Gaming Why in the Hell does it appear that the SNES version of Yoshi's Island will never see a VC release?

[duffmmann]

I ask this because if you noticed the GBA VC titles they announced for the Wii U, they distinctly stated: Super Mario Advance 3: Yoshi's Island. This is of course the same version the Ambassadors received on our 3Ds. But as you likely know the Wii never saw a VC release of the SNES original. Speculation is that this was due to a chip in the cartridge which is more difficult to properly emulate. Even still, SNES emulators on the system run the game just fine. Why then will the Wii U being seeing this game on the GBA before its original sysem, unless it would seem that again the SNES version isn't going to see release. Do you think this is really the case? If so why? Surely the Wii U should be capable of proper output of the SNES original one would think.

 

[Clydefrosch]

I guess gba games can be priced 5$ higher than snes games. Thats about all the reason there is

 

[Bladexdsl]

you do realize you can play ANY gba game in vwii FREE?

 

[duffmmann]

you do realize you can play ANY gba game in vwii FREE?

I can and do (though we're talking about the SNES version here so I wonder why you mention playing gba games). But it feels very disconcerting when the Wii U seems incapable of officially playing an SNES title.

 

[spinal_cord]

Yoshis Island is one of only 3 Super FX 2 chip games. Nintendo probably don't see the need to code emulation for such a rarely used chip, just for one game that has already been recoded for the GBA.

 

[Bladexdsl]

they never released a lot of snes games on the wii vc they've only recently released mario world on the wiiu so maybe yoshi will come later. and anyway it's exactly the same game on the gba.

 

[duffmmann]

they never released a lot of snes games on the wii vc they've only recently released mario world so maybe yoshi will come later. and anyway it's exactly the same game on the gba.

No, I dislike the GBA controls over the SNES controls. Having played the original and even the DS sequel so much, I was just used to the 4 button layout. Having to use L and R for the eggs is honestly very annoying.

 

[Bladexdsl]

i thought you used L and R originally for the eggs weird that's what i always used to use...didn't i?

 

[duffmmann]

i thought you used L and R originally for the eggs weird that's what i always used to use...didn't i?

Not if you played the original SNES and the sequel Yoshi's Island DS. The controls for me personally make a huge difference and I wish they'd go the SNES original over the GBA port, but oh well I do have emulation, just wish we could use the gamepad buttons on the emulators, would be so bomb.

 

[the_randomizer]

Hate to say it, but the GBA version is inferior to the Snes version in every way, despite having a few extra bonus levels. The sound is worse quality, they don't have the same graphical effects, and Mario's cry is far more irritating. I mean, unless there was licensing issues between Nintendo and Argonaut Software (the people who developed the chip), there is no logical reason. The Wii emulated the chip, via unofficial emulation (and at full speed), the Wii U is more than capable, thus reiterating my earlier stance that Nintendo is too damned lazy.

they never released a lot of snes games on the wii vc they've only recently released mario world on the wiiu so maybe yoshi will come later. and anyway it's exactly the same game on the gba.

As far as content yes, but in quality, it's much worse, esp. the music quality; it's pretty bad compared to the original. Nintendo probably won't code the ROM to work with their emulator on the VC, so, out of spite, I'll go ahead and play it on Snes9x Next/RetroArch

 

[XDel]

I FULLY agree, Nintendo really should get off their lazy butts and write a better SNES emulator for their VC content, rather than release the lack luster GBA incarnations of certain games.

Which makes me wonder, where does Nintendo and other companies get these emulators? I recall back when the Sega Genesis pack was released for the Dreamcast, that it was said that Sega merely used the source code to one of the more popular PC emulators at the time.

If this is true, does it still go on, and do the original authors of this code get paid anything?

 

[Wisenheimer]

Hate to say it, but the GBA version is inferior to the Snes version in every way, despite having a few extra bonus levels. The sound is worse quality, they don't have the same graphical effects, and Mario's cry is far more irritating. I mean, unless there was licensing issues between Nintendo and Argonaut Software (the people who developed the chip), there is no logical reason. The Wii emulated the chip, via unofficial emulation (and at full speed), the Wii U is more than capable, thus reiterating my earlier stance that Nintendo is too damned lazy.




As far as content yes, but in quality, it's much worse, esp. the music quality; it's pretty bad compared to the original. Nintendo probably won't code the ROM to work with their emulator on the VC, so, out of spite, I'll go ahead and play it on Snes9x Next/RetroArch

Just because you cannot think of a "logical" reason does not mean that one does not exist. They have a limited staff and have to prioritize their staff's time, so what gets prioritized are likely titles that require the least work and generate the most profit.

 

[MarioFanatic64]

The SNES version is undoubtedly better. Higher resolution, more colourful graphics, better sound quality, the only thing the GBA version has is a few extra levels.

Nintendo is all about the casual market these days though. Casual audiences will interpret it as "the version where yoshi has a voice and there's that mario minigame", and would be oblivious to all of it's inherent inferiorities.

 

[Clarky]

As far as I have read on it on it a lot of the assumption is the use of the Super FX which was patented to Argonaut (the guys behind Star Fox) now seeing as Argonaut are defunct now a days I am not sure what lengths you would need to go legal wise before you could sell those games again, although keep in mind a patent only lasts 20 years....so you never know, you may see Yoshi's Island in a years time

 

[aireca]

You need to think inside the box, it's probably because they don't have the license to something or like many people said, because production costs.

 

[Clarky]

Which makes me wonder, where does Nintendo and other companies get these emulators?

The names is lost to me but i recall the Snes emu Nintendo uses at least for the Snes games used to be available on Mac, if it was open source of if Nintendo bought it I don't know

 

[the_randomizer]

Just because you cannot think of a "logical" reason does not mean that one does not exist. They have a limited staff and have to prioritize their staff's time, so what gets prioritized are likely titles that require the least work and generate the most profit.

And I hope that they can allocate more resources to VC releases, and the superior versions of games. Reminds me of when Shiny Entertainment released the Genesis version of Earthworm Jim 2 on the VC when the Snes version had superior audio. I doubt they even have Super FX code written in the emulator. Turns out, the Snes emulator for the Wii they wrote didn't have the code either (several reputable Wii programmers found this out).

The names is lost to me but i recall the Snes emu Nintendo uses at least for the Snes games used to be available on Mac, if it was open source of if Nintendo bought it I don't know

Funny thing is, that emulator didn't have code for the SuperFX chip, which is weird, since the VC emulated pretty much every other chip out there, DSP-1 (Pilotwings and Super Mario Kart), S-DD1 (Street Fighter Alpha 2), SA-1 (Super Mario RPG, Kirby's Super Star and Kirby's Dream Land 3) as well as the Cx4, Megaman X2 and X3. The only major chip was the Super FX and FX2 left un-emulated, but the Wii was capable of emulating it.

 

[XDel]

Well at least we have the ability to have the Wii and vWii.
These companies really ought to consider releasing their consoles partially open, that way people with the passion can code to their hearts delight, and even release it as truly free if they wish to, which is after all what the homebrew scene is built upon. Free releases created from passion...

...a passion you'd think Nintendo would share considering their are profits to be had, and yet Nintendo (in this particular case) is being shown up by people who apparently are not too motivated by money, even in these trying times.

 

[Wisenheimer]

Well at least we have the ability to have the Wii and vWii.
These companies really ought to consider releasing their consoles partially open, that way people with the passion can code to their hearts delight, and even release it as truly free if they wish to, which is after all what the homebrew scene is built upon. Free releases created from passion...

...a passion you'd think Nintendo would share considering their are profits to be had, and yet Nintendo (in this particular case) is being shown up by people who apparently are not too motivated by money, even in these trying times.

Well, you know if they did that, then what would be the point of a closed system? As time goes on, these companies will become even more closed, due to the perception of piracy being a serious threat.

 

[Suicide]

I FULLY agree, Nintendo really should get off their lazy butts and write a better SNES emulator for their VC content, rather than release the lack luster GBA incarnations of certain games.

Which makes me wonder, where does Nintendo and other companies get these emulators? I recall back when the Sega Genesis pack was released for the Dreamcast, that it was said that Sega merely used the source code to one of the more popular PC emulators at the time.

If this is true, does it still go on, and do the original authors of this code get paid anything?

Funny that you mention Sega, because Steve Snake, the author of Kega Fusion, has worked with Sega a few times with Genesis compilations and some of those use a modified version of Kega. He's also worked for Backbone Entertainment, who were known for porting retro games to modern console's digital download services.