Why North American SNES Cartridges have different shapes?

[drk421]

It seems the early ones have the eject button protection, and the later carts have it cut out.

Here's two pics:

Earlier carts:

http://www.snes-fr.com/images/boxarts/D ... n_cart.jpg

Eject section missing (later carts):

http://www.classicgaming.com/dkdb/dkdb- ... s_cart.jpg

Does anyone have a clue why SNES carts have two different shapes?

[NotTheCommonDose]

My guess is that Nintendo felt your game would freeze, crash or glitch up either way because the carts are so damn fragile so Nintendo thought it would be cheaper. (and you thought Japanese were smarter? What?)

[blargg]

I'll answer with a rhetorical question: what happens if you pull one of the original cartridges out without pressing eject (as you would on almost every other console)?

[kyuusaku]

Might have something to do with the absence of the lock mechanism when they revised the system in 1993/4.

[tepples]

To stop Game Genie. The Game Genie for Super NES grabbed onto the eject lock mechanism to hold the Game Pak in place.

[BootGod]

I always kinda assumed they made this change because if the eject button were to break (how, i dunno), it would prevent the cart from being stuck in the console with no way to get it out other than take it apart.

The Game Genie idea is an interesting thought. I never understood why Nintendo had such a beef with the thing, how would it have affected them business-wise at all?

[NotTheCommonDose]

The Game Genie idea is an interesting thought. I never understood why Nintendo had such a beef with the thing, how would it have affected them business-wise at all?

If anything, the Game Genie's codes would promote the game because some people would buy a game solely for the codes.

[Memblers]

The Game Genie idea is an interesting thought. I never understood why Nintendo had such a beef with the thing, how would it have affected them business-wise at all?

If anything, the Game Genie's codes would promote the game because some people would buy a game solely for the codes.

Or maybe a concern that people would just borrow/rent the game and finish it quickly. After all, most codes in the book just make the games easier.

I still find the fact that Codemasters came up with so many codes really impressive.

[NotTheCommonDose]

The Game Genie idea is an interesting thought. I never understood why Nintendo had such a beef with the thing, how would it have affected them business-wise at all?

If anything, the Game Genie's codes would promote the game because some people would buy a game solely for the codes.

Or maybe a concern that people would just borrow/rent the game and finish it quickly. After all, most codes in the book just make the games easier.

I still find the fact that Codemasters came up with so many codes really impressive.

I'm sure they were going to make more codes until Nintendo stepped in like when Nintendo Sued Galoob for making the Nintendo game genie.