TheSuper FX is acoprocessor on the Graphics Support Unit (GSU) added to selectSuper Nintendo Entertainment System (SNES)video gamecartridges, primarily to facilitate advanced 2D and 3D graphics. The Super FX chip was designed byArgonaut Games, who also co-developed the3D spacerail shootervideo gameStar Fox withNintendo to demonstrate the additionalpolygon rendering capabilities that the chip had introduced to the SNES.[1]
The Super FX chip design team included engineersBen Cheese, Rob Macaulay, and James Hakewill.[2] While in development, the Super FX chip was codenamed "Super Mario FX"[3] and "MARIO". "MARIO", abackronym for "Mathematical, Argonaut, Rotation, & Input/Output", is printed on the face of the final production chip.[4] The chip's name would lead to anurban legend that "Super Mario FX" was a video game in development for the SNES.[5]
Because of high manufacturing costs and increased development time, few Super FX based games were made compared to the rest of the SNES library. Due to these increased costs, Super FX games often retailed at a higherMSRP compared to other SNES games.[6]
According toArgonaut Games founderJez San, Argonaut had initially intended to develop the Super FX chip for theNintendo Entertainment System. The team programmed an NES version of the first-person combat flight simulatorStarglider, which Argonaut had developed for theAtari ST and other home computers a few years earlier, and showed it to Nintendo in 1990. The prototype impressed the company, but they suggested that they develop games for the then-unreleased Super Famicom due to the NES's hardware becoming outdated in light of newer systems such as theSega Genesis/Mega Drive and theTurboGrafx-16/PC Engine. Shortly after the 1990Consumer Electronics Show held inChicago, Illinois, Argonaut ported the NES version ofStarglider to the Super Famicom, a process which took roughly one week according to San.[7]
The Super FX chip is used to render 3Dpolygons and to assist theSNES in rendering advanced 2D effects. This custom-madeRISC processor is typically programmed to act like agraphics accelerator chip that draws polygons to aframe buffer in theRAM that sits adjacent to it. The data in this frame buffer is periodically transferred to the main video memory inside of the console usingDMA in order to show up on the television display.
The first version of the chip, commonly referred to as simply "Super FX", is clocked with a 21.4 MHz signal, but an internal clock speed divider halves it to 10.7 MHz. Later on, the design was revised to become the Super FX GSU (Graphics Support Unit); this, unlike the first Super FX chip revision, is able to reach 21 MHz.
All versions of the Super FX chip are functionally compatible in terms of their instruction set. The differences arise in how they arepackaged, theirpinout, and their internal clock speed. As a result of changing the package from 100 to 112 pins when creating the GSU-2, more external pins were available and assigned for addressing. As a result, a larger amount of external ROM or RAM can be accessed.
Star Fox uses the chip for the rendering of hundreds of simultaneous 3D polygons. It uses scaled 2D bitmaps for lasers, asteroids, and other obstacles, but other objects such as ships are rendered with 3D polygons.Super Mario World 2: Yoshi's Island uses the chip for 2D graphics effects likesprite scaling and stretching.
Game cartridges that contain a Super FX chip have additional contacts at the bottom of the cartridge that connect to the extra slots in the cartridge port that are not otherwise typically used. Therefore, Super FX games cannot be plugged into cartridge adapters which predate the release of Super FX games. This includes cheat devices, such as theGame Genie.
| Title | Release date | SuperFX version | Frequency | ROM size | Work RAM size | Save RAM size |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Star Fox (PAL:Starwing)[8] | February 1993 | Mario Chip[9] | 10.5 MHz (21 MHz / 2)[10] | 8 MBit | 256 KBit | None |
| Dirt Racer[11] | May 1995 | GSU-1 | 21 MHz[10] | 4 MBit | 256 KBit | None |
| Dirt Trax FX[12] | June 1995 | 4 MBit | 512 KBit | None | ||
| Stunt Race FX (JP:Wild Trax)[13] | May 1994 | 8 MBit | 512 KBit | 64 KBit | ||
| Vortex[14] | September 1994 | 4 MBit | 256 KBit | None | ||
| Doom[15] | September 1995 | GSU-2 | 16 MBit | 512 KBit | None | |
| Super Mario World 2: Yoshi's Island[16] | August 1995 | GSU-2-SP1 | 16 MBit | 256 KBit | 64 KBit | |
| Winter Gold[17] | November 1996 | GSU-2 | 16 MBit | 512 KBit | 64 KBit |
We did most of the technology back in England with a relatively large engineering/tech team, which comprised of Carl Graham and Pete Warnes on the software-based 3D technology and Ben Cheese, Rob Macaulay and James Hakewill working on the hardware side of things
SNES Central: @dylancuthbert I'm researching unreleased SNES games, was a game called "Super Mario FX" ever in development?
Dylan Cuthbert: @snescentral no, that was the internal code name for the FX chip"
