Posted by
CmdrTaco
on from the well-kinda-sorta dept.
LinuxBand sent in linkage to a nice story talking about the NES as it now is celebrating its 15th year. I'm pretty sure that if I hadn't had a nintendo, I woulda had a full half point better on my high school GPA.
It has features like the 20 worst NES games of all time and the 10 worst things to base a game on. Lots of other funny stuff on there for any child of the 80s.
Re:FLASHING ON AND OFF--
by
dark_panda
·
· Score: 4
I, like every single NES owner in the world, also had this problem. Even this past summer, I could barely get one of those 42-in-one Asian carts. You know, the ones with 4 versions of Super Mario Bros., 2 versions of Tennis and at least 3 Galaxians on them. The screen would always flash green and black until I applied The Method.
Insert cart.
Press down on poorly conceived "VCR like" cartridge bay.
Turn on NES.
Watch green and black screens alternate.
Wiggle cartridge around a bit while NES is still on.
Watch as green and black screens become blue and white screens.
Remove cartridge.
Throw caution to the wind and disregard warning on back of cartridge by blowing on the connectors.
Re-insert cartridge and turn on power again.
Watch as scrambled sprites and backgrounds flash on the screen.
Wiggle cartridge some more.
Remove cartridge and blow on the connectors even harder. Wave cartridge around a bit just to be sure.
Insert, power on, pray, play.
Repeat procedure as necessary.
Many a times have I applied The Method to great results.
As a side note, does it seem strange to any of you just how indestructable those NES controllers were? I mean, they were built like brick shit houses. I've beaten those things silly and they just don't give in. Many a times have I taken one of the controllers by the cord and reamed it against the wall after constantly losing at the Adventures of Lolo, Ninja Gaiden and the nefarious last levels of Megaman. In my entire NES career, which includes up to this day, I've only replaced one controller. Meanwhile, I've gone through 2 MS Sidewinders in 2 years.
Ah the Nintendo... I still play mine every once in a while. It's important to remember, however, that the NES was not "revolutionary for its time." The Sega Master System, for instance, was a much better system with better sound and graphics hardware (64 colors!). The reason all us American kids can talk about the NES with such nostalgia is because it was all we had, and it was all we had because of marketing practices that rivaled the worst of Microsoft's.
Remember that little gold "Nintendo Seal of Quality"? Well, that seal cost a pretty penny, and a game developer had to sell his soul to get it. Developing for the NES meant that you were not permitted to make games for other systems (i.e. Sega), and since Nintendo cornered the market in the U.S., no one could afford not to make games for the Nintendo (the situation was different in Europe, by the way).
Nintendo also had policies that extended to retailers, and they even threatened to pull their systems from the shelves of Toys 'R Us when the company wouldn't play by their rules. Over the years, Nintendo was involved in countless lawsuits, most of which they lost. The industry was just so profitable, however, that it never really mattered.
I admit that the games were great, but Nintendo was (and probably still is) an evil, evil company.
yeah... I really miss mine--now all it does is flash black and white on the screen... sometimes if i clean the hell out of it, it will actually play a game, but i think its processor has seen better days, because the screen gets all corrupted--its kind of amusing sometimes.
mov ax, 13h int 10h
--
mov ax, 13h int 10h
And next year will be Sonic's 10th birthday...
by
ChaosEmerald
·
· Score: 5
(1991 - Sonic the Hedgehog was released in the US)
When you think of all the video games that just go right by its amazing. Sure, the NES was great, but there were some pieces of crap too. I honestly can't say that I've played more than 500 games in the past ten years. And how many were released, 10000?
Think of all the consoles, NES, SMS, TurboGraphix16 (awwwwwwwwwww yeah!), Genesis (+ SegaCD + 32X), SNES, NeoGeo (Metal Slug!), Saturn, PSX, Nintendo 64, Dreamcast, and soon to come out PS2.
There have been many series, from Mega Man to Mario to Sonic to Zelda to Phantasy Star to Street Fighter to Double Dragon to Battle Toads to... But when was the last time you saw a Double Dragon game or a Battle Toads game? I'm just amazed at the amount of games I've never played, and the amount that will keep on coming.
--
I am a bad speler. Please ignore speling meestakes in me poast.
Distributed Computing Power and NES
by
1nt3lx
·
· Score: 4
Yes! It has a processor and a way to accept user input. Someone should port LINUX to it! Once someone found a way to network them the possibilities would be endless...
Imagine a pile of NES's running linux in some sort of a cluster. Wow, I can just hear the tech's now. "Quick! Number 342-32 is down! Get over there and exhale into the cartridge!"
Most of the time breathing on the contacts would work, too. I can't say anything ever beat a good swift punch, though.
Slashdot Mirror
Every NES fan should take a look at Seanbaby's NES Page.
http://seanbaby.com/nes.htm
It has features like the 20 worst NES games of all time and the 10 worst things to base a game on. Lots of other funny stuff on there for any child of the 80s.
- Insert cart.
- Press down on poorly conceived "VCR like" cartridge bay.
- Turn on NES.
- Watch green and black screens alternate.
- Wiggle cartridge around a bit while NES is still on.
- Watch as green and black screens become blue and white screens.
- Remove cartridge.
- Throw caution to the wind and disregard warning on back of cartridge by blowing on the connectors.
- Re-insert cartridge and turn on power again.
- Watch as scrambled sprites and backgrounds flash on the screen.
- Wiggle cartridge some more.
- Remove cartridge and blow on the connectors even harder. Wave cartridge around a bit just to be sure.
- Insert, power on, pray, play.
- Repeat procedure as necessary.
Many a times have I applied The Method to great results.As a side note, does it seem strange to any of you just how indestructable those NES controllers were? I mean, they were built like brick shit houses. I've beaten those things silly and they just don't give in. Many a times have I taken one of the controllers by the cord and reamed it against the wall after constantly losing at the Adventures of Lolo, Ninja Gaiden and the nefarious last levels of Megaman. In my entire NES career, which includes up to this day, I've only replaced one controller. Meanwhile, I've gone through 2 MS Sidewinders in 2 years.
They don't make 'em like they used to I guess.
J
It's amazing what some sites will do to increase banner hits.
What would a mint-condition NES with ROB and games be worth these days?
Ah the Nintendo... I still play mine every once in a while. It's important to remember, however, that the NES was not "revolutionary for its time." The Sega Master System, for instance, was a much better system with better sound and graphics hardware (64 colors!). The reason all us American kids can talk about the NES with such nostalgia is because it was all we had, and it was all we had because of marketing practices that rivaled the worst of Microsoft's.
Remember that little gold "Nintendo Seal of Quality"? Well, that seal cost a pretty penny, and a game developer had to sell his soul to get it. Developing for the NES meant that you were not permitted to make games for other systems (i.e. Sega), and since Nintendo cornered the market in the U.S., no one could afford not to make games for the Nintendo (the situation was different in Europe, by the way).
Nintendo also had policies that extended to retailers, and they even threatened to pull their systems from the shelves of Toys 'R Us when the company wouldn't play by their rules. Over the years, Nintendo was involved in countless lawsuits, most of which they lost. The industry was just so profitable, however, that it never really mattered.
I admit that the games were great, but Nintendo was (and probably still is) an evil, evil company.
yeah... I really miss mine--now all it does is flash black and white on the screen... sometimes if i clean the hell out of it, it will actually play a game, but i think its processor has seen better days, because the screen gets all corrupted--its kind of amusing sometimes.
mov ax, 13h
int 10h
mov ax, 13h
int 10h
When you think of all the video games that just go right by its amazing. Sure, the NES was great, but there were some pieces of crap too. I honestly can't say that I've played more than 500 games in the past ten years. And how many were released, 10000?
Think of all the consoles, NES, SMS, TurboGraphix16 (awwwwwwwwwww yeah!), Genesis (+ SegaCD + 32X), SNES, NeoGeo (Metal Slug!), Saturn, PSX, Nintendo 64, Dreamcast, and soon to come out PS2. There have been many series, from Mega Man to Mario to Sonic to Zelda to Phantasy Star to Street Fighter to Double Dragon to Battle Toads to ... But when was the last time you saw a Double Dragon game or a Battle Toads game? I'm just amazed at the amount of games I've never played, and the amount that will keep on coming.
I am a bad speler. Please ignore speling meestakes in me poast.
Comment removed based on user account deletion
Yes! It has a processor and a way to accept user input. Someone should port LINUX to it! Once someone found a way to network them the possibilities would be endless...
Imagine a pile of NES's running linux in some sort of a cluster. Wow, I can just hear the tech's now.
"Quick! Number 342-32 is down! Get over there and exhale into the cartridge!"
Most of the time breathing on the contacts would work, too. I can't say anything ever beat a good swift punch, though.
The List of Grievances with Slashdot.