Nintendo launches Classic NES Games for GBA SP

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Originally Posted by Mairu

I don't think anyone's saying Nintendo's decisions here are innovative, because clearly they're not. It's an intelligent business decision.

And as far as comparing them to Atari, they haven't gone out of business and they are currently alive in more than just their name (See: Infogrames purchasing the Atari name).

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I agree from a financial standpoint that the big "N" has something to gain here.

However, Atari is alive in name only and Hasbro bought it for a paltry sum a few years ago, only to (happily) unload it after they followed the same maligned strategy that did the original company in many moons before. Atari was no longer a company at all, it was a Trademark, that's all.

My entire point is that it seem Nintendo is beginning to traverse this already travelled road - sequels, remakes, and re-releases. They can only survive for so long before their library loses its steam and their dwindling audience loses their patience.

Of the three major consoles, I've been pulling for Nintendo's GC most of all, hoping it would be a great gamer's system. When I see stuff like this, it makes me nervous - I've seen it before and sooner or later it will fail. Nintendo's console status (other than SP) is already in a crisis. They're losing their audience which has grown up while the company hasn't and pulling them in one last time by appealing to history reeks of desperation to me.

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Originally Posted by burgundy

Welcome to the rest of the industry. But that's not really the point. If Nintendo has a dearth of creativity, they have it whether or not they cash in with these NES ports.

I'm pretty sure no one here is racing out to pick up Xevious this June, so I'm not sure what point you're trying to make.

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I disagree with this premise. Resources are resources and marketing strategies and sales require diligence, effort, patience, finances, advertising and programming. To say that these releases have no impact on the rest of the company and its production is somewhat naive - not to mention the impact it might have on their audience as well as their perception of the company that they are buying from. Of course there are consequences.

We can agree to disagree.

The NES-styled GBASP looks spiffy, but the NES classic games are way too expensive for what they are at $20 each.

What Nintendo could and should have done is bundle several NES games on a single cartridge, and sell it as a compilation pack (like Namco Museum, Activision Anthology, etc.) for $20-$30. All of those games could comfortably fit on a 4 MB (or even 1 MB) GBA cartridge with plenty of room to spare. I think you could easily fit 20-30 NES games from that era onto a single cartridge.

Another problem is marketability. The only games on that list that I really see selling in great numbers are Super Mario Bros. and The Legend of Zelda. Most of the other games are good, but not something I'd pay $20 (or $10, or even $5) for.

For example, who really wants the NES versions of Donkey Kong, Pac-Man, or Xevious? I'd much rather have the arcade versions of those games, which were much better. Pac-Man Collection can be had for $20 or less (I've seen some stores selling it for $10), and it has a much better version of Pac-Man than the one on the NES, along with three other games to boot. There's no reason to get the NES version, unless you're a collector, or totally nostalgic for the NES version with its idiosyncrasies. NES Donkey Kong was missing a level (the pie factory), and it already came out on E-Reader anyway. Xevious was an OK port, but why settle for NES when the GBA hardware could provide a near-perfect replica of the superior arcade version?

One other problem I see here, which negatively affects my desire to get these: The GBA has lower screen resolution than the NES. As such, we're not really getting perfect emulation anyway. Therefore, why do I care about having a $20 "NES cartridge" in my pocket, if the GBA (as advanced as it is) can't even do proper justice to the games because the emulation engine has to drop every 6th scanline to compensate for the physical LCD resolution? In some ways, I'd almost prefer to have ports (recreations) rather than emulations, because then the graphics could be reworked to look better on the GBA (one reason why Konami decided to recreate, rather than emulate, the games for Konami Collector's Series: Arcade Advanced).

Sorry, but I'm just not feeling the NES love here. I could certainly overlook the flaws if all the games were bundled into a single value-priced collection. But each individual game at $20 a pop? No sale!

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Originally Posted by haohmaru

I disagree with this premise. Resources are resources and marketing strategies and sales require diligence, effort, patience, finances, advertising and programming. To say that these releases have no impact on the rest of the company and its production is somewhat naive - not to mention the impact it might have on their audience as well as their perception of the company that they are buying from. Of course there are consequences.

We can agree to disagree.

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There's definitely some impact, but I think you're overestimating it. The perception point is valid, but it seems that the market hates Nintendo no matter what it does anyway.

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Originally Posted by NeoZeedeater

Nintendo needs to release a compilation of their old arcade games on GC. The Donkey Kong and Punch Out! names should be big enough to sell it.

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They did...it's called Animal Crossing.

No those are all NES versions in Animal Crossing aren't they?

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Originally Posted by Agent X

The NES-styled GBASP looks spiffy, but the NES classic games are way too expensive for what they are at $20 each.

What Nintendo could and should have done is bundle several NES games on a single cartridge, and sell it as a compilation pack (like Namco Museum, Activision Anthology, etc.) for $20-$30. All of those games could comfortably fit on a 4 MB (or even 1 MB) GBA cartridge with plenty of room to spare. I think you could easily fit 20-30 NES games from that era onto a single cartridge.

Another problem is marketability. The only games on that list that I really see selling in great numbers are Super Mario Bros. and The Legend of Zelda. Most of the other games are good, but not something I'd pay $20 (or $10, or even $5) for.

For example, who really wants the NES versions of Donkey Kong, Pac-Man, or Xevious? I'd much rather have the arcade versions of those games, which were much better. Pac-Man Collection can be had for $20 or less (I've seen some stores selling it for $10), and it has a much better version of Pac-Man than the one on the NES, along with three other games to boot. There's no reason to get the NES version, unless you're a collector, or totally nostalgic for the NES version with its idiosyncrasies. NES Donkey Kong was missing a level (the pie factory), and it already came out on E-Reader anyway. Xevious was an OK port, but why settle for NES when the GBA hardware could provide a near-perfect replica of the superior arcade version?

One other problem I see here, which negatively affects my desire to get these: The GBA has lower screen resolution than the NES. As such, we're not really getting perfect emulation anyway. Therefore, why do I care about having a $20 "NES cartridge" in my pocket, if the GBA (as advanced as it is) can't even do proper justice to the games because the emulation engine has to drop every 6th scanline to compensate for the physical LCD resolution? In some ways, I'd almost prefer to have ports (recreations) rather than emulations, because then the graphics could be reworked to look better on the GBA (one reason why Konami decided to recreate, rather than emulate, the games for Konami Collector's Series: Arcade Advanced).

Sorry, but I'm just not feeling the NES love here. I could certainly overlook the flaws if all the games were bundled into a single value-priced collection. But each individual game at $20 a pop? No sale!

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I am not sure I agree with this. Portability is a key factor, otherwise no one would buy the system itself. And it is marketing aswell. Seeing a 4 in 1 cart makes the game look EXTREMELY budget. This is why the "platinum", "ea classics" sell so well. It makes the consumer think that they are getting an awesome quality game at half price(which they are). While the 4 in 1's tend to make the consumer think that they are getting a bunch of crappy games.

Though I have no idea who these games are being marketed to. The same demographic as Mario Advance 4? In which case people paid full price for the game(heck even I did).

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Originally Posted by NeoZeedeater

No those are all NES versions in Animal Crossing aren't they?

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You're right. I skimmed over that. That's what I get for trying to correct the legend.

That said...I don't think the arcade originals would sell nearly as well as NES ports. Especially with Punch-Out...people overwhelmingly prefer the drastically changed NES rev over Super Punch-Out which is much closer to the original.

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Originally Posted by Damian79

Though I have no idea who these games are being marketed to.

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The same people who throw down $20 for an Excitebike t-shirt.

It's the in thing now.

I do think it would be kind of neat to see how these games hold up on their own, and not as a part of a collection. Part of me wants to see how much more motivated I'll be to get through a game knowing I can't just hit Start and choose another one.

Gamestop is now Taking pre-orders on the NES SP