http://arstechnica.com/gaming/news/2010/...for-30.ars
Really? That's it? I would have expected a modern redraw at most with a higher resolution. Even without that, they could have ported over all the GBA remakes of these games with all the bonus content.
Heck, in fact this should have been a DS game.
Even if they were putting the bare minimum work into this, it's not even the Mario All-Stars + Mario World version!
http://themushroomkingdom.net/games/smassmw
The soundtrack and the art book are nice, but a disk with nothing but an emulation of Super Mario All-Stars? I mean, that's already on the Wii store isn't it?
It just seems lazy...
No, Allstars is not on Virtual Console. The original NES versions of all four titles are, of course, but not the SNES collection.
Why is this a disc and not a VC release? Simple. The four NES games together on VC cost $21. Nintendo doesn't want to release all four of them, combined, for a mere $8! That'd be throwing away money when they know they can charge more than that... so this is the result, selling them on a disc, with some bonuses, for $30.
It is kind of annoying, I wish there was more on the disc other than just an SNES rom, but still, overall it's not a terrible package. I mean, you do get that soundtrack and Mario artbook, which sound cool, and it's not a full price release at least. And on EBay a copy of the loose SNES cart is going to cost at least $10 or $15, more with box and manual, so even the original version is still a game with some value...
And all of that doesn't explain why they didn't at the very LEAST pack in the Super Mario All-Stars + World version.
$8
(It's on VC already. Why throw away the money you could get from selling copies of it?)
Of course though, I agree -- this new era of micropayments and (over)paying for digital versions of old games is pretty annoying. I don't like it either. It's just that Nintendo doesn't miss many chances to make money, and this is one such chance, unfortunately. I agree, $30 for a re-release of a SNES game (with no changes) is annoying. At least they give it a little value by including that soundtrack and artbook, so it's not a complete ripoff, but it is annoying, yes.
So it's not in the store because they can make more money with a disk, and it's not on the disk because they will make more money in the store. You just used an argument, and then it's mirror opposite, back to back.
I still think a special All-Stars DS pack including the original unaltered games, the All-Stars versions, the "Advance" versions, and Super Mario Bros. DX, would be the perfect thing. Yoshi's Island too (since it became an Advance version).
Super Mario World is a single game; All-Stars includes four. That's the difference there, that they don't want to sell a collection of 4 games for just $8...
Quote:I still think a special All-Stars DS pack including the original unaltered games, the All-Stars versions, the "Advance" versions, and Super Mario Bros. DX, would be the perfect thing. Yoshi's Island too (since it became an Advance version).
I think the most we can hope for from that is for SMB Deluxe to be on the 3DS Virtual Console (Handheld), eventually.
You won't be able to beat it 100% unless they come up with a way of emulating the infrared port, though. :)
In answer to that, they could include those infrared stickers already unlocked in the ROM. Lazy, but it'd do in a pinch. The sad thing is sometimes Nintendo really does put some effort into this. The virtual console port of Star Tropics actually had an interactive instruction manual with a glass of water and a piece of paper you had to "dip" into that water to reveal a clue, just like you had to do in real life in the original NES game.
<embed src="http://blip.tv/play/gcJcgpjkHwI" type="application/x-shockwave-flash" width="480" height="300" allowscriptaccess="always" allowfullscreen="true"></embed>
This guy makes another solid point. The All-Stars version of Super Mario World WAS improved. Luigi's unique sprite is the first time they really set up Luigi as "all weird acting" with his funny sprite animations. Further, 4 save slots over the 3 in the first version. Not much, but it was something, and that was done only a year later, on the same system BOTH of those games were released on.
As much as OB1 complained about the reuse of the All-Stars graphics in the Mario Advance series, he's got to be fuming over this.
And another point, even on the Gamecube, the temporary, FREE, Zelda Collection was still far better constructed. While Majora's Mask had sound glitches here and there, the work put into that was actual work. The in-game control (the visuals) were updated and the game resolution was increased.
It's just pathetic that Nintendo considered this "enough" and just couldn't bother to put any more effort into it. The "history of Mario" and "in-game music soundtrack" would have been neat extras in the 1990's, when All-Stars was first released, but the internet has grown so much since then that they come off as pointless now. A quick Wikipedia search will yield far more Mario History than that little booklet could, and you can find MP3s of EVERY Mario game pretty easily through Google. Heck, Nintendo's own site full of interviews yields better information than what this game comes with.
The sad thing is, back in the day, they were actually giving out free copies of Mario All-Stars to loyal Nintendo fans like myself. If you just sent in a receipt, the bar code from your SNES box, and a coupon Nintendo mailed out and put in their stores, they'd just send you the game, free, no strings attached. It was one of the best bonuses they gave out to loyal customers. It was temporary and then they started selling it on it's own, but the point is they did it.
Aside from the Zelda collection, the Megaman collection released last generation also put way more effort into it. It had every main series Megaman game through Megaman 8, and while there again were some odd emulation issues with the SNES and PS1 games, the NES games were much improved, with the ability to remove "flicker" when too many sprites are on the screen, image "sharpening", a new "help system" for new players, a difficulty system for all games (basically extra lives and the easy mode from MM2 applied to all the games), and most notably, all the NES games had their sound track remixed, and it sounded really good. Heck they even put in the two arcade games for good measure (as well as an interview, the old American cartoon first episode, and on the XBox version the first episode of that Battle Network anime show).
The Sonic collection also went much further last generation, with a huge assortment of obscure Sonic games, as well as, oddly enough, scans of every single Sonic comic cover.
Laziness, pure and simple. Long-time fans can easily see this as an insult.