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Nintendo Downloads - May 2014

sörine

Banned
SFA2 and MMV for me this week. As someone who grew up with a Saturn I was surprised by how good the SNES SFA2 conversion was when I played it for the first time on Wii VC.

Now that I know Moozoom worked on it I'll probably get Squids Odyssey too. The trailer looks great and he does the best Miiverse drawings. NeoGAF solidarity.
 

Zonic

Gives all the fucks
MMV for me. Still need to finish III & start on IV. Just glad after next week, I'll finally own all the GB/C games now. Heck, this week will fill the void of not getting Mega Man Mania on GBA.
 

deleted

Member
I have a question about the subject of GBA emulation that pops up every now and then. Couldn't Nintendo solve this 'easily'?

Apparently the 3DS becomes the GBA through DS emulation for the ambassador games which makes it impossible to use the 3DS features like standby and savestates. But -and it is possible that this is simply impossible- couldn't they 'just' develop a new firmware for the GBA that works under the hood and makes use of those features? I don't know if the GBA even has a firmware, maybe they'd have to adjust the bootsector in each rom for this?
 

eojoko

Member
I have a question about the subject of GBA emulation that pops up every now and then. Couldn't Nintendo solve this 'easily'?

Apparently the 3DS becomes the GBA through DS emulation for the ambassador games which makes it impossible to use the 3DS features like standby and savestates. But -and it is possible that this is simply impossible- couldn't they 'just' develop a new firmware for the GBA that works under the hood and makes use of those features? I don't know if the GBA even has a firmware, maybe they'd have to adjust the bootsector in each rom for this?

Maybe I'm wrong too, but if Nintendo wanted GBA games on 3DS VC, I'd think they could develop a GBA emulator that runs on 3DS. No reason they have to use DS backwards compatibility to play GBA games. M2 got megadrive games running on a 3DS after developing their "gigadrive." But obviously it's not an easy thing to do, and if Nintendo doesn't want to do it, for whatever reason, well... not much else to say.

As much as I'd like GBA games on my 3DS, I've been pretty happy playing GB/GBC and NES games on 3DS VC. I'm playing through a lot of GB games I've never played before.
 

deleted

Member
Maybe I'm wrong too, but if Nintendo wanted GBA games on 3DS VC, I'd think they could develop a GBA emulator that runs on 3DS. No reason they have to use DS backwards compatibility to play GBA games. M2 got megadrive games running on a 3DS after developing their "gigadrive." But obviously it's not an easy thing to do, and if Nintendo doesn't want to do it, for whatever reason, well... not much else to say.

As much as I'd like GBA games on my 3DS, I've been pretty happy playing GB/GBC and NES games on 3DS VC. I'm playing through a lot of GB games I've never played before.

But apparently the 3DS isn't fast enough to accurately emulate the SNES. This would be a workaround, because the 3DS becomes a DS and therefore a GBA for these games - just a GBA with added features.
 

Bog

Junior Ace
Anyone try that 16-bit-esque JRPG that came out on the 3DS a couple weeks back? Any good?
 

phanphare

Banned
I have a question about the subject of GBA emulation that pops up every now and then. Couldn't Nintendo solve this 'easily'?

Apparently the 3DS becomes the GBA through DS emulation for the ambassador games which makes it impossible to use the 3DS features like standby and savestates. But -and it is possible that this is simply impossible- couldn't they 'just' develop a new firmware for the GBA that works under the hood and makes use of those features? I don't know if the GBA even has a firmware, maybe they'd have to adjust the bootsector in each rom for this?

honestly I think it's because of the 3DS being a dead-end for VC development. what I mean by that is that Iwata has mentioned on several occasions how the Wii U's architecture will be taken into account with new hardware so that they don't have to start from scratch every time they launch a new console. I'm assuming that VC will be one of the platforms that will be forward compatible from day 1 of the next hardware launch from Nintendo. so if they pump out VC games for Wii U my thought is that all of them will be compatible with future Nintendo hardware.
 

deleted

Member
honestly I think it's because of the 3DS being a dead-end for VC development. what I mean by that is that Iwata has mentioned on several occasions how the Wii U's architecture will be taken into account with new hardware so that they don't have to start from scratch every time they launch a new console. I'm assuming that VC will be one of the platforms that will be forward compatible from day 1 of the next hardware launch from Nintendo. so if they pump out VC games for Wii U my thought is that all of them will be compatible with future Nintendo hardware.

Also quite possible, but if the firmware trick would work, they could straight up dump the roms without adjusting them for VC.
 

Zonic

Gives all the fucks
Alright, so having a weird situation.

I'm switching debit cards to buy Mega Man V. Now I enter in the info, hit that I wanna add the funds, but then says the info is incorrect. I enter it again, double checking it's all right (it is), still says it's not working. I check on my bank account & it has two pending statuses for both times that I attempted to add funds. Anyone else experience something like this? I'm not gonna get charged both times, am I?
 

Javier

Member
I remember seeing positive things about it, but I also think I saw someone post about a game-killing bug in it as well?
Yeah, entering a certain town causes the game to freeze (only way out is shutting off the 3DS entirely), and while it's not required to beat the game, said town does have elements that expand the plot.

Nicalis said they're working on a patch, but no word on when it's coming out.
 

Refyref

Member
Yeah, entering a certain town causes the game to freeze (only way out is shutting off the 3DS entirely), and while it's not required to beat the game, said town does have elements that expand the plot.

Nicalis said they're working on a patch, but no word on when it's coming out.

They've said they already submitted the patch at the game's launch, so I guess it's only a matter of time.
 

rjc571

Banned
But apparently the 3DS isn't fast enough to accurately emulate the SNES. This would be a workaround, because the 3DS becomes a DS and therefore a GBA for these games - just a GBA with added features.

3DS already has 100% perfect SNES emulation in J Legend Biography, from Namco.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=G_akQF-b1HQ&feature=player_detailpage#t=120

they also released an emulated SNES Shin Chan game as a preorder bonus for the new Shin Chan game for 3DS.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=RoDNS7nv0gE&feature=player_detailpage#t=153
 
3DS already has 100% perfect SNES emulation in J Legend Biography, from Namco.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=G_akQF-b1HQ&feature=player_detailpage#t=120

they also released an emulated SNES Shin Chan game as a preorder bonus for the new Shin Chan game for 3DS.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=RoDNS7nv0gE&feature=player_detailpage#t=153

Namco does what Nintendont

Yeah, entering a certain town causes the game to freeze (only way out is shutting off the 3DS entirely), and while it's not required to beat the game, said town does have elements that expand the plot.

Nicalis said they're working on a patch, but no word on when it's coming out.

they already sent the patch to nintendo, is up to nintendo now
 

M3d10n

Member
I have a question about the subject of GBA emulation that pops up every now and then. Couldn't Nintendo solve this 'easily'?

Apparently the 3DS becomes the GBA through DS emulation for the ambassador games which makes it impossible to use the 3DS features like standby and savestates. But -and it is possible that this is simply impossible- couldn't they 'just' develop a new firmware for the GBA that works under the hood and makes use of those features? I don't know if the GBA even has a firmware, maybe they'd have to adjust the bootsector in each rom for this?

The 3DS has three firmwares: one for 3DS games, one for DS/DSi games and another one for the GBA games. When you launch a GBA or DS/DSi game, the system actually reboots into the corresponding firmware.

These firmware aren't the actual DS/DSi and GBA firmwares: they are basically there to provide the functionality DS/DSi/GBA games expect and make them work with the rest of the system. The rest of the system doesn't cease to exist: in DS and GBA mode the 3DS GPU is running, since it's used to scale the image and to render the popup window that shows up when you press the HOME button and the firmware maps the circle pad input into the D-pad, for example.

In theory Nintendo could beef up these firmwares to provide the same functionality as the default firmware, but I suspect the way DS (and GBA) games interact with the hardware doesn't play well with the ability to run multiple processes in parallel that native 3DS software do. In the case of DS games, there are also security risks, since save games can be compromised and the native 3DS firmware has processes in background that can do stuff like install software.

GBA games have encrypted saves, so they couldn't be as easily compromised, but other technical details make the home menu a problem. For example, the GBA doesn't have a native suspend feature. Unlike DS games, pressing HOME doesn't pause the GBA games. If the GBA games had the full home menu, they would still keep running in background. This is actually true for some DS games: the HOME button sends a "lid closed" input to DS games and some DS games can ignore this in some circumstances (like playing online). These games wouldn't be suspended in background either.

3DS already has 100% perfect SNES emulation in J Legend Biography, from Namco.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=G_akQF-b1HQ&feature=player_detailpage#t=120

they also released an emulated SNES Shin Chan game as a preorder bonus for the new Shin Chan game for 3DS.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=RoDNS7nv0gE&feature=player_detailpage#t=153

I think I even saw mode 7 and transparencies in some of those games. Based Namco.
 
Edit: Bad timing.
Apparently the 3DS becomes the GBA through DS emulation for the ambassador games which makes it impossible to use the 3DS features like standby and savestates. But -and it is possible that this is simply impossible- couldn't they 'just' develop a new firmware for the GBA that works under the hood and makes use of those features? I don't know if the GBA even has a firmware, maybe they'd have to adjust the bootsector in each rom for this?
It has a BIOS which kind of acts as one. In the early day of emulators Metroid Fusion would not play properly if you were missing the BIOS so games do make use of it.

But the 3DS firmware does come with a GBA firmware (dumps of the firmware show this) so it might be pseudo GBA even rather than DS mode. I assume this acts as the BIOS, handles the home button working and re-writes some of the read-write bits to an allocated bit of RAM and SD card and handles any other problems (like does the 3DS still have the GBA sound chip bits even).

Given GBA VC was handed to M2 on the Wii U side I think that should tell you how much of a priority GBA is for Nintendo.

I check on my bank account & it has two pending statuses for both times that I attempted to add funds. Anyone else experience something like this? I'm not gonna get charged both times, am I?
IIRC this happened to some people a few months ago and it seemed to be somewhat widespread for when it happened suggesting a mess up on the Nintendo side. Pending charges do eventually vanish (it is an annoying thing from the banking side, I'm still waiting for my £112 to be re-usable from the Wii U deal that was not).
 

tolkir

Member
Week finished

7f5TM.png


Wii U | eShop Original Software, Downloadable Content and Demos


Wii U | Virtual Console


Wii U | Sales

  • Blok Drop U (Rcmadiax | $1.49 until 06/04, then $1.99)

Nintendo 3DS | eShop Original Software, Downloadable Content and Demos


  • Mario Golf: World Tour (Nintendo)
    Flower Pack ($5.99)


Nintendo 3DS | Virtual Console


Nintendo 3DS | Sales

  • Aeternoblade (Corecell | $9.99 until 05/26, then $14.99) Upcoming 05/23

Nintendo DSi | DsiWare


vYU92.png


Wii U | eShop Original Software, Downloadable Content and Demos


Wii U | Virtual Console


Nintendo 3DS | eShop Original Software, Downloadable Content and Demos


  • Legends of Oz: Dorothy's Return (Avanquest | £19.99)

  • Mario Golf: World Tour (Nintendo)
    Flower Pack (€5.99 | £5.39)

Nintendo 3DS | Virtual Console


Nintendo 3DS | Sales

  • Aeternoblade (Corecell | €7.99 | £6.59 until 05/29, then €14.99 | £13.50)
  • Secrets of the Titanic 1912-2012 (Avanquest | €4.99 | £4.99 until 06/05, then €10.99 | £9.99)

uxwGK.png


Wii U | Virtual Console


Nintendo 3DS | eShop Original Software, Downloadable Content and Demos


 

Zonic

Gives all the fucks
FYI Mega Man V is $3.99. Not sure why we went from II, III, & IV being $2.99, then V being a dollar more. Guess it's the "best one by fan opinion" tax or something.

IIRC this happened to some people a few months ago and it seemed to be somewhat widespread for when it happened suggesting a mess up on the Nintendo side. Pending charges do eventually vanish (it is an annoying thing from the banking side, I'm still waiting for my £112 to be re-usable from the Wii U deal that was not).
I think it has to do with the fact my 2nd debit card is from a plasma donation center (though it's Visa & says debit on it), so it gets loaded each time I go in. Perhaps Nintendo thinks of it as a prepaid card or something. That was the only thing I could gather from a Google search, along with I should just wait a few days for the charge to be dropped.

Oh well, just used my normal debit card to get MMV. Now I just need to finish III & start on IV.
 

BooJoh

Member
Alright, so having a weird situation.

I'm switching debit cards to buy Mega Man V. Now I enter in the info, hit that I wanna add the funds, but then says the info is incorrect. I enter it again, double checking it's all right (it is), still says it's not working. I check on my bank account & it has two pending statuses for both times that I attempted to add funds. Anyone else experience something like this? I'm not gonna get charged both times, am I?

I haven't had it refuse my card when my info is correct, but I did mistype my CV code once and it rejected the payment but still showed up as a charge on my bank account for a day or so before disappearing again.
 

Katsuragi

Member
The lack of Klonoa on the North American eShop makes me a sad panda. I guess that's what I get for betraying my continent and Nintendo of Europe. :p
 

Man God

Non-Canon Member
Nintendo can't win with VC pricing.

People complain when the price is fixed via system, don't want to pay the same for SMB 3 and Renegade because one is the greatest game of all time and the other is a steaming pile.

People also complain when the lesser games (MM II especially, it's crap) are less money but they charge a buck more for a legendary game like MM V GB. It's a fairly uncommon game too.
 

Shauni

Member
Nintendo can't win with VC pricing.

People complain when the price is fixed via system, don't want to pay the same for SMB 3 and Renegade because one is the greatest game of all time and the other is a steaming pile.

People also complain when the lesser games (MM II especially, it's crap) are less money but they charge a buck more for a legendary game like MM V GB. It's a fairly uncommon game too.

I don't think people complain so much about fixed pricing. But you can't really have this standard price that you keep very steadily throughout releases, and then just randomly hike it when a game people want a lot, and not expect some comment about it. It's wanting to have it both ways, and frankly, it's kind of crap.

Also, was MMII less? I thought it was $3 like most GB games?
 

Man God

Non-Canon Member
GB and Game Gear games have had variable pricing all along. Higher profile games cost more, lower profile cost less.
 

GeekyDad

Member
Ha, ha @ $15 for Squid's Odyssey. I guess it could be worth that much, but I paid a buck for it on the App Store, and honestly, I can't imagine it would play better on 3DS than iPhone/iPad.

Very good game, though. Tough sell considering...
 

Refyref

Member
Ha, ha @ $15 for Squid's Odyssey. I guess it could be worth that much, but I paid a buck for it on the App Store, and honestly, I can't imagine it would play better on 3DS than iPhone/iPad.

Very good game, though. Tough sell considering...

Isn't the 3DS/Wii U version a compilation of both phone games plus another episode, though? That's what was said earlier in this thread, I think.
 

onionfrog

Member
FYI Mega Man V is $3.99. Not sure why we went from II, III, & IV being $2.99, then V being a dollar more. Guess it's the "best one by fan opinion" tax or something.

Oh well, just used my normal debit card to get MMV. Now I just need to finish III & start on IV.
Eh, it's still 20x cheaper than the actual cartridge. (Which goes for a ridiculously high amount) So I'm happy.
 

.la1n

Member
FYI Mega Man V is $3.99. Not sure why we went from II, III, & IV being $2.99, then V being a dollar more. Guess it's the "best one by fan opinion" tax or something.

It's a good price but things like this really irk me, what is the extra dollar for? It's like you said it's almost as if they acknowledge it was heavily fan requested and cashed in for no other reason than that.
 

Katsuragi

Member
It's a good price but things like this really irk me, what is the extra dollar for? It's like you said it's almost as if they acknowledge it was heavily fan requested and cashed in for no other reason than that.

Maybe that is what Capcom's "Which Game Boy Mega Man game do you want the most?" poll was for. :D
 

Penguin

Member
Isn't the 3DS/Wii U version a compilation of both phone games plus another episode, though? That's what was said earlier in this thread, I think.

Yeah a decent amount of content.

Still playing through it

And I dig the game, but I also feel like it doesn't evolve enough to be interesting throughout
 

Chopper

Member
Anyone playing Swords and Soldiers? I never played the original, and was gutted at the awful 3DS port's reception. Is this the ultimate version?
 

Glass Joe

Member
Has anyone run a story yet about Fit Music? Not the actual gameplay, but the shameful viral marketing behind it? They are posing as legitimate posters recommending the game. They don't have any posts other than in the Fit Music communities and often don't have a checkmark showing ownership of the title. I find this highly unethical and offensive. Again, they're pretending to be gamers instead of the game makers.
 
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