◊ For a long time, even most hardcore Nintendo fans didn't know what this was, never mind having actually played one, partly due to a combination of No Export for You and one of the more bizarre examples of Keep Circulating the Tapes in video game history.
Some time after the SNES CD-ROM was canned (cue Epileptic Trees about a Plan B), Nintendo signed a deal with St.GIGA (a now-defunct Japanese Satellite Radio company) to have a Super Famicom add-on which allowed users to both download software and stream Satellite Radio. This setup was eventually released in 1995 as a special-mail-order, subscription-based service.
The add-on had a bit of an unusual setup — downloads were broadcast in timeslots much like radio and TV shows. Some downloads were expected things like old Super Famicom releases, demos of new games, and original game content. On the stranger side were some downloadable magazines full of Japanese celebrities drawing Squicky pictures of Mario with an Asian face. While snagging all this content, the Satellite Radio would stream various programs which attempted to tailor to the gamers' tastes and were hosted by J-Pop Idols and comedians.
Eventually the bright idea came around to have a game set up to play alongside the Satellite Radio playing unique game-specific audio, and thus the Satellaview's most remarkable and famous accomplishment was noted — the SoundLink games, which did just that, using the functionality to bring new stories for some of the Super Famicom's most prominent titles, like The Legend of Zelda and Fire Emblem: Mystery of the Emblem.
Unfortunately, most of the Satellaview's unique features came with "catches" that would lead many to turn "BS" into a pun (for reference, the original meaning is a generic Japanese term for "Broadcasting Satellite", tagged onto various programs transferred via satellite). The Satellaview is one of the first notable examples of DRM used in console gaming - many games were set up to have limited boot-ups, and many others were only allowed to play at the specific broadcast times. Much of the contents are presumed to be lost forever because of the limitations of people merely being able to download data. note
Much of the actual capabilities of the Satellaview were unknown to the non-Japanese for the longest time, leading to various rumors and misinformation. Fortunately, quite a lot of the issues can be cleared up by watching various video archives of gameplay from the original broadcasts on Nico Nico Douga. The Satellablog
is devoted to recovering and archiving footage of and info about the Satellaview, and is perhaps the most complete English-language resource on the Satellaview there is; it's related to a project which aims to eventually restore as much functionality as possible to Satellaview emulation, possibly including SoundLink transmission. Wikipedia's page on the Satellaview has some very in-depth information on the technical side of the system. An equivalent for the Nintendo 64 was apparently planned (with cable and internet hookups!), but never progressed beyond prototype stage.
To date, only two Satellaview titles have been rereleased in any form: the four BS Fire Emblem chapters, remade as bonus content in the 2010 Nintendo DS remake of Fire Emblem: Mystery of the Emblem (though lacking the original voice acting); and Radical Dreamers, as part of an HD remastered version of Chrono Cross released in 2022.
Games:
- The Satellaview's user interface is presented as a game itself, titled BS-X: The Story of The Town Whose Name Has Been Stolen. The system's content and options menus were accessed by visiting buildings around the town, which all looks rather reminiscent of EarthBound (1994).
- Numerous SoundLink titles, where the game was played alongside radio-streamed audio; such include:
- BS The Legend of Zelda, basically a SNES-powered third quest/fourth quest for the original Zelda. Notable for being the first game where one can play as a girl.
- The Legend of Zelda: Ancient Stone Tablets, a Mission-Pack Sequel for The Legend of Zelda: A Link to the Past.
- Radical Dreamers, Koi ha Balance, and Treasure Conflix, three SquareSoft original releases. Plus a Chrono Trigger beastiary, sound library, and a standalone version of the Jet Bike minigame.
- Satella-Q, perhaps one of the most obscure Mario spinoff games ever - a J-Poppy quiz game starring Toad.
- Excitebike BunBun Mario Battle Stadium, a 16-bit entry in the Excitebike series with Mario characters and Mario Kart 64 voice effects.
- BS Detective Club Lost Memories In The Snow
- Shitamachi Ninjō Gekijō, an obscure virtual magazine featuring Mario characters that utilizes adult-oriented humor. One of the broadcasts uses a Bakabon plush toy to represent Microsoft founder Bill Gates.
- Sutte Hakkun
- Genjuu Ryodan
- Marvelous Time Athletic and Marvelous Camp Arnold
- Kirby no Omocha Bako, a series of mini-games starring Kirby.
- An adaptation of Win, Lose or Draw, of all shows, considering it was never imported to Japan.
- Special variants of games, such as Wario's Woods, with celebrity cameos or other changes.
- BS Shiren the Wanderer: Save Surala, an immediate sequel to the first game in the Shiren the Wanderer series.
