Rare Nintendo Consoles | NintendoRetroLove

If you thought the Nintendo M82 was obscure, wait until you hear about Nintendo’s Super Famicom Box. Launched in Japan in the early 90s, it was a video game system not unlike the beloved SNES / Super Famicom.

Coming complete with two SNES controllers, the dark-gray box was made specifically for use in Japanese hotels, and came with a “pay to play” system akin to arcade machines and the Neo-Geo Deck (a ¥100 coin would get you five minutes of play).

Super Famicom Box from the front with controllers — (Image Credit: Video Game Museum)

Super Famicom Box backside — (Image Credit: Play Asia)

One strange feature of the SFB is it uses utterly humongous multi-cards as opposed to traditional cartridges to run video games.

And one of its system-specific cards (the one containing Super Mario Kart, Star Fox and the Super Mario Collection) holds within its tight, plasticky grip the unit’s BIOS, so it would be imperative to own that cartridge, alongside the unit, to actually boot-up the box. So keep that in mind when shopping for a Super Famicom Box.

But, interestingly, the SFB’s games are identical to the SNES’, despite the multi-cards’ massive size. You could fit a whopping twenty-eight 3DS games into one Super Famicom Box cartridge. What the hell?

A SFB Cartridge — (Images Source: N-Sider Media)

Multiple Games In One Cartridge

Each multi-card contains up to two or three games, which was brilliant for Japanese hotels of the time. Y’know, because capitalism and all that. These include:

Super Mario Kart, Star Fox and the Super Mario Collection – PSS-61
Waialae No Kiseki (Waialae Golf) & Super Mahjong 2 – PSS-62
Super Donkey Kong and Tetris 2 & Bombliss – PSS-63
Super Donkey Kong & Bomberman 2 – PSS-64

Unlike the M82, the Super Famicom Box uses an on-screen display to run its game selection menu, a system unique to the box, and it also incorporates an overlay message box which coerces the user to chuck in a couple of coins to kick off game-time.

SFB6 Screenshot — (Image Credit: Video Games Are Rad)

Super Famicom Box Specs

The Super Famicom Box in it's full glory — (Image Credit: Yaronet)

For you tech-minded zealots, let’s have a look at the Super Famicom Box’s innards.

Processor: 16-bit 65C816clocked at 3.58, 2.68 or 1.79 MHz (adjustable)
Working RAM: 128 KB
PPU(Picture Processing Unit): 16-bit
Video RAM: 128 KB total, 64 KB for setting plans and 64 KB for sprites
- Number of colours: 256 to 4,096 to 32,768 (according to graphical mode selected)
- Resolution: 256×224 to 512×448 pixels
- Number of sprites: 128 (maximum 32 per scanning line) each of size 8×8 to 128×128 pixels
- Graphics modes: 8 modes (0-7), each of which contain different display types, colors and resolution. Think Mode 7, the mode that created the scaling effect made famous by Super Mario Kart and F-Zero.
Audio processors: Sony SPC7008-bit S-SMP at 32 kHz, S-DSP 16-bit at 32 kHz
- Sound: 16-bit, 16-channel, ADPCM compression
- S-SMP: musical synthesizer
  - 8-channel ADPCM sound 16-bit at 32 kHz
  - Polyphonic support for 8 notes simultaneously
- S-DSP sound processor
  - 3-way 16-bit ADPCM at 332 kHz
- Acoustic effects: chorus, reverb, vibrato
- RAM audio: 64 KB + usage of cart RAM
Storage: ROM carts
Input
- Two controllers
- One expansion port
- Support for adding additional processors (Cx4, Super FX (version 1 or 2), SA-1, DSP and S-DD1)
Hardware manager for specific system screens

Price ranges

The prices for the SFB can range from $300 up to $1000 dollar depending on the overall condition and completeness. Since the system was heavily in use in their time, it has gotten really hard though to find a piece that is near mint condition. We have found a few ongoing auctions on Ebay though, that range between $548.00 and $600.00 right now.

Ongoing Ebay Auctions

So far there are multiple SFB system for sale on Ebay. Here you can find the five most recent ones:

“Nintendo Super Famicom BOX Console System Japan RARE Collector Piece Works Nice” – Price: $550.00

“Super Famicom Box Console Nintendo JPN No Key Tested PSS-001” – Price: $650.00

“Super Famicom Box Console Nintendo JPN Mario 5Games No Key Tested&working F/S” – Price: $548.00

“Super Famicom Box Console Nintendo JPN Mario No Key Tested&working” – Price: $579.59

Nintendo developed a number of demonstration units for their consoles over the decades, and the M82 was one of the more common ones to be found in the stores of NA and Japan. But due to the availability of the Super Famicom Box being limited solely to Japan, this renders it one of the rarest Nintendo consoles to boot.

Pretty magical, right?! Good luck to all of you in your hunt for two of Nintendo’s rarest consoles. May the big N smile upon you!

Nintendo has a veritable revolving door of rarities and oddball items, led by treats like the Nintendo PlayStation and the NES’ Campus Challenge cartridge. But, did you know there is a retro Nintendo unit out in the wild that is as idiosyncratic as the dawn, and just as awe-inspiring? Even though it comes with one massive caveat: it was never sold commercially, thus making it incredibly rare. Introducing the Nintendo M82.

The Nintendo M82

Released in August 1985 (during the third generation of video game consoles), the Nintendo M82 was used as a demonstration unit in stores across the nation — so gamers could try out new titles before buying. An absolute beast of a game console, the M82 holds up to 12 cartridges, accessible by 12 slots in the front of the unit, as detailed in the image below.

*M82 hardware & NES Zapper (Image Credit: game-tech-us/eBay)*

In order to pick and choose which game to play, the M82 has a red button front and centre on the console that switches play from slot one to 12 for all your finicky needs. And, to ensure you’re not in the store all day, hoarding turns of The Legend of Zelda, the unit has a timer that ends gameplay when the allotted time-limit has been reached. The timer can be set to 30 seconds, three minutes, six minutes, 128 minutes or an unlimited amount of time and be activated by a button on the rear of the unit.

Nintendo M82 Store Display — This is how it looked in a store environment.

Technical specifications

CPU & PPU Power of The Nintendo M82:
CPU (NTSC):	8-bit Ricoh 2A03
CPU (PAL):	8-bit Ricoh 2A07
CPU Power (NTSC):	1.79MHz
CPU Power (PAL):	1.66MHz
PPU (NTSC):	Custom Ricoh 2C02
PPU (PAL):	Custom Ricoh 2C07
PPU Power (NTSC):	5.37MHz
PPU Power (PAL):	5.32MHz

The M82 also comes complete with a tray to hold two NES controllers, a Zapper light gun and a key to unlock the console’s fascia.

Range of prices

From my research the M82 is being sold for an average price of $12.000, depending on the overall condition and how complete it is. A loose unit in poor condition might start selling for about $3000. A complete one in real good condition could go up to $8000, and a Nintendo M82 in mint condition could cost up to $25.000.

Here’s a perfect example for that. On Ebay right now, a complete Nintendo M82 Store Kiosk unit in great condition.

Connectivity of the M82

The M82 is not made for four players. There are two ports on the left that are player ‘one’, and the three ports on the right are player ‘two’. This lets the operator have a controller and Zapper for either player, or two controllers in player ‘one’, so the customer wouldn’t pick up a controller and have nothing happening.

The back of the M82 and a Zapper on top — *M82 back (Image Credit: seijurou/Photobucket)*

Now if you thought the M82 was obscure, wait until you hear about Nintendo’s Super Famicom Box!

Click here if you are looking to buy a Nintendo M82 on Ebay.

We also wrote an article about the 5 most expensive SNES cartridges ever right here.

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Category: Rare Nintendo Consoles

Super Famicom Box: Facts, Prices & Where You Can Get One