British actor and comedian Rik Mayall appeared in several advertisements in the UK for the SNES, including "Super Mario All-Stars" and "Link's Awakening". He used the money he earned to buy a house in London which he nicknamed "Nintendo Towers". He also starred in the cartoon "King Arthur's Disasters" which included a familiar looking merchant, selling the main character a donkey named "Kong".

Early in its development, Nintendo planned on making the SNES backward compatible by having a second cartridge slot for NES games. Nintendo ultimately decided against it, as it would have made the SNES around $75 more expensive.

Due to South Korea banning Japanese cultural imports at the end of World War II, the SNES was distributed by South Korean company Samsung, and was named the Super Comboy.

Samsung released many consoles in South Korea under alternate names, like the Game Boy, Genesis, Master System, Game Gear, NES and Nintendo 64.