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Classic Emulation: Missed Opportunities and Piracy
By Cameron Sorden | August 17, 2008
While thinking about the issues raised in my last post, I started thinking about emulators, specifically for systems that would now be considered “classic”: SNES, NES, and Sega Genesis. I first discovered emulators when I was 11, at my public library, while I was reading about Final Fantasy on fan sites. At the time, I didn’t have the internet and I moved the only two games I could find over to my home PC one at a time on 1.4MB floppy disks. They were Final Fantasy IV and Final Fantasy V (translated thanks to a fan-made patch). Final Fantasy VI was 1.7MB, too large for my floppy disk.
In my teens, newly armed with the internet at home, I paid careful attention to the larger Japanese RPG translation scene. I thought it was so cool that there were all these great games that Nintendo had never bothered to release in the States, but that I was able to play through the magic of technology. What’s more, emulation allowed me to play and enjoy the rare games that I couldn’t find and wouldn’t have been able to afford at that time anyway (since their rarity tended to drive the price up and I wasn’t old enough to work yet).
These days, I don’t really have or play the NES and SNES roms anymore. I’m busy, and there are better games available. Still, I’m torn about their use for a specific reason: The technology to make every single classic game ever created available and accessible is out there, and in fact has been out there, for over ten years. I was playing Super Nintendo games at full speed on my computer in 1998. To this day, Nintendo (along with the other classic console developers) still hasn’t taken advantage of that.
Releasing selected titles on the Wii is fine, but I think they’re totally missing the mark. To continue picking on Nintendo, why isn’t there a Nintendo-sanctioned SNES/NES PC emulator service which allows you to either pay a monthly fee or to buy specific games from a HUGE library and play them on your PC? That’s exactly what GameTap does, and I imagine that Nintendo could do it much more easily and efficiently than a third-party vendor. Why isn’t there a handheld device that lets me download and play classic SNES games on the road? Why can’t I use my Nintendo DS to shop at a store like that? It has the muscle to do it.
Obviously, Nintendo isn’t alone here. The companies that developed those games and the rights they hold are probably the bigger roadblock here, but Nintendo hasn’t even offered them a framework to work within. Who in their right mind wouldn’t want to squeeze more money out of a title that’s been on the market for over 15 years, or Japanese titles that haven’t ever hit US or European markets?
I’m not condoning game piracy here, but it has got to be frustrating for people to see that the technology for these applications is out there, that it’s been out there for years, and that in fact there are thriving markets based on this technology, while the major hardware developers simply ignore both the potential to expand their business and the obvious existing demand for these services and products. I’m not sure I even consider this game piracy, at this point.
I just have a hard time feeling bad for Nintendo’s lost business to this kind of thing when they willfully ignore something consumers clearly want for so long.
Topics: Console Gaming, PC Gaming, Videogame Industry |
August 17th, 2008 at 1:30 pm
The Xbox Live Arcade has tons of old arcade and console games running on a software emulator. It’s neat and all, but honestly we get tired of the XBLA cranking out old game after old game. At least for me, I notice I’d almost rather keep the rosy memories of those old games because when I see them again I have no choice but to compare them to what we’ve had in the years since and they no longer hold up. “You can’t go home again” applies in this case, at least for me.
August 17th, 2008 at 1:43 pm
I think it would be nice to see them crank out some better old games, too, and price them appropriately. I mean, Rush’N Attack? I was playing that in arcades in the early nineties. Is it nostalgic? A little.
Is it worth even $5 to me, considering what else is out there? Probably not. I feel like some of those games should be given away with an Xbox gold sub free of charge.
August 18th, 2008 at 11:21 am
I have a hard time fathoming it myself. I loved those old final fantasy games
August 18th, 2008 at 11:22 am
p.s. final fantasy is a squaresoft ip and many of those have been re-release on ps2. I think that’s why nintendo hasn’t done it
August 18th, 2008 at 4:02 pm
No corporation over a certain size will give away a game that they can dress up a little and charge new game prices for, even as a good will gesture.