SNES and SFC buying questions

My brother and I are looking to get one of these two systems, I'm just not quite sure which is a better investment. Buying the Super Nintendo means that we can play all sorts of cool SNES games and understand them because their in English. The Super Famicom, in addition to looking way cooler, can play Battle Tetris, which is a must for us. I'm not sure what to get. Is there a way I can play all games on one system?

I think the region lock-out comes down to two little plastic tabs that keep the cartridges from getting in, although I may be thinking of the DS and the GBA/GBC thing.

There is no region lock on SNES. The hardware and software is exactly the same. You'll note on US SNES carts there are two notches on the cart that are not present on Japan carts. The solution to this is to very carefully remove the two little pieces of plastic in the SNES that block the Japanese cart from going in. Likewise, you may just be able to buy the super famicom, I'm not sure if it has any "protection."

Super Famicom all the way, or even better a Super Famicom Jr. You can use something like the XBand adapter for playing US games.

You can also buy a game genie and remove the tabs from that if you don't want to mess around with taking the SNES apart and/or sticking cutting tools inside of it to get the snes to play japanese games.

@Zidd said:

You can also buy a game genie and remove the tabs from that if you don't want to mess around with taking the SNES apart and/or sticking cutting tools inside of it to get the snes to play japanese games.

That's a very clever idea.

Super Famicom! They're like $80 plus $70 shipping on eBay, with box.

yeah,i think so, Super Famicom all the way, or even better a Super Famicom Jr. You can use something like the XBand adapter for playing US games .http://www.smecenter.net/45.jpg

If you don't have either, I'd say go with a Super Nintendo. As mentioned, there are very easy ways to get around the physical region protection. A Super Famicom won't be able to fit SNES cartridges without the use of an adapter, as the carts are bigger. If you're just looking to play games, I'd start out with a cheap SNES.