Satellaview
The Satellaview (サテラビュー, Saterabyū) was a satellite modem add-on for Nintendo's Super Famicom system in Japan released in 1995. It retailed for ¥14,000 (about USD$144.29).
It was made in a joint effort between Nintendo and St.GIGA, the latter at the time being a popular Satellite radio company. Contrary to popular belief on the internet, Bandai had no involvement with the hardware or servers, and is only known to have used them to supply expansion data for their SD Gundam G-NEXT Game.
The Satellaview had features relatively comparable to Sega's Sega Channel service in North America - its most notable feature was the ability to download games, news magazines and articles from St.GIGA's servers. A feature that was highly important, but has not been nearly as well documented, was its ability to stream Satellite Radio. At times this was used to play pop music, advertise, or allow people to listen to radio programs while playing games - for certain special games, particularly the games advertised as Soundlink, of which many of the Mario games showcased on it were, audio was played with the intentional effect of going along with the gameplay, and consisted of character voice acting and arranged game music.
Mario on the Satellaview
These are games from which it is either commonly known or that good reference sites state are Satellaview releases of Super Mario series or Mario character games.
- BS Super Mario USA
- BS Super Mario Collection
- Excitebike: Bunbun Mario Battle Stadium
- Dr. Mario
- Mario Paint BS Ban
- Mario Paint Yuushou Naizou Ban
- Yoshi no Panepon
- Wario no Mori Burst of Laughter Version - ワリオの森 爆笑バージョン - Wario's Woods Event Version
- Wario no Mori Futatabi - ワリオの森 再び - Wario's Woods Again
- Undake30 Same Game
There are also games that are St. Giga-themed in which Mario characters have cameos and/or major roles:
There are also various magazine releases which have articles featuring Mario characters.
Relevant Links
- Blog of Satellaview research. Contents include various Satellaview videos and links to Japanese Satellaview sites
- 30 Second Satellaview ad in which Mario advertises the hardware as well as some games
