just fine in an American SNES.

Thanks for the answer, fellow guy from the potato state. Given this knowledge, I'm guessing that the only SNES/SFC games that had internal Japan/US lockout were ones that were published by Nintendo. Any one care to correct me?

[StealthLurker]

But yeah, thanks for the offer anyway. Do you have any of the games for it? The only other Sufami Turbo game I'm really interested in is Carranger, a Power Ranger-based platformer I'm pretty sure was programmed by the same team that did Wild Guns, Pocky & Rocky, and other games for Natsume in the SNES heyday.


I've got that Sentai/Power Rangers game for Sufami Turbo. One loose and one complete. It's a nice little platformer but totally geared towards small children much like Poko Nyan on SFC. Very light and easy. Still somewhat fun and worth tracking down imho.

What's "cute" about the sufamis too is that the boxes are much thinner than your standard SFC boxes (ones with game only). Some of the games come in box with the adapter unit... about as big and as thick as a boxed SFC Super Gameboy.

http://img.photobucket.com/albums/v337/jviloria/SufamiTurbo/sufami3.jpg

http://img.photobucket.com/albums/v337/jviloria/SufamiTurbo/sufami2.jpg

http://img.photobucket.com/albums/v337/jviloria/SufamiTurbo/sufami1.jpg




.

[Mimi Nakamura]

I've got that Sentai/Power Rangers game for Sufami Turbo. One loose and one complete. It's a nice little platformer but totally geared towards small children much like Poko Nyan on SFC. Very light and easy. Still somewhat fun and worth tracking down imho.

What's "cute" about the sufamis too is that the boxes are much thinner than your standard SFC boxes (ones with game only). Some of the games come in box with the adapter unit... about as big and as thick as a boxed SFC Super Gameboy.

http://img.photobucket.com/albums/v337/jviloria/SufamiTurbo/sufami3.jpg

http://img.photobucket.com/albums/v337/jviloria/SufamiTurbo/sufami2.jpg

http://img.photobucket.com/albums/v337/jviloria/SufamiTurbo/sufami1.jpg




.

Boxed Rendering Ranger - RARE.

[ShaoMappy]

What's "cute" about the sufamis too is that the boxes are much thinner than your standard SFC boxes (ones with game only). Some of the games come in box with the adapter unit... about as big and as thick as a boxed SFC Super Gameboy.

Reminds me quite a bit of the packaging Sega used for the Master System card games: same dimensions, thinner box.

Of course, this post makes me wonder if all of the released Sufami games were also available bundled with the adaptor, or just a select few. Mine comes with Poi Poi Ninja World, and I've also seen ones that come with SD Gundam and SD Ultraman.

[badinsults]

Just found this thread. A member of the forums at Snes Central made an article about the Sufami Turbo with lots of nice pictures, if anyone is interested:

http://www.snescentral.com/article.php?id=0802

[Ed Oscuro]

Boxed Rendering Ranger - RARE.
Quoting picture posts with every single picture - SHOULD BE RARE.

By the way, I have two RRs, both boxed. Just a showoff pic there really.

@ ShaoMappy: How's Poi Poi Ninja? That's the game that came with the sufami turbo (first picture post of this thread).

[SparTonberry]

Thanks for the answer, fellow guy from the potato state. Given this knowledge, I'm guessing that the only SNES/SFC games that had internal Japan/US lockout were ones that were published by Nintendo. Any one care to correct me?
Extremely late on this, but anyways...
Don't have a JP SA-1 cart, but I can confirm Yoshi's Island (SFX2) does not have JP/US lockout.
Unless it waits until your halfway through the game to spring it on you or something.

[badinsults]

I don't know what you guys are babbling on about. There is no "Japanese" lockout chip. The US and Japanese SNES use the exact same lockout chip, so every single Japanese game will work on a US SNES.

The SA-1 had an internal lockout, which is the reason why it doesn't work on a European SNES without disabling the console chip.

[Nico87]

Not trying to take over the topic here, but, Evan, how can I play SFC carts on my NTSC SNES? I've heard it's quite simple, I just don't know how.

[SparTonberry]

Either an adapter or break the two little plastic blocks in the cartridge slot.
Though my friend melted them down with a soldering iron.
Unfortunately, that left some damage around the edge of the cart slot, and left the dust cover non-functional.

[stevetamis]

Hi,Everyone

During a time when software storage was costing both the games manufacturer & the consumer, Bandai created the Sufami Turbo. This device was designed to sit on top of the Super Famicom, & contained 2 cartridge ports. The premise behind this idea is that games could be produced at a much cheaper rate (not having to rely on Nintendo). Unlike the Aladdin Deck Enhancer this device was officially approved by Nintendo under the proviso that Bandai handle all the hardware manufacturing themselves.