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I thought Nintendo was AGAINST emulation? :p No, I know they'd permit it if they were doing it, especially if they had control over it. And it's not really all that much information. Some games are as small as 40kb (Super Mario Brothers, for example), and even the largest NES games are only 512kb (Megaman 4-6, Castlevania 3), which can be made a lot smaller if they're compressed. Anyway, what they could do is write a small emulator on the GBA cartridge and have a trading card reader that will enable ROM images already on that cartridge. You can put a lot of info on a GBA cart. I don't know the max capacity of a GBA cart, so that's just speculation. There's an FAQ on the GBA e-reader here, but that has more to do with Pokemon (and, if you think about it, it would make more sense)

The chances of anyone making money out of the wireless hotspots could be dented by the fact that many community groups and well-intentioned individuals are setting up networks anyone can use for free.

This is how just about everything works on the internet, aside from most broadband connections. Regardless of what corporations are offering, someone else is offering it for free. The record industry wants to sell you CDs, but hundreds of people are willing to just send you a copy online. Subscription news sites, especially gaming ones like IGN and GameSpot, want to sell you their news and content, but Gameforms, The Magic Box, and GameFAQS are all giving the same stuff away for free. And now wireless internet companies are trying to sell you wireless internet access when the same people that are using P2P services are willing to just give internet access away for free.

There simply isn't any way to compete with people that are giving away the same product as your company for free, at least not for a small startup industry that doesn't have the financial and political clout to legislate against the people giving it away for free or strongarm the supply side of the market.

Is this what the CDs did in the game Revolution X?

http://www.gamefaqs.com/console/dreamcast/data/251 16.html

Thank god I still have my 7800 in working condition....

Basically [a minority report] is, I believe, a dissenting opinion.

Thanks. You expressed it in terms that the legions of armchair lawyers on /. could understand without giving away the plot.

Now this immediately raises a question. Why didn't they just call it a dissent? Simple: If Fox called the movie "Dissent", then Interplay would hang them if they tried to make a video game out of the movie.

Not to mention the fact that the GBA will play all existing Gameboy Games.

you forgot my favorite resource gamefaqs. the top ten message boards almost always has at least three of the 'must have' games for any console.
to save people some time though:
1. Resident Evil
2. Super Smash Bros. Melee
3. WWE Wrestlemania X8
4. Star Wars: Rogue Leader- Rogue Squadron 2
5. Sonic Adventure 2 Battle
6. Legend of Zelda
7. Phantasy Star Online Episode I & II
8. Mario Sunshine
9. Spider-Man: The Movie
10. Bloody Roar: Primal Fury

GameCube has some good titles, and unlike the dreamcast there isn't a chance in hell that the Big N will drop development, anytime soon.
Although if the PS2 is $199 as the article implies, it's better short term, as many good GC games won't be hitting shelves until christmas.
Besides, they've finally got a good modchip (daughter-card) for the PS2 v5 or v6 boards here

Just wanted to point out a website called GameFAQS. It contains hundreds of FAQs, walkthrough, tricks, eastereggs, and user reviews all for free! (and for most console and computer systems out there, to boot). I'm trying to load it right now, and it's being a little slow, but the last time I used it (to find if I missed anything in Black and White I believe), it was extremely useful.

(No, I'm not affiliated).

Check this poll .
Admitedly, it is a gamer site, but the results still are... disturbing...

If I recall, there was a version of MULE ported to the NES back in its heyday-- actually, I'm sure of it. It was one of the flagship 4-player titles for that system. Anyone play it?

Yes, gamefaqs is a goldmine of information for and about video games. Keep in mind though, just because there's little to no industry bias there, doesn't mean there aren't other kinds. And as you previously pointed out, the correct address is www.gamefaqs.com

I think it was spectre 7... well thats what it was on the PC... ah after looking at GameFaqs I noticed it was Spectre VR...

GameFAQs did a funny April Fool's joke where they turned themselves into GameFAXs (with the X being the X-box X), claiming they went all X-box, since "it's the only system that matters"

See previous Sega examples of modularity in action, like the 32X and SegaCD. The add-ons for Genesis made it a real hoss machine in comparison to competitors machines. But lack of support and a new wave of systems killed it. Modularity only goes so far, at least in previous examples.

See previous Sega examples of modularity in action, like the 32X and SegaCD. The add-ons for Genesis made it a real hoss machine in comparison to competitors machines. But lack of support and a new wave of systems killed it. Modularity only goes so far, at least in previous examples.

Ok, I'll bite :) Just because this thread is getting very interesting, I decided to do some research about the Genesis. Very cool stuff here. It seems it's VERY closely related to Amiga hardware. A 68000 processor at *about* 8 mhz (amiga 500), 1mb of system ram, 512 possible colors. Here's where it gets interesting (and amigans will recognize the term) "Though the Genesis could only display a maximum of 64 colors at any given time, special software techniques such as HAM (Hold and Modify) could be used to boost color output. Such a technique was used in the game "Eternal Champions", which had an output of 256 colors. Sega CD Based games (such as "Snatcher") also used this method." So, the Amiga used HAM to get 4096 simultaneous colors, whereas the Genesis used it to get 256 simultaneous. Most impressive. For those that didn't hit the link up there, also note that the Yamaha FM chip was superior to the opl2/3 chips used in Sound Blaster cards around that same time. I take exception to the comment that the SNES had better sound. Sure it had dolby, but there were some amazing soundtracks on games like Revenge of Shinobi and Street Rage. Samples vs. synthesis. Thanks for all the interesting comments, it's rare to see a chain of interesting posts that don't degenerate into mudslinging. :)

GameFAQs is referer protected. Following a link from another site to a GameFAQs URL that does not end in "/", ".html", or ".asp" produces a server error. Try this link instead.

ObTopic: The light improves the Golden Sun experience tremendously.

• Step-by-Step Walkthrough
• Step-by-Step Walkthrough (Japanese)
• Step-by-Step Walkthrough (Spanish)
• Location of all Djinns
• Djinn Class Mechanics
• Class Changes
• Item List
• World Map

• Step-by-Step Walkthrough
• Step-by-Step Walkthrough (Japanese)
• Step-by-Step Walkthrough (Spanish)
• Location of all Djinns
• Djinn Class Mechanics
• Class Changes
• Item List
• World Map

• Step-by-Step Walkthrough
• Step-by-Step Walkthrough (Japanese)
• Step-by-Step Walkthrough (Spanish)
• Location of all Djinns
• Djinn Class Mechanics
• Class Changes
• Item List
• World Map

• Step-by-Step Walkthrough
• Step-by-Step Walkthrough (Japanese)
• Step-by-Step Walkthrough (Spanish)
• Location of all Djinns
• Djinn Class Mechanics
• Class Changes
• Item List
• World Map

• Step-by-Step Walkthrough
• Step-by-Step Walkthrough (Japanese)
• Step-by-Step Walkthrough (Spanish)
• Location of all Djinns
• Djinn Class Mechanics
• Class Changes
• Item List
• World Map

• Step-by-Step Walkthrough
• Step-by-Step Walkthrough (Japanese)
• Step-by-Step Walkthrough (Spanish)
• Location of all Djinns
• Djinn Class Mechanics
• Class Changes
• Item List
• World Map

• Step-by-Step Walkthrough
• Step-by-Step Walkthrough (Japanese)
• Step-by-Step Walkthrough (Spanish)
• Location of all Djinns
• Djinn Class Mechanics
• Class Changes
• Item List
• World Map

• Step-by-Step Walkthrough
• Step-by-Step Walkthrough (Japanese)
• Step-by-Step Walkthrough (Spanish)
• Location of all Djinns
• Djinn Class Mechanics
• Class Changes
• Item List
• World Map

My suggestion is to read the lowest rating and maybe one of the more verbose high ratings. Of course, as always, keep your wits about you to guard against fanboys and trolls.

The game you're thinking of is M.C. Kids, and it was actually a very good (and hard!) platformer. It was originally to be used in conjunction with a McDonald's promotion, but they balked out after being shown the finished product (Probably didn't like the difficulty level, I think. As I said, it's quite hard). Check out GameFAQs and search it. There's an awesome walkthrough for it available. Highly recommended NES playing. Excellent gameplay, excellent music, excellent graphics. One of the most unknown NES games ever...

It turns out the CPU has less impact on graphics than you'd think. The more important factor was the SNES's custom graphics chip. : the SNES can display a maximum of 128 simultaneous sprites, the maximum for the Genesis is 80. The Genesis can display up to 20 (small-sized) sprites per line, the SNES can display a maximum of 32 per line. The genesis is capable of displaying sprites up to 32x32 pixels; SNES sprites go up to 64x64 pixels.

Definitely there were a lot of slowdown problems in the first SNES games, but the same thing was true of the first few Genesis games. Developers hugely improved their skills with the SNES, and around the time Space Megaforce came along in 1992, major slowdown ceased to be a problem in most SNES games. Try Space Megaforce out, to see what I mean. For a direct comparison of an earlier game with loads of slowdown, try something like Super R-Type.

It's All your base are belong to us! not All your base are belong to U.S.!

The game says it in all caps: "ALL YOUR BASE ARE BELONG TO US" which can be interpreted either way. I tend to think of the Zero Wing story thus: In A.D. 2101, a reverse Pearl Harbor was beginning. Cats (Katz?) is the new leader of the United States armed forces, and Japan has to defend itself with its Zig fighters. The GameFAQs page tells a similar story.

Saw this post on a Gamefaqs.com board a bit ago...A bit of cheer for those that need it, maybe, and something for anyone that's been bashing the US lately to consider :)

wonderswan faq - you guys suck...

Ok, due to weird Slashdot formatting shit, try this link : Wonderswan FAQ

Keep on making jokes like that, and I'll send you on the way to destruction so fast you won't be able to make your time!
Visit GameFAQS for great translation!

There is only one handheld system that isn't a wonderswan and it's called the game boy advance.

What about the Neo-Geo Pocket Color? Or Palm devices?

"Square here. Sorry Nintendo. Sorry for dumping your sorry Pokemon covered asses and making a boatload of cash off the Playstation. We're also very sorry you made the tragically bad decision to go cartridge instead of CD just to make copying harder..."

My opinion. Square should keep doing what they have done. Screw Nintendo.

---

HA!

You are not alone in that wish.

If you want tips, cheats or reviews, then head to GameFAQ's. This is by far the BEST games related site on the net for anything other than game news. Hell, very few other sites deal in ALL platforms and even have translations up for Japanese import games.

Always a shame to see a well known site go down, but Gamecenter is no big deal. As for it's replacement... BLEURK! Nested tables are the work of Satan.

Formidable, but their mincemeat up against a stack of fortified slingers or longbowman. That's another thing I loved about the game: no one killer strategy. Would have made some kick-ass multiplayer.

Probably not many are still reading this thread, but I'll post it anyway. Gamefaqs.com has a MOM message board that a few of us have been haunting in recent weeks. The posting has dropped to a minimum as of late, but if anyone out there's still listening and interested, stop on by, and do your part to revitalize the board!

Here's The Link!

So now the fan who doesn't want to pay $20 to buy a (probably watered down) "Official" strategy guide from Nintendo can't go and read shit off the net when they're in a jam? Thank god for GameFAQs.

It's shit like this that makes me ashamed that I owned Zelda bedsheets when I was 10 ;)

I seem to remeber the old 8-bit NES had an "action mat" type controller. I think it looked kind of like a Twister mat, with contacts under the dots. Perhaps with a little work someone could get it rewired to talk over a serial port?

Yes, NES had a peripheral like this called the "power pad". A friend of mine had one, but I was a po white child living in a trailer at the time. GameFAQs is ordinarily the place to look for this info. However, there appears to only be a brief mention (as in, name only) of the Power Pad in ANY of the FAQs there. I did manage to find it at nesfan.com:

Released by Nintendo in 1988, the 'Power Pad' was a unique type of game controller for the NES that was marketed as a way to get fit, while playing video games. By laying the two-sided 'Power Pad' onto the floor and connected it to the NES, the Power Pad could manipulate the onscreen characters by moving ones feet (or hands, if you preffered), around on the blue and red touchpads, which worked as buttons. There were 12 touchpads on one side, and 8 touchpads on the other. Very few games were designed for the 'Power Pad' (most notably 'World Class Track Meet' and 'Dance Aerobics'), and before long it was abandoned by the development community.
Peripherals list

There are pads much like it for the Dreamcast, which are used to play games like Dance Dance Revolution Remix 2.

I am pretty sure they had "fight ring" that was a big circle of plastic and sensors you laid on the floor and stood inside.

The "fight ring" device you are thinking of is the "Activator" for the Sega Genesis. According to the Genesis FAQ by Barry Cantin):

Activator - Karate/fighting game aid. Large ring of motion sensors that determine one's moves and translate them to actions in games.

There's also mention of it in this other, smaller FAQ by Chris Foulger:

One of the more unusual Sega add ons was this controller that was a sort of virtual reality controller. The Activator had eight sides and was placed flat on the floor. Infra red beams were projected up from each of the sides. The player stood in the middle and broke the beams at different hights and combinations to produce the moves on screen. Compatible mostly with fighting games although a manual included in the pack displayed combinations for some of the more popular Genesis titles. Only released in America.

I seem to recall some other FAQ or website claiming that it pretty much sucked, as IR is not an ideal application. A friend of mine used to have a IR controller for the original NES which opened much like a laptop, and also had a T-bar adapter which you could plug into a socket in the unit. The socket only served to keep the T-bar in the right location, however. There were also handles you could snap onto the T-bar which had a button on the top; The button would move a flap on the bottom of each handle which had a white surface on it (reflected the IR more strongly) and a black surface (still reflected IR, but not so much.) I can't remember what it was called, because it sucked.

I seem to remeber the old 8-bit NES had an "action mat" type controller. I think it looked kind of like a Twister mat, with contacts under the dots. Perhaps with a little work someone could get it rewired to talk over a serial port?

Yes, NES had a peripheral like this called the "power pad". A friend of mine had one, but I was a po white child living in a trailer at the time. GameFAQs is ordinarily the place to look for this info. However, there appears to only be a brief mention (as in, name only) of the Power Pad in ANY of the FAQs there. I did manage to find it at nesfan.com:

Released by Nintendo in 1988, the 'Power Pad' was a unique type of game controller for the NES that was marketed as a way to get fit, while playing video games. By laying the two-sided 'Power Pad' onto the floor and connected it to the NES, the Power Pad could manipulate the onscreen characters by moving ones feet (or hands, if you preffered), around on the blue and red touchpads, which worked as buttons. There were 12 touchpads on one side, and 8 touchpads on the other. Very few games were designed for the 'Power Pad' (most notably 'World Class Track Meet' and 'Dance Aerobics'), and before long it was abandoned by the development community.
Peripherals list

There are pads much like it for the Dreamcast, which are used to play games like Dance Dance Revolution Remix 2.

I am pretty sure they had "fight ring" that was a big circle of plastic and sensors you laid on the floor and stood inside.

The "fight ring" device you are thinking of is the "Activator" for the Sega Genesis. According to the Genesis FAQ by Barry Cantin):

Activator - Karate/fighting game aid. Large ring of motion sensors that determine one's moves and translate them to actions in games.

There's also mention of it in this other, smaller FAQ by Chris Foulger:

One of the more unusual Sega add ons was this controller that was a sort of virtual reality controller. The Activator had eight sides and was placed flat on the floor. Infra red beams were projected up from each of the sides. The player stood in the middle and broke the beams at different hights and combinations to produce the moves on screen. Compatible mostly with fighting games although a manual included in the pack displayed combinations for some of the more popular Genesis titles. Only released in America.

I seem to recall some other FAQ or website claiming that it pretty much sucked, as IR is not an ideal application. A friend of mine used to have a IR controller for the original NES which opened much like a laptop, and also had a T-bar adapter which you could plug into a socket in the unit. The socket only served to keep the T-bar in the right location, however. There were also handles you could snap onto the T-bar which had a button on the top; The button would move a flap on the bottom of each handle which had a white surface on it (reflected the IR more strongly) and a black surface (still reflected IR, but not so much.) I can't remember what it was called, because it sucked.

I seem to remeber the old 8-bit NES had an "action mat" type controller. I think it looked kind of like a Twister mat, with contacts under the dots. Perhaps with a little work someone could get it rewired to talk over a serial port?

Yes, NES had a peripheral like this called the "power pad". A friend of mine had one, but I was a po white child living in a trailer at the time. GameFAQs is ordinarily the place to look for this info. However, there appears to only be a brief mention (as in, name only) of the Power Pad in ANY of the FAQs there. I did manage to find it at nesfan.com:

Released by Nintendo in 1988, the 'Power Pad' was a unique type of game controller for the NES that was marketed as a way to get fit, while playing video games. By laying the two-sided 'Power Pad' onto the floor and connected it to the NES, the Power Pad could manipulate the onscreen characters by moving ones feet (or hands, if you preffered), around on the blue and red touchpads, which worked as buttons. There were 12 touchpads on one side, and 8 touchpads on the other. Very few games were designed for the 'Power Pad' (most notably 'World Class Track Meet' and 'Dance Aerobics'), and before long it was abandoned by the development community.
Peripherals list

There are pads much like it for the Dreamcast, which are used to play games like Dance Dance Revolution Remix 2.

I am pretty sure they had "fight ring" that was a big circle of plastic and sensors you laid on the floor and stood inside.

The "fight ring" device you are thinking of is the "Activator" for the Sega Genesis. According to the Genesis FAQ by Barry Cantin):

Activator - Karate/fighting game aid. Large ring of motion sensors that determine one's moves and translate them to actions in games.

There's also mention of it in this other, smaller FAQ by Chris Foulger:

One of the more unusual Sega add ons was this controller that was a sort of virtual reality controller. The Activator had eight sides and was placed flat on the floor. Infra red beams were projected up from each of the sides. The player stood in the middle and broke the beams at different hights and combinations to produce the moves on screen. Compatible mostly with fighting games although a manual included in the pack displayed combinations for some of the more popular Genesis titles. Only released in America.

I seem to recall some other FAQ or website claiming that it pretty much sucked, as IR is not an ideal application. A friend of mine used to have a IR controller for the original NES which opened much like a laptop, and also had a T-bar adapter which you could plug into a socket in the unit. The socket only served to keep the T-bar in the right location, however. There were also handles you could snap onto the T-bar which had a button on the top; The button would move a flap on the bottom of each handle which had a white surface on it (reflected the IR more strongly) and a black surface (still reflected IR, but not so much.) I can't remember what it was called, because it sucked.

Some Sega Genesis controllers are compatible with Atari 2600 consoles, presumably for compatibility with the Sega Master System.

The 2600/7800 FAQ will tell you how to convert a number of controllers to work with the old systems, including telling you how to convert a SMS light gun to the pinout for the atari.

By the way, Genesis and SMS gamepads work on an atari without modification, provided they're not some weird version with autofire or something. A better question is, why would you want to use a sega controller? Every generation of Sega controller (except perhaps the DC) has in common the problem of it not being easy to move in the cardinal directions; This is much worse on the SMS controller than on the others. You would be much better off doing a NES controller conversion. You can get NES controllers for $0.50 or so (sometimes as much as two bucks! Don't get taken) at flea markets, or for $1.49 at Funcoland. I don't know if that price is what they charge in-store, but that's the mail order price. I can't help you with cables, though. The NES controller is nigh-indestructible, so it's my first choice. It's also VERY easy to move in any of the eight directions.

• The Saturn had no extant game library to tap into, upon release.
  
• The PS2 can play most of the current PSX game library.
  
  
• The Saturn had no extant video library to tap into, upon release.
  
• The PS2 can play most DVDs, depending on driver software, region coding, and other hacks.
  
  
• The Saturn actually had a fairly successful launch, considering their biggest competitor was the NES(see FAQ.)
  
• The PS2's biggest competitor is the PSX, it's direct ancestor.
  

Time will only tell if the PS2 is more successful than the Saturn was, but Sony desperately needs to get these things in peoples' homes if they're going to have any success. There's a lot of demand now, but it's not going to last forever.

One of the things that's credited with crippling the poor Saturn from the start was Sega's mystifying move-up-the-launch bit. Originally intended for the Christmas season, Sega launched out-of-the-blue in May of 1995, coming as a surprise to many/most. The rest of the list smacks true, as well - just wanted to chip that in. (Check the Saturn system FAQ on GameFAQs.)

I don't know if any of this is correct, but there is a Neo-Geo faq here.
For the geeks (from the faq):
Processor: Motorola 68000(12 Mhz, 16-bit), Zilog-80A(4 Mhz, 8-bit)
(technically a 16-bit machine, not 24-bit)
Resolution: 320x224
Color Palette: 65,536
Maximum Colors On-Screen: 4,096
Maximum Sprites On-Screen: 380
Minimum Sprite Size: 1x2
Maximum Sprite Size: 16x512
Maximum Amount of Game Planes: 3
Sound Channels: 4-FM synthesis, 7-Digital, 3-PSG, 1-Noise channel
Internal RAM: Work RAM: 64Kb
Video RAM: 68Kb
Z80 RAM: 2Kb
Memory Card(see below)

The NEOGEOCD has all, including a single-speed CD-ROM drive,
64Kb of Static RAM, 512Kb Video RAM, cool loading screens, and 56 Mbits of D-RAM! The
CDZ, likewise, except with more cache and a faster CD controller.

I seem to remember them being much better than that. Maybe it was just the cd-rom that was so cool.


-----
My karma is still less than my age.

OK. I'm what you might call a Virtua Fighter obsessive, so I feel qualified to field this one.

The key things are:

1) Competition. Most fighting games are pretty ordinary as single player games. The real action is multiplayer. A group of friends that play together regularly (winner stays on) or (adrenalin rush) challenging random players at the arcade is really, really fun.

2) Knowledge. It is critical to pick a game you like (because of how it looks, what it's called, the skimpiness of the female characters outfits, whatever) and _get good at it_. Play it a lot, and learn it properly. Once you have one game down, the basics of timing and strategy are transferable.

3) Strategy. Once you know what you're doing, it's all down to reflexes and strategy. Some games favour reflexes, but any (good) fighting game allows someone with average reflexes (like me) to a beat a 14 year old with no strategy. Range, timing, offence/defence, counterattacking, feints, fakes, all of these things are useful in any decent fighting game.

4) Combos. This is the creative side of fighting games. It just means creating sequences of moves that you know have a good chance of doing big damage to your opponent. Most games allow you to do float combos (where you knock your opponent in the air, then punish them as they "float") which tend to be very enjoyable. Some moves will be very tricky to pull off, so the feeling of managing it in a real fight is satisfying (go look up SPoD somewhere VF is discussed...).

The basic idea -- to me anyway -- of fighting games is to mimic the _strategies_ of a real fight, but modified so that (1) it's not over in a couple of seconds and (2) it looks flashier (all those spinning, jumping kicks that would get you killed on the street can be thoroughly abused in a game!).

Good fighting games: Street Fighter (2D, but tuned to perfection), Virtua Fighter series (VF3tb is latest and greatest).

Bad fighting gamse: Soul Calibur (loads of fun, but collision detection is too dodgy/random), Tekken (same problem, plus too easy).

Give it a try! Dreamcast (which spawned this thread) is currently fighting game console of choice. And the standard joypad is fine... don't listen to the whingers!

For more VF3 ranting, go here!

gribbly.

The graphics on the DC are insane... won't be surpassed by anything except the PSX-2. Beyond that, the games are supurb. I don't regard fighting games as "mindless entertainment". Virtua Fighter 3tb is an extrodinary game, worth buying a DC just for that (then there's Sega Rally, Soul Calibur, Shenmue, SFA3Z, Chu Chu Rocket, NFL2K, and on and on). I don't think I can explain the depth and strategy inherent in VF3 without making _way_ too long, so if you want to hear me wax lyrical check this out! DC rocks very hard. gribbly.