PM me, and we'll discuss it further.

Uh, I honestly don't remember. I'll check it when I get home. Pretty sure it was this one, which is indeed AC. IIRC it outputs 9V, but the SNES actually needs 10V, or so I've heard.

*edit* Yup, it's that one.

It's in a surge protector currently. *sigh*...looks like I'll have to scrounge up an original power adapter after all.

My hero!! *swoon*

(also, apologies for not sending you the picture I promised, but this thing is comically yellowed as well. If you'd like to take it in as a YouTube specimen I'll happily ship it to you.)

Are you perchance using a power supply that's outputting AC?

Don't dismay, I'll be posting a SNES overhaul video in a couple weeks.
I know it doesn't help you right now, but I'm confident you'll be able to get your venerable old Super NIntendo working again.

1. this sounds like a grounding loop. if you use surge protector that sometimes fixes the problem. otherwise yea maybe see if getting an original snes adaptor would do the trick.

So I naively purchased a bunch of SNES gear from PianoGameboy without having fully tested my thrift-store-bought $20 SNES...there are some funky things goin' on here. Was wondering if anyone can help identify the issues.

1. With Starfox, there are some slow-moving, horizontal hazy white 'bands' that are barely visible that scroll downwards (I think this might be a power adapter thing as I couldn't find an original power adapter and ended up getting one of those ones off of Amazon that I don't think are the correct voltage).

2. Also in Starfox, when a controller is in controller port 1, the game skips the intro video and goes to the "controls" screen. The example Arwing is rotated 90 degrees to the right, which I think means the game thinks that one of the buttons ('R'?) is stuck down. It's not a controller issue but seems to be the ports themselves - the game will play the whole intro and the Arwing will be un-rotated if the same controller is in controller port 2.

3. Pressing buttons on any controller in any port does nothing, for any game. Likewise for the SNES mouse. Again, seems to suggest faulty ports.

4. Cannondale Racing, Super Mario World, and some other SNES games start up OK but don't go past the menu because the controllers do nothing (duh).

5. Mario Paint *sorta* starts - one time out of 6 or so, it'll boot to a black screen with some weird gray artifacts for like half a second and occasionally make a little blip noise. Other than that, it does nothing despite repeated resets.

6. The Super Game Boy doesn't work with any gameboy games I have tried - instead it shows a bright pink screen upon boot.

So, what gives? Cartridge port? Controller port? Just a busted-ass, wonky old SNES? Help appreciated.