Gaming GBA hits 3DS for ambassadors, and look awful!

[Hanks6]

interesting thread, i think a lot of the observations are probably valid given what a horrible job nintendo have done with VC in general - upscaling as region dependent, huge PAL borders on N64 titles still, no online. of course, they'll say it's retaining the original code warts and all but i think it's just lazy. could anyone post some comparisons using one of the GBA emulating DS flash carts running through the 3DS next to these ambassador titles, side by side?

 

[DJPlace]

They were free.
Fucking deal with it.

that i so agree with.

such a shame they could not figure the mutiplayer issue even if it was local but still free is good even if it sucks

 

[heartgold]

Nintendo darkened the screens on purpose because the color designs of GBA games aren't meant for full brightness displays.

Anyway someone at neogaf says Nintendo is rendering the games at 2x internally 480x320 then downscaling to 360x240 with bilinear

I did some tests and found out Nintendo is rendering the games at 2X internally (480x320) then downscaling to 360x240 with bilinear, which provides a sharper output than simply upscaling from 240x160 with bilinear. Here's a sample:

 

[Janthran]

Why does everyone say the games are FREE?!
You PAID for them as your systems were more expensive by around $100 before the price drop occured...

We did not pay for a console knowing the price would drop and we'd be given games. It is free since we paid for something without any intent on getting something else out of it.

Technically, they announced the price drop and ambassador about a week before they both happened.
So some people probably did buy it just for the games.

 

[DiscostewSM]

I aint gonna lie, that looks much better, but that's comparing the GBA SP's screen VS 3DS's screen.
Try running the game through an emulator on PC, or GBA cart in a DS Lite to see it's true colors

The more I hear people argue about this, I seriously think Nintendo done this on purpose, trying to emulate what the old GBA screen actually looked like, instead of taking advantage of the new screen.

Now I see the problem. You're basing your opinion on how the image looks through methods the games were not meant to take into account. I mean, you used emulation of all things to push your argument forward. That's basically saying ANYTHING that can look better through that illegitimate method than on the original devices means the company failed.

 

[Deleted User]

Why does everyone say the games are FREE?!
You PAID for them as your systems were more expensive by around $100 before the price drop occured...

We did not pay for a console knowing the price would drop and we'd be given games. It is free since we paid for something without any intent on getting something else out of it.

Technically, they announced the price drop and ambassador about a week before they both happened.
So some people probably did buy it just for the games.

And you don't know- some people (people who thought they could freeload on the games and buy cheap and get games at the same time) are the only people that should complain.
Cheaters never win. If the only reason you bought it was for the games meant for people who paid £80 more, then kindly sod off.

We did not pay for a console knowing the price would drop and we'd be given games. It is free since we paid for something without any intent on getting something else out of it.

This guy is right. We don't have a cause for complain. If we do, deal with it. Go and buy a bloody GBA if it bothers you so much.

 

[The Milkman]

My GOD, will you guys stop trying to bash EVERY fucking thing. Yeah hey dont look as good, but who gives a shit. Thier 10 years old and free. Just play it on your god damn emulator if it bothers you so much. It makes me wonder about how much of a life you really can have if your sitting here talking about color staturation and brightness and shit. Its like the NES VC button topic ALL OVER AGAIN.

 

[boombox]

They look fine, and I actually prefer them stretched out, I didn't even notice the button switch either tbh, so I don't have a problem.

 

[Daniel Carville]

The games have motion blur, there is no reasoning for this.
They are desaturated, no matter what way you look at it.
Running at original res won't fix motion blur.
Nobody knows if they're emulated or not, but it's pretty damn likely that they are, so the idiot who called me out about illegitimate ways of playing the games can get a headcheck on this.

Enjoy your blurry GBA games, I'll be playing them too, but shit, I won't ever deny that while they are free, they're poory presented, and there's only one legitimate way to get around this, and it's by accecpting that you don't give a shit about the way it looks, which is perfectly fair, but don't be retarded by forcing the "THEY LOOK FINE AND THEY ARE FREE SO SHUT THE FUCK UP" mentality, I'm sorry, I have a shitfilter for graphics.

And to clarify, I love GBA, I love sprites, I hate motion blur, so to the people saying "hurr complaining about GBA graphics", no, I'm not, don't be illiterate.

 

[Deleted_171835]

After spending some time with the Ambassador games, I'm inclined to agree with you.

I can hardly play Yoshi's Island because all the motion-blur gives me a fucking headache. It's practically made the game unplayable. On the other hand, platformers like Wario Land 4 and Kirby are fine with only a minimal amount of motion-blur.

Honestly, I'm pretty happy with most of the games but I do think that Nintendo did a lackluster job of emulating (unless they're being virtualized) them. There are no save-states and sleep-mode isn't supported. These are basic features that even my DSTWO supports. I'm not even going to begin to mention the audio which sounds ridiculously grainy.

Despite all the time they've had, I'm surprised that some of the games look really bad. I'm better off just using my DSTWO to emulate some of these games.

 

[Anacobra]

EDIT: Oh right uh.

My main complaints are:

Can't access the 3DS menu (although this makes sense, if it's doing the same thing as it does with DS games.)

They look bloody dark, like seriously they look dark.

Otherwise I've been playing Yoshi's Island and having fun. :B

 

[Daniel Carville]

This is so off topic, all I'm doing is ranting.
Request lock, I see 2 mods viewing the thread.

 

[raulpica]

This thread won't be locked, but STOP derailing it right now.

Next one to continue this gets suspended.

 

[Midna]

Well, I think we're probably done here then.

 

[heartgold]

Anyway Yoshi and mario kart do have motion blur by far more than other games, but it's not unplayable by any means, deal with it. We can't magically alter the settings.

 

[DJPlace]

i wonder if there's any videos of people trying these on 3ds and uploading them? with a camera?

 

[Fear Zoa]

They look fine to me and I've already played them all beaten metroid and a good portion of minish cap

 

[DiscostewSM]

I'm glad we've got moderators. They're do their job well.

But I will say that no, these games are not desaturated, as been proven already, and I doubt they are fully emulated because they use far less power than any of the current NES/GB VC titles we have. Emulation is accompanied with higher requirements, and that leads to higher power drain.

The motion blur however, I do agree that it isn't something necessary, and if it was something they added in, then they can easily take it out.

 

[jpxdude]

Hey All,

Firstly sorry for dredging this up, just wanted to add my own experiences. I have an original import GBA, and a GB Micro which both look great. I've noticed that with the GBA Ambassador games, some games work alright, like Warioware Microgames, but Yoshi's Island does make my eyes tired from the blurriness mentioned by the OP.

What I have noticed and deduced with all the games is that it seems the contrast is set extremely high. I think this is what is causing the blur and washout, and is killing my eyes a bit. I think for games like Yoshi's Island, it is more noticeable because it is naturally a colourful, vibrant game that is also fast moving. Unlike the OP, I think the scaling is fine, and does the games justice.

I have the brightness on my 3DS set to medium, and the at this level, or lower, you really notice how high they have set the contrast, which I think is creating these problems. Hopefully with an update which Nintendo has already promised, these problems can be eliminated. Another thing is that the sound quality seems bit low, but that's a whole other discussion

 

[Kioku]

Holy clean up, Batman!