Gamers Bar of Useful Tips: What is Satellaview?

On my quest to see what I can get from Videogames, I sometimes run into some unique subjects even I've never heard of, so for this post we look at Satellaview.

Back in 1995, Nintendo created a modem for it's Super Famicom or Snes if you prefer called Satellaview; this device allows anyone in Japan who owned the Satellaview to download and play games during select broadcast hours along with other features such as news, weather and magazines that weren't seen again until the Wii. The system required subscription charges but what you got was access to games that are now considered lost media today most notably Legend of Zelda.

The notable difference between this and the actual Legend of Zelda is Link wearing a baseball cap, there was also an option for a red haired girl with a pony tail, the choice was made so kids can put themselves into the game.
Other Nintendo properties such as F-Zero, Mario, Kirby and Fire Emblem got their own games as well, along with titles like Wario Woods offering prizes for high scores, the downside is that because these games were beamed in via satelite they were only available during the broadcast times live not 24/7. A modern comparison would be X-Box Live's 1 vs 100 game which uses a similar broadcast format.
The service went defunct in the year 2000 and was considered a commercial failure mostly due to the arrival of Playstation Sega Saturn and Nintendo's own N64. Also not helping was the Snes being at the end of it's run and a less enthusiastic attempt at reviving the system on the infamous N64DD.
To take something positive from Nintendo's experiment it paved way for the online gaming of today, X-Box Live, PlayStation network and Nintendo's Current Online Service wouldn't be possible without Satellaview testing the waters.
As for it's games, you'll be lucky to see them with only the Zelda games getting fan recreations.

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