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Super Star Fox Weekend / Starwing Competition

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The Super Star Fox Weekend was a contest run by Nintendo to promote the release of Star Fox. A similar contest was held in Europe. The competition occurred at approximately 1500 to 2000 locations. This game was produced in small quantities for the purpose of the contest, making this one of the rarest SNES games released.

Thanks to DragonFire, Porksta, fergojisan, shuey187, thahurricanegame, Leslie Paramore, Arnaud and Retromags for information and scans!

By: Evan G
Last updated: October 2, 2011

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Advertisement for the competition from Nintendo Power (scan courtesy of Retromags)

The Super Star Fox Weekend competition was held at 1500 - 2000 locations in the United States during the weekend of April 30 - May 2, 1993. The purpose of the competition was to promote the release of Star Fox, which at the time was the largest single release in video game history to that point (with some 1.7 million carts available worldwide at launch). The hype was likely deemed necessary by Nintendo to recoup the investment made in the development of the Super FX chip, which had been in development since before the SNES was even released. This cart has been known to collectors as "StarFox Super Weekend" for years, though officially this is incorrect and should be "Super Star Fox Weekend".

The Cartridge

The Star Fox competition game was used in many countries. There is an US NTSC version titled "Super Star Fox Weekend" on the label. The title within the game is "Star Fox Official Competition". There are two known PAL versions - English and German. It is unknown if the labels themselves are different for the PAL versions (it uses the unusual serial extension EEC. The English version is simply titled "Starwing Competition" on the cart, and "Starwing Competition" within the game. The German version is titled "Starwing Offizieller Wettbewerb" (literally "Starwing Official Competition"). The Starwing Competition also came with a manual, of which two are known to exist). Both cartridge labels state "Not For Resale" possibly to deter retailers from retaining the cartridges and selling them themselves.

After the competition was finished, the cart was distributed in several ways. The main way this cart came out was through the Nintendo Super Power Supplies Catalog, a supplement to subscribers of Nintendo Power. The Super Star Fox Weekend cartridge was included in the Fall/Winter 1993 edition of the catalog, listed at $45. That is a far cry from the $200 I paid for my cart last year! Other anecdotal ways that people acquired the game include from the Nintendo employees store, and from the stores after the competition was over (which likely violated the terms of holding the contest). I do not have any information on the PAL versions of this game, so I can only assume similar distribution methods applied for it as well. Assuming that the game was made specifically for the competition, there may only be 2000 Super Star Fox Weekend carts manufactured, possibly making this rarer than the Donkey Kong Country Competition Cartridge.

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Scan of the US version "Super Star Fox Weekend"
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Scan of the European Version "Starwing Competition". Scan courtesy of DragonFire (edited by me)
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Card that came with the Super Star Fox Weekend cart when ordered through the Nintendo Super Power Supplies Catalog. Undoubtedly, this card is much more rare than the actual cart. (photo by shuey187)
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European Title ScreenGerman Title Screen
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Fly through these buildings for a cool 2000 points

The Game

The Star Fox competition is a timed version of Star Fox, where you have four minutes (excluding cinemas) to get as high of a score as possible. The game lets you choose a control scheme, so you are not stuck with the default scheme. Points are scored by landing damaging shots, destroying enemies, and bonuses for powerups and health at the end of the level. There is no pause functionality, so it is four non-stop minutes.

There are three levels in the competition cartridge. The first two levels are shortened versions of the Corneria and Asteroids levels. These levels also contain more enemies than in the equivalent versions of the levels in Star Fox. The Corneria level features the start of the regular stage (where you can go through loops to get a laser powerup) and the final part where there are a series of buildings your can fly through if you are skilled enough. The Asteroids stage seems completely redesigned, with elements from different parts of the standard level. The final level is a special level designed specifically for the competition cartridge, featuring a space level where you go through rings. As well, enemies killed in this level give bonus points of 100, 500, 1000, 3000 and 5000 points. The level endlessly loops until you run out of time. The final stage uses the same music as the Space Armada level in the standard game. As for timing, provided you do not die, it takes about two minutes to finish the Corneria, one and a half minutes to finish the Asteroid level, leaving you with around 30-40 seconds in the final rings level. In order to have any chance at the final level, you have to use your bombs on the two bosses to kill them quickly.

The theoretical maximum score according to the game designs was about 172,000 points. Most of the store winners got between 130,000 and 145,000 points. Early 90's Nintendo World Champion, Jeff Hansen got a score of 144,620. The videos you see on Youtube show much higher scores, but this is due to emulation issues with the Super FX chip in older emulators such as ZSNES that cause the clock to run slower than it should. If you want to play this game without cheating on an emulator, you have to use bsnes.

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The third level loops and gives you the opportunity to rake up the points by going through rings.

Points

  • Hit enemy - 1 point
  • Regular Enemy (including meteors) - 250 points
  • Destroy boss - 10,000 points
  • Gold health rings - 1000 points
  • powerups (bombs, double lasers) - 1000 points
  • Go through ring - 1000 points
  • Score bonus (at the end of the level) - 100 points for each percentage
  • Bomb Bonus (bombs remaining at the end of the level) - 1000 points each
  • Shield bonus (assuming full shields) - 8000 points
  • Perfect Bonus (for getting 100% in a level) - 20,000 points
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Time's up!The score screen (note it is inflated due to the use of an emulator)

American Competition

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Apron used by employees working at the competition (courtesy of fergojisan)

The Super Star Fox Weekend competition was held from April 30 - May 2, 1993 at 1500-2000 locations throughout the United States. The competition was held at various stores including Toys 'R Us, Electronics Boutique, Blockbuster, Media Play and Kay-Bee. Employees who worked at the event got a nifty yellow apron to wear. The goal of the contest was to score the highest amount of points at the location during the weekend. All participants got a Star Fox pin. Participants who got over the 70,000 point threshold received a Star Fox/Super FX t-shirt. The winner at each store got a nifty bomber jacket, with the Nintendo logo on the front, and the Super Star Fox Weekend logo on the back. According to the card that came with the cartridge ordered from the Super Power Catalog, most of the store winners got between 130,000 and 145,000 points.

The grand prize of the Super Star Fox Weekend was a trip for four to London, Paris, Sydney or Tokyo, or a lump sum of $15,000. The winner was picked at random among the store winners. The grand prize went to Trevor Petersma of Garland, Texas, who decided to take the lump sum of $15,000.

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Pin received for participating in the event (photo by shuey187)
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T-shirt front (photo by shuey187)T-Shirt back (photo by shuey187)
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Winner's Jacket (front) - photo courtesy of Leslie Paramore
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Winner's Jacket (back) - photo courtesy of Leslie Paramore

Canadian Competition

In summer 1993, the Star Fox competition cart was used in the National Nintendo Championships in Canada. Contestant were selected from the 23 city Super NES Power Play Tour. The preliminaries took place out of a Nintendo branded, 48 foot transport truck with 22 systems. Prizes were handed out for different age groups. In addition to the Star Fox competition, there were demos of Batman Returns, Super Mario Kart, Top Gear, NHLPA '93 Hockey, NCAA Basketball, Magical Quest, Super Star Wars and Street Fighter II. The championship took place in Montreal in Fall 1993. The prizes were similar to the American competition, including Star Fox shirts and a plaque. Games at the competition included a Super Scope game, various sports and fighting games and possibly a Super Mario Bros. game.

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Winners of the 1993 Canadian Nintendo Championship (thanks to thahurricanegame for the picture)

European Competition

I'll admit, I could not find any information on the competition in Europe. The competition definitely took place in Germany, France and England, and possibly other countries. It is probably safe to assume that the competition was similar to the American one. According to this fanzine published by Nathan White, the British competition took place on May 29th, 1993. This poster sent to me by Matthew Taylor confirms this date (and that the competition predates the official release date of June 5, 1993).

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Poster for the United Kingdom competition (courtesy of Matthew Taylor)

Arnaud, the winner of the French competition, has sent me some information on the Starwing Competition in France. He won a special handmade Starwing jacket, with a different design from the Super Star Fox Weekend competition, made specifically for the French tournament. The winner also got a space camp in Belgium (though he was unable to attend), a Starwing pack-in SNES and a T-shirt, and a certificate for winning the competition. A video exists of the competition (about 5:30 in). The video comes from the French video game show "Televisator 2". In France, the competition was called the "Super Challenge Starwing". Qualifications for the event happened during a two week period, where participating stores had to send in a photograph of the winning scores to Nintendo France. Nintendo then chose eight finalists, where they all played simultaneously without any practice to determine the winner.

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The finalists from the French Starwing competition
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High score from the winner, Arnaud
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Presentation of prizes to the winner
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Closeup of the winning certificate
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French Starwing Competition jacket - back (courtesy of Arnaud)
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French Starwing Competition jacket - front (courtesy of Arnaud)
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Summary

The Super Star Fox Weekend was a contest put on by Nintendo in the United States to promote the release of Star Fox. A similar contest was held in Europe, and the cartridge was also used in a Canadian video game competition. The special version of Star Fox for the competition had two modified levels from the standard release of Star Fox, and an additional exclusive level made for the contest. The competition version gives you four minutes to try and achieve as high of a score as possible. Some unknowns are still related to this competition, primarily the details of the European Starwing Competition.

This cartridge is one of the most rare items created for the Super NES. I personally paid about $200 for this game, and it only pops up occasionally on the auction website, Ebay. Just in case you were wondering, after writing this article, I played through the game three times, achieving scores of 79126, 86831 and 92367. I know, I am not in the category of a store winner, but I would have at least won a T-Shirt. Star Fox is still an awesome game after all these years, despite the flash and flair of modern consoles.

Scans

Cartridge label information

Region Country Serial Code notes Scan
Americas USA SNS-FU-USA Not for Resale link
PAL European Economic Community SNSP-FU-EEC Not for Resale link

Do you have a label variant that is not listed above or a better quality copy? Read the Submission guidelines for cartridge label scans.

PCB Information

ROM Chip ID Region Known Man. Dates PCB Type CIC SRAM Decoder/ Logic Circuit Special Chips
SFRG-FU-0 (front) Germany 9319 SHVC-1C0N F411A 256k - Mario Chip 1
SPAL-FU-0 (front) (back) PAL 9318 SHVC-1C0N F411A 256k - Mario Chip 1
SNS-FU-0 (front) (back) USA 9312 SHVC-1C0N F411A 256k - Mario Chip 1

Do you have a PCB with a different ROM chip ID, PCB type or manufacturing date? Read the Submission guidelines for PCB scans.

Bibliography

  • Nintendo Power, Advertisement for the Competition, Publication date: April 1993, Volume: 47, Pages: 4
  • Nintendo Power, Players Plus (details the winner and information on the StarFox shipment), Publication date: October 1993, Volume: 53, Pages: 7
  • Game Players, GP Press (contains information on the Canadian Super NES Power Play Tour, in which the StarFox Competition was a part of), Publication date: November 1993, Volume: 34, Pages: 16
  • Computer and Console Gaming (a fanzine by Nathan White), Article on Starwing and the Super FX chip, Publication date: 1993, Volume: 1, Pages: 12-13
  • Super Power Supplies Catalog, Advertisement for buying the game (cost $45), Publication date: Fall/Winter 1993, Volume: -, Pages: -
  • Usenet thread from rec.games.video.nintendo by people who participated in the competition - speculates that the winners got the carts, though it was shot down by other poster (link)
  • Another Usenet thread from rec.games.video.nintendo by people who particpated in the competition (link)
  • A Usenet thread describing the competition - says there was a similar contest at CES that year (link)
  • News story from The Salt Lake Tribune on Jeff Hansen, former Nintendo World Champion, promoted the release of StarFox (link)
  • Article in the Sep 3, 1993 issue of the Kitchener - Waterloo Record about a Nintendo competition in Canada... according to thahurricanegame (the person refered to in the article) this competition used the Starfox competition cart, though I am too cheap to pay $4 for the article (link)
  • Thread on the Digital Press message board on the StarFox Super Weekend (link)
  • Thread on the Digital Press message board on the advertisement in the Nintendo Super Power Supplies Catalog (link)
  • Youtube video by bplmaster getting 348,778 points. Note this score is highly inflated because the clock is slowed down by a factor of about two due to inaccurate emulation of the Super FX chip in ZSNES. (link)
  • Video on Daily Motion from the show Televisator 2, which shows the finals of the French Starwing competition. (link)

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