30 replies to this topic

[TwinChargers]

Is there a particular reason to why Nintendo hasn't released arcade perfect ports of some of there most storied franchises? Mario Bros., Punch-Out, and Donkey Kong seem like obvious titles that could get them some revenue if they threw them on a disc or put them on the Virtual Console. Sure, many of these were ported to the NES, but getting the arcade version of these titles would be a special treat. Wild Gunman would be perfect for the Wii, it seems like it would be easy to do, is there some type of hang-up that I'm missing?

That, and take it for what its worth, but wikipedia says that some of the games on the Nintendo Vs. series were more of less NES ports with added difficulty, animations and graphics. Those have never been available outside of the arcades also. Those too would be cool to have available.

[Lendorien]

You know, you have a good point. With the Wii, it wouldn't be hard to do either. But then again, how many people would go out and buy such a collection? Are there really that many people who care about arcade perfect ports?

[Rex Dart]

Nope; NES versions were/are good enough. There aren't enough "but port X is missing Y!" nitpickers to make it worth Nintendo's while.

[TwinChargers]

Lendorien, on Wed Oct 26, 2011 10:21 AM, said:

You know, you have a good point. With the Wii, it wouldn't be hard to do either. But then again, how many people would go out and buy such a collection? Are there really that many people who care about arcade perfect ports?

There are alot of compilation discs that have sold well throughout the years, why wouldn't this one be any different? People wanting an arcade perfect Donkey Kong would definately buy it. The NES ports are decent for what they were, but a slightly enhanced version would be a nice bonus. Also, seeing as how Nintendo lkes to re-release every franchise they have had across every platform, I don't see why they haven't done the same with there arcade games. It just seems odd.

[revolutionika]

Maybe if they did a 'Nintendo Classics' game with the arcade ports and a bunch of the black label nes titles?

[Pixelboy]

TwinChargers, on Wed Oct 26, 2011 11:23 AM, said:

There are alot of compilation discs that have sold well throughout the years, why wouldn't this one be any different? People wanting an arcade perfect Donkey Kong would definately buy it. The NES ports are decent for what they were, but a slightly enhanced version would be a nice bonus. Also, seeing as how Nintendo lkes to re-release every franchise they have had across every platform, I don't see why they haven't done the same with there arcade games. It just seems odd.

Agreed. At the very least, having the arcade version of Donkey Kong on the Virtual Console seems like a no-brainer. Donkey Kong Jr would be nice too.

[chrisbid]

it would cost nintendo virtually nothing to make their arcade roms available on the virtual console.

[MagitekAngel]

chrisbid, on Wed Oct 26, 2011 1:33 PM, said:

it would cost nintendo virtually nothing to make their arcade roms available on the virtual console.

It wouldn't cost entirely nothing - the games would have to be submitted to the appropriate regional ratings boards for starters, and of course there's the fine-tuning of Nintendo's emulator to run each title properly. But that cost is admittedly quite modest, and you are right to point out that Nintendo is poised to make a great deal of money off a digital release.

I think the problem now is that we are at the precipice of a transitional period between the Wii and the Wii U. If Nintendo were to re-release these arcade games now, I suspect they would hold back for the Wii U, to give it something exclusive.

[chrisbid]

MagitekAngel, on Wed Oct 26, 2011 2:36 PM, said:

chrisbid, on Wed Oct 26, 2011 1:33 PM, said:

it would cost nintendo virtually nothing to make their arcade roms available on the virtual console.

It wouldn't cost entirely nothing - the games would have to be submitted to the appropriate regional ratings boards for starters, and of course there's the fine-tuning of Nintendo's emulator to run each title properly. But that cost is admittedly quite modest, and you are right to point out that Nintendo is poised to make a great deal of money off a digital release.

I think the problem now is that we are at the precipice of a transitional period between the Wii and the Wii U. If Nintendo were to re-release these arcade games now, I suspect they would hold back for the Wii U, to give it something exclusive.

i agree that there would be logistical issues now, but that doesnt excuse the past 25 years of neglect. Nintendo of Europe at least threw people a bone and released a modified version of NES Donkey Kong with all four arcade levels.

[MagitekAngel]

Nintendo of Europe has been comparatively generous as of late: they also brought Xenoblade over, but that's a whole 'nother can of worms.

[Atariboy]

Supposedly, there are rights issues with the source code for Donkey Kong and maybe a few other early Nintendo coinops. So perhaps that's been the hold up over the years from programming an emulator when perhaps your single biggest arcade hit would have to be recreated from scratch anyways since you only own the name and the concept, not the code.

http://gdri.smspower...egami_Tsushinki

Edited by Atariboy, Thu Oct 27, 2011 10:41 PM.

[TwinChargers]

Atariboy, on Thu Oct 27, 2011 10:39 PM, said:

Supposedly, there are rights issues with the source code for Donkey Kong and maybe a few other early Nintendo coinops. So perhaps that's been the hold up over the years from programming an emulator when perhaps your single biggest arcade hit would have to be recreated from scratch anyways since you only own the name and the concept, not the code.

http://gdri.smspower...egami_Tsushinki

You would think that this ITC company would get some finacial gain in letting Nintendo release these coin ops then. You would think with the money Nintendo has (or had seeing there current financial status) that somewhere along the line they would have boughten the rights outright or let a percentage of the earnings go to them.

[chrisbid]

but what about the DK/DK jr/Mario Bros arcade re-release?

http://www.arcade-mu...p?game_id=13338


if nintendo really wanted to give us their arcade games, they would overcome the obstacles and make it happen.

[bobotech]

Why should Nintendo bother? There is probably a couple thousand hard core gamer nuts like ourselves who want the original arcade perfect donkey kong. probably 99 percent the rest of people don't really care that it isn't the exact same thing as the original, the NES versions are just fine for them.

I just don't see Nintendo caring much about a tiny hardcore fan base.

For 9 out of 10 people, you could probably show them the NES version and the arcade version and they wouldn't even know the difference or more importantly care about the differences.

[chrisbid]

bobotech, on Fri Oct 28, 2011 7:29 AM, said:

Why should Nintendo bother? There is probably a couple thousand hard core gamer nuts like ourselves who want the original arcade perfect donkey kong. probably 99 percent the rest of people don't really care that it isn't the exact same thing as the original, the NES versions are just fine for them.

I just don't see Nintendo caring much about a tiny hardcore fan base.

For 9 out of 10 people, you could probably show them the NES version and the arcade version and they wouldn't even know the difference or more importantly care about the differences.

what separates nintendo from sony and MS is their gaming legacy. if they ignore this advantage, they are toast.

weve established they ignore their arcade legacy, and if you look at their lineup of console game, they also ignore their 2D legacy. new super mario bros wii was a mega hit, and rather than making a new one, or other 2D games from the NES and SNES era, they continue to try to force feed the market luke warm 3D versions with NES era characters.

ignoring their arcade legacy is a symptom of a bigger problem.

[TwinChargers]

chrisbid, on Fri Oct 28, 2011 7:50 AM, said:

bobotech, on Fri Oct 28, 2011 7:29 AM, said:

Why should Nintendo bother? There is probably a couple thousand hard core gamer nuts like ourselves who want the original arcade perfect donkey kong. probably 99 percent the rest of people don't really care that it isn't the exact same thing as the original, the NES versions are just fine for them.

I just don't see Nintendo caring much about a tiny hardcore fan base.

For 9 out of 10 people, you could probably show them the NES version and the arcade version and they wouldn't even know the difference or more importantly care about the differences.

what separates nintendo from sony and MS is their gaming legacy. if they ignore this advantage, they are toast.

weve established they ignore their arcade legacy, and if you look at their lineup of console game, they also ignore their 2D legacy. new super mario bros wii was a mega hit, and rather than making a new one, or other 2D games from the NES and SNES era, they continue to try to force feed the market luke warm 3D versions with NES era characters.

ignoring their arcade legacy is a symptom of a bigger problem.

If anything, I figure Nintendo normally holds on a bit too tight to there legacy. Look at all the rehashes on the GBA of NES and SNES titles. I'll agree with you that Super Mario Bros. Wii is a nice homage to there past, and more titles like this would be boughten up by the masses because this style of gameplay isn't being found on the Xbox or Playstation, but to say Nintendo is ignoring there 2D legacy is wrong for the most part. Look at the releases of Kirby and Donkey Kong, and even some elements of Super Paper Mario, 2D is still going pretty strong for them.

As for them "force feeding" 3D upon us, it would be kind of foolish to not put out newer styles of gameplay with there established characters. Mario 64 and the Galaxy titles are solid games over the years.

[Rex Dart]

<p>

chrisbid, on Fri Oct 28, 2011 7:50 AM, said:

what separates nintendo from sony and MS is their gaming legacy. if they ignore this advantage, they are toast.

weve established they ignore their arcade legacy, and if you look at their lineup of console game, they also ignore their 2D legacy. new super mario bros wii was a mega hit, and rather than making a new one, or other 2D games from the NES and SNES era, they continue to try to force feed the market luke warm 3D versions with NES era characters.

ignoring their arcade legacy is a symptom of a bigger problem.

What a bunch of baloney. What you call NES-era characters are Nintendo characters. They're NES-era, SNES-era, N64-era... see how it work? So how are they ignoring their 2D legacy? They feature the same characters constantly in their new products. Donkey Kong Country Returns, for example.
If by "force-feeding the market" you mean "releasing new games", I guess some people just can't be pleased. You want new games with 80's characters, but you don't want new games with 80's characters? Gee, okay.
If you want to play Donkey Kong, play Donkey Kong. It still exists. But DK's not going to sell if Nintendo were to bother coming up with a Wii version of an emulator for it & put it up on Virtual Console. I'm sorry, but that's how it is.

Edited by Rex Dart, Fri Oct 28, 2011 10:06 AM.

[bobotech]

chrisbid, on Fri Oct 28, 2011 7:50 AM, said:

what separates nintendo from sony and MS is their gaming legacy. if they ignore this advantage, they are toast.

weve established they ignore their arcade legacy, and if you look at their lineup of console game, they also ignore their 2D legacy. new super mario bros wii was a mega hit, and rather than making a new one, or other 2D games from the NES and SNES era, they continue to try to force feed the market luke warm 3D versions with NES era characters.

ignoring their arcade legacy is a symptom of a bigger problem.

You kind of missed my point. First of all, I agree with the post above this one where Twinchargers states that they hold on TOO tightly to their old hits. I agree with his points about the old hits being rehashed over and over again.

As for my post, I was referring to the idea of why doesn't Nintendo release an arcade perfect emulation of Donkey Kong on their Wii or something. My point is that it doesn't matter to the grand masses of people who buy Nintendo games. There are probably only a few thousand fat mid-thirty year old and up men who salivate at the thought of perfect arcade emulations on their Wii consoles. For the millions of rest of people, those arcade games were either a distant childhood/teenhood happy memory and playing the NES/SNES versions of those games is absolutely acceptable to them. They probably wouldn't notice the difference if someone put a full sized Donkey Kong arcade game in front of them or the NES version.

For people like us, we have the emulation scene (thank god!) and the ability to build arcade controllers for our personal use but we are the TINY TINY majority of consumers hence the ignoring of us by Nintendo and other big name game companies.

The market is there for a few niche companies but its not enough for a heavy hitter.

And heck, you can hack Wiis and I believe you can even drop MAME on them and actually play arcade perfect versions with your Wii (I think, I only have SNES/NES/Genesis emulators on mine).

Edited by bobotech, Fri Oct 28, 2011 10:10 AM.

[chrisbid]

Rex Dart, on Fri Oct 28, 2011 10:05 AM, said:

<p>

chrisbid, on Fri Oct 28, 2011 7:50 AM, said:

what separates nintendo from sony and MS is their gaming legacy. if they ignore this advantage, they are toast.

weve established they ignore their arcade legacy, and if you look at their lineup of console game, they also ignore their 2D legacy. new super mario bros wii was a mega hit, and rather than making a new one, or other 2D games from the NES and SNES era, they continue to try to force feed the market luke warm 3D versions with NES era characters.

ignoring their arcade legacy is a symptom of a bigger problem.

What a bunch of baloney. What you call NES-era characters are Nintendo characters. They're NES-era, SNES-era, N64-era... see how it work? So how are they ignoring their 2D legacy? They feature the same characters constantly in their new products. Donkey Kong Country Returns, for example.
If by "force-feeding the market" you mean "releasing new games", I guess some people just can't be pleased. You want new games with 80's characters, but you don't want new games with 80's characters? Gee, okay.
If you want to play Donkey Kong, play Donkey Kong. It still exists. But DK's not going to sell if Nintendo were to bother coming up with a Wii version of an emulator for it & put it up on Virtual Console. I'm sorry, but that's how it is.

they ignore it by taking nearly 20 years to release a proper console super mario bros game.

they ignore it by taking samus aran and turning her in a whino

they ignore it by taking an action/adventure like legend of zelda and turning into a series of stupid minigames, fetch quests, and obtuse puzzles

the people at nintendo incorrectly assume their characters sold their games in the NES and SNES eras. that is not the case. the games sold themselves, the characters were only a peripheral reason for their success. sticking mario into a game does not guarantee success, otherwise mario's time machine and yoshis island would be as highly successful as the super mario bros trilogy.

this extends to the 3D mario games. Mario 64, Mario Sunshine, and Mario Galaxy have never been the hits 2D super mario bros games have been. the 3D gameplay is completely different and foreign to anyone outside of nintendos core market.

but then nintendo throws "the casuals" (read: retarded, game companies hate catering to these people) a bone and releases a throwaway effort called new super mario bros wii, and it tears up the sales chart. youd think anyone with half a brain would take that que and try to bring back the gameplay of their other 2D hits, but instead they focus on 3D mario despite its lukewarm success, focus on puzzle zelda, and once again trying to entice the mook crowd on xbox live to buy a wiiu with more "hardcore" (read: teenage boy) games.

nintendo does not embrace their arcade gaming past, and it will eventually kill the company

[bobotech]

chrisbid, on Fri Oct 28, 2011 11:45 AM, said:

Rex Dart, on Fri Oct 28, 2011 10:05 AM, said:

<p>

chrisbid, on Fri Oct 28, 2011 7:50 AM, said:

what separates nintendo from sony and MS is their gaming legacy. if they ignore this advantage, they are toast.

weve established they ignore their arcade legacy, and if you look at their lineup of console game, they also ignore their 2D legacy. new super mario bros wii was a mega hit, and rather than making a new one, or other 2D games from the NES and SNES era, they continue to try to force feed the market luke warm 3D versions with NES era characters.

ignoring their arcade legacy is a symptom of a bigger problem.

What a bunch of baloney. What you call NES-era characters are Nintendo characters. They're NES-era, SNES-era, N64-era... see how it work? So how are they ignoring their 2D legacy? They feature the same characters constantly in their new products. Donkey Kong Country Returns, for example.
If by "force-feeding the market" you mean "releasing new games", I guess some people just can't be pleased. You want new games with 80's characters, but you don't want new games with 80's characters? Gee, okay.
If you want to play Donkey Kong, play Donkey Kong. It still exists. But DK's not going to sell if Nintendo were to bother coming up with a Wii version of an emulator for it & put it up on Virtual Console. I'm sorry, but that's how it is.

they ignore it by taking nearly 20 years to release a proper console super mario bros game.

they ignore it by taking samus aran and turning her in a whino

they ignore it by taking an action/adventure like legend of zelda and turning into a series of stupid minigames, fetch quests, and obtuse puzzles

the people at nintendo incorrectly assume their characters sold their games in the NES and SNES eras. that is not the case. the games sold themselves, the characters were only a peripheral reason for their success. sticking mario into a game does not guarantee success, otherwise mario's time machine and yoshis island would be as highly successful as the super mario bros trilogy.

this extends to the 3D mario games. Mario 64, Mario Sunshine, and Mario Galaxy have never been the hits 2D super mario bros games have been. the 3D gameplay is completely different and foreign to anyone outside of nintendos core market.

but then nintendo throws "the casuals" (read: retarded, game companies hate catering to these people) a bone and releases a throwaway effort called new super mario bros wii, and it tears up the sales chart. youd think anyone with half a brain would take that que and try to bring back the gameplay of their other 2D hits, but instead they focus on 3D mario despite its lukewarm success, focus on puzzle zelda, and once again trying to entice the mook crowd on xbox live to buy a wiiu with more "hardcore" (read: teenage boy) games.

nintendo does not embrace their arcade gaming past, and it will eventually kill the company

I'm kind of confused by your thread redirection. The original post was why doesn't Nintendo release arcade perfect ports on something like the Wii Virtual Console, what does this post really have to do with that?

And in regards to Legend of Zelda, their Ocarina of Time game is still considered to be one of the best all time video games ever and sold like wildfire. I still see the modern incarnations being quite a bit like Ocarina of Time.

[chrisbid]

my point is nintendo ignoring their arcade games is a symptom of them ignoring their gaming heritage, and its going to sink the company.

[bobotech]

chrisbid, on Fri Oct 28, 2011 12:25 PM, said:

my point is nintendo ignoring their arcade games is a symptom of them ignoring their gaming heritage, and its going to sink the company.

How in the world are they ignoring their heritage? They have been regurgitating their characters ever since the early '80s starting with Donkey Kong. A lot of their non-Pokemon popular characters started in the early '80s. The vast majority of the rest of them were NES/SNES characters. The game play might not be the same but you give the consumers what they demand and want.

[chrisbid]

bobotech, on Fri Oct 28, 2011 12:42 PM, said:

chrisbid, on Fri Oct 28, 2011 12:25 PM, said:

my point is nintendo ignoring their arcade games is a symptom of them ignoring their gaming heritage, and its going to sink the company.

How in the world are they ignoring their heritage? They have been regurgitating their characters ever since the early '80s starting with Donkey Kong. A lot of their non-Pokemon popular characters started in the early '80s. The vast majority of the rest of them were NES/SNES characters. The game play might not be the same but you give the consumers what they demand and want.

characters /= games

[Rex Dart]

chrisbid, on Fri Oct 28, 2011 12:25 PM, said:

my point is nintendo ignoring their arcade games is a symptom of them ignoring their gaming heritage, and its going to sink the company.

Ah... now that you've explained yourself, I agree with you. Only I think it's merely harming their potential profits, and not necessarily ending the company.

[bobotech]

Nintendo the company was never really "known" for arcade games. Sure, they made arcade games but I never really knew that Nintendo put out Donkey Kong back in the '80s. They weren't a well known company until after the NES came out and even then, they were known as the NES company, not the "arcade game company".

Unlike Atari which was known for their arcade games and capitalized on it for a short period.

Which arcade games do you think Nintendo should exactly capitalize on? Mario Bros. evolved into Super Mario Brothers and has been a staple ever since and its recent version has been a smash hit. Donkey Kong? Well is quite simplistic compared to modern games. I guess you could make a modern version ala Super Mario Wii that might appeal to more people but still, I think the way the Donkey Kong series has gone has been good for the company.

High scores as a goal for a game has been long left behind. Even the original Super Mario Brothers games on the NES downplayed scoring. I never heard anyone caring much about their SMB3 score but on the other hand, they talk about beating the game, seeing all the secrets, etc The old arcade games were about beating scores, that isn't important anymore. The only modern game that I have played that my buddy and I actively try to get high scores on is the Pac Man version in the Xbox 360 arcade pack. We like playing the 5 minute game and try to get the highest possible score.

I just think us old people who are so nostalgic about old games have rose colored glasses on compared to what the real market demands out of games. We want our old Pac Man, the market demands Battlefield 3.