Different SNES Cartridge Molds??

[Obbie]

Ok.. so I just found another Super Mario World I had.. thing is.. the other one looks different. Most of my games look like this..


but then I have a few that are like this..


are the second set of carts older? I searched on eBay and seen a complete Super Mario World with the second picture's style cart.. and the Player's Choice version had the first picture's style cart..

Someone help me out here.. it's bugging me!! lol

[jvgs]

Hi. The lower picture shows how SNES cartridges were originally made. The notch locked games in place so that they couldn't be ejected/removed from the SNES while the power was turned on. Eventually, Nintendo switched to the cart style in your upper picture. I believe they said something about the lock-in feature not being necessary, but I wonder if it was really just a cost-cutting move. So the Super Mario World cartridge in the first picture was made after they switched cartridge styles, while the originals looked like the second picture. I hope that helps.

[Obbie]

Locked it in place, huh? I'll have to check that out.. my first thought about the the difference was cost-cut.

thanks for the reply.. that really helped out

[jvgs]

Yeah, when the power switch of the SNES is turned on, a tab comes out and "locks" the cartridge in place. At least original Super Nintendo systems did... perhaps later systems didn't have that feature, I'm not sure. But yeah, it was probably cost-cutting more than anything.

[Obbie]

Now I'm gonna have to check for the tab that locks it in.. see if any of my SNES systems has that
Thanks again for the info!

[killsonic]

PAL snes and SFC have the tab lock.