GBA-Based Classic NES Series Confirmed For States

Thanks to IGN for its article revealing that Nintendo has confirmed their Game Boy Advance-based classic NES conversions for U.S. release on June 7th. According to the article: "The collection [already released in Japan as the Famicom Mini Series] will be called [the] Classic NES Series, and will begin as a limited edition NES Game Boy Advance SP as well as a line-up of eight classic games", with the specific titles being Donkey Kong, Pac-Man, The Legend of Zelda, Super Mario Bros., Excitebike, Ice Climber, Xevious, and Bomberman. The piece also notes: "Each game in the series will be priced at $19.99, and will be packaged in a standard Game Boy Advance box featuring the classic artwork of the original game."

Re:Emulation, possible extensibility?

[Black Hitler]

All the e-Reader NES games have used an emulator and as far as I know nobody has managed to "separate" the emulator from the ROMs. Not that it matters sicne there's already very good NES emulators available for the GBA.

Re:Emulation, possible extensibility?

[josh glaser]

Buy Metroid Zero Mission. It's a GBA remake of the NES version. Perhaps best of all, you can unlock the actual NES game. In related news, GBA SPs are *only* $99 ;-)

PocketNES

[triiiple]

What about PocketNES? [pocketnes.org] It's not "official Nintendo" stuff, but it works. Ok, not all games - here's the compatibility list [pocketnes.org], anything tagged [P] is good to go. And, yes, you do need the ROMs, PocketNES won't provide them for you... But that what we have the Internet^W backups at home for!

Re:Cue The Complaints...

[Johnny2Bags]

I agree that $20 is totally too much. They were just recently *giving* away the classic Zeldas for free with new GameCubes (or two game purchase).

There's manufacturing overhead costs of course, and with each game being packaged seperately they can't sell them too cheap. They should of done a bundle package, even if not all 8 on one cartridge they could of done 4 and 4.

I don't have a GBA yet, I am almost on the verge of buying the Game Boy Player that attaches to the bottom of the GameCube. As I understand the e-reader does work with this setup as well, but come-on it's not sexy looking at all.

Re:a joke?

[DarkZero]

not to troll, but this seems a little fishy. not the fact that they are being released, but the quote from kaplin. she is always well spoken, and that quote is out of character. plus the box art is off. take a good look at that dk box. since when is luigi taking on dk?

I believe that Perrin Kaplin was simply making a joke, using lame '80s slang to kick off their new retro release. This either soared far over the head of the IGN writer or they simply forgot to point out the joke.

Re:Or just buy an original NES... or maybe not.

[Stubtify]

Well I hafta let you know the following always worked back in the day:

1) Blow in the cart, that long high pitched blow where you start at the top of the cart and move down vertically to the bottom.

2)When the cart is in the NES, push it a little to the left, try the power. Then try pushing it a little to the right, power on, then nudge it a little left or right of those and try that.

3)Last ditch effort: Jam another NES Game in on top of the other NES game over the metal bar holding the game down. Used to work for all the kids on the block back in the day. Course your NES might just be dead.

Re:Or just buy an original NES... or maybe not.

[redled]

A few suggestions:

1) Use a fine grit sand paper to clean the contacts on the games as well as the pin connector

2)(This is for other readers, I guess). You don't need to buy a new connector. Take your nes apart, and use a small screwdriver to pry all the pins up slightly.

3) Use a game genie. It's a tighter fit, and usually solves the problem (you don't have to use the codes if you don't want to). This might be a good solution for you since you can leave it plugged into the nes always, instead of pulling out your pin connector trying to remove it. It's ugly because it sticks out though

4) Find one of those rare top-loading nes machines.

5) Find one of those ultra-rare arcade nes machines

Re:Or just buy an original NES... or maybe not.

[cgenman]

Get a top-loading NES [ebay.com]. They were solidly built and basically blinkey-free.

You can also get a new NES out of China, if you can find one of the myriad [planetnintendo.com] of clones [nesworld.com]. They generally have better connecters than the original, and are still being produced new to this day.

The NES is a system that really needs to be played in hardware, not emulated. Ironically, it was it's relative simplicity that made games focus on the physical interaction aspect... something that just doesn't come across as well with the computer's lag.

For your specific problem, if you don't want to buy a new system, just jimmy the new connector until it is sufficiently loose. Go slowly but surely, and it will eventually loosen up. A friend of mine had a tight grip system when he first replaced his connector. While it didn't have the grip of death of yours it was quite tight, but has worn down to being simply sufficient.

Re:Cue The Complaints...

[Troed]

You hardly notice the GB Player once it sits under the cube .. I don't anyway.

Come to think of it, time to boot it up and finish Metroid Fusion before Zero Mission appears in Europe ...

(It's amazing that a game written for the small screen of the GBA actually _works_ when displayed on a 110" projector screen)

*gone*

Just a Thought

[Gothic_Walrus]

From what I've heard, the main reason that the games are selling in Japan is as a collector's item. Why? The packaging and game carts themselves are reproductions of the originals. [the-magicbox.com] People have been buying them not because of the game itself, but because of the nostalgia value that comes with the presentation. Nintendo of Japan has acknowledged this, issuing a special (and collectible to boot) storage box to hold your games [ign.com]

Nintendo of America may have removed one of the biggest selling points of the series by using standard GBA packaging and carts. Americans won't pay $20 for these games, and the retro appeal that made the Japanese versions collectors items is gone.

Way to go, Nintendo.

Re:Petition failures

[scot4875]

your logic falls apart when I point out that nobody's complaining about the [$20] collections of Atari or Activision or Intellivision games

And your logic falls apart when I point out that these things sold extremely well in Japan, outrageous price and all.

--Jeremy

Re:20 Bucks?

[Quietust]

And they didn't include Punch-Out!...

The trouble is, [Mike Tyson's] Punch-Out!! uses a rather peculiar memory mapper (the Nintendo MMC2), one that takes a lot of extra processor power to emulate properly (each time it renders one of two particular background/sprite tiles, it needs to *immediately* switch to a different set of character data). Properly emulating the MMC2 would likely not be easy on a system as slow as the GBA, so they probably gave up on Punch-Out!! (the *only* game to use the MMC2).