The rare video game collectors over at Assembler Games have struck again, this time with a piece of Super NES development hardware designed to aid in the creation of games using the Super FX chip of days of yore.  Yes, armed with this piece of equipment (called the SFX2+ which includes a Super NES on a 3" x 3" chip) you too could create your own Starfox or Super Mario World 2: Yoshi's Island.  There's plenty of pictures at which to gawk, too.

SFX2+ was Sculptured Software Inc.'s advanced development system for the Super Nintendo. SFX2+ has basic capabilities such as software breakpoints and Cartridge emulation. SFX2+ is self contained in the PC. No PIC interface card or external SNES is required. The SFX2+ fits in a slot within a PC. SFX2+ is a high-speed development platform for the Super Nintendo. DSP, mode 21, mode 20 and advance mode 20 are all supported. SFX2+ includes a AV-SNES and four megabytes of emulation ROM (SRAM).

Getting a look at old development hardware is always neat, but what interests me is comparing this comparatively tiny piece of Super NES development equipment to the massive Sega Genesis development unit discussed late last year.  I have a feeling that, somehow, there's a lesson to be learned from the size of the development tools and the fates of the respective consoles.  Or maybe it's all about the pretty pictures.  I can't decide.