Different SNES Carts

[darthmunky]

As you know, there are two different styles of SNES cartridges.




My question is, which version is older and why did they change it?

[MrPopo]

The top one is the older style. I'm not sure entirely why they changed it. The only thing I could think of is to avoid potential damage from turning on the power with a cartridge only half-inserted. The old style would have you trying to force the locking tab into the plastic, while the new style is contoured to instead pull the cart down a little and overall have a larger sweet spot.

[Mod_Man_Extreme]

Yeah, the older SNES systems until about 93' had a locking tab at the end of the eject button's arm, but this tab was prone to being broken when cartridges were inserted and removed roughly without watching the tab's placement.

When Nintendo removed the locking tab they revised the cartridge design to accommodate this as well.

[Unleaded Logic]

The later design also made the carts very loose when plugging them into a Game Genie...I don't think that was done on purpose though.

[Hobie-wan]

On a similar note, Japanese Mega Drive carts have a locking notch on the left side too.

[darthmunky]

Another thing I noticed is that some games have those stickers with the fine print stuff on the back while others have it engraved instead.

[Hobie-wan]

All the older 'Made in Japan' carts will be stickers. Later 'Made in Mexico' carts were stickers at first, then molded. Just cost saving measures. One less sticker to print and have a machine slap it on the back.