SNES on 3DS: Not All That

[Tron]

BanjoPickles is a bad Boy Scout, haha that's funny.

I'm not a big fan of gamers running emulators, but on the other hand when Nintendo only releases a handful of games digitally for $8 a piece what do you expect? People to wait and hope that by 2018 the SNES game they want to play on a handheld is now available on the VC. If Nintendo was releasing 3DS cartridges of SNES game collections I'd be a bit more sympathetic to their cause.i for one would buy them.

[Atariboy]

I disagree.

About what?

While personally unexcited over the news since I got a great deal on a new regular 3DS XL last year and it's always played within range of my Wii U with its Virtual Console games at the ready, I don't understand your objection.

While the original hardware will never be superseded and I wasn't advocating that it was a good match, I disagree that it isn't a fine fit. The hardware seems particularly well suited for this thanks to carrying on the face button configuration established by the SuperNes and utilizing a screen resolution that apparently allows for 1:1 pixel mapping. About the only issue here as I see it is the tiny d-pad with its less than ideal secondary position below the analog slider.

The gist of my post was three-fold. My main point was that to criticize this, you'd have to first criticize the Virtual Console program as a whole since this is carrying over existing issues like the expensive price point. Secondly, I don't view with suspicion that this is limited to the more powerful New 3DS hardware. And lastly, I don't think I'd ever subscribe to it being a bad thing whenever classics like A Link to the Past are made available on another platform.

Sure, it's a missed opportunity, but the entire Virtual Console program has always has been. That doesn't make this a negative move for the fans, since many will surely appreciate it to varying degrees. Hopefully they tackle some issues like high price points, cross-buying, and an account based DRM system soon though.

[Hardcore Sadism]

Wait until the NX is announced and people won't care about overpriced ROMS anymore.

[Rookie1]

However, I think that when you start making the argument that they are overpriced because you can get them for free, that's pretty ridiculous. Nothing is cheaper than stealing.

Thats the problem though, it really hasnt been "stealing" up until recently (I guess?). When was the last time you saw Nintendo market an NES or SNES game on the shelves of a retail store.

Downloading a ROM has been no more stealing than a used game store selling an NES game without giving a portion of the profit to Nintendo.

[SilveryFire]

All emulation isn't created equal. Many a homebrew emulator is far from perfect and while able to seemingly run some games perfectly, can easily show its flaws with others. Nintendo seeks out quality emulation that can run 99% of the library with no issues like frame skipping, with little worry that a technical issue will crop up as titles are added. Just check out the PC specs for the world's only cycle accurate videogame emulator, which just so happens to be the SuperNes emulator bSnes.

Quality emulation doesn't come cheap, neither from standpoint of the development resources needed to create it or the horsepower necessary to power their creation.

Why would Nintendo want 99% emulation perfection if they're only going to bother with less than 1% of the library? Not making any sense.

[Atariboy]

All emulation isn't created equal. Many a homebrew emulator is far from perfect and while able to seemingly run some games perfectly, can easily show its flaws with others. Nintendo seeks out quality emulation that can run 99% of the library with no issues like frame skipping, with little worry that a technical issue will crop up as titles are added. J

Why would Nintendo want 99% emulation perfection if they're only going to bother with less than 1% of the library? Not making any sense.

First, I share your opinion on the prices. If you think I'm proposing that they invested so heavily into their emulator that it's fully justified to ask $8 for each SuperNes title, you're greatly mistaken. As for why they didn't cut corners or enable it on the less powerful regular 3DS line, I already explained why I feel that it's justified.

Gamers don't like imperfection and will quickly pick up on issues like audio being off. And by utilizing an emulator that is very close, their subsequent workload is reduced since the QA for each additional release utilizing this asset should in theory be little more than a formality with no need to go back and touch the emulator.

A quality universal emulator for a Virtual Console platform is obviously always the preference. Experience with the Wii and Wii U tells us that there could end up being in the neighborhood of 50 titles here in the West and 100 in Japan when all is said and done. The better the program, the less hassle there will be for Nintendo and the more likely it will be received well by the fans.

If Nintendo could reasonably sell titles like Super Mario World for $8 a pop to their entire 3DS install base, I'm confident that they would've gone that route. Has to be a solid technical reason why they made this feature a New 3DS exclusive, since as I said, the system selling power of even the best 25 year old classics is minimal at best.

[ESauce]

However, I think that when you start making the argument that they are overpriced because you can get them for free, that's pretty ridiculous. Nothing is cheaper than stealing.

Thats the problem though, it really hasnt been "stealing" up until recently (I guess?). When was the last time you saw Nintendo market an NES or SNES game on the shelves of a retail store.

Downloading a ROM has been no more stealing than a used game store selling an NES game without giving a portion of the profit to Nintendo.

Haha. No, it is definitely more stealing to steal something then to buy it used. Buying a game used is legal; it doesn't make Nintendo money but it is perfectly legal. Downloading a game you don't own is illegal, stealing. And look, I'm not standing on any moral high ground here. I don't care if you use emulators. Go for it. I would probably do it if it weren't for the fact that I don't like playing games on computers, or even modded consoles. I prefer playing them the way Nintendo releases them, but that's just a hangup for me.

All I'm saying is you can say they're overpriced, because they are, but it doesn't make sense to say they're overpriced because you can get them by stealing. In that case, every movie ever made is overpriced because I can steal those online too. And batteries are overpriced because I can easily slip them into my pocket at the store.

[David]

There's homebrew SNES emulators on the old 3DS, and I don't believe they run very well. The New 3DS is a stopgap and SNES games aren't some hot commodity that's gonna convince the general public to upgrade to the new model. The New 3DS's CPU is quite a bit stronger than the old model's.

[SilveryFire]

Homebrew emulators are capable of retroarch. And run fine from what I've seen. If your $20 phone can run a SNES game better than a dedicated portable, it just looks silly. Sorry. That's how it looks. No matter your stance on morals, I believe what's in front of my eyeballs.

Looks freaking horrible unless you switch on pixel-perfect mode. And it's such a tiny screen when you do that = worthless waste of everyone's time. Bottom line.

[Rookie1]

Haha. No, it is definitely more stealing to steal something then to buy it used. Buying a game used is legal; it doesn't make Nintendo money but it is perfectly legal. Downloading a game you don't own is illegal, stealing. And look, I'm not standing on any moral high ground here. I don't care if you use emulators. Go for it. I would probably do it if it weren't for the fact that I don't like playing games on computers, or even modded consoles. I prefer playing them the way Nintendo releases them, but that's just a hangup for me.

All I'm saying is you can say they're overpriced, because they are, but it doesn't make sense to say they're overpriced because you can get them by stealing. In that case, every movie ever made is overpriced because I can steal those online too. And batteries are overpriced because I can easily slip them into my pocket at the store.

I will agree to disagree with you on all parts of this one.