Sega Saturn/Dreamcast: backwards compatibility :S

[noiseredux]

Atari 7800 can play 2600 games.

[FiftyDollarCurse]

I'm trying to remember what other companies did for backward compatibility. It seems that Sony is the strongest one in this area.

PS2 - can play PS1
PS3 - can play PS1 & PS2 (some consoles have hardware PS2 compat)

XBOX360 - can play some xbox titles (not very good?)

Wii - can play GC games
GC - cannot play older games other than GBA/GB/GC via the GB Player
N64 - can't play other consoles
SNES - can't play NES, can play GB/GBC via Super Gameboy

So it seems that Sony is the best in the backward compatibility department.

GameBoy Color can play GameBoy games.
GameBoy Advance can play GameBoy and GameBoy Color games.
DS can play GameBoy Advance games.
3DS will play DS games.

[noiseredux]

GameBoy Color can play GameBoy games.
GameBoy Advance can play GameBoy and GameBoy Color games.
DS can play GameBoy Advance games.
3DS will play DS games.

this is why Ninty was semi-stupid with the DS, and ultra-stupid with the XL. If the DS (and onward) had retained FULL backwards compatibility for GB/C then we'd basically still have new consoles coming out that supported 20+ yrs of games. It would be unprecedented and genius. Keep the library you have, but upgrade to make the library bigger. They understood then when jumping to Color and Advance, and in some ways they understood that when moving from Advance to DS, but ultimately the dropped the ball as far as I'm concerned.

[gtmtnbiker]

GameBoy Color can play GameBoy games.
GameBoy Advance can play GameBoy and GameBoy Color games.
DS can play GameBoy Advance games.
3DS will play DS games.

Correct but I was listing only the consoles, not the handhelds.

[gtmtnbiker]

this is why Ninty was semi-stupid with the DS, and ultra-stupid with the XL. If the DS (and onward) had retained FULL backwards compatibility for GB/C then we'd basically still have new consoles coming out that supported 20+ yrs of games. It would be unprecedented and genius. Keep the library you have, but upgrade to make the library bigger. They understood then when jumping to Color and Advance, and in some ways they understood that when moving from Advance to DS, but ultimately the dropped the ball as far as I'm concerned.

There's a trade-off in supporting older hardware. To be able to run those games, they would need to add the second processor (ARM7) and the slot to accept the games. This adds weight, decreases battery life, increase the size & cost. There's also design/QA costs. I don't have an issue with them supporting just the previous generation.

[noiseredux]

There's a trade-off in supporting older hardware. To be able to run those games, they would need to add the second processor (ARM7) and the slot to accept the games. This adds weight, decreases battery life, increase the size & cost. There's also design/QA costs. I don't have an issue with them supporting just the previous generation.

understood. But they've spent money making DS, DSL, DSi, DSiXL versions. They could easily make a DS-Elite or whatever they want to call it. Charge an extra $40 or $50 for it and market it to the crowd who've been down since day one. Shit would sell.

[samsonlonghair]

I'd buy a DS that could play Game Boy Color games. I'd love to have a Saturn that could play Genesis and Sega CD games.

[noiseredux]

I'd buy a DS that could play Game Boy Color games. I'd love to have a Saturn that could play Genesis and Sega CD games.

Really I'm not sure why game companies haven't caught on that there's money to made from retro-enthiusiasts (such as this entire board). I mean, there's a million Famiclones out there by no-name companies. Think of it like this:

If Nintendo made a "new" console, and all it did was play NES, SNES, N64, GB/GBC and GBA carts most of us would buy it.

If Sega made a "new" console that played nothing but Master System, Game Gear, Genesis and 32x carts, a lot of us would buy it. Similarly, if they made a "new" disc-based console that just played Sega CD, Saturn and Dreamcast games -- a ton of us would buy it!

and so on...

[gtmtnbiker]

understood. But they've spent money making DS, DSL, DSi, DSiXL versions. They could easily make a DS-Elite or whatever they want to call it. Charge an extra $40 or $50 for it and market it to the crowd who've been down since day one. Shit would sell.

Keep in mind that it's harder to support older versions of a product. The development tools are different. The same chips might be different or no longer available. The original designers/developers may have moved to a different product or company. People who know how the old stuff work are no longer around. This is a fact of life at all companies.

Sure, Nintendo could invest the resources to support older hardware but they are not going to get the same sort of potential revenue as with new hardware/software.

Let's say they do add GB/GBC to DSiXL. Someone wants to play a GB/GBC game. Can they buy it from Nintendo? No. Does it make sense for Nintendo to spin up a new production line to make old carts? Essentially they'll need to be redesigned because certain technologies are not available anymore. So they leave it to to the second hand market but let's say that Grandpa bought Pokemon Yellow and it's not working in his DSiXL. Hmm, it could be the contacts are dirty. Maybe the battery is bad? Maybe something else? There will be tech support overhead to help these users over the phone or via email/forums.

[Ziggy]

Just made me think... Why doesn't VC have any GB/GBC/GBA games? Maybe even Game Gear, etc.