Topic: Did your Super Nintendo / Famicom become yellow?

Or is it still in it's original state?

I'm considering buying an almost mint-state Super Famicom, but the one thing I want to prevent is that it will become as yellow as my Super Nintendo did in 1993.

If its not yellow now chances are it wont ever turn yellow. THe thing that made it turn yellow was due to the flame-resistant chemical used in the case discolors via exposure to heat, air, or light over time. Only a few batches had that problem and later SNES didnt have that problem.

Anyway to answer your question yes my first SNES was yellow which an exroomate stole from me. The SNES that I bought not that long ago is still the original color.

Mine's still in decent condition considering its age.

Some of the games are difficult to fire up now though, I have to keep taking the cartridge in & out and blowing the inside to get it to come on. Some work first time and others unfortunatly dont.

Mine's like that! I always wondered why the heck it turned yellow and it was bugging me like crazy.
I was trying to clean it and no matter what I did the color never washed off. now I know why.

Yup, my SNES is that ugly shade of yellow.

I have my original that I got in 1992 and it has a smidge of that yellow nastiness. Not to bad though. The eject button is a little loose too. She still fires up perrfectly everytime though!

Yep, it is still yellow too! D:

I think it turned blue when I neglected to play it
crickets

I honestly don't remember. I didn't have it long enough, I don't think, to notice a color change.

Nope, mine's not; though I know my cousins' SNES has a bit of yellow on it

Still gray.

I wish my n64 would turn red.

Mine turned yellow about 7 years or so after I got it. It has cracks and tons of battle scars, yet the thing fires up every time without problem. I can't even say that about my N64. Yet another reason why the SNES will always be my favorite system.

i have a mini snes so no mine isnt yellow, but for the ones that are, they used a different mixture/chemical and plant i believe to make those. also, theres a youtube video on this that explains this in great detail.

Thanks guys. I did some research myself, this was one of the most detailed explanations I read :

The plastics most commonly used to make the structural cases for electronic equipment are polypropylene, impact styrene, and ABS.

These all tend to discolor and embrittle gradually when exposed to UV and/or heat. They become oxidized and develop conjugated unsaturation, which produces color.

SNES case is composed of ABS, which is a rugged, durable plastic that is sadly more susceptible to discoloration and degradation from both UV and heat.

There are other plastics which would be more stable.but manufacturers avoid them because they are more expensive and/or more difficult to process

Instead of using more expensive plastics, manufactures put additives known as stabilizers, absorbers, or blockers into the plastic mixture to reduce the effects of degradation. They also get creative with their use of pigmentation.

Since most discoloration is toward yellowing, some manufacturers add a little blue to neutralize the yellow.

A useful way to prevent discoloration is to put a UV-resistant plastic coating on top of the base plastic.

Avoid placing your unit next to a heat source such as a radiator, air duct, or fireplace. Or in the fire.

Do not keep your SNES in a room where people smoke tobacco (wacky or otherwise). This doesn’t directly relate to internal chemical yellowing, but it can cause your SNES to yellow for other reasons!

Keep your units away from windows and sunlight because, like the fluorescent lighting, the UV exposure will drastically hasten their discoloration. Even indirect sunlight can do damage over time.

Yahoo topic

It explains why I always kept my my consoles from the PlayStation onwards, out of sunlight. I always thought it had something to do with light.

Thanks guys. I did some research myself, this was one of the most detailed explanations I read :

The plastics most commonly used to make the structural cases for electronic equipment are polypropylene, impact styrene, and ABS.

These all tend to discolor and embrittle gradually when exposed to UV and/or heat. They become oxidized and develop conjugated unsaturation, which produces color.

SNES case is composed of ABS, which is a rugged, durable plastic that is sadly more susceptible to discoloration and degradation from both UV and heat.

There are other plastics which would be more stable.but manufacturers avoid them because they are more expensive and/or more difficult to process

Instead of using more expensive plastics, manufactures put additives known as stabilizers, absorbers, or blockers into the plastic mixture to reduce the effects of degradation. They also get creative with their use of pigmentation.

Since most discoloration is toward yellowing, some manufacturers add a little blue to neutralize the yellow.

A useful way to prevent discoloration is to put a UV-resistant plastic coating on top of the base plastic.

Avoid placing your unit next to a heat source such as a radiator, air duct, or fireplace. Or in the fire.

Do not keep your SNES in a room where people smoke tobacco (wacky or otherwise). This doesn’t directly relate to internal chemical yellowing, but it can cause your SNES to yellow for other reasons!

Keep your units away from windows and sunlight because, like the fluorescent lighting, the UV exposure will drastically hasten their discoloration. Even indirect sunlight can do damage over time.

Yahoo topic

It explains why I always kept my consoles -from the PlayStation onwards- out of sunlight. I always thought it had something to do with light.

Mines kind of yellow but not as badly as the one in the picture. It's mostly yellow on the bottom.

I got one word for ya: RETROBRITE

Look it up, mix a batch, soak the plastic body for a while and watch it return to normal for the most part if not very near entirely. I've never had to use it, but I know others who have successfully time and again. I've got my original NES and SNES, and then the re-release hardware, even a Sharp NES TV too...nothing has changed for the worse on any of them luckily enough. The only color failures I have are a very tiny percentage of game paks I have. My front 1/2 of my Mike Tyson's Punchout has gone fairly green which is odd, and I've got a select few SNES carts where the back 1/2 of the shell have gone lighter and off to another shade of color which looks kind of ugly.

My old original SNES was turning yellow, but it broke a couple years ago. Now I have one of those SNES mini things, I'm pretty happy with it :3

Thanks, only about... oh... 20 years too late for my SNES.
I always did keep it out of the sunlight (well... until after the damage had already been done).
Might have it near a vent though.

i see a bunch of ugly snes consoles everywhere