GBA-Based Classic NES Series Confirmed For States

Thanks to IGN for its article revealing that Nintendo has confirmed their Game Boy Advance-based classic NES conversions for U.S. release on June 7th. According to the article: "The collection [already released in Japan as the Famicom Mini Series] will be called [the] Classic NES Series, and will begin as a limited edition NES Game Boy Advance SP as well as a line-up of eight classic games", with the specific titles being Donkey Kong, Pac-Man, The Legend of Zelda, Super Mario Bros., Excitebike, Ice Climber, Xevious, and Bomberman. The piece also notes: "Each game in the series will be priced at $19.99, and will be packaged in a standard Game Boy Advance box featuring the classic artwork of the original game."

Comments

Cue The Complaints...

[shadowcabbit]

I'm all for a re-release of the classics-- especially the original Legend of Zelda (stupid save batteries dying... grr...)-- but I am also very much of the opinion that $20 per game is WAY overpriced. Fortunately for me I still have my e-reader and copies of DK, Excitebike, and Ice Climber, and I also picked up Pac-Man Collection a few months back for $10... let's see, $30 for the e-reader, $15 for the card sets, and $10 for Pac-Man is $55 for eight games (Pac-Man Collection has four games on the cart, and the e-reader bundle I bought had DK Jr.) We're looking at a little over $7 per game. I'd find that to be a fair price... but then again, let's assume that $15 is the absolute lowest a "new" GBA game can be and set the price to that. I'd buy Zelda for $15; maybe Xevious, too. Never got a chance to play it. So the question is then what extra goodies and incentives will Nintendo offer for US gamers?

This post differs from the similar troll post below from the anonymous coward in that, to the best of my knowledge, I'm not being a total asswipe about my complaint. Please moderate accordingly.

20 Bucks?

[redfiveneo]

I would buy all 8 for $20... The prices are a bit steep.

And they didn't include Punch-Out!....

Or just buy an original NES... or maybe not.

[2Flower]

I gots me a hankering for the classics one day, and went on a crazed eBay spending spree. Got an NES and a bunch of good titles: Contra, Mario 3, Zelda, Ice Climbers, etc. Nothing beats the original hardware playing the original games on the original controllers...

Except that I can't get the blasted thing to work. It's got Grey Blinky Syndrome, a common ailment because the pin connectors are too lose... I cleaned my carts and got a shiny new 72-pin connector, but after installing it, now the thing's got a vice-like grip on my carts to the point where a grown man can't pull them out without yanking the 72-pin free. Agh.

A) Anybody got any suggestions?
B) Maybe getting them emulated on your GBA isn't such a crazy idea...

Re:Or just buy an original NES... or maybe not.

[redled]

A few suggestions:

1) Use a fine grit sand paper to clean the contacts on the games as well as the pin connector

2)(This is for other readers, I guess). You don't need to buy a new connector. Take your nes apart, and use a small screwdriver to pry all the pins up slightly.

3) Use a game genie. It's a tighter fit, and usually solves the problem (you don't have to use the codes if you don't want to). This might be a good solution for you since you can leave it plugged into the nes always, instead of pulling out your pin connector trying to remove it. It's ugly because it sticks out though

4) Find one of those rare top-loading nes machines.

5) Find one of those ultra-rare arcade nes machines

Re:Petition failures

[AvantLegion]

If you don't see a problem in trying to sell games that are as much as 15 years old at near full price (for GBA games) with a straight face... well, something's wrong.

And in case you're not ousted for a fool yet, your logic falls apart when I point out that nobody's complaining about the collections of Atari or Activision or Intellivision games - which usually bundle anywhere from 5 to 20 games for about $20. Not one game.

Those collections are doing it right. No complaints. Nintendo is not. Complaints.

Can you wrap your brain around that?

Easy Explanation

[Syncdata]

Japan gets the games first, because the japanese companies code it with Japanese text.
The US market gets it next, because we're a large market which only speaks one language (theoretically).
You get games last, because they have to be localized in several languages, plus you have a different TV standard (not applicable in the case of GBA games).
Why is animal crossing probably not going to make it over there? I don't think that it sold that well in the US, and given the sheer ammount of text that needs to be translated into french/spanish/german/Italian, NOJ probably won't release it.
In short, Europe gets games last, or not at all, because the number of languages spoken on the continent fragments the available market for each translation of the game. More effort, less reward.