Father_Brain said:
Yeah, the DSi/GBC comparison doesn't hold up at all. DSiWare was never marketed by Nintendo as that huge a selling point, and it certainly isn't comparable in relative quality to the GBC-exclusive software library (which, lest we forget, very rapidly became the overwhelming majority of software released for the platform).
The technical comparison is certainly apt, but it should be pretty inarguable that GBC was branded, marketed, and positioned as a distinct platform from GB, whereas DSi was never branded, marketed, and positioned as anything more than an improved DS model.
Yes, and that's all it was -- a marketing difference. The increase in power was the same, both have some dual-mode games (though the GBC certainly has far, far more of them), etc... they're both new systems, not just upgraded models like the GBP or DS lite. However, maybe in part because of their memories of being criticized by some for ditching the GBC after just 2 1/2 years, or maybe because they just realized that it was better marketing to sell a new system that you were planning to give only a very short life as not a new system at all, but that's what Nintendo did.
However, their clever and successful marketing strategy doesn't change that the DSi is in fact a new system. Just that its CPU is twice as powerful, just like how the GBC's was, should show that on its own. That it also has new hardware features (camera and downloadable games for DSi, color and an IR port for GBC) just adds to it. In terms of whether they're new systems or not, the difference between the DSi and GBC is primarily marketing, not hardware.
lunchwithyuzo said:
There are also retail DSi only games btw. Maybe you don't see DSiWare as anything but a "bonus" but there's a ton of content there than a DS or Lite owner is locked out of, and more content than a GB or GBP owner was locked out of.
Regular GB games had 12 base palettes to choose from (with 10 colors each vs 4 shades of grey) and there were also 93 GB games that had custom programmed palettes programmed in (including some that predated SGB/GBC like Metroid 2). The GBC screen was also larger and had better visibility than the GB or GBP screens. Comparing Metroid 2 on the peasoup green original GB to the game running on a GBC is like night and day.
If you only wanted to play DS games, a DS or DS Lite was comparable to a DSi for that. If you only wanted to play GB games, a GBC was still comparably better than a GB or GBP. Your argument here literally works backwards against the larger point you're pushing.
You're right that for playing last-gen games the GBC was a clear upgrade over previous portable GB systems while the DSi is not, but that doesn't change the fact that the DSi is a new system anyway. That isn't what determines if it's an new system or not, I would say.
lunchwithyuzo said:
The final GB compatible game was released in 2001 in the US, 2002 for Japan. How much longer after that were people really buying GBs or GBCs anyway? I mean even best case we're probably talking about a year of "superceding" releases, and I'd argue it wasn't even a complete turn over until we were into GBA's cycle anyway.
Well, it is true that while most 1998-1999 GBC games are dual mode, most 2000 and on titles are GBC only. Most people did upgrade. Also, B&W only GB games vanished almost immediately -- I don't know of any at all, in the US at least, after 1998. Everything had color modes added. That's mostly probably because of the nature of the addon, though -- color is a more obvious addition for a retail title than a camera and downloadable games. In comparison, the other new GBC hardware feature, that IR port, was barely used by much of anything, understandably.
But yes, you're right, when you compare the two, more people got GBCs than DSi/iXLs. But part of that is again because of the marketing difference -- Nintendo was selling it as the new system you had to get, the original models were quickly discounted and dropped, all new games added color options within months of its release... it makes sense that the DSi wouldn't match it in those ways.
However, because the DSi is the same degree of upgrade in terms of processor, and because it does also have its own exclusive games (and yes, there are five or six DSi-only card-based titles, it's not just downloads), and new hardware features you can't get on the original system, the DSi, like the GBC, is definitely a new system.
Unless the Gameboy games were specifically made with Gameboy Color and/or Super Gameboy support in mind.
