Nintendo has bought greater than 49 million Tremendous Famicom consoles, however not all consoles are created equal. Later {hardware} revisions improved the standard of the SNES’s video output, and greater than thirty years later, one modder found out a method to convey the identical enhancements to just about each Tremendous Nintendo recreation launched.
Zach Henson, a console modder often known as Voultar, has created a DIY mod equipment for older Tremendous Nintendo consoles known as the Edge Enhancer. The mod equipment, anticipated to price round $60, upgrades the console’s video output, making graphics seem sharper and colours extra saturated.
Though Nintendo made a number of {hardware} revisions in the course of the manufacturing of the Tremendous Nintendo console, it is necessary to retro avid gamers that there have been primarily two variations of the SNES. The unique model is now generally known as the SHVC or two-chip mannequin, and later upgraded variations are generally known as the 1CHIP mannequin, based mostly on how Nintendo labels its motherboards.
The 2-chip SNES had a video-to-analog converter in its graphics processing unit (PPU), which avid gamers later found could not swap rapidly between colours. This causes the video output to look mushy or blurry, as there seems to be a halo or shadow across the graphics.
Within the ’90s, when everybody was enjoying video games on CRT TVs, this drawback wasn’t as apparent, however when the Tremendous Nintendo was related to a contemporary monitor, the distinction was much more pronounced.
For later 1CHIP variations of the Tremendous Nintendo, the corporate merged the unique two video chips and CPU right into a single chip. It is a cost-cutting transfer that reduces the console’s manufacturing prices, however the brand new parts additionally end in clearer video output and considerably improved colours.
For retro avid gamers preferring to play video games on authentic {hardware}, the 1CHIP Tremendous Nintendo console is now extraordinarily common, promoting for effectively over $200. However demand might quickly subside due to this new improve equipment.
As Tito Perez of YouTube’s Macho Nacho Productions just lately demonstrated in a video, putting in Voultar’s Edge Enhancer mod shouldn’t be for rookies. Not solely did the SNES require full disassembly, it additionally required plenty of soldering, and the unique transistors, capacitors, and resistors needed to be faraway from the console’s motherboard.
Many issues can come up when putting in the assorted parts required for the mod. So whereas Voultar plans to finally promote a DIY edge enhancer equipment as soon as documentation and tutorials are finalized, it should initially solely be obtainable as a part of a dearer set up service to make sure the improve is finished accurately.
Pricing hasn’t been introduced but, however contemplating 1CHIP Tremendous Nintendo consoles have gotten more and more uncommon, the Edge Enhancer mod remains to be prone to be considerably cheaper, even considering the delivery prices of upgrading Tremendous Nintendo boards.
