Slashdot Mirror
Nintendo Ressurecting Classic NES Games to the GBA
The Pi-Guy writes "It seems contradictory to Big N's massive anti-emulation stance to introduce the GBA as an emulator itself! An official N press release states that there will be "full classic NES games for download to the GBA"." Probably not so much Duck Hunt, but it sure
would be sweet to get SMB3 on my GBA. Then I could go blind!
GBA = Game Boy Advance
SMB3 = Super Mario Bros 3
They aren't against emulation. They are against people other than Nintendo providing the emulation.
I have been pwned because my
There are many excellent NES emulators already available for the GBA - most noteably PocketNES. I wonder if Nintendo will take an aggressive stance against these kinds of developers, and NES ROM trading in general?
what the crap are you talking about. SMB3 was the last mario for the NES. The third generation gaming platform from Nintendo (barring GB, GBC, pGB, and GBA) is the n64.
They're anti-theft.
Those classic NES games are their IP. Granted, they're years old and not that many people have the systems to play them on anymore, but actions like this show that they're still commercially viable.
The problem with emulators is that of the ROM. ROMs can be distributed anywhere and everywhere, over file-sharing devices, eMail, and ftp warez sites. Due to the widespread theft of games in this manner, it's understandable that Nintendo doesn't support emulators.
From Nintendo's standpoint (which is quite legal), emulators encourage theft. They are accessories to the piracy of their IP, and I for one support their stance.
It's their games. They should be able to decide how to licence and distribute them.
Dragging people kicking and screaming into reality since 1996.
it makes sense. the justification of most people using roms/abandonware is that software companies are no longer making money from those titles, and it is hard or impossible to buy them, so they pirate the rom instead. nintendo on the other hand IS still making money off of those games (just not those particularly old builds) by re-releasing them for GBA.
When it comes to old game ROMs, and related things like this I have to wonder...
Were the games back then really good or not? By todays standards, will they still be entertaining for any length of time?
I know everyone has great memories of older games, but is that because we played them when we were kids (in my case at least), or were they really decent? I remember wasting many hours playing Mike Tyson punchout on NES. By todays standards, that game was a joke. Punch left, punch right, uppercut, dodge.
I guess it all comes down to how much will they charge per game, and is it worth it for the time you will spend in front of them now.
-Pete
Soccer Goal Plans
At least one gaming company supports classic gaming.
While Sony and Microsoft are trying to battle against each other with their powerful graphics, Nintendo are making games that are targeted for their fans.
Super Smash Brothers catered for all Nintendo fans and so are upcoming Metroid Prime and Mario Sunshine (which seems to be more gameplay focused then graphic focused).
And now this... I applaud Nintendo for making such a good choice of not letting the past die.
The games are downloadable to the GBA, yes. But that's only after you unlock them playing another game, Animal Crossing (known as Animal Forest + in Japan) for the Gamecube. Now, there's something you have to understand about Animal Crossing: 95% of people will not like this game. Imagine The Sims crossing with the talking animals found in Disney movies. That's a hint of what Animal Crossing is all about. You play the game for literally months before you can save up enough money to buy yourself a decent house, and winning NES games is purely luck-of-the-draw.
I've talked to people in Japan who have been playing the game literally for months, and they just won their first Famicom (Japan's version of the NES) game. And it's not like they play it for a day, then pick it up next week. No, no, the game continues even when you're not playing it, using the Gamecube's internal clock. The game knows when certain things happen (raffles, sales, etc) and will not let you jump in to play them later.
Also, the NES games are stored in local RAM on the GBA. Once you power it down, you're done. You gotta reload the game from your Gamecube.
Probably not so much Duck Hunt, but it sure would be sweet to get SMB3 on my GBA. Then I could go blind!
I think it's too much time spent in your room alone that's causing that one.
Well, I just managed to spend 6 straight hours playing The Legend of Zelda yesterday (and an hour trying to beat Mike Tyson the day before). I think gameplay mechanics, creativity and replay value were all *much* better/higher in the days of the Nintendo. Same holds true for the arcade games of the "old days". Going to an arcade you could find really fun games that you *wanted* to play instead of a bunch of expensive eye candy that has to lure you into playing.
And for the record, even by today's standards the gameplay of Mike Tyson's Punch-Out is not a joke. Maybe the graphics, but video games are still all about reflexes and skill (see any good FPS), not how many buttons/moves are involved in playing the game.
This isn't entirely a joke.
The review of Naked Lesbian Tennis for the NES.
mogorific carpentry experiments
Vintage computer games and RPG books available. Email me if you're interested.
This is a feature in Animal Forest + in Japan. You can play various old NES games that you find throughout the game. For the port to America (called Animal Crossing) they are instead allowing you to link up to the GBA and play the NES games on there (I believe there will be more NES games available to play in the American version). In the Japanese version you just played the NES games on the TV, not the GBA.
Animal Forest + has been out in Japan for a while and this has been known about for a while. I doubt it will be very popular over here since it's a very different type of game, but in Japan the game is pretty popular. Still, it's one of the games I'm looking forward to most (call me sucker for cutie-cutie Japanese games that are unique to all the "me too" games out there).
On GameFAQs, that someone compiled of the actual games you will be able to earn in Animal Crossing. Keep in mind the game is only out in Japan, and Nintendo is messing with which games to offer Americans
In:
Donkey Kong
Excitebike
Punchout!
Ice Climber
Pinball
Baseball
Unsure:
Balloon Fight
Super Mario Brothers
Tennis
The Legend of Zelda
Mario Bros.
Donkey Kong 3
Donkey Kong Jr.
Golf
Clu Clu Land
Clu Clu Land Disk Version
Low Chance of Making it:
Donkey Kong Jr Math
Wario's Woods
Out:
Gomokunarabe
Mahjong
So, while there are some good games on there, they are the REALLY 1st gen NES games, with not a lot of depth. I loved pinball and excitebike as much as the next kid, but they are "play an hour and get sick of it games" to me at least. (i think the NES got a little better with time Especially when it game to sports games).
I have my doubts about whether they would actually release Super Mario Bros. or Zelda, seems like it would be smarter to hold onto those for a future GBA release.
Too bad they couldn't get the cooperation of the 3rd parties on this. I would have loved to earn Mega Man 1-6 and maybe some RPG's. (i know, thats unreasonable.)
Mario Bros. (NON-super) should make a great (albeit simple) GBA game.
Super Mario 3 is not out. Super Mario World is out. Super Mario 3 was the last SMB game for the NES. Super Mario World was the first SMB game for the SNES. They are different games. If you want to give Super Mario World a number, it would be Super Mario 4.
You're forgetting one, Super Mario Brothers, The lost levels. While in the US this was on released for the SNES on a multi-game pack cart (with the other three SMB games, and Mario Bros, another NES game), it was released for the Famicom in japan.
https://www.gnu.org/philosophy/free-sw.html