What magazine is that, Nintendo Power? It's overtly gushing.
Originally Posted by TheShawn
I believe it's EGM but that really doesn't prove to me that it is in fact the 21st especially when it's possible that it can be earlier than the 21st and I still stand by that.
including the fact there are other posters in the thread that said they had one before the 21st of August
"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
Dude, ONE guy. ONE. Who got it for his fifth birthday. Do you remember dates clearly from that time? I don't. Shit, maybe he had a belated birthday party for some reason and got it then. We are going to ignore all of the evidence given in this thread because someone thinks that they remember something happening when they had just turned 5?
Give me a break...
Chris
Why are you guys barking on about dates for, Let's just end it with Aug. 21st
August 21st is pretty much right. I really need to read up first beforehand.
That's from Wikipedia, so August 21, 1991 is pretty much the answer.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. Initially sold for a price of $199 US, the North American package included the game Super Mario World. The SNES was released in the United Kingdom and Ireland in April 1992 for £150, with a German release following a few weeks later. The PAL versions of the console looked identical to the Japanese Super Famicom, except for labeling.
More confirmation for the August 23rd, 1991 date. That is the Friday that most stores started selling SNES systems in the U.S., although a few started as early as Wednesday August 21st, 1991.
From the February 1992 EGM in the Letters section:
Page 16:
SUPER FAMI GAMES ON S-NES
I've owned a Super Nintendo since they first came out on August 23, 1991. I have purchased almost all of the cartridges available, but when it comes to sports games there are a lot missing. I have heard that there is an adapter which will let me play the Japanese Super Famicom games on my Super NES. There are a lot more great games out in Japan than here and I just don't want to wait for the games to come out over here. Is there such a device as there is for the Genesis/Mega Drive and PC Engine/TurboGrafx?
Alex Kreit
Oakland, CA
So this guy in Oakland aparently got one on that Friday, which adds more evidence to the theory that the week of the 19th thru 25th in August 1991, is the first week of availability.
I know this is pretty much a dead issue, but I just happened to be reading my Feb 92 issue of EGM and I noticed this letter.
Anthony,
I uploaded that pic a couple days ago and put it in the Happy Anniversary DC topic b/c I didn't want to bump this one and someone had bought up the SNES release date.
Great issue BTW, cover was one of the best. Hi-res Ken shot
this thread is awesome...
nintendo has the dates of all their systems listed on their press site. you need a password to get in, but i woulda thought that SOMEONE else here would have one...
10/18/85 - NES
07/21/89 - Game Boy
08/19/91 - SNES
10/15/93 - NES Redesign
08/21/95 - Virtual Boy
09/03/96 - Game Boy Pocket
09/29/96 - Nintendo 64
10/20/97 - SNES Redesign
11/18/98 - Game Boy Color
06/11/01 - Game Boy Advance
11/18/01 - GameCube
03/23/03 - Game Boy Advance SP
11/21/04 - Nintendo DS
09/19/05 - Game Boy Micro
06/11/06 - Nintendo DS Lite
The August 19th date is inaccurate. Period. They might have used that date, because that Monday was when they first started shipping the units to retailers. Or it may have been a date when units were sent to the gaming press or other industry people, but the earliest a SNES was officially sold to a regular customer in the United States was 8-21-91, a Wednesday. The vast majority of SNES systems were first sold on Friday 8/23/91.
This case has been closed, and the only reason I posted again to this thread, is just because I had randomly been looking at the Feb 92 issue and noticed that letter.
ok, I wasn't going to post in the topic again but if it lists August 19th 1991 on a nintendo site that makes me believe that's the official date
especially I could see that being the date, Nintendo started sending systems to retail and meaning august 21st 1991 is not incorrect but it's not correct either.
"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
I do want to apologize to arguing about it being August 13th, but now at least we know it's basically August 21st but at least it's all a resolved issue though.
"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
Man, I missed out on one hell of an argument. I've been called a liar, idiot, and a few other names because of a date and I wasn't even here to defend myself. Damn.
I know, FOR FACT, that I got my system on my fifth birthday. My birthday is on the 14th, did I have a late party, it's a possibility. Was it a week later on the 21st? I seriously doubt it. When I ask my parents, they do confrim they bought me the system for my birthday. They can't remember whether I had a late birthday party or not.
Did I get the system early? I don't know, I was 5 for crying out loud. It was my first video game system, I was excited. I am in WV, a little piss ass state no one seems to care about. One of my Targets broke the DS lite street date. I remember the local Hill's breaking the N64 street date as well.
So who knows. Doubt what I say, but have the respect not to call me a liar.
Later,
Chrome...
Best thread ever.
Sony, we will NEVER forget nor forgive. http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=0G0LlXv-nyI
do me a favor then... email nintendo and tell them that THEIR date for the release of THEIR system is wrong.
The August 19th date is inaccurate. Period. They might have used that date, because that Monday was when they first started shipping the units to retailers. Or it may have been a date when units were sent to the gaming press or other industry people, but the earliest a SNES was officially sold to a regular customer in the United States was 8-21-91, a Wednesday. The vast majority of SNES systems were first sold on Friday 8/23/91.
This case has been closed, and the only reason I posted again to this thread, is just because I had randomly been looking at the Feb 92 issue and noticed that letter.
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.
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.
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.
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.
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.
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