SATELLAVIEW Plus

[Skunkworks]

As a kid, I was mesmerized by any addon that would potentially to allow me to expand my gaming console via the proto-internet. I was the kid that constantly talked about the expansion port on the bottom of my NES. If the sega channel would have been available in my area, I would have begged for a Genesis. The satellaview was no different - I remember reading about it in non-Nintendo Power magazine and dreaming about the possibilities. Video games felt larger than they do today and so much more exciting.

For those who are unfamiliar with the Stellaview addon for the SFC, Here is the blurb from wikipedia (https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Satellaview).

The Satellaview is a satellite modem peripheral produced by Nintendo for the Super Famicom in 1995. Containing 1 megabyte of ROM space and an additional 512 kB of RAM, Satellaview allowed players to download games, magazines, and other media through satellite broadcasts...

In the past decade or so, there has been a consorted effort to archive as many of the ephemeral titles as possible. A full list of broadcast can be found at https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/List_o...iew_broadcasts . These efforts are amazing for game preservation, but don't preserve the entire experience.

I recently learned about Satellaview Plus Project (https://satellaviewplus.github.io/Website/). This project aims recreates the experience in an emulator, and eventually to actual hardware. Each day has a list of games and magazines being broadcast (https://satellaviewplus.github.io/Website/schedule.htm). Currently the project is in Beta Week, but It seems like they intend to expand far beyond the original satellaview offerings.

I can't vouch for the safety of any of the files on this website. Proceed at your own risk!

[Skunkworks]

Here is a video of the project in action:

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=KlOJ9Rnpqxo&ab_channel=Satellaview%2B

[Random Encounter]

It must have been expensive being a Japanese gamer in the 90s who wanted to stay on the cutting edge of technology, though I imagine their booming economy at the time made it more reasonable to do so.

That said, love the concept of the hardware, and it was cool watching support get added to emulators over the years. It's wild that they've been able to preserve all they have.

EDIT: Apparently Japan's big economic boom was the 80s. Still though, the amount of peripherals they were putting out there to market in the 90s was unreal.