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Nintendo To Launch SNES Mini This Year, Reports Eurogamer (eurogamer.net)

Posted by msmash on from the more-nintendo dept.

Nintendo plans to release another console this year aimed at nostalgia-seekers. The iconic game company is working on a Super Nintendo Entertainment System (SNES) classic version that would launch in time for the holidays, according to Eurogamer, which cites sources with knowledge of the plans. The device is already under development and -- like its predecessor the NES Classic Edition -- will give gamers access to some of the console's biggest hits. From the article: Nintendo's plans for SNES mini are also a major reason why last year's NES mini did not see a reprieve from discontinuation, Eurogamer understands, despite the latter's continued popularity and sell-out status.

94 comments

  1. Eurogamer is a rag by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

    >Nintendo's plans for SNES mini are also a major reason why last year's NES mini did not see a reprieve from discontinuation, Eurogamer understands

    Or... they are about to launch virtual console on the switch and they don;t want to compete with themselves.

    SNES mini is not happening. Eurogamer is clickbait garbage.

    1. Re:Eurogamer is a rag by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 2, Interesting

      The SNES Mini was rumored the instant the NES Classic was announced. Nintendo themselves made it clear that the NES Classic was intended as a "NES 30th Anniversary" thing, and the SNES won't be 30 until 2022.

      But the biggest reason Nintendo won't ever be releasing a "SNES Classic" any time soon is that the "NES Classic" was almost instantly hacked to play additional ROMs. Nintendo hates things like that, and if they can't "secure" the system from people doing that, they're just not going to do it. They have far more control on the Switch.

      The SNES Mini just isn't happening.

    2. Re:Eurogamer is a rag by Luthair · · Score: 1

      I suspect the SNES titles are also more valuable from a virtual console perspective too.

    3. Re:Eurogamer is a rag by omnichad · · Score: 3, Interesting

      SNES won't be 30 until 2022.

      That makes the SNES 25 this year. A 25th anniversary tends to be more celebrated than a 30th. Except with movies. Now there's some big event for every movie ever made, every 5 years past 20.

    4. Re:Eurogamer is a rag by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

      Nope nope. Nintendo already registered the trademarks.

      The reason the NES Mini Classic got discontinued so quickly is because the pirates figured out how to hack it. 60% of listings on eBay for NES Mini Classic's are loaded with pirate roms. 240 contain the word "modded" versus only 110 that did not. Nintendo is not stupid. Since there's no internet-based DRM on it, that also means Nintendo can't "kill" those hacked consoles either. So better discontinue them now before the bleeding continues.

    5. Re:Eurogamer is a rag by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

      > But the biggest reason Nintendo won't ever be releasing a "SNES Classic" any time soon is that the "NES Classic" was almost instantly hacked to play additional ROMs.

      If you want to play pirated ROMs you can do it with an Arduino board. Releasing a SNES Classic wouldn't change anything. Well, actually, it would: with the SNES Classic Nintendo would earn some money in the process.

    6. Re:Eurogamer is a rag by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

      The Super Famicom was sold in Japan in 1990 and the Super NES was introduced in 1991... so the actual anniversaries and not delayed European release date anniversaries are over.

      The NES' 30th anniversary was 2015 in the USA. The Famicom hit Japan in 1983. The NES Mini/Classic was not an anniversary product. Japanese companies rarely celebrate the delayed anniversaries of the second (or third) international launch in foreign territories at home.

  2. Release for real? by courteaudotbiz · · Score: 1

    Or just create a big hype and discontinue the thing when they will have sold 5000 boxes as they did with the NES Classic? Damn you Nintendo. I never buy anything else from you.

    1. Re:Release for real? by arth1 · · Score: 2, Insightful

      I'm not buying anything from Nintendo because they apparently don't want my money. The NES Classic is never available in the store. The Switch is never available in the store. And I don't have time to sit outside a store for hours waiting for opening in the hope of getting one.

      They are basically telling customers "fuck you". As a result, if they one day do manage to get stores stocked, it becomes my time to say the same to them.

    2. Re:Release for real? by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 1

      You make it sound like you had the chance to buy something from them in the first place.

      I feel your pain. And it's mainly due to scalpers taking advantage of the low production rates to keep the damned thing sold out at retail prices. I can't seem to find one here where I am because some dick goes around town and buys everything up whenever it's restocked. (overheard some people at gamestop talking about it.)

      Whatever. I won't be buying from scalpers.

    3. Re:Release for real? by jittles · · Score: 1

      Or just create a big hype and discontinue the thing when they will have sold 5000 boxes as they did with the NES Classic? Damn you Nintendo. I never buy anything else from you.

      My inside sources suggest they'll make exactly 21 units - 1 will be a test unit. They'll hype it for a few months and then give everyone the middle finger and suggest they make a RetroPi instead.

    4. Re:Release for real? by Actually,+I+do+RTFA · · Score: 2

      You left out the Pokemon Go Plus, which also was insanely limited.

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    5. Re: Release for real? by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

      Its interesting that Nintendo don't seem to care about America anymore, or keep underestimating American demand.

      Switches are easy to find in us, uk and jp. Nes minis could be ordered and gotten from general retailers like EB.

  3. reality check by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 1

    my gamestop got *ONE* nes mini. i dont know what nintendo is doing and i doubt they know either

  4. Welp. In. by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

    I loved my NES, but the SNES is where my heart is. :D

    Come on, Nintendo, give us a real NES/SNES/N64 combo box.

    1. Re:Welp. In. by Wootery · · Score: 1

      Good point. Doesn't sound hard.

    2. Re:Welp. In. by Ranbot · · Score: 1

      Come on, Nintendo, give us a real NES/SNES/N64 combo box.

      Don't bet on it. A combo console would be very hard, maybe impossible, to design the look that would trigger nostalgic feelings, which drive these sales, because it physically won't look like any of the original consoles. Also, Nintendo can also sell more units by splitting the systems up.

      If the look of the console doesn't matter and you just want to play the old games, then Nintendo happily resells them to you through their virtual console digital store. http://www.nintendo.com/games/...

    3. Re:Welp. In. by pr0fessor · · Score: 1

      Nintendo realizes that there is plenty of nostalgia for the nes,snes, and even n64 because of projects like retropie so I'm not surprised when they put out things like NES Classic or virtual console. A multifunction console would need to have the same nostalgic look as each of the originals. It would only need the games and the nintendo logo it could even be priced a little more than a retropie kit and still sell like hotcakes.

    4. Re:Welp. In. by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

      They did that. Buy a Wii, get the classic game channel (or whatever it is called) and get some alternate controller plugins for your Wiimote.

      I haven't looked at it yet, but I suspect the Switch can do all that also.

      Maybe not as cheap as the model you want them to cater to.

    5. Re:Welp. In. by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

      Hard only if there is a single set of hardware inside. Three distinct hardware sets inside a single box with a shared buses for I/O is the way to do it without emulation. However, Nintendo has been doing emulation of old consoles on recent gen consoles. Why not just make one box that can play it all and load it with a bunch of games. Hell, go all in and just sell a retro console cheaper than new hardware and tie it into the digital store so games can be added. Sounds like a money maker to me. Best way to kill the retropie kit market is not with lawsuits but with legal, pain free, competition.

    6. Re:Welp. In. by unrtst · · Score: 1

      No. A Wii is not the same as a combo nes/snes/n64 retro box preloaded with titles.
      And yes, cost is one of the biggest factors. There's no way I'm spending enough to get all the (expensive) add on controllers, and buy all the games ($5 - $15 each**), on top of buying a Wii.
      Form factor also matters, as does ease of use/maintenance. With the games preloaded, it's very convenient - buy it, plug it in, and it's all there. No network connection needed (or even possible). No need to create accounts, make additional purchases, download each title, etc. It's all right there. I want to pick it up and play for a bit. If I have to be bothered to do all the leg work, it's not worth it (I would have stood outside and waited for one if I had that kind of time to devote to it, HA).

      * got the game pricing from https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/... (500 - 1500 Wii Points, or $4.99 - $9.99 on the Wii U). And https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/... (100 points = $1; Dr. Mario Online RX is 1500 points).

    7. Re:Welp. In. by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

      Am I wrong in saying that the SNES really taught our generation to get excited about the future? I can't think of anything else that had a bigger impact than seeing Mario upgrade to full mystical 16-bit.

    8. Re:Welp. In. by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

      Actually, it is. All of the 'classic' Wii models are easy to softmod and after that, you can load them up with emulators and roms. The plus side is being able to play Wii games also. Way better than a 'retro box'. Only downside is no HDMI.

    9. Re:Welp. In. by michaelbuddy · · Score: 1

      HDMI problem is fixed by a $10 adapter.

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  5. More EBay Gold! by RoscoeChicken · · Score: 1

    Money in the pockets of the people who have nothing better to do all day than troll Best Buy and Game Stop stores.

    I read that Game Stop is closing stores. They could have experienced a HUGE Christmas at their stores if Nintendo had supplied enough consoles to meet demand.

    1. Re:More EBay Gold! by omnichad · · Score: 2

      If there was enough supply, people would just order online. Offline-only stores are only attacked in droves by prospectors when the convenience factor is cut off.

  6. Super Metroid by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

    If this thing doesn't come with Super Metroid, Nintendo has committed a war crime.

    1. Re:Super Metroid by Quirkz · · Score: 1

      Heh. I bought a SNES back in the day. I know I had at least a few games for it, but for the life of me the only one I actually recall playing is Super Metroid. Later I discovered emulation and I've played the heck out of dozens of NES titles, but again, for my SNES emulator, the only game I can remember ever firing up is Super Metroid. So I saw this product, and I thought, oh, that would be neat, I could play Super Metroid. Guess I should see what else is available, as I'm sure there's more games out there.

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    2. Re:Super Metroid by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

      Link to the past, Secret of Mana and Chronotrigger.

  7. I don't understand all the hate on the mini NES by cide1 · · Score: 4, Interesting

    All this hate on the Classic mini NES, I just don't understand. My wife was able to go to the local Target and get one for me for Christmas. It's pretty awesome, it just works, has good games, has HDMI. Great execution by Nintendo.

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    1. Re:I don't understand all the hate on the mini NES by Interfacer · · Score: 5, Insightful

      Then your wife pulled off a miracle because stores around here only got a couple that didn't even make it to the shelves before flying out the door. They told me they couldn't reserve any, and that some might come in, 2 weeks after Christmas. And now I find out that Nintendo discontinued the f*cking thing.

      Instead of ramping up production ahead of time and making a killing with Christmas sales, they limit supply to a couple thousand and then discontinue the thing before it becomes available off the shelf. There is no point is talking about how great the thing is when most people didn't even get the chance to just go to the store and by one before it's gone again.

    2. Re:I don't understand all the hate on the mini NES by aicrules · · Score: 3, Informative

      For every story of someone randomly being able to go in and pick one up like it was just another item on the shelf there are a thousand stories of people who were never able to find one in stock. Online stock disappeared within minutes at best. The resellers who had it jacked up to $300 or more were finally back down to about $120 when Nintendo announced it was discontinuing production. For something that is really supposed to be casual fun they made it unnecessarily insane. The system itself did really look great. I would have loved to have been able to play many of those games on my TV at home. But from release date to today there has never been a target, walmart or best buy with one on the shelf when I went in. Brickseek only once came up with a walmart in stock and by the time I got there they were gone. But...it's just an old bit of nostalgia. It didn't ruin my life that I didn't get one. But Nintendo can GTFO for their repeated artificial scarcity BS. That's the #1 reason why I didn't even consider a WiiU or Switch.

    3. Re:I don't understand all the hate on the mini NES by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

      You need to think about what your wife may have had to do in order to obtain the NES mini for you, given the fact that nobody else can get their hands on one. Just sayin'.

    4. Re:I don't understand all the hate on the mini NES by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

      It's because Nintendo made very few of them, had a huge market to keep selling them but didn't, artificially limited them, and seemed to discontinue them because they could be modified to play more games/copy games from them. You shilling for Nintendo or something?

    5. Re:I don't understand all the hate on the mini NES by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

      Welcome to your tape

    6. Re:I don't understand all the hate on the mini NES by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

      You might (or might not) want to ask your wife how many guys at Target she had to blow to get that mini.

    7. Re:I don't understand all the hate on the mini NES by ProfBooty · · Score: 1

      My local BJs had a ton of them in stock during christmas. Costco never seemed to have any.

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    8. Re:I don't understand all the hate on the mini NES by jjw3579 · · Score: 1

      There are still lines at local stores when some arrive for sale.

    9. Re:I don't understand all the hate on the mini NES by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

      My retro pie just works - and it has **ALL** the good old games. Not just a subset from one console.

    10. Re:I don't understand all the hate on the mini NES by EvilSS · · Score: 1

      All this hate on the Classic mini NES, I just don't understand. My wife was able to go to the local Target and get one for me for Christmas. It's pretty awesome, it just works, has good games, has HDMI. Great execution by Nintendo.

      The hate isn't for the device. I have one (got stupid lucky and saw it on SlickDeals back in stock at Amazon one day, sold out in under 20 minutes) it's for how it was handled. It's been perpetually sold out since launch and now it's discontinued despite the obvious demand for more from consumers. OK so Nintendo underestimated the appeal of it when they launched, I can buy that. But now it's still selling out as fast as they can make them and they go "Ah, nope, no more". About the only way to get one was to luck out and be at the right place at the right time, or scalpers on ebay, which now that it's discontinued are closing successful auctions at $250-$350.

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    11. Re:I don't understand all the hate on the mini NES by Actually,+I+do+RTFA · · Score: 1

      It's pretty awesome, it just works, has good games, has HDMI. Great execution by Nintendo.

      The problem is that almost no one who wants one has gotten one, not that the product is not good.

      I have no idea why Nintendo has such a hard time producing in sufficient quantity to fulfill demand.

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    12. Re:I don't understand all the hate on the mini NES by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

      dude get a RaspberryPi and install "Retro pi" and get a few controllers. You'll be able to tell nintendo to fuck right off if they wont ship

    13. Re:I don't understand all the hate on the mini NES by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

      You may misunderstand. People threw a hissyfit because Nintendo did not communicate well beforehand that they're only discontinuing the one you got (very popular) only favor of its even smaller replacement. People got mad quick because they thought the one you have was going to be gone forever.

      Nintendo has made a PR scramble to announce the re-release in a different style, but the anger & confusion remains....

      * Also does not help that at many Targets, people will line up very early in morning to grab one & auction it off on eBay or Amazon for quadruple the price. Many stores cannot keep them in stock- you were lucky! (Oh and the employees get them earlier than customers can even line up too.)

    14. Re:I don't understand all the hate on the mini NES by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

      Was this rated "interesting" because Slashdot lacks a "retarded" option? "I got mine" does not mean there weren't distribution problems. The universe does not begin and end with you.

    15. Re:I don't understand all the hate on the mini NES by thegarbz · · Score: 1

      Nintendo have a finite production resource. That was clear when they announced the equally unavailable Switch (local store says backorder estimate is 16 weeks) is getting a production boost right when the NES Classic was getting a production halt.

      These things don't grow on trees, and even if they did you'd need to cultivate them first.

    16. Re:I don't understand all the hate on the mini NES by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

      Might be viewed as brand building to create extremely difficult to get items like that. It happens with cars (although, usually those cars are super powerful).

    17. Re:I don't understand all the hate on the mini NES by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

      Nintendo have a finite production resource. That was clear when they announced the equally unavailable Switch (local store says backorder estimate is 16 weeks) is getting a production boost right when the NES Classic was getting a production halt.

      These things don't grow on trees, and even if they did you'd need to cultivate them first.

      Nintendo is a large and well established company. They could easily have produced more if that was their goal.
      For whatever reason, they purposefully limited production.

    18. Re:I don't understand all the hate on the mini NES by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

      Personally my hate is teh lack of availability

    19. Re:I don't understand all the hate on the mini NES by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

      We aren't talking here about cutting-edge technology with limited availability. If Nintendo isn't producing more NES Classic is because they don't want to. They'll have their reasons but the "Nintendo have a finite production resource" I think isn't one of them.

  8. Chronotrigger by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

    Damn. Now I'll have to throw away more money just to play Chronotrigger on a slightly different system. Well worth it...

  9. Hopeful by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

    Let's hope it can emulate StarFox, Pilot Wings, MegaMan X3 and Star Ocean... otherwise an EverDrive is probably the better purchase.

    1. Re:Hopeful by SScorpio · · Score: 1

      SD2SNES if you want to play X3, the SNES Everdrive won't run X2 and X3. The MPU chip in the SD2SNES that allows CD quality music to be hacked into games is also sweet and shows what the SNES CD might have brought about since it was just more storage without any additional processing power unlike the Sega CD.

  10. Re: I don't understand all the hate on the mini NE by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

    Because they totally fucked up the Christmas sales. It could have been the ideal present, fun and cheap, huge demand.
    Your got lucky your wife got one of the like 50 units they sold.

    I ordered one (for myself) end of November. Got it in February.

  11. will we be able to buy it? by j2.718ff · · Score: 5, Insightful

    When the NES Classic was announced, I decided I was going to buy one. Sure, I could have thrown together some kind of emulator, but this was more like the real thing, with no questions of ROM legality.

    After the NES Classic's discontinuation was announced, before it was possible for most people to buy one, I build a RetroPie. Now I have no reason to be excited about the SNES Mini.

    1. Re:will we be able to buy it? by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

      This.

    2. Re:will we be able to buy it? by Razed+By+TV · · Score: 1

      Nintendo built an entirely unnecessary product, and now they're doing it again.

      I don't need a collectors item with 30 games from one system.
      I don't need a second collectors item with 30 games from another system.

      I need a device that plays games from multiple systems, and the games I want to play. They should have created a system that covers every Nintendo console that a RetroPie does (or at least up through N64, which is 20 years old at this point.) So what if it doesn't make sense that you can play Nintendo 64 games on a device that looks like a classic NES? That's the added functionality that would make the product a hit.

      I also don't need this 30 games crap. I need a proper marketplace, similar to iTunes, that keeps track of my ROM purchases, so I don't have to jump through hoops to migrate my roms from one unit to another.

    3. Re:will we be able to buy it? by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

      I have emulator machines hooked up to every TV in the house actually. Regularly on Fridays wr have classic game nights where we play retero games, some on consoles, some on the emulators. Still I wanted a couple of the NES classics, one for myself, one to give as a gift for some else. I wont buy one from the scalpers.... So now its clear I wont be getting one. I wont bother with SNES one either.

      To be honest the whole thing has turned me off to Nintendo enough I don't even want to buy a Switcb now. I feel like buying an Xbox and sending the receipt to Reggie Fils-Aime himself and explaining why. Do they really think think someone spending $60 on an NES classic would stop them from buying a $350 Switch? Two different things.

    4. Re:will we be able to buy it? by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

      You're pretty fucked in the head.

    5. Re: will we be able to buy it? by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

      I think you just need to buy a Nintendo console and access the Nintendo store....

    6. Re:will we be able to buy it? by j2.718ff · · Score: 1

      Nintendo built an entirely unnecessary product, and now they're doing it again.

      An unnecessary product that no store could keep on the shelves because it sold out too quickly. (Yes, one could argue that they didn't produce enough units, but it's clear that people wanted them.)

    7. Re:will we be able to buy it? by Razed+By+TV · · Score: 1

      They made a novelty collectors item with limited entertainment value.

      I agree that they made a desirable item, and that, from a sales perspective, it is a successful product. However, they missed an opportunity to come out with a much better product, and the limited availability has driven up awareness of RetroPie.

      Its as if Apple came out with an iPod that has the top 100 albums of 2016 programmed into it (and can't be changed without modifying it), and the fanboys bought out all of the product.

  12. Probably the fuckery surrounding it by Sycraft-fu · · Score: 0

    Namely that they deliberately under-produced them so they'd be out of stock and thus seen as more desirable, and then suddenly just discontinued their production for no apparent reason.

  13. Re: I don't understand all the hate on the mini NE by chispito · · Score: 0, Troll

    I love the mentality that says, "You made a good thing but because I can't get one you are terrible."

    They didn't break a contract, they didn't take your money and not deliver, they simply made a product that you desire and decided not to meet demand for their own reasons. Nintendo did not wrong you.

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  14. Re: I don't understand all the hate on the mini NE by Luthair · · Score: 2

    Its a disservice to the people who support them. At a certain point its hard to see it as anything but gross incompetence.

  15. Did they really learn?! by SCVonSteroids · · Score: 1

    I didn't look at the numbers, but if SNES was more commercially successful than the NES, and Nintendo realizes the fuck-up they made with the NES Classic, this move makes a ton of sense and hopefully they've learned their lesson with this one. My hat off to Nintendo for even bothering with making these though.

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    1. Re:Did they really learn?! by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

      Discontinuing the NES Classic to make way for a SNES Classic only makes sense if they are hurting for production capacity. They haven't fulfilled the demand for the NES Classic, and selling more shouldn't hurt potential SNES classic demand as many would want both anyway.

      As a consumer I intended to buy a NES Classic instead of building a RetroPi, but never saw one available at the normal RRP, the closest I got was seeing one in my local CEX second hand for £149 (or thereabouts). If I could have bought one I would. Since I wasn't able to get a NES Classic, will I be able to get a SNES classic before that also is discontinued? Who knows. I guess I might as well go ahead and build a RetroPi.

  16. Why all the iteration? by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

    Just give us what we all want right now: GoldenEye Mini!

  17. Re: I don't understand all the hate on the mini NE by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

    Because 1) there is already the raspberry pi kit and pirated roms, which is analogous to the MP3 boom, and 2) they should be making the ipod/iTunes equivalent, i.e. an emulator box and a digital store that keeps track of your purchases on your account (not on a per device basis)

  18. So what? by JenovaSynthesis · · Score: 1

    I can built a Raspberry Pi unit that will not only be an NES/SNES Classic, but also a Sega Master System, Sega MegaDrive/Genesis system, Turbografix-16 system, and a whole slew of others all at the same time for $100.

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    1. Re:So what? by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

      I have things I'd rather do with my time than spend hours much about with installing an emulator. By the time I get the Pi, and the controllers, and the cost of my time, it's become several hundred dollars. And at that level, fuck it, just by one off EBay.

    2. Re:So what? by moogaloonie · · Score: 1

      All of the functionality but none of the collectability. I can run those games on my PC already without needing a separate $100 device.

    3. Re:So what? by JenovaSynthesis · · Score: 1

      The emulator comes as part of the package you'd install on the Pi. Probably the only time consuming part would be if you had to index a large number of ROMs.

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    4. Re:So what? by JenovaSynthesis · · Score: 1

      If your PC is an HDMI cable's length from your PC, that's fine. Mine is not.

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    5. Re:So what? by unrtst · · Score: 1

      "an HDMI cable's length" is a very imprecise measurement - way worse than LoC's (libraries of congress). Regardless, I'm certain your PC is within that distance from your PC.

  19. Re: I don't understand all the hate on the mini NE by barc0001 · · Score: 2

    It's not gross incompetence. They made a certain number of things, they are not selling any more at their choice. From a business perspective in many cases it's better to leave the world wanting more than to saturate the market and wear out your brand.

    And it's working. Around the web there are reams of stories being posted on the merest whiff of a hint of a SNES mini, real or not. You can't buy advertising like that.

  20. Re: I don't understand all the hate on the mini NE by Dragonslicer · · Score: 1

    I love the mentality that says, "You made a good thing but because I can't get one you are terrible." They didn't break a contract, they didn't take your money and not deliver, they simply made a product that you desire and decided not to meet demand for their own reasons. Nintendo did not wrong you.

    Why exactly is it unreasonable to call a company "terrible" just because they didn't break a contract with you or directly harm you?

  21. Retropi is strong! by WolfgangVL · · Score: 1

    If I die, I have to go before it, and it will ask me, "What is the riddle of emulation?" If I don't know it, it will cast me out of emulation-station and laugh at me. That's Retro-pi, strong in it's 3d printed case!

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  22. Re: I don't understand all the hate on the mini NE by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

    You can't buy advertising like that.

    What are you talking about? They just did buy advertising like that. That is if you consider actual lost sales (as opposed to RIAA "every-download-is-a-lost-sale" logic) due to lack of supply to be buying it. That is money that Nintendo is actually not getting, so in my books, it is close enough.

  23. Re: I don't understand all the hate on the mini NE by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

    I love the mentality that says, "You made a good thing but because I can't get one you are terrible."

    And I love the contrived position that is your post. An alternate (and better) way of looking at it is "you made a good thing but because you couldn't meet demand you are terrible". And as a shareholder, Nintendo absolutely did wrong me by leaving money on the table.

  24. Counting on Nostalgia? by HockeyPuck · · Score: 1

    So Nintendo has been making Mario based games for decades... then to gain some relevance they came out with the classic NES (again Nostalgia) now a SNES...

    When will they come out with the retro Nintendo64 or the GameCube?

    By then the Wii will be about a decade old and they can come out with a retro Wii... before re-introducing the Retro NES again...

    Reminds me of Lucas issuing new "remastered" versions of SW every few years (VHS, LaserDisc, DVD etc...)

    1. Re:Counting on Nostalgia? by unrtst · · Score: 1

      They should skip all that and release a Retro Nintendo Switch ASAP. It'd help fill in the empty shelf space where the Nintendo Switch should be.

    2. Re:Counting on Nostalgia? by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

      Wii is already a decade old, it was released in 2006.

  25. Re: I don't understand all the hate on the mini NE by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

    Why exactly is it unreasonable to call a company "terrible" just because they didn't break a contract with you or directly harm you?

    In this day and age many people will defend a company that defrauds or even kills its costumers.

  26. Re: I don't understand all the hate on the mini NE by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

    Hack Niki is that you?

  27. Nintendo had to download there own roms to make by Joe_Dragon · · Score: 2, Insightful

    Nintendo had to download there own roms to make it work. This time do they have there own in house roms
    or do they need to do like many other pay emulator systems That have to use the work that was done to make emulators happen in the first place just to endup with one that does less and that you have pay for vs it being free.

    There is one paid emulator system that I will not pay for that does less them the free one that came years before that I and others helped to make happen. That if that work was not done that this paid one will not be there also I think they don't really do to much to shut down the free one as there may some issues that come up if there where to be an code audit.

    1. Re:Nintendo had to download there own roms to make by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 1

      THEIR own roms

    2. Re:Nintendo had to download there own roms to make by GreyWanderingRogue · · Score: 3, Informative

      Nintendo had to download there own roms to make it work.

      This argument has no place on Slashdot. Nintendo did not download the files off the internet. What they did is use the existing file format (.nes). The files are identical because the ROM dumps were taken from the cartridges. Once the format is specified, the files will always end up identical. There is no analog noise here to make them different. This is how things like GoodNes sets exist. The dumps always come out the same. Digital files are identical because they're digital files. If you think Nintendo, Konami, Square, and Capcom didn't have copies of all their officially licensed cartridges' ROMS, I think you're nuts. Take, for example, the Clu Clu Land disk game on the Gamecube Animal Crossing release that included NES games. That one is nearly identical to the one in Mame, but it keeps the checksums and has a blank high score table (the checksums is the difference between famicom disk system (fds) and quickdisk (qd) files by the way). I haven't looked at what format the disk system games are in on the Japanese Mini version.

      The File format, by the way is exactly a 16 bytes header, with defined places (PRG-ROM followed by the CHR-ROM) for the ROMs. The only information contained in the header is a code for which mapper to use (describes which circuit-board/integrated circuits; most licensed games use one of about a dozen types), mirroring and save support, and the sizes of the PRG and CHR. I've personally dumped my collection of 300+ NES games and they come out identical to the GoodNes ones, unless the mirroring or save support detection fails. That's how I know the hardware worked and I don't have to clean the contacts better. They have their own copies. They don't need to download them. They used the existing file format.

    3. Re:Nintendo had to download there own roms to make by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

      Where did you learn to write?

    4. Re:Nintendo had to download there own roms to make by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

      I think it's obvious: he didn't.

    5. Re:Nintendo had to download there own roms to make by Elric55 · · Score: 1

      If you think Nintendo, Konami, Square, and Capcom didn't have copies of all their officially licensed cartridges' ROMS, I think you're nuts.

      As an individual who has worked in this industry and who's sole job was dedicated to securely distributing game content to QA, and managing all builds for a studio, I can confirm that the archive process (especially during the early days) can be non-existent. I don't want to name specifics but there's a specific story behind a AAA title from the 90s that almost didn't get it's anniversary edition because of the difficulty of obtaining the original assets. Keep in mind this still is a big company and not one of your small indie studios and last I checked they were still developing a process for archiving.

  28. Nintendo isn't dumb enough to care by rsilvergun · · Score: 1

    About the hacking. The hack was a pain to do (relatively) and wasn't much less than work building a retro Pi. They cancelled the NES classic because it served its purpose, which was to keep the brand alive in between the dying Wii U and the Switch launch. And that's why we're not getting a SNES classic

    --
    Hi! I make Firefox Plug-ins. Check 'em out @ https://addons.mozilla.org/en-US/firefox/addon/youtube-mp3-podcaster/
  29. Thanks Nintendo... by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

    Honestly, I don't give a fuck. Since it's been released I have not ONCE seen it in stores; and I'd looked *many* times.

    You can keep your $60 shitbox, and I'll let all the fuckbag scalpers profit a pretty penny off your newest strategical failure. (Of SNES supply).

    It could be $5 and I don't even want one.

  30. Who likes "finite"? by Futurepower(R) · · Score: 1

    Finite? I like everything to be infinite.