Wednesday, January 11, 2012

Hidden Game Gems Satellaview


The Satellaview was an add-on for Nintendo's Super Famicom game console that allowed people to download games through satellite broadcast. In order for people to do that, they would have to subscribe to the radio broadcasts of St. GIGA, a broadcasting station that sends out in-game voice acting and game hints. The unit came out in 1995, costing around 14,000 yen. Games could only be played at certain times, but there were some games that could be downloaded to the BS-X cassette, which was a memory cartridge for the system

Since the Satellaview was an expansion for the Super Famicom, it needed to be attached to it somehow. The Satellaview can be snapped to the back of the expansion port that is located underneath the console. It made the console very bulky once attached to it. The add-on comes with the following: a power transfer bracket used to transferring power from the Super Famicom to the Satellaview, a unique Satellaview AV selector and 512kb BS-X cassette that is used for holding games.

Every time around 4-7 PM, there is an update that can be sent via satellite broadcast. These things in the update could be add-ons to maps of games, quizzes, games, and advertisements. The daily quizzes could give away prizes such as phone cards and memory packs for the Satellaview. Some games could only be there for a limited amount of time-like for a couple of days. If you are lucky, you would be able to download one onto the memory cartridge. Some of the games would be sent out in parts, updating throughout each broadcast.

Some notable games for the Satellaview are:

  • BS Fire Emblem Akaneia Senki
  • BS Mario USA
  • BS Zelda no Densetsu
  • BS Zelda no Densetsu Kodai no Sekiban
  • BS F-Zero 2 Grand Prix 
  • Mario Excite Bike
  • Radical Dreamers: Nosumenai Hoseki
  • Wario's Woods

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