Sharp SF1: A Super Famicom TV

if you were a gamer living in Japan in late 1990 it was tough to get Nintendo's newest console the 16-bit Super famicom Nintendo received 1.5 million pre-orders from wholesalers but could only ship out 300 000 consoles on launch day retailers and consumers weren't happy accusing Nintendo of creating a false shortage to drive up demand but Nintendo denied the allegation and promised to increase its manufacturing capacity the following year in the meantime many people had to sit and wait but there

was another way to get a hold of a super famicom although it was an expensive option on December 5th 1990 two weeks after the Super famicom launched Electronics manufacturer sharp released the 21g sf1 a 21-inch television with a super famicom built in to it it cost 133 000 Yen or around one thousand dollars for comparison a super famicom cost 25 000 Yen or around 200 sharp initially shipped out 10 000 sf1 units but hope to move 20 000 by the end of 1990 and they likely sold quite a few One Sour

ce in famitsu magazine commented that given that there are some people who want to get a super famicom before anyone else they may buy this no matter the price in March of 1991 sharp released a smaller 14-inch version the 14g sf1 it retailed for one hundred thousand yen or around seven hundred and fifty dollars it's important to mention that the sf1 television wasn't a huge surprise sharpen Nintendo had a good business relationship and routinely worked together on products for example in the 197

0s sharp provided the solar cells for Nintendo's beam gun toys in the 1980s sharp supplied the electronics for Nintendo's Game and Watch handhelds in 1983 Nintendo released their first cartridge-based video game console the famicom in that same year sharp released the C1 a television with a built-in famicom there were both 14 inch and 19-inch models and they sold reasonably well for Sharp the company shipped 100 000 units in 1986 sharp released the twin famicom a hybrid console that contained a

famicom and a famicom disk system when the famicom made its way over to North America as the Nintendo Entertainment System it exploded in popularity so in 1989 sharp released a 19-inch television with an NES built in although it wasn't nearly as successful as its famicom counterpart so the fact that sharp made a TV with a super famicom inside makes perfect sense I have here the 21 inch version of the sf1 was it worth all that extra money let's take a look the sharp sf1 came with two controllers

and a remote unfortunately I do not have the remote the controllers look and feel identical to a standard super famicom controller but have unique sf1 branding the cords are also longer the sf1 controller cord is about six feet while a super famicom controller cord is about three feet since there was no console to create distance between you and the TV a longer cord on the controller was necessary as far as Design This is a pretty standard looking television with a super famicom on top of it alm

ost like a little hat on the front are two controller ports next to those is a panel that contains a headphone jack and a few buttons first there is a channel memory configuration next to that is an input selector you can choose between the super famicom cable television or the composite inputs on the back of the TV there are also Channel up and down buttons as well as volume up and down buttons finally a power display and a power button are on the far right unfortunately you cannot adjust video

settings like brightness directly on the television instead you need the remote which I don't have the remote actually had a few cool features you could reset your game directly from it it also had a video setting called game position which instantly switched to the ideal brightness level for video games on the back of the TV are composite inputs and VHF or UHF cable hookups on top of the TV is the super famicom there's a power switch a reset button the cartridge slot and a cartridge eject butt

on behind this is a sliding dust cover containing two ports the extension port and a multi-out port these were two interesting additions to the sf1 Sharp's previous famicom TV the C1 was criticized because it wasn't compatible with the famicom disk system so for the sf1 sharp decided to Future proof their television by including an extension port and a multi-out port let's start with the multi-out port this works just like the one on the super famicom or Super Nintendo console you can output the

audio and video to another source it supports composite S-Video and RGB on fortunately the video does not work on my multi-outport but you get the idea playing something like Super Mario Kart with another player on two televisions would be pretty cool then there's the extension Port this one is a little bit of a mystery on a standard super famicom and Super Nintendo the 28 pin extension Port is on the bottom of the console Nintendo added this port for potential accessories in the future but on

the sharp sf1 the 28-pin extension Port is smaller and has a different form factor it resembles the image in port on Sharps X 68000 compact computer most likely sharp changed the port because of the design of the television the extension port on the super famicom was on the bottom because the console would mount on top of any peripheral but for the sf1 sharp couldn't do that so they changed the design of the port to use a cable at the time of the sf1's release No devices used the extension Port

so sharp probably thought well we can always sell a cable if something comes out only two retail devices used the extension port in the super famicom and super Nintendo's lifetime the first was the life cycle entertainment bike released in 1994. a module hooked into the extension port and connected to an exercise bike that worked with a few different games the second was the Nintendo satella view released in 1995. it was a japan-only peripheral that allowed players to download games via satellit

e broadcasts however I have never seen any cable made by Nintendo or sharp that could hook the sf1 into these peripherals my guess is that by the time these devices came out there was little to no demand from sf1 owners for a cable so in theory the sf1 will work with these devices but you'll need a cable and probably a custom one now let's get to the games super famicom cartridges load into the top of the TV in the cartridge slot the sharp sf1 is also compatible with Super Nintendo games however

just like the super famicom the cartridge slots design prevents you from inserting the game you'll need to modify the slot or use an adapter to play your Super Nintendo games but the bigger question is how do the games look the video quality is spectacular inside the sf1 the super famicom hooks into the television via S video this looks better than the standard composite hookup but not as good as an RGB connection either way it's a beautiful picture and the camera does not do it justice the sf1

plays any game the super famicom can including special cartridges like the super Game Boy the biggest disappointment is the audio the sharp SF one has mono sound that comes from one speaker on the left side of the TV this is a huge bummer as the super famicom produced stereo sound if you want stereo sound you have to use a multi-out cable on the back and hook it into external speakers and that pretty much sums up the sharp sf1 at the time the Press praised the television as a way to save space

in your living room retail stores used the sf1 to show off new games but it was costly the average 21 inch television at the time cost around 85 000 to 90 000 Yen the super famicom was 25 000 Yen so it was cheaper to buy a TV and console separately than to get an sf1 but it was an option during the Super famicom stock shortage it's unclear how many units sharp sold a few magazines at the time had brief write-ups on the TV include including electronic gaming monthly main machines and Popular Scie

nce but the sharp sf1 never got a release outside of Japan oddly I find this TV a lot when looking at pictures and videos for research here's a photo of Japanese pop star Aiko with an sf1 and here's a video of a retail store showing off Sonic the Hedgehog 2 on ironically a sharp sf1 today the sharp sf1 is more of a collector's piece than anything else it's not the ideal way to play the super famicom but it is a neat little piece of video game history that's all for this episode of the game and h

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