Official SNES launch date in US is......8/21/91

[Anthony1]

Oh my god. I can't believe there are still non believers out there. Nintendo has the date as the 19th, because that is when they started shipping the systems to retailers. If you wish to consider that date to be the launch date, then so be it. But if you want to know the day an actual SNES system was sold, then it was Wednesday, August 21st, 1991. END OF FUCKING STORY.


If anybody wants to argue this any further, then provide some kind of evidence. Real evidence of one actually being sold. Right now, Usenets posts from mid to late August 1991 is the most compelling evidence. EGM specifically has the date as the 23rd, EGM knew what the fuck was up with video gaming back in those days, (unlike now). What they didn't mention is that a few people got their systems as early as the 21st. This dude that wrote his letter got his on the launch day of August 23rd. I've never seen any evidence anywhere, (I'm talking real evidence, not a date listed on some website) that makes a case for anybody actually buying a real SNES prior to the 21st.


NINTENDO STARTED SHIPPING THE SNES ON AUGUST 19th

THE FIRST STORES TO SELL SNES SYSTEMS STARTED SELLING THEM ON AUGUST 23rd

THE PRIMARY DATE WHEN MOST RETAILERS NATIONWIDE STARTED SELLING THE SNES WAS AUGUST 25th



There is compelling evidence for all of those facts above, with the vast majority of it coming from usenet posts. Those were posts that were made on those actual dates. That's pretty freaking compelling if you ask me. And for the dude with the Birthday, unless your dad is Howard Lincoln, you had your Birthday party at least a week late.

[Anthony1]

Oops I had my dates wrong on the last part, lol


It's



SHIPPED August 19th

FIRST SOLD August 21st

WIDESPREAD RELEASE NATIONWIDE August 23rd



Again, if anybody wants to argue those dates above, show me some usenet posts that differ from this. Good luck trying to find any.

[DocRamon]

why do i have to provide the evidence? YOU prove to ME that one WASN'T sold before the 21st.

you can't do it.

it's VERY hard to prove the 'first' sale of something on a nationwide level, especially from back then, when all of the documentation wasn't digital, and thus not as accurate.

what you have in your usenet posts, magazine articles, and birthday memories is a list of select people who THINK they had it first. that's not proof. they may have been the first person at the first store in their area to get it... but there is NO way to know EVERY store that received shipments, the date they received them, and the date that the first sale was actually made.

for all we know, some tiny little ma & pa game shop 100 yards down the street from nintendo's HQ could have sold 3 units on the 19th, all of which went to non-usenet using parents who held onto the systems for christmas presents for kids. YOU DON'T KNOW FOR SURE. YOU DON'T HAVE PROOF THAT I'M WRONG. so, all you can go by is the date the nintendo claims... the 19th. since nintendo made and released the system, it's the closest thing we have to a fact.

you might have found the first DOCUMENTED date that a system was sold, but that's all... END OF FUCKING STORY.

[Anthony1]

you might have found the first DOCUMENTED date that a system was sold, but that's all... END OF FUCKING STORY.



Well, it's better than what you got. So far, all of the information points to the week of August 19th thru August 25th. August 19th appears to be the day when systems were first shipped to retailers. August 21st appears to be the first day that systems were sold to actual customers, and August 23rd appears to be the primary day of widespread release nationwide, when the majority of customers were first able to purchase a SNES in the U.S.


Based on all that, In my personal opinion, August 21st, 1991 should go down as the launch date to be remembered in the annals of video game history. If anybody else has any real, compelling info, then bring it. When I first started this thread, I started it thinking the first day was Sunday August 25th, cause that was the first day that I got my hands on the system. After all the information got presented, I realized that I actually got the system 2 days after it's widespread release. There may have been other retailers in Sacramento selling it on August 25th, but I must have not called them. Because I was calling retailers every day back then, constantly checking in to see if they got it in stock yet.

[Anthony1]

Oops. That last part I meant to say that there might have been other retailers in Sacramento that were selling it on August 23rd, but I must have not called those places when I was calling around checking on it's availability.


not having the edit button really sucks.

[Sweater Fish Deluxe]

You guys are idiots. You'll never figure what the "launch date" of the Super NES was because there was no "launch date." That sort of thing just wasn't a part of video games back then. In Japan it was (though more for games than systems), but in the U.S. nobody paid attention to specific "launch dates" for games or systems until later (Sonic Tuesday and Mortal Monday were the first that I remember).

So no single date should "be remembered in the annals of video game history" because to remember any single date as the launch date would be to misunderstand the way systems launched back then.


...word is bondage...

[DragonMaster Sam]

So I did a google search for the SNES, and there may be some proof that Anthony1 might be right about the date. Check this from answers.com:


Ten months later, on September 9 1991, Nintendo officially released the Super Famicom in North America (although the system went on sale as early as August 21 1991 in some areas of the US) with a new redesigned case as the Super Nintendo Entertainment System.

Take it for what it's worth.