Maybe you're confusing it with the Dreamcast's American launch date of 9/9/99.Originally Posted by RCM
Maybe you're confusing it with the Dreamcast's American launch date of 9/9/99.
Tradegamesnow and GameTZ feedback.
Na, I know PS and DC launched on 9/9 (95 and 99). I can't remember where I saw that the SNES launch was 9/9/91. Damn it!Maybe you're confusing it with the Dreamcast's American launch date of 9/9/99.
I don't want you to hate me, I want you to want to hate me - GamersUniteMagazine.com
I vaguely remember being the very first person to rent an SNES from the local rental shop on August 11th. Take that as you will, but it was one of the greatest days of my life and I'll never forget it.
-Rob
The moral is, don't **** with Uncle Tim when he's been drinking!
It does sound like the release date is August 13th 1991
So I still think Anthony1 is wrong about it being the 25th
at least that's what it's seeming like
I asked on Nintendo's forums and well they may not be that realiable, it's the date I got from several places.
"With Great Power Comes Great Responisibility"
Wanting to Collect full set of Super Nintendo Games as well as Dreamcast Games.
http://users.ign.com/collection/Lothars
Ok, here is the deal.
I know that I'm kinda coming off as an asshole in this post, a stuburn asshole that is asking a question, yet refusing to believe anybodies answer to said question. But if you were me, and remember the SNES launch like I do, then this whole thread would be so freaking frustrating, because so much bad information is flowing, and being accepted as fact. Just because something appears in print on a website, doesn't mean it's true.
Now, having said all of that, I'm a rational person, I'm a logical person, I can deal with reason. So I'm willing to accept the fact that I could possibly be wrong. BUT..... BUT.....BUT...... if I am wrong, then it would require something else to be true.
Here is what I actually know to be fact: The Super Nintendo wasn't released in Sacramento, California, at any of the typical retailers till very late August 1991. I know this as fact because I was calling every major retailer in the greater Sacramento area on a daily basis in the weeks and days leading up till August 25th. I had my SNES pre-ordered at a electronics place called, "The Good Guys!". I had put $50 down to reserve the system. However, had Electronics Boutique or Software ETC or anybody else gotten the SNES even a day earlier, I would have bought it there, and later gotten my $50 back from Good Guys.
On Saturday, August 24th, I had checked with all the major retailers, and if any of them had SNES systems in stock, they had yet to put them up as available for sale. They all said they hadn't received them yet. Then Sunday morning, I called Good Guys when they opened, and they said that they had just gotten them. So I went straight there and picked the thing up. Again, this was Sunday, August 25th, 1991.
Now, one thing that I also know to be fact, is that there isn't any chance in hell that the SNES was available anywhere in Sacramento prior to at the very least August 20th, and personally, as much as I checked, I can pretty much guarantee August 25th. But just to be on the cautious side, I'll say August 20th. I called tons and tons of places everyday, checking in on it, but you never ever know, but one thing I do know is that the SNES was nowhere near Sacramento, California prior to at the very LEAST August 20th 1991.
Ok, so we have come to the conclusion that the SNES didn't launch in Sacramento, California till late August. Somewhere on or after the 20th of August, and most likely on the exact day of Sunday, August 25th, 1991. This is actual FACT. I can remember that week like the back of my hand. Now, does this mean that it's impossible that somehow the SNES was delayed to the Sacramento market? No it doesn't. Anything is possible. Having said that, please understand that Sacramento is the 25th largest market in the U.S., and we have all the major retailers. We are in the State of California, and we are like the 4th largest city. If it was available in California anywhere near the 13th or 14th or anything like that, it would be very, very unlikely that we wouldn't get our hands on it till the 25th. That's just not logical. I know some systems were released in limited markets, like the Atari Jaguar back in 1993, but the SNES was a national launch. If it was in California on August 13th or August 14th or August 15th, we would have gotten it the same day, or at the very least a few days later at the very most.
So the only plausable scenario for it not launching in late August (again, I'm not saying that August 25th is the definite date, I'm just saying that is the day it was first available to the general public in Sacramento) is that somehow all the various retailers in the greater Sacramento area had their shipments delayed 2 weeks for some strange reason. Personally, I just don't think that's very likely. Still, the reason I'm asking this question, is because I want to be absolutely certain of what the real date is, if there really is a specific date. It's entirely possible that there wasn't a written in stone date, and the SNES simply started arriving to retailers in "LATE" August, and the retailers started selling them as they got them, meaning that somebody in some odd city might have gotten theirs as early as the 20th or something, but this August 13th date is just absolutely bogus. I'm 99.9 percent sure of that. I'm just looking for some concrete evidence one way or the other. I'm going to have to do a hard target search to find my receipt. Anybody still have their receipt from buying their SNES in August? If so, please post a pic of it.
I think the only conclusive evidence would be word from Nintendo regarding an exact date or promotional material with "August X, 1991." Does anyone remember seeing signs around the launch date that may have had a day?
I looked in the September 1991 and December 1991 issues of Nintendo Power, but couldn't find any info on the exact date. I don't have the October or November 91 issues. My guess is the November issues would likely be the issue with the correct date, if a date is in any of the Nintendo Powers.
I just looked through the October issue of EGM, and in the letters section, it says , "The Super NES store date has been pushed back to September 23rd!". Of course, we know it came out in August, but I thought that was kinda interesting that it said that. Normally the October issue of EGM would be out in early September, and by that time they would have known if the system launched on August 13th.
I'll check some more EGM issues out and see if it says a date anywhere.
YES!!!!!
I FOUND IT!!!!!
CONFIR-FUCKING-MATION!!!!
from the November 1991 issue of EGM, in the Super NES Buyer's Guide Section on page 162:
SUPER NINTENDO
IT's HERE!!!
The long awaited Super NES is finally available to the U.S. gaming public. The first few pieces of this fantastic unit hit the store shelves on August 23rd, 1991. Nintendo, however, released the first production run without any heavy fanfare or spectacular announcements.....
Ah, so August 23rd. Well, in Sacramento, we didn't get it till August 25th, but that's cool with me. I just knew I wasn't fucking crazy, and I knew the August 13th date was total bullshit.
Hmmm.... Maybe the October issue of EGM had it right all along, but it they accidently put September, when they meant to put August.
I think you just proved EVERYBODY right. Notice, that they said that Nintendo also PRERELEASED the SNES before the actual launch date.
Personally, I could care less about the paper date. I would be more interested in when it ACTUALLY hit stores for the first time.
PS I think you owe the guy who got it for his Bday, and many others an apology. From that last quote, it would have been easy to get it on the 15th if you were in the right place at the right time.
"That is the most kiddiest thing I ever heard." -ROTS MKII January 2 2008
Does it really say there was a prerelease? I think it says that the first consoles hit the shelves on August 23. The next sentence means that Nintendo didn't make a big deal about these first units being released. Something like that.
You do realize that the people who think it came out on 8/13 can just disregard this "proof" as easily as you disregard Wikipedia's "proof," right? The official word from Nintendo was August; that's about as good as it's going to get. And you can argue that an old issue of EGM is more reputable than Wikipedia (and you'd probably be right), except that doesn't explain the guy who got it for his birthday. Why would he remember getting it on his birthday wrong?
All the same, 8/23 makes infinitely more sense than your 8/25 date. I'm surprised that no one has pointed out that stores don't get shipments on Sundays, genius. Your memory is as flawed as anyone else's.
Feedback thread here
Who knows why I'm bothering with this in the middle of the day, but I figured I'd do a quick check of Usenet posts from August 1991 to see when the SNES was released. I don't even care, but, it's a trivia bit that's stuck in my head.
Here's one that is about it being available on August 22:
http://tinyurl.com/h2gxq
Here's another post from August 24th about its availability at Toys R Us:
http://tinyurl.com/mq922
So, perhaps the 23rd is looking good for a release date, maybe it was a tiny bit earlier or later, depending on your location, but around that date. Any other ideas?
Maybe the release wasn't just as co-ordinated as releases are these days and it came out at slightly different dates depending on where in the US one was?
Sony, we will NEVER forget nor forgive. http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=0G0LlXv-nyI
Thanks for that link, Hypnotuba, that's awesome!Who knows why I'm bothering with this in the middle of the day, but I figured I'd do a quick check of Usenet posts from August 1991 to see when the SNES was released. I don't even care, but, it's a trivia bit that's stuck in my head.
Here's one that is about it being available on August 22:
http://tinyurl.com/h2gxq
Here's a very important excerpt I think everybody should read:
This whole thing highlights the fact that back in the day there was no "street date," you just sold the games when they got into the store. Easy. Later on game console manufacturers/developers realized the benefit of creating hype and anticipation of release on a specific date so they started setting street dates. Then people started breaking the dates, and then people got fired, and...Welcome to the real world where reporters get their facts wrong. Actually the reporters probably got it right but reported it as a fact from God, whereas it was actually their best guess at how long it would take to ship the first boxes from Japan to US stores... rave review deleted [i.e. 'snip quote'] ... Why did they release it earlier than the release date in my video game magazine?
23rd, 13th, whatever. What I do know is that it was released much earlier than expected as a surprise to the world. It was shock to everyone I knew because Nintendo pulled a fast one.
So, this gives me two ideas:
1.) It was scheduled to be released on the 23rd, and they then released it on the 13th.
2). It was released on the 23rd, but was supposed to be released in September.
And it's possible the East coast got them first, and San Fran had to wait.
-Rob
The moral is, don't **** with Uncle Tim when he's been drinking!
The second one is exactly right. The SNES was "supposed" to come out in September. If you look at all the magazines in August and September, they all thought it was coming out in September. Early September. I remember at the time, that I was calling around, and all the stores thought they would get it around the first week of September.
The SNES didn't release anywhere near August 13th, and I dare anyone to prove me otherwise. How many times do I need to repeat this? The November 1991 issue of EGM arrived in stores in mid October, and the lead time for the mag would have put their information current to about September 10th. So, in that mag, they had the knowledge of what had happened up until about September 10th, so if they found out that it first arrived in stores on August 23rd, then I fucking believe them. Wikipedia is wrong. Plain and simple. All the other sites that are showing August 13, are simply following the incorrect information from Wikipedia. That dude checked usenet posts, and the posts say August 22nd and August 24. Egm, from that actual time period says August 23rd. I bought mine on August 25th, and I've already explained a million times about how nobody had one in Sacramento prior to that Sunday. It's very likely that stores received them before Sunday, but didn't put them up for sale till Sunday.
THIS CASE IS CLOSED.
When did I say that the SNES launched on August 25th? I said that Sacramento stores didn't start selling them till the 25th. I didn't know the exact launch date, but I knew damn well it wasn't anytime around the 13th or 14th or 15th. It was late August. I knew that for sure. I also knew for sure that no place in Sacramento was selling them prior to Sunday August 25th. I can remember that week like the back of my hand. I was checking with numerous stores every single day via the telephone.
Are you trying to say that I'm not telling the truth? Or that I'm mistaken about it not being available in Sacramento till August 25th? Because I'm not making this shit up. I know it like it was yesterday. I was so hyped over the SNES launch, it wasn't even funny, and I basically couldn't stop thinking about it, and I was calling all the stores in Sacto for like a week or more leading up to launch.
And, didn't Nintendo recently release a system in the U.S. on a Sunday not too long ago? Like the GameCube or original DS or DS lite? For some reason I remember a Nintendo system launching on a Sunday recently in the U.S.
That's a good point. I'm so used to "the big launch date" now, that I don't really think of how it used to be.
I wonder what was the first console with a big launch on a specific date. PlayStation? I really have no clue. I hadn't been gaming for years until I got back into it in 1997. I missed the whole 16-bit era, and the first part of the 32-bit Saturn/PS era. And let's not forget this includes the 3DO/Jaguar/CDi/32x freak era.Actually, the $30 Jaguars at Kay-Bee were what got me back into gaming. . .
ANYWAY. . .the point is I have no idea if any of those systems had well-known fixed release dates.
I remember the Dreamcast launch; I had that preordered in May for the big 9/9/99 release. Good times.
It was the original DS: 21st Nov 2004. I know cos it came out the day after I arrived in the US for Thanksgiving, and of course I was there to go grab one
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