SNES-CD

SNES-CD (also known as Nintendo Play Station or Super Disc) refers to an unreleased video game media format and peripheral for the Super Nintendo Entertainment System (SNES). The device and the format were to build upon the functionality of the cartridge-based SNES by adding support for higher capacity compact discs.

The SNES-CD platform was developed in a partnership between Nintendo and Sony. Another partnership with Philips yielded some poorly received Nintendo-themed games for the competing CD-i game console instead of the SNES-CD. Sony independently furthered its developments into its own console, which resulted in the release of the original PlayStation, a chief competitor of the SNES's cartridge-based successor, the Nintendo 64.

History

The relationship between Sony and Nintendo started when Sony engineer Ken Kutaragi became interested in working with video games after seeing his daughter play games on Nintendo's Famicom video game console. He took on a contract at Sony for developing hardware that would drive the audio subsystem of Nintendo's next console, the Super NES. Kutaragi secretly developed the chip, known as the Sony SPC 700. As Sony was uninterested in the video game business, most of his superiors did not approve of the project, but Kutaragi found support in Sony executive Norio Ohga and the project was allowed to continue. The success of the project spurred Nintendo to enter into a partnership with Sony to develop both a CD-ROM add-on for the Super NES and a Sony-branded console that would play both SNES games, as well as titles released for the new SNES-CD format.

Åsnes

Åsnes is a municipality in Hedmark county, Norway. It is part of the traditional region of Solør. The administrative centre of the municipality is the village of Flisa, which is also the largest town in the municipality with around 2,100 people.

General information

Name

The municipality (originally the parish) is named after the old Åsnes farm (Old Norse: Ásnes), since the first church was built here. The first element is áss which means "mountain ridge" and the last element is nes which means "headland". (The headland is made by the river Glomma, and the farm is lying beneath a hill.)

Coat-of-arms

The coat-of-arms is from modern times. They were granted on 9 December 2001. The arms show three black hooks for log driving on a gold background. This was chosen to represent the importance of logging and forestry to the municipality throughout history.

History

Åsnes was originally part of the larger district Hof. It was first split into two: Hof and Åsnes og Våler in 1849. The split left Hof with 2,913 innhabitants and Åsnes og Våler with 7,087. Åsnes og Våler was again divided in 1854 into the two current municipalities of Våler and Åsnes. At that time, Åsnes had 3,644 innhabitants while Våler had 3,410. In 1963, Hof was incorporated back into Åsnes. The population of Åsnes grew fast between 1854 and 1963 and today its population is roughly equal to that of Hof and Våler combined. There has been talk of further municipality merging but the neighboring municipalities Grue and Våler have rejected Åsnes in favor of bigger municipalities.

Super Nintendo Entertainment System

The Super Nintendo Entertainment System (officially abbreviated the Super NES or SNES, and commonly shortened to Super Nintendo) is a 16-bit home video game console developed by Nintendo that was released in 1990 in Japan, 1991 in North America, 1992 in Europe and Australasia (Oceania), and 1993 in South America. In Japan, the system is called the Super Famicom (Japanese: スーパーファミコン, Hepburn: Sūpā Famikon, officially adopting the abbreviated name of its predecessor, the Family Computer), or SFC for short. In South Korea, it is known as the Super Comboy (슈퍼 컴보이 Syupeo Keomboi) and was distributed by Hyundai Electronics. Although each version is essentially the same, several forms of regional lockout prevent the different versions from being compatible with one another. It was released in Brazil on September 2, 1992, by Playtronic.

The SNES is Nintendo's second home console, following the Nintendo Entertainment System (NES). The console introduced advanced graphics and sound capabilities compared with other consoles at the time. Additionally, development of a variety of enhancement chips (which were integrated on game circuit boards) helped to keep it competitive in the marketplace.

Super Nintendo Entertainment System (Model SNS-101)

The SNS-101 model of the Super Nintendo Entertainment System (informally known as the SNES 2, the SNES Mini or SNES Jr.) is a compact redesign of the original Super Nintendo Entertainment System (SNES) video game console from Nintendo. Nintendo itself marketed it simply as the Super Nintendo Entertainment System exactly the same as the original SNS-001 model. It was released in North America on October 20, 1997 and retailed for US$99.95 including one pack-in game such as:

It was also available in a standalone package. The SNS-101 model is stylistically similar to the Super Famicom Jr., which was released in Japan five months later.

Changes

The SNS-101 model was a lighter and more compact redesign of the original SNS-001 model of the SNES. It was designed by Lance Barr, who also designed the original SNS-001, the first North American NES model and the Model NES-101 redesign. Released at a lower price point, Nintendo marketed it as an entry-level gamer's system for customers who were on a budget and who may have been put off by the higher price of other more modern systems such as the Nintendo 64, Sega Saturn and PlayStation.