Why Do Some SNES Cartridges Look Different?

[Mikau94]

I've been wondering about this for years. Have you ever noticed that their are two different front panels on SNES games? Take a look.


The part right in the center below the sticker is different. I'm not sure why this is like that. It could be that one of the games was a bundled game or it could be that Nintendo changed the cartridges' style at one point.

So, what do you think is the reason for the difference?

 

[Wariopunk]

I'm not sure but it could regional?

 

[Djinn]

The first few generation SNES's had a button in the front that was an eject for cartridges.

Making it easy to pop out and games that was in the system. But later models did not have the button at all so they switched over to a slightly different style of cartridge case that had that thinner section near the bottom so you could more easily grip the cartridge and pull it out of the console. After that point everyone moved to that second cartridge style and it was not really an issue since it only meant a slight change in the shape of the plastic covering. The card inside was tiny enough that any changes done to the plastic case would not make a difference.

 

[Onilink89]

I'm not sure but it could regional?

Djinn already gave an explaination, but this is also one of the reasons. To add a little bit more info, if im not mistaken, the US-SNES was onces redesigned, maybe thats also one of the reasons.
http://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/3/31/SNES-Mod1-Console-Set.jpg
http://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/c/cf/SNES-Model-2-Set.jpg

in Europe, the cartridges had a different shape, because Europe used the Super Famicom Style.
http://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/f/fd/SNES-PAL-Console-Set.png

Here is an image of the cartidge difference

Still Europeans had a way to play US-SNES games on the European version with the help of an Universal Adapter

 

[Mikau94]

Okay, I was pretty sure that it was because of the SNES mini but I just wasn't sure. The funny thing is that I own both version and have been collecting SNES games for quite a while and I didn't know this. Thanks for the help guys!