The PAL SNES looked sweet. The NTSC one...did not. But judging by these ancient magazine scans, the potential was there for it to look a whole lot better.

Chris Covell, a nomad who wanders the streets of Japan in search of historical artefacts, has hit paydirt. Paydirt being an old 1988 copy of Famicom Tsushin Magazine, which contained, among other things, pictures of the prototype SNES/Super Famicom.

Also included are some shots of a control pad that's pretty much spot-on with the final product, some early shots of Pilotwings and, best of all, pics of what was basically a redesigned NES, styled to match the new SNES.

More shots after the leap.

The redesigned Famicom/NES in all its glory. It looks pretty cute nestled in there with its younger brother.

The Pilotwings formerly known as "Dragonfly".

Another money shot of the SNES that never was. Anyone else thinks it looks a lot closer to the final PAL version than the blockier NTSC one? Luke Plunkett

Early(1988)Super Famicom Demos [Chris Covell, via NeoGAF]

Send an email to the author of this post at plunkett@kotaku.com.