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Revolution Downloads To Recieve Graphic Upgrades
Joystiq reports that certain Revolution-downloadable games will be recieving graphical upgrades, ala the classic NES titles released for the GBA. From the article: "...[Nintendo] did not divulge the nature of the enhancement, nor did he hint at whether the technology would be integrated into the Revolution's hardware or be a part of the downloaded game itself. Theorists speculate that it may entail reskinning some or all of the classic games in Nintendo's lineup, as was done for the compilation Super Mario All-Stars for the SNES..."
They are probably paying a couple of artists (per title) to update the sprite based graphics on the NES/SNES titles. If I remember correctly, the SNES had a maximum resolution of something like 320 X 240 so this graphical update would put the graphics as being more detailed than SNES games. As a guestimate, this would probably cost $50,000-$100,000 which (compared to modern 3D games) is cheap; hell, I'd bet that they could update their entire library of 2D games for less than it would cost them to produce a next-generation Zelda game.
What I would find most interesting would be an upgrade in the framerate, some of the early 3D titles on the SNES and later the N64 were just painfully slow and suffered from huge drops in the framerate. I would love to be able to replay StarFox or StuntRaceFX with constant 60fps.
First off, the NES did NOT use midi.
NES Sound
Second, that's not necessariliy a good idea. Composers often write for the instrumentation they have, and changing the instrumentation afterwards can really harm a piece.
Here's a good (but probably nit-picky) example. In the original SMB3 the steel drum sample was of low sample rate and resolution. In the SNES version (and especially GBA) the higher sample rate and resolution sample wasn't equalized the same. The composer would have picked up on this, but saddly he had no part in the conversion. This may not seem like a big issue, but the end result was that the wrong harmonic(s) were heard, and the perceived pitch of the sample is incorrect (though the fundamental may still be correct).
Another, less acoustic, example is in Street Fighter 2010. One of the best tracks of that game is a serial piece using the square waves. It's totally freaky and practically made me crap myself as a kid. The NES sound hardware was perfect for it. (Poorly) Emulated (read sampled) square waves don't have the same feel... believe me, I transcribed the piece for MIDI, and it killed it.
MIDI is a great technology, but NES music doesn't translate well to it. This is because most of the great NES music works were written with the NES sound hardware in mind, and changing the instrumentation of a piece (any kind of piece) often takes away from the composer's original intent.
Take the Bayou Billy soundtrack.. it made wonderful use of the square wave channels to sound like funk rhythm (muted) guitar! This is something that can't be done in MIDI without special samples, and the number of samples required to correctly reproduce the effect would be immense!
You mentioned Zelda and Metroid, which both underwent wonderful musical transformations as the console sound technology improved.. But realize that these new tracks weren't simple transcriptions, but clever arrangements. That is exactly what made them so great! The composer/arrangers used what the SNES could offer as their new instrumentation and wrote/arranged around that.... Just like in the old days with the NES.
So, I return to my main point: Changing the instrumentation of a piece can be detrimental to the intended effect, ESPECIALLY in VG music where the hardware was often heavily considered (or even the inspiration) in the creative/compositional process.
I just pooped your party.
First, People blame Nintendo for constantly re-using their old content. "Where's the innovation", people cry. "I've already paid for the exact same games on my NES, and now Nintendo wants me to pay again so I can play them on my GBA! And they look like crap, anyway."
So Nintendo goes and updates the graphics. That makes matters even worse, of course, because now people complain that they aren't getting the originals, the games they used to play when they were young. "I love the vintage graphics! And damn them if they even changed one single thing in the actual gameplay! Gah! Nintendo went the way of Lucas and Spielberg! Why don't you give them Koopas Walkie Talkies why you're at it!"
You can't please everyone. But I would guess that Nintendo will release both the updated version and the original version where this is applicable. I hope they do, anyway. It's good to have the choice of playing both the original and a prettier version of these classics.
The original "Metroid:Prime" had all the original metroid sounds in it, just hidden behind the orchestra.... worth listening to if you get the chance...
Good quote, too many chars. Seriously, the slashdot 120 char limit sucks!