Topic: Official Virtual Console Mondays Thread

[Kairon]

No thank you.

~Carmine "Cai" M. Red
Kairon@aol.com

[GoldenPhoenix]

Quote
Originally posted by: UncleBob
I here forth pose a question for all to answer:

The NES emulator is pretty dead-on, it seems.  Which means, playing Kirby's Adventure sucks as bad as it did originally - there are so many spots where the system slows down because it can barely handle the awesomeness of this game.

So... Should Nintendo improve the NES emulator to prevent the original slowdowns and such from happening?

Yes I think so, slowdown along with other detrimental glitches should be smoothed out. You don't need to change the graphics just eliminate the ridiculous glitches and slowdown that hamper the games.

[Entroper]

While we're on the subject of emulator issues and arcade ports, I should mention that a lot of old arcade games should be portable to the Virtual Console without too much trouble.  That is, if Nintendo wanted to support arcade-perfect emulation, they could do it fairly easily for many arcade systems, including the ones that ran the TMNT games.  These systems used 68000 CPUs and Z80 coprocessors, with various Yamaha sound synthesizer chips.  The Sega Genesis also used a 68000 CPU, a Z80 coprocessor, and a Yamaha sound synthesizer.  The Virtual Console already has a Genesis emulator, so extending this to early arcade boards would not be nearly as difficult as emulating a completely different system.

I still don't see it happening though.  

[31 Flavas]

You and your fancy three-dee games these days without glitches or slowdowns. Why back in my day all we had was... And we were happy with it! Why should you whippersnappers of today have it any easier!  

[NeoThunder]

YES!!!!!!! Komami has heard my calls and is going to release Turtles to the Virtual Console.  The first one, but you can bet if a ton of people buy it, others will follow.  turtles III on NES was the best....for the NES

[Adrock]

Uncle Phil was the Shredder.

[BlackNMild2k1]

Sorry, I am late to respond/comment to this quote(Ive been on vacation for the last week & just now catching up), But I have to laugh, cause those were the days. But you forgot on step...

Quote
Originally posted by: UncleBob
Back in my day, when you wanted to play a game, you had to:

1. Flip the little switch on the the cable from "TV" to "Computer".
2. Dig through all the games to find the one you wanted to play.
3. Put the game in the system and turn it on.
4. Turn the system off and back on again.
5. Turn the system back off, take the cart out, blow on it, put it back in, and turn the system back on.
6. Turn the system back off, smack the sides of the system and turn it back on.
7. Turn the system off again, take the game out, get out the Q-Tips and whatever cleaning solution you can find, clean the game, put it back in and turn the system back on.
8. Turn the system back off, give up and go outside and play.

Ya damn kids are spoiled now-a-days I say... just plain spoiled.

Step 5.5: Slide the cartridge to the left or the right and press reset(slight adjustments may be needed)

[Kairon]

I have to reset my NES repeatedly in perfect timing to the black pulses between the purple pulses that appear on the TV.

~Carmine "Cai" M. Red
Kairon@aol.com

[Maverick]

I can't wait for Turtles to be released.  That's one of my all time favorite NES games.  I never beat it 'cause it's stupidly hard but I sure had some good times with that thing.  

[Ian Sane]

"So... Should Nintendo improve the NES emulator to prevent the original slowdowns and such from happening?"

The SNES emulator would probably need it more.  Tons of games for that console have slowdown.  I would like the option to turn slowdown on or off.  For some slowdown is part of playing the game exactly as it was.  I view slowdown largely as a mistake that should never have been there but I imagine some purists wouldn't want it fixed.  Plus with some shmups slowdown actually makes the game easier.  If the enemies suddenly started coming at full speed someone who had already adapted to the original version would be thrown off.

I however have always wanted to play some titles without slowdown.  Mega Man X without any hiccups during Armored Armadillo's stage in theory sounds cool as hell.  I think it would be nice if there was an option to turn slowdown on or off.  I think R-Types for the Playstation had this as an option so it's doable in theory.

Such ideas may raise costs though.  I think it would good to offer two "brands" for VC games.  You can get titles exactly as they were for less money or get "special edition" versions that cost more and have little touchups like saving high scores, removing slowdown, fixing translation errors, removing censorship, making arcade ports more arcade perfect, etc.  Konami apparently used their own memory mappers on the Famicom but they weren't allowed to do that on the NES.  So the Famicom versions of games like Castlevania III have better music.  Why can't we get an NES perfect Castlevania III and an "enhanced" version with the better music as an option?  If they could do Turtles in Time why not have four options: arcade, SNES, Genesis (Hyperstone Heist), and special version with all the extra content in one game?

[vudu]

That sounds both confusing and expensive.  Most customers won't like that.

As far as your suggestion for saving high scores, it's already there.  Since you never "turn off" the game in VC (only "reset it" when you exit out) your high scores are always saved.  They'll only go away if you delete the game from your system and then redownload it.  

[KDR_11k]

A problem would be that you have to change the ROM to make it work without slowdown. These things were designed with a specific clock rate in mind and you can't squeeze extra speed in there without messing with the rest. For many ROMs the source code is probably long gone which would require either assembly hacking or just releasing unmodified.

[UltimatePartyBear]

Maybe the emulator could be written so that the virtual machine's specs are dynamically altered to match the demands of the game.  When the game started to use up resources in a manner that would make the machine chug, the virtual machine could suddenly have just enough more RAM or power to maintain run speed until things settled down again.  I'm not sure how difficult that would be.

[The Omen]

Quote
orry, I am late to respond/comment to this quote(Ive been on vacation for the last week & just now catching up), But I have to laugh, cause those were the days. But you forgot on step...

   Quote
   Originally posted by: UncleBob
   Back in my day, when you wanted to play a game, you had to:

   1. Flip the little switch on the the cable from "TV" to "Computer".
   2. Dig through all the games to find the one you wanted to play.
   3. Put the game in the system and turn it on.
   4. Turn the system off and back on again.
   5. Turn the system back off, take the cart out, blow on it, put it back in, and turn the system back on.
   6. Turn the system back off, smack the sides of the system and turn it back on.
   7. Turn the system off again, take the game out, get out the Q-Tips and whatever cleaning solution you can find, clean the game, put it back in and turn the system back on.
   8. Turn the system back off, give up and go outside and play.

   Ya damn kids are spoiled now-a-days I say... just plain spoiled.


Step 5.5: Slide the cartridge to the left or the right and press reset(slight adjustments may be needed)

You could just buy the internal pins thingy for the nes for about $1.99 and it'll work forever.   Of course, I didn't know this until 2 years ago.  

Another step-put game in, push game down, then push it down again to release it while jamming another cartridge in place on top of the that cartridge, thus creating some sort of anchor where the game is kind of ejected, but stuck in purgatory, and mysteriously it plays.

[Ian Sane]

"That sounds both confusing and expensive. Most customers won't like that."

How is it any more confusing than the numerous DVD double-dips we see?  If a customer can handle numerous special editions for movies I fail to see why the same principal with downloadable videogames is any different.  Considering the extra time that would be involved in special editions odds are the "regular" version would come out first and then it would be exactly like DVDs where later a special version comes out.

Plus I'm sick of good ideas being turned down because some people might be confused.  F*ck 'em.  If they can't figure it out they're morons.  The goal should be to get non-gamers into gaming, not dumbing everything down for them.  I support multiple versions (this makes sense for Genesis/SNES ports too), the removal of any software-driven limitations regarding how many games can be available without redownloading, and full button mapping.  If grandma finds those OPTIONS too hard to grasp and for some reason can't get by just sticking to the defaults then tough sh!t.

[Kairon]

Well, it doesn't sound financially enticing anyways.

~Carmine "Cai" M. Red
Kairon@aol.com

[vudu]

So you're actually saying that Nintendo should release "inferior" (i.e. bare bones) versions of games and then release "better" (i.e. enhanced) versions at a later date for more money?  That's horrible.  It's a horrible practice that damages the movie industry.  It doesn't happen often when CDs, but when it does it sucks big time.  In no way do I want this practice infiltrating video games.

[Kairon]

Is Vectorman any good?

~Carmine "Cai" M. Red
Kairon@aol.com

[IceCold]

It was SEGA's "answer" to Donkey Kong Country..

[Kairon]

Well, I know that, but was it any good?

~Carmine "Cai" M. Red
Kairon@aol.com

[Kairon]

*vhoops*

~Carmine "Cai" M. Red
Kairon@aol.com

[Luigi Dude]

Yeah, it was Sega's answer to Donkey Kong Country, but not a very good one.  Now Vectorman is the perfect example of a mediocre game selling only because of good graphics.  The Donkey Kong Country games had some elements that at least made them good.  I cant say the same for Vectorman.

[Kairon]

Beyond Oasis looks good.... I'm totally loving buying all these games that were never on Nintendo systems!

~Carmine "Cai" M. Red
Kairon@aol.com

[Ian Sane]

"So you're actually saying that Nintendo should release 'inferior' (i.e. bare bones) versions of games and then release 'better' (i.e. enhanced) versions at a later date for more money?"

Well I'd rather they come out at the same time though they may not happen because of the ease of releasing the straight port.  I don't really like the idea of double dipping but some people want exact ports and some people want enhancements made when it makes sense so an ideal solution is to provide both.  I think it would be less like double dipping with DVDs because in those cases usually the "regular" version of the film is included in the second release so they're really just holding back extra content to make you buy very similar products twice.  But here the straight up port is different then the enhanced one and both are for different markets.  I also would only want enhanced versions in situations where it makes sense.  Something like Super Metroid that has only been released in one version should only have one version.

It's like the two version of the Lord of the Rings films.  The theatrical cut and extended cut are different enough that different people would want one version over the other and some would want both.  Depending on one's point of view neither version is really better, just different.

[Kairon]

There's nothing wrong with releasing arcade versions of games... IF they could emulate arcade systems and get the rights for them.

~Carmine "Cai" M. Red
Kairon@aol.com