They can't ignore us now!

[Dark Jaguar]

http://starmen.net/forum/?t=msg&th=44975

vcpoll@futureus.com

They want us to send in emails asking for games to appear on the virtual console.

Of course Earthbound and Super Mario RPG are on that list, right from the start. Also, I'd include games that have full official translations but weren't released over here. Wikipedia has provided a massive resource on such games, like Mother 1 (Earthbound "Zero"), Terranigma (a sort of sequel to Illusion of Gaia, which was awesome), and some others.

Kirby Super Star as well.

Basically every game OB1 missed out on, and then the ones that the US missed out on.

Sure they only want 5, but we don't all have to vote for the same 5.

[A Black Falcon]

What was it I would list... there are just too many games...

Eliminate Down
San Francisco Rush 2049
The Guardian Legend
Goemon's Great Adventure
Lunar: Eternal Blue (Sega CD should show up eventually)

... I'd list more of course, but... well, if I list a few more, I'll end up listing dozens... and then I start thinking "wait, you listed three or four games for that platform, but that's not fair, you need more than that! Does that mean you like that game more than other game X? That's probably not true..." so I want to list more, and trying to actually complete the list is hopeless. All that happens when I add more games is that that makes me want to add even more in the hopes of making it more complete. :)

[Great Rumbler]

Terranigma
Chrono Trigger
Final Fantasy 6
Earthbound
Mischeif Makers

[Dark Jaguar]

<img src="http://www.4colorrebellion.com/media/pics/08/04/nppoll2.jpg">

Well well well... Lookie what I found...

The surprise there is Mother 1 made it on the list.

The thing about Majora's Mask is, while that's a good choice, I'm pretty sure that was destined to show up on the console anyway, because of the word "Zelda" in the title. (Speaking of, I still want to play that Tingle game some day...)

Oh and considering my original post and the top two items here...

<img src="http://images1.wikia.nocookie.net/wikiality/images/thumb/d/d2/ICalledIt.jpg/350px-ICalledIt.jpg">

In the sense that I made a statement about my own preference for some games, with no real list order to speak of, and never actually stated that those would be the winners, just that I wanted them to be, and only three even made the list, and also those were very popular games likely to be voted on anyway. But hey, if that kind of prediction method gets psychics the big bucks, it works for me!

[A Black Falcon]

starmen.net wins again!

... Too bad Nintendo hates them and refuses to release any Earthbound games here.

[Dark Jaguar]

But they did release the original Eathbound game here. I mean I have it. It's translated. It works, it's done. Putting it up on the VC would be as simple as uploading the file to their server (with the typical "embed it in the emulator" method they use) and adding it to their listing of games for sale. It's also their own property, and there should be no copyright issues. It's all in their hands.

There is... one interesting bit of info. Those "classic trials" in SSBB? Japan had two more games. One was an unreleased-in-USA Fire Emblem game (since it wasn't translated, it is totally understandable that they would have no US version to put in our SSBB), and the other was Mother 2, aka, Earthbound. This is according to the Smash Bros. Wiki. I'm not sure why they wouldn't put that in, unless it was for the sake of symmetry. That said, who cares about those "play for 4 minute" time limited ROMs anyway? I played them, I played them all, and to be honest I can't see anyone wanting to buy based on such a limited experience. Super Metroid is time limited to the point where you basically are only able to fight Ridley and escape the space station, and that gives no impression of just how great that game actually is.

Anyway, this is a different issue. This time, they have the numbers. They have the translated game. They have potential profit, and all they have to do is put it up there.

Super Mario RPG is a somewhat different story. I'm not sure what the legal situation is with that game. To the best of my knowledge, Square owns more of the rights to that game then I think they should. Apparently they had to actually contact Square for permission to use Geno in Mario and Luigi Superstar Saga? (In my opinion, Nintendo should have made the same deal with Square that they made with Rare, which as far as I can tell was "any properties you create for the purpose of the DK franchise will be owned by Nintendo", hence Diddy Kong and King K. Rool are Nintendo owned, not Rare owned.) At any rate, Square has been making games for Nintendo for a long time. It's clear Square could never release SMRPG on their own for, say, the PSP. I'm not sure why Nintendo doesn't just get the needed permission to stick that game up there.

Well, here's the motivation they need. All of those games are one they have been unwilling to stick up there. Two of them are completely Nintendo owned and already have full translations. Two of them would require working with Square, but Nintendo sure has a lot of stake in SMRPG (Chrono Trigger is a little more difficult, as Square has seemed reluctant to put ANY of their big name RPGs from the SNES era up there, just small stuff so far, and they clearly are milking their old Final Fantasy games for all the remakes they can get out of them (and yes, I will be buying the remake of FFIV), and Chrono Trigger might be getting a planned remake at some point as well). One of them is a "sure thing" because it's an already translated Zelda game.

[A Black Falcon]

But they did release the original Eathbound game here. I mean I have it. It's translated. It works, it's done. Putting it up on the VC would be as simple as uploading the file to their server (with the typical "embed it in the emulator" method they use) and adding it to their listing of games for sale. It's also their own property, and there should be no copyright issues. It's all in their hands.

Well yeah, ever since they released the SNES game, I mean.

There is... one interesting bit of info. Those "classic trials" in SSBB? Japan had two more games. One was an unreleased-in-USA Fire Emblem game (since it wasn't translated, it is totally understandable that they would have no US version to put in our SSBB), and the other was Mother 2, aka, Earthbound. This is according to the Smash Bros. Wiki. I'm not sure why they wouldn't put that in, unless it was for the sake of symmetry. That said, who cares about those "play for 4 minute" time limited ROMs anyway? I played them, I played them all, and to be honest I can't see anyone wanting to buy based on such a limited experience. Super Metroid is time limited to the point where you basically are only able to fight Ridley and escape the space station, and that gives no impression of just how great that game actually is.

Yeah, I heard of this. Earthbound fans have taken it as proof that Nintendo will not release any Earthbound games on the Wii, I think. At this point, I couldn't say that they are wrong...

Chrono Trigger is a little more difficult, as Square has seemed reluctant to put ANY of their big name RPGs from the SNES era up there, just small stuff so far, and they clearly are milking their old Final Fantasy games for all the remakes they can get out of them (and yes, I will be buying the remake of FFIV), and Chrono Trigger might be getting a planned remake at some point as well).

Square is reluctant to release pretty much anything, not just big name RPGs. I mean, their only games on VC are ActRaiser and King's Knight? That says something: They just don't like VC. They prefer re-releases which make them lots more money...

As for Mario RPG, I would think that Nintendo owns it 100%, but yeah, I don't know for sure...

Nintendo really has no excuse for the ridiculously slow pace of VC releases. They just don't seem to care about it anymore.

[Dark Jaguar]

UPDATE!

http://vooks.net/modules.php?module=article&id=12834

*Hums unsolved mysteries tune... in the style of Peter Griffin*

[A Black Falcon]

Well, that's interesting... maybe it will come out after all? (Or maybe not, who knows)

Doesn't change that we should be getting four games each week and not one or two, though...

[Dark Jaguar]

Oh a note about SMRPG. I'm pretty sure that if Nintendo did obtain the rights to it, they would not get the rights to two things, remixed music from FFIV that was put in the the game for a battle against a FF style boss.

[lazyfatbum]

T^hat's accomplished with a phone call. Nintendo is just biding its time with every release, plus they want to put more energy in to the wiiware channel simply because it offers people greater value and Nintendo can charge upwards of 20 dollars a pop. SMBRPG will come eventually, its just the pacing they're going for based on impulse buys, ie: if the current gen releases an update to a classic throw the classic online. If a movie/TV show makes reference to it, put it on VC, etc. Its pretty standard. SMBRPG is huge tho and we dont really have an RPG yet, Earthbound wil fill that gap big time and I expect more RPG's to follow including FF between VC and Wiiware. I dont expect a playstation VC channel tho obviously, but a wiiware version of some FF games I can see (Advent wings)

I am so drunk. I hope I make sense.

[Dark Jaguar]

They already released Super Paper Mario, so why didn't they take that opportunity to stick it up there?

Technically there's no reason it couldn't be done with a phone call, but there's two things getting in the way. Massive company internal confusion, and the "are we sure we can't make more money from this before we stick it up there?" question.

[A Black Falcon]

Well, Paper Mario is there, and that's the better game anyway. :)