Ah, you are referring to the game lock. This one don't have that.....and the FCC number on the bottom, and the "eject" writing on the eject button is both raised.
Yep. That's a good thing because the earliest ones have the worst video quality and have a high failure rate. I've seen bad PPU1, bad PPU2, bad CPU, and most common by far: RF-only due to some sync failure with the video encoder/amplification. These all have SHVC-CPU-01 boards inside with a modular APU for the SPC700 so they weigh more. They also have the locking mechanism, a foil serial number sticker, and four rubber feet.
The oval logo controller variant was introduced with the cost-reduced SHVC-101 (Super Famicom Jr) and SNS-101 (smaller SNES with no eject lever or power light) so that they could have one international controller shell design so you'll see both SNES and SFC emblems on the bottom. That model SNES landed in 1997... after the N64. They did sell the controllers separately but the box was distinct with Mario RPG characters. I have seen boxed counterfeits that also copied this box but yours is clearly not one of those.
Perhaps they lost their controller and bought another so that they could sell it... otherwise it doesn't look like the original owners put it away after playing Zelda twice. By the time that controller came around stores had long run out of stock of the locking Zelda and it never got a retail reprint until Nintendo re-released it in the Player's Choice Million Seller series (distinctly different shell ND label). I know because I bought my SNES Feb '94 and was paying close attention to reprints, hoping to get one that matched the rest of my collection (yes, I was THAT kid).
🙂 The only non-Player's Choice Million Seller copies with the new cartridge shell design were sold as console bonus bundles (sticker on the box kind as opposed to a new "set").
If they weren't purporting to be the original owners it would be a little pointless for them to promote that they only played it twice but *shrug* who knows.
OK, I'm done nerding out about that stuff for now.
🙂 I strongly suggest an FX PAK/SD2SNES and Retro Gaming Cables RAD2x HDMI cables (or HD Retrovision + RetroTink 2X).
The FXPAK let's you download and play pretty much every SNES game ever made, including the special chip games, from an SD card. No emulation. That's what makes it worth the price.
The RGC RAD2x cables may sound like overkill but we have no decent way to use RGB video on North American televisions and modern TVs don't properly support the SNES console's 240p resolution. All the junk HDMI cables/converters have the same problem, even when made specifically for the SNES. They deinterlace non-interlaced 240p which adds latency, blurs movement, and causes visual artifacts that can ruin the game.
For example, your character might flash at 60hz to simulate transparency when you get hit as a way for the game to let you know you are invincible for a moment. A modern TV will show you alternately solid or invisible, which has you floundering around trying to find yourself until you jump down the pit or worse (become visible/vulnerable again while inside an enemy and die instantly).
A game might alternately flash powerups at 60hz to stay below the limit for simultaneous sprites and reduce slow-down but then the power ups appear invisible or appear/disappear every couple seconds.
Other games flash power-ups when they are about to disappear but they may appear solid, fooling you to spend your time doing something else until it is too late to grab them.
If you have an S-Video capable tube TV then you can get most of the way to good video with a cheap cable but the vast majority are wired incorrectly so that they will work with SNS-101. Chroma is connected to composite video which causes diagonal lines of interference mostly visible in areas of solid color.
