I downloaded Mario Kart 64 upon seeing it available for the virtual console, but have been very disappointed in the control. The mapping of the N64 yellow buttons to the right control stick on both the classic and gamecube controllers is a problem for games that use those buttons as buttons, not camera control. Having to press down on the right stick to select and use items while gassing with A and/or hopping with R is seemingly impossible. In the short time we've had the game, every contortionist hand position has been tried. Nintendo games are, of course, perfectly set up in their original incarnation and therefore have no button configuration screens. So, 3 quick questions: How do you cope with this? Does Nintendo (or anyone else) see this as making many N64 games basically unplayable? Who can we contact to request the arcade-perfect Donkey Kong emulation in DK64 be made available on Virtual Console stand-alone?

- DanW

Given the bizarre trident design of the Nintendo 64 controller, what with its six face buttons and three triggers, the only thing that would really do N64 VC games justice is the N64 controller itself. The second stick does not make an ideal replacement for the four C-Buttons at all. What Nintendo should have done is design the classic controller with six face buttons. They could have killed two birds that way, both better-covering the N64's layout and providing a more natural option for six-button Genesis games.

Like you, I worry that a lot of my favorite N64 games may not be as good as I remember them because of the suboptimal controllers. Surely Nintendo wouldn't release a special N64-style Wii classic controller later on down the line, screwing everyone who bought the regular Classy in the process? Damned they do, damned if they don't.

The controller weirdness isn't an issue in Mario Kart 64, though. You can use the GameCube/Wii Classic shoulder L Button to fire weapons, too. Try it!

okay so I downloaded mario kart 64 and it's everything it used to be......NOT! okay, to be fair, yes, it is every bit as ridiculously fun as it used to be. but there's an in-excusable flaw that nintendo over looked. you can't save any ghost data because the game doesn't detect a "controller pack". if you remember, that was the standard memory unit for the 64 back in the day. this problem takes away some of the replay value that this great game used to have. I hope every 64 game that required the controller pack doesn't lose it's save feature, or the 64 part of the virtual console is dead on its feet............

- ghost of hyrule

Back when we made our recommendation for Mario Kart 64, we did note that N64 Controller Paks weren't something that the emulation supported. That means no ghosts for time trial runs. Yeah, it's a bummer not being able to race against your own best times on the track, especially since I personally feel Mario Kart 64 is the best game in the series for time trials. The track design lent themselves well to a you-versus-the-circuit mentality, and without the ghostly carrot in front of you at all times, it's hard to see where time can be shaved off. Despite that, Kart 64 is still a great game that's definitely worth it on Virtual Console.

However, this question and the previous one together start to raise an alarming issue: Could future N64 games on Virtual Console be nothing more than $10 shells of their former selves? Maybe Nintendo never intended to release many N64 games on VC, and purposefully designed the controller that way? Is controller pak emulation not possible, rendering some N64 games useless? I hope not.

Has Nintendo made any official statement concerning button mapping within the virtual console? Playing Contra III with a Gamecube controller, for example, is terrible. Switching the Y, B and A button around would make the problem go away. My pinky warns me this may be a ploy by Nintendo to move Classic controllers.

- Eric Fournier
Québec, Canada

Mapping buttons through the Wii's emulators won't happen. The SNES controller has A, B, X and Y buttons, and the GameCube controller has A, B, X and Y buttons. It's easier for Nintendo and anyone else playing an SNES VC game with the GC controller to know that A is A, Y is Y, and R is R, without needing to worry about jumbling designations around. Of course, you wouldn't really need to worry about that if you had a Wii Classic controller...which may be something that's done on purpose on the part of Nintendo. Those clever bastards.

Oh, don't forget that some SNES/Genesis games have options to re-map buttons in any way you want, such as R-Type III. Too bad more of them don't offer that feature.

I know that the possibility former Nintendo exclusives like Goldeneye coming to VC are slim due to Rare currently being in bed with Microsoft, but does it work the other way around? Can third parties who developed a non-Nintendo game in the past bring their games to VC if their current relationship to Nintendo is good? What I'm driving at is, what are the chances of seeing PS1 games like Final Fantasy VII, Resident Evil 2, and Metal Gear Solid on VC?

- gamerdood
Seattle

I know you're thinking the PSone here, but forget it. There's no chance of it happening. For one, companies wouldn't be able to just dump the ROMs onto a server like they do the other classic games. It would go up with PlayStation branding and controller nomenclatures, which is one of the deadly sins of video game production. You're never going to see "PlayStation" on a Nintendo console, just like you're not going to see it on the Xbox Live Arcade version of Symphony of the Night. Besides, the Wii's only got about 500MB of storage, so it's impossible to fit multi-disc games like Metal Gear Solid (two discs), Resident Evil 2 (two discs) or Final Fantasy VII (three discs) in that space. Even if you could download them, where would you store them on a stock Wii system?

Past that, there are already non-Nintendo games on Virtual Console: Genesis and Turbo-Grafx 16. Those two systems are a good start, but Nintendo can go further than that. Why stop with Sega and Hudson systems? The opportunity Nintendo has with the Wii's downloadable game service is unimaginable. For example, games from the Atari 2600/7200 and Neo-Geo seem like they would fit perfectly on VC. There are a lot of other games from the pre-crash era that Nintendo could make available, if the ROMs, emulators and rights (especially the rights) were available to get it done. Is it in their plans? I hope so.

Does an American DS Lite play all region games? I believe that is true, but then here's my next question, can I play the Japanese Rhythm Tengoku on an American DS Lite?

- Saturn2888
Overland Park, KS

Yes and yes. Nintendo handhelds have always been region free, so you can play a Japanese DS or GBA game on an American DS. Portable gaming knows no territorial bounds.

It happened to me a few times. I cross the finish line while I'm in first place and then it immediately moves me to second. What's the deal here? I know I'm winning, the guy is always far away on the map, but right after I cross the finish line I get bumped down to second place.

I would really appreciate you thoughts on this.

Thanks for the great site.

- Martian
Jordan

No, this isn't cheating. After a race finishes up, the game needs to check everyone's position on everyone's system to verify the finishing order. Just because you finished first on your screen doesn't necessarily mean you finished first on everyone else's. A spotty network connection or any other online hiccups may cause things to get out of sync, meaning that sometimes your big lead really isn't one. Since it just happened a few times to you, that's likely the culprit.

Hey, NWR!

I must say I quite liked the list of Cube games you chose for the week-long article. But I definitely don't agree with Soul Calibur II being in it. Is it a Gamecube defining game? Hardly! Nobody will remember it as a great GC game but as a multi-platform one with a different special character for each of the console versions. Hell it was originally an arcade game anyway! I know you are going to say that it was Link who made the GC version stand out, but just one character doesn't really make all the difference in the world, especially to an already top-notch game.

Don't get me wrong, I think Link is great, and I buy Nintendo consoles to play the Zelda series, but that's just the point: it is the Zelda games that define a Nintendo console, not a multi-platform game that features the guy from Zelda!

I also love Soul Calibur, but it should have been included on Sunday, together with Timesplitters and SSX 3!

- Rodimus Prime
Belgrade

Soul Calibur II and Twilight Princess were the two controversial choices for our list of the Greatest GameCube Games, the former being included and the latter being excluded. We stated our reasoning for Twilight Princess' exclusion in last week's mailbag, so it's time we set the record straight on Soul Calibur II.

Although it's a game that came out on all three of the last-gen systems, there was the X-factor of platform-exclusive characters. As it turned out, the GameCube version had the best sales of the three, and also had the best review scores. Although the PS2 and Xbox got some pretty damn impressive ports of the game, the simple fact of the matter was the must-own version of Soul Calibur II was on the GameCube—entirely because of Link. People were willing to put up with the unconventional GameCube controller in order to play it, which is a pretty telling of how much influence one character had. The masses wanted to play the game as Link, and therefore, people wanted to play the GameCube version.

More importantly, Soul Calibur II set a precedent on the GameCube that was rarely met again. It showed that multiplatform games could be very successful on the GameCube. Granted, the conditions were optimized towards the favor of Nintendo in the case of Soul Calibur II, but Namco put in the effort to make sure each version got the best possible treatment. Had other third parties put in a genuine effort to make the best possible GameCube version of a game more often, those versions may have sold better. Instead, it always seemed that the worst version of a game found its way to the Nintendo platform. GC sales were slowed because of it, and publishers jumped ship. SCII proved that third parties could find definite success on the GameCube, but no one wanted to put forth the same effort that Namco did.

Those are the reasons we included Soul Calibur II on our list of the GameCube's Greatest Games. We think it's a sound argument. And just to tie up one more loose end: Super Monkey Ball was also originally an arcade game. It's certainly deserving as being one of the GameCube's greatest. Shouldn't Soul Calibur II be as well?

While searching on Game Rankings I noted that of the top 20 titles ever (by combined review scores), 3 are on GameCube. This includes 2 of the top 4. Number 1 is Ocarina of Time, which was also playable on GameCube.

The Xbox only had one (Halo) in the top 20. The PS2 has 4, but only if you count RE4, which was of course originally a GameCube exclusive. So in fact, the GameCube has more top 20 titles than the Xbox, more than the PS2 if you count RE4 as a GCN game or include Ocarina of Time, and more than any system ever if you include Twilight Princess.

Not too bad for that little purple box.

- Koloth

Yeah, those rankings follow the typical Nintendo platform: Quality, but no quantity. Nintendo makes the best games in the world, but their recent systems have gone to show that if you don't have the software variety to back it up, no one is going to care. A console needs both to be successful in the mainstream. Still, there are too many hits in the GameCube library to write it off. Thank goodness people who haven't yet played some of them can do it on the Wii.

We interrupt your regular mailbag with a special bulletin: We're ready to reveal the second code word in our Valentine's Day Nintendogs DS Giveaway contest, where you can win a Nintendo DS Lite and a copy of Nintendogs: Dalmation and Friends. Remember that there are four code words in total, so keep reading Nintendo World Report and listening to Radio Free Nintendo to get them all. We'll open our entry form on Wednesday, February 14 so you can submit your entry, so look out for that.

The second code word in the NWR Valentine's Day Nintendogs DS Giveaway contest is: noble

Good luck!

Hi!

In a recent interview, Yojiro Ogawa, the director for Sonic and the Secret Rings, described difficulty programming for the Wii remote:

"In terms of detecting degrees and angles it is very good but the shaking or thrusting movement is very hard for the remote to pick up. Trying to make the sensor detect a downward thrust was difficult because people may hold it higher than others, so it would interpret their movements in different ways."

Do you think developers will find ways around these issues to provide an array of pinpoint movement detection? Is it possible the hardware has limitations that will, in the long run, restrict programming to simpler gestures than we might hope for?

Thanks!

- Larrio

It doesn't have anything to do with hardware limitations, just the nature of people interacting with the controller. A thrusting or shaking motion with the remote is difficult to program for because not everyone holds the thing in the same way.

Before I explain why that makes things tricky, get your Wii remote and a pencil. Lay the remote flat on a table. Take the pencil and lay it across the Minus, Home and Plus buttons. The pencil is pointing along the controller's X-axis, and an accelerometer is in position to register movements along it. In this case, it would be left and right motions. Now, take your pencil point and stick it into the Wii remote's speaker, standing the pencil straight up. This is the Y-axis, and remote senses upwards/downwards movement with accelerometers along it. Finally, take your pencil and put it straight along the remote, pointing in the same direction as it. That's the remote's Z-axis, which detects forward/rearward thrusts.

Alright, now pick up the remote and hold it flat in the air, just like it was on the table. If you thrust it straight down, all of that force will register on the Y-axis accelerometer. That seems easy enough, right? Okay, now take your remote and tilt it straight up at a 90-degree angle. Thrust it downwards again. What happens? The remote thinks you thrust it rearward, because all the force of the movement was registered on the remote's Z-axis. Thrust it down again, but this time point it forward and twist the controller so it's on its side while you do it. That's an X-axis registration, and relative to the remote, it thinks you're jolting it to the left.

A downward motion someone performs can register different accelerometers readings based on the angle that the controller is held, which is what Ogawa was referring to. This makes exact controller input unpredictable. Therefore, a developer needs to design motion detection with this in mind. If the detection is too strict, some people will complain the controls don't work. If it's too forgiving, there will be some false positives and the game may do something the user didn't intend. It's going to be up to developers to find the sweet spot.

The controller pretty much knows where it is and what angle it's being held at when it has a point of reference, but if you're holding it away from the TV, it just knows its angle. That's important for people to know, because understanding the technology inside the Wii helps a great deal when trying to figure out how to make a game work better.

there's a not-very-well-known game for super nintendo that I love (I think it's the 2nd best action/brawler, right next to streets of rage) that goes by the name of Run-Saber. I wanted to know if you guys know who published and developed this game, so that I might have a better idea of whether it will come to the virtual console or not. while we're on the subject of not-so-popular games, I also wanted to know the publisher and developer of the two Goemon games for the N64, mystical ninja and goemon's great adventure. I LOVE these games and want to know if I might possibly play them again. sorry for this being somewhat lengthy.......

- ghost of hyrule

Well, off the top of my head I can tell you that Run Saber was by Atlus, and it was released in September of 1993. Also off the top of my head (for real), I'll tell you that Konami did the Goemon games on the N64.

And now, for the "what's the chance of these games coming to Virtual Console???" question I get 100 times a week. They have as much of a chance of any third party game that doesn't have any licensing issues to overcome: Who knows? That is the answer to your question, and the question that anyone else wants to ask us. Understand? Good.

Sorry for sending after gamecube tribute but this question just popped in my head and had to ask since your still a Nintendo Website (the best). Do you know if Luigi comes out in Super Mario Sunshine. Some friends say you can use him others you only talk to him and some say he isn't in it, so my question does he come out at all. Thanks for taking your time at looking at this question.

- luigi

No.

Dear NWR,

There have always been debates about Nintndo's online plan and there's no doubt that a majority of gamers don't like online friend codes. I was wondering, since the point of friend codes is to keep kids away from online predators then are they really needed for M rated games? I mean if kids play M rated games like Mortal Kombat or any other online FPS that may come to the Wii and some child molester starts hitting on them then Nintendo could always say "it was M rated and he shouldn't be allowed to play it in the first place." That would be a statement you can't argue against.

So the question is do you think it's possible for Nintendo to scrap friend codes for more mature games since kids shouldn't be playing them anyway? I was waiting for the DS to answer my question by M rated games aren't that plentiful on nintendo handhelds.

- Viewtiful mario

No, that's not exactly why. The reasoning behind the friend code system was that Nintendo wanted to ensure that the people on someone's friend list were all people that the person knew. On Xbox Live, you can add anyone to your friends list (as long as they approve) without batting an eyelash. For all you know, you could be befriending a convicted felon or sex offender. That's an extreme case, sure, but it could still happen.

Nintendo is trying to make sure that your friends are really people you know, and not random people that you haven't talked to until you put their friend codes into your Wii. Plus, Nintendo's system may make more sense to those not privy to online gaming. The friend code could be considered a phone number, and with how it's entered into the Wii Address Book (your friend list) it makes some sense to structure it in that way.

As long as Nintendo doesn't require friend codes for each game individually, the system will be adequate. It's never going to be like Xbox Live (and people should stop expecting it to be), but if you want to play games with your friends, going through the one-time hassle of punching in 12 digits isn't that big of a deal.

Are we out of questions already? Time flies when you're having fun. The mailbag is now empty, so that means we're going to need more questions to answer. We can't do that without your help, so please send some in via our mailbag submission form. You can hit that at the bottom of the page. Don't forget about the talkback thread, either. We like feedback as much as we do questions.

Like clockwork, we're here next Sunday evening for another mailbag update. I bet you've got it circled on your calendar like everyone else. I know I do.

Seeya.