Super Famicom Jr. (Model SHVC-101)
The Super Famicom Jr. or Super Famicom Junior, often abbreviated as SFC Jr, was a redesign of the original Super Famicom video game console released by Nintendo in Japan in 1990. It was stylistically similar to the SNS-101 released in North America five months earlier. It was released in Japan on March 27, 1998 and retailed for ¥7800
The Super Famicom Jr. was lighter and more compact redesign of the original Super Famicom console. It was almost identical to the SNS-101 console released in North America previously, and featured the same connections and outputs.
The Super Famicom Jr. lacks the expansion slot on the base featured on the original Super Famicom, making it incompatible with the Satellaview add-on released in Japan. As with the AV Famicom redesign before it, the Super Famicom Jr. lacks a LED power light to indicate when the unit is on (as the original NES, SNES, and N64 all included).
Differences between the North American SNS-101 include the power and reset buttons colored grey instead of purple, the different shape of the cartridge port to accommodate the rounder-edged Japanese games, and the Super Nintendo logo no longer molded into the plastic, instead having a recessed 'Super Famicom' plastic label. The "MULTI OUT" connector was also renamed "AV OUT" for the Super Famicom Jr, although oddly not on the SNS-101.
The controller also retains the multi-colored buttons used on the original Super Famicom instead of the purple buttons used in the USA. However, despite the different colored buttons it still retains the same SNS-102 model number used on the USA controller (instead of an SHVC model number used on all other Super Famicom parts) so it would seem Nintendo used the same case mold for both regions.
As with the SNS-101, the Super Famicom Jr. features the same audio/video connector used on the original Super Famicom model. However the Super Famicom Jr. only outputs composite video and stereo audio through this port, even though the original Super Famicom supported composite video, S-Video and RGB, because of this the connector was renamed "AV OUT" instead of "MULTI OUT" as used on the original Super Famicom. The video encoder chip used in the system still supports S-Video and RGB, but these pins were left unused. Many users who wished for a better picture resorted to modifying the system to restore this missing functionality. The RF connector used on the original Super Famicom was also removed, however the N64 RF modulator could be used to give the Super Famicom Jr. RF output if required.
Read more about this topic: Super Nintendo Entertainment System (Model SNS-101)