Wii-U thoughts so far

[Spidrmnky]

It's still odd that it goes used complete for more than it did new given the trend in modern games is to go down over time, or with Nintendo just flatline since they refuse to cut prices most the time.

I think a driving force for that is a lack of reprints. You've got similar situations with Starfox 64 3D and Kid Icarus Uprising, offhand. Doing a Nintendo Selects program for the 3DS (or DS for that matter) would likely be welcome, but I suspect that Nintendo would rather we just buy them on the eShop.

I think this is a side effect of titles being available on the eShop. Physical copies won't be available as long as we've seen on previous systems. With retailers trying to avoid having to put titles on clearance and Nintendo making higher margins on eShop titles it will likely continue to be a trend, though it's just a guess and time will tell.

[Spidrmnky]

I love my Wii U. The level of quality in the exclusive content it offers is great. Obviously it lacks 3rd party support but it's not much of an issue for me personally since I always planned to get multiple systems.

From a collectors standpoint it's a very interesting system, IMO. Obviously it has the great exclusive content I mentioned above with some games being considered among the best in their genre like Bayo 2, DKCTF, MK8, etc... Some games will likely see smaller print runs than previous systems for a variety of reasons. Nintendo knows the games are offered in the eShop with higher profit margins, less risk, and they have full control over the eShop. Retailers are being more conservative with ordering games to avoid having to Clearance them out at, or below cost. This is especially true of Wii U games due to it's lackluster sales. In my opinion these are all key reasons why we have already seen multiple games OOP already with prices above MSRP. We've seen similar things occur on the 3DS and it will likely continue.

irixith -- I agree it's just dumb as it is bizarre they refuse to put any GBA games out on the 3DS other than the ambassador games I got long ago. Even if they stubbornly kept those 10 for the ambassadors, GBA has a LOT to offer.

IIRC, the GBA ambassador games disabled some of the options in those games. I think the 3DS may simply have trouble emulating GBA games perfectly, which Nintendo is committed to.

Of course this is just a thought and I have no info this is correct. If the issue is the 3DS isn't able to perfectly emulate GBA games without disabling some features then we should start getting more GBA VC releases on n3DS due to the extra power it offers. Maybe it's just wishful thinking, but I also want the GBA games on my 3DS.

[Tanooki]

It's an interesting concept about the emulation, but also it should be noted on the 3DS/DS (new3DS too) they all use the ARM technology that the GBA uses, just more advanced. The emulator they're using isn't entirely emulating the system from what I've been told before, but just emulates what it needs, sends the rest of the stuff over the existing parts which helps save some draw down from full emulation. I guess a benefit of the backwards compatible to a point parts. The DS was just a beefed up GBA really, and only when they decided to remove the GBA slot (DSi) and take it online is when they were severed. And then you have the 3DS which runs DS stuff natively too.

[Spidrmnky]

It's an interesting concept about the emulation, but also it should be noted on the 3DS/DS (new3DS too) they all use the ARM technology that the GBA uses, just more advanced. The emulator they're using isn't entirely emulating the system from what I've been told before, but just emulates what it needs, sends the rest of the stuff over the existing parts which helps save some draw down from full emulation. I guess a benefit of the backwards compatible to a point parts. The DS was just a beefed up GBA really, and only when they decided to remove the GBA slot (DSi) and take it online is when they were severed. And then you have the 3DS which runs DS stuff natively too.

It makes sense with GBA backwards compatability in the DS and DS compatability in the 3DS. If that's not the reason then it's just one of those Nintendo decisions we may never understand

[Flake]

My theory is that the reason there aren't GBA titles available for the 3DS eshop market is because they haven't bothered to write a native emulator for the system - instead using the remnants of the original DS machinery in the portable for the ambassador series games.

With a new, more powerful 3DS on the way that may or may not still have that legacy architecture, it could be that they cannot bank on those games being usable or they didn't write the 3DS emulator while doing development of the new system to avoid having to re-debug once the specs and software of the new machine were done.

[emwearz]

Vooks did a write up with their view on it awhile ago.

http://www.vooks.net/why-the-game-boy-advance-isnt-on-the-3ds-virtual-console/

I am far more in the way of thinking that Flake is, it would surprise me if a Dual Core Arm 11 could not emulate the Arm7 with well written emulator.

[Spidrmnky]

My theory is that the reason there aren't GBA titles available for the 3DS eshop market is because they haven't bothered to write a native emulator for the system - instead using the remnants of the original DS machinery in the portable for the ambassador series games.

With a new, more powerful 3DS on the way that may or may not still have that legacy architecture, it could be that they cannot bank on those games being usable or they didn't write the 3DS emulator while doing development of the new system to avoid having to re-debug once the specs and software of the new machine were done.

My understanding of Nintendo's Virtual Consile is that they make a specialized emulator for each individual title to ensure perfect emulation. At least I remember reading that somewhere.

[Tanooki]

The article kind of says what I did in a lot more detail. The GBA chip is in the DS but x2 the clock speed, the DSi is that set again doubled once more, and the faster of the two of that one is within the 3DS secondary to an even faster dual core arm processor. It's not really emulating, it's running the cost, simulating what it may need to and that's about it. The games are bare bones and have none of the VC perks. Maybe those were since they are random the 10 most easiest and sloppiest 'accurate' titles they could run in a pinch to pacify people like me who paid the stock 3DS launch price.

[Spidrmnky]

The article kind of says what I did in a lot more detail. The GBA chip is in the DS but x2 the clock speed, the DSi is that set again doubled once more, and the faster of the two of that one is within the 3DS secondary to an even faster dual core arm processor. It's not really emulating, it's running the cost, simulating what it may need to and that's about it. The games are bare bones and have none of the VC perks. Maybe those were since they are random the 10 most easiest and sloppiest 'accurate' titles they could run in a pinch to pacify people like me who paid the stock 3DS launch price.

The VC perks unavailable was what I meant when I said they couldn't properly emulate it while maintsining all features. If that is the case then we should see them on n3DS at some point.

[Tanooki]

Another angle to consider as kind of terrible as that may be, they could have just not cared. They got caught with their pants down asking too much for most, lowered the price a lot ($80) in a hurry, and when people called foul they quickly came up with the shiny ambassador icon/ribbon and gave away 20 games (10 nes/10 gba.) Maybe just just slapped it together and let it rot. The NES ones were the same way, and it wasn't until they opened the VC to the public that they had us ambassadors re-download all the games so they'd have a proper icon and all the other VC amenities.