Nintendo's highly anticipated followup to the NES, which was a success only matched in market power by the Sega Genesis. Releasing on August 23rd, 1991 in North America, the SNES runs off of a Ricoh 5A22 WDC 65C816-based CPU, 128 KB of RAM + 64 KB VRAM, and a maximum output resolution of 256×224/512×224/256×239/512×239 (progressive) or 512×448/512×478 (interlaced), at up to 32768 colors. These are quite powerful specifications, mostly defeating it's competitor in raw power, albeit not in a clean sweep as the Genesis did have the better CPU.

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Super_Nintendo_Entertainment_System

Whether these emulators support operating systems for these consoles is unknown; it must be looked into further. Consoles without meaningful OSes are not included.

Nintendo Entertainment System – Project Nested + alt. link, thru Super 8

Nintendo Game Boy - thru Super Game Boy

High level Linux-like OS Running on a SNES. The OS is intended to be used with a custom cart with the bios and other requirements. The exact requirements are not known at this time. Minor Modifications to the SNES Hardware may be necessary.

This cannot run in a common emulator, but the creator has kindly provided a snes9x fork which can run this and it's “external components”, which appear to be quite obscure. Actual functions of the OS itself are not detailed.

https://github.com/chorman0773/snes9x (“emulator virtual machine”)

https://github.com/chorman0773/SNES-OS

https://github.com/chorman0773/SNES-OS-rs

what looks to be a compiled version of it (dos.hex) and it does seem to run in an emulator (after being converted to a binary).

An official Nintendo-crafted DOS clone, found in the July 2020 files leak. It can be found in the “other\SFC\SFC_50SEC~3_YK3YV~S_67V3K~2\tool\” sfxdos folder. Of it's functions, it could work with a keyboard and write to disks. An emulator-based repairing and demonstration of this functionality in Super Mario Kart is linked below.

https://twitter.com/notrevenant/status/1288192166121046023

https://twitter.com/LF_MrL314/status/1400996192889327627?s=20 (disk writing in SMK)

https://www.reddit.com/r/retrogaming/comments/hxy4je/gigaleak_it_looks_to_me_that_nintendo_tried/

The info for this is quite widely known, and it doesn’t exactly fit the “web browsing”, but it’s close.

the users' XMAIL boxes, storing up to ten incoming and ten outgoing messages for each user

The only active “internet” service for the SNES, and the only one to have ever existed in North America. Available on both the Sega Genesis and Super Nintendo, the XBAND service was one of the first examples of online console gaming and connectivity in North America. It's still usable too, since the XBAND servers recently received a modern revival. With the help of a Raspberry Pi, it is possible to resume usage of X-MAIL, view player lists/news, play a select few games online, and other such features that XBAND originally delivered. On the SNES at least, the XBAND BIOS also has a memory viewer!

https://tcrf.net/XBAND_BIOS_(SNES)

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/XBAND

https://xband.retrocomputing.network/

the player would have more fun playing Mario Paint

Needlessly rare on the SNES, and otherwise the same as the Genesis version. Games and creation software akin to DOS children's programs.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=OXyHiVPhXKU

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Fun_%27n_Games

perhaps the most ingenious and inspired idea Nintendo ever came up with for a product

A classic game that many know about. Included for it's very “toy/utility” like nature of creating pieces of music and art - and it requires the mouse.

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Mario_Paint

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=UCFZDa4Gmyg

Some games and a bunch of tests, but still worth putting on here.

https://snescentral.com/homebrew.php

For general information, see the Game Console Revisions Overview.

There are two versions of this console, arranged chronologically.

RECOMMENDED OVERALL; LOWEST PRICE; BEST RELIABILITY

The model of the SNES that everyone recognizes. Blocky form factor, horizontal purple slide-up buttons, and oftentimes, yellow plastic. Furthermore, the gray area between the two purple sliders, is actually a cartridge eject button! These consoles are common, and have the superior function, as long as you get a 1CHIP (later era 001s), which have much better video output. On the bottom is the smallish EXT port, mostly unused in North America, but used elsewhere for Satellaview. To the back, is the first usage of the Multi Out port, plus RF and a power adapter.

Despite being a lower cost revision, these are actually quite uncommon in North America. They’re also very easy to recognize, being smaller, rounder, and replacing the distinctive rectangle purple sliders with vertical and circular sliders. Furthermore, the Multi Out port does not support S-Video or crucially, RGB. There is also no RF out, nor is there an EXT port on the bottom. In fact, they even removed the cartridge eject button… However, they do have better video quality than most SNS-001s, assuming that you mod it to support RGB. Also, the plastic doesn’t yellow. This has only one board revision, which is basically a 1CHIP that needs modding for RGB.

There are 4 revisions within the SNS-001, and no revisions within the SNS-101.

Distinguishing 001 revisions can be quite difficult w/o disassembly, except for distinguishing between a 2CHIP and a 1CHIP. Luckily, that’s the only distinction that really matters here.

DO NOT PURCHASE

Likely the absolute worst SNES one can buy. These have all the poor video quality of a 2CHIP, and are even prone to CPU/PPU faults and malfunctions, at a rate which is worsening over time. The only positive these have going for them, is that there’s a very slim chance that the video quality is vaguely better than other 2CHIPs.

LOWEST PRICE

These revisions do not have the CPU faults found in the CPU-01, but otherwise, nothing has changed. Poor video output that may be a touch worse than the CPU-01, but at least the video doesn’t “clip” like the 1CHIPs.

Appears to be as bad as the earlier revisions, despite a few believing otherwise. It appears that the first UN31 serial numbers may have been granted to these revisions, but are most likely found in 1CHIPs 99% of the time - be wary of this.

RECOMMENDED OVERALL; BEST RELIABILITY

The absolute best of all the classic SNES revisions. Superior video output, still has RGB out, the extension port, and so on. These consoles do output slightly bright and with supposed “ghosting”, but these are VERY easily fixed. They also possess a few video glitches in games, but these are all minor and do not impact gameplay or enjoyment. Guaranteeing if a console is a 1CHIP requires opening it and looking on the motherboard for the term 1CHIP. However, one can read the serial number to increase one’s chances, as it appears that every 1CHIP has a serial beginning with UN3. However, not every UN3 is a 1CHIP. Some believe that UN31 is the number where 1CHIPs were introduced, but as seen below, some APU-01s can have a serial starting with UN31.

https://www.retrorgb.com/1chipsnes.html

https://www.retrorgb.com/snes1chip.html

https://www.retrorgb.com/1chipghosting.html

https://www.retrorgb.com/snesversioncompare.html

https://console5.com/techwiki/index.php?title=SNES

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/New-Style_Super_NES

https://gametrog.com/super-nintendo-snes-information-specs/

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Super_Nintendo_Entertainment_System (CPU bug info)

https://www.reddit.com/r/snes/comments/lpuw8p/which_snes_model_is_a_keeper/ (APU anecdote)

https://ancientelectronics.wordpress.com/2014/08/19/the-best-version-of-super-nintendo/

https://forum.digitpress.com/forum/showthread.php?144910-More-Than-One-Version-of-The-SNES-Model-1 (APU-01 anecdote)