Open Letter to Nintendo: Revive the Player’s Forum
Tuesday, December 4th, 2007 at 11:32am by Jack
There’s word today that Nintendo will update a Nintendo 64 game on the Virtual Console with some modern day features. Over at Wired’s Game|Life, Chris Kohler reports that Pokemon Snap, due out soon for the VC, will come complete with some Wii-specific content, including the ability to send snapshots of your little monster things to friends.
Sounds exciting right? Right?! No, of course it doesn’t. But, as has been pointed out by Kohler, this has wider, far more exciting implications than Pokemon traveling the Intertubes. Like online Mario Kart 64, for example.
But I had my own idea, and it’s pretty simple. Nintendo should revive NES Achievers/Player’ Forum, a staple of Nintendo Power magazines long past, and make it a robust online leaderboard/contest channel. Has Xbox Live done this already? Somewhat. But not with Nintendo branding and that cas-core goodness the Infendo staff so loves right now. And not with Virtual Console integration that would see old farts from the 1980’s reliving the competition of their youth with original NES games.
With the forum, entire pages of Nintendo Power were set aside for readers who had gotten 9,999,999 points in a game, or beat Super Mario Bros. in an insanely short amount of time. Readers would send in screenshots proving they had accomplished a feat, and Nintendo would reward them with 15 minutes of fame and the occasional prize.
This absolutely screams for a Channel. And while we’re at it, let’s make it more in-depth than a simple leaderboard (without making it campy, like a Mii popularity contest channel). How about special private rooms for friends to interact and compare battle scars (and chat!)? How about videos of Mario Kart Wii matches that got out of hand? Oh, and of course monthly contests, just like the NES Achiever forums of yesteryear.
Game|Life goes into this some more, but I think a nostalgic skin and some updated 1980s retro branding could work to really make this Channel hum with both older and younger gamers.
That said, you guys are better at generating ideas than me, so have at it. How could Nintendo revamp old VC games for the better using the Wii or the DS?
December 4th, 2007 at 11:39 am
Online and split-screen co-op for games such as Pokemon Snap. Hell, they should just make a Wii and DS sequel. Come on Nintendo, you know you want to. Pleeeeeeeeeeeaase.
December 4th, 2007 at 11:57 am
Much I want to see online multiplayer or at least leader board action; it ain’t happening because Nintendo nowadays are so stuck up.
December 4th, 2007 at 12:00 pm
The online site for Nintendo Wi-Fi Connection sort of did this for a while: http://www.nintendowifi.com
It looks like they haven’t added any new games to the site since this summer.
December 4th, 2007 at 12:03 pm
PESSTER BALL!
December 4th, 2007 at 1:22 pm
If they want to send me a patch for my VC copy of Mario Kart 64 to take me online I’m all for it!
December 4th, 2007 at 2:07 pm
I would love for Nintendo to update their old games with online play, but I doubt it’ll happen, as they wouldn’t want them cutting into the newer versions.
Why release Mario Kart64 with online if it means cutting into sales of Mario Kart Wii?
That said, I KNOW I recall reading once, though Hell if I remember where anymore, that if 3rd parties on the VC wanted to update their games to have online play, they could. This was before the Wi-Fi service for the Wii had launched, though.
December 4th, 2007 at 2:15 pm
I would LOVE a DS version of Pokemon Snap. Unless they have some compelling online features for the VC version, I’m fine with the old cartridge I have sitting right here that cost me 4 bucks.
December 4th, 2007 at 2:16 pm
It’s not so much a way to revamp VC games, as it is another way to play them, but it’s absolutely something I would love to have…
How about a USB attachment for the Wii, that lets you transfer your VC games to writable DS cartridges, so you can get your VC gaming fix anywhere you go. Include syncing features like the relationship between iPod & iTunes, to allow you to pick up where you left off, if you choose to continue playing on the Wii.
In addition to that, almost any game that supports multiplayer action should have the ability to be played through the Wifi Connection service, such as 4 player online FPS shootouts, or 4 player Smash Bros battles, etc.
December 4th, 2007 at 2:20 pm
@acletras
Yes, one would think that would be brilliant to do with the VC games and hopefully put a stop to the “VC is a rip off compare to XBLA blah blah blah”, but no; Nintendo is stubborn. End of story. T_T
December 4th, 2007 at 2:42 pm
I like this idea, indeed, but it makes me think of another idea.
I wish you could skin the Wii Channel. I’d love nothing more than for my Wii Channel to have a classic, gray NES look with that famous black stripe and the red Nintendo logo. Or better still, a classic Gameboy skin where all of the channels, instead of being full-color images, could be that old green color of the GB screen. Oh, nostalgia.
I’m dreaming, of course. I doubt they’ll ever do this for us. But seriously, they could charge some Wii Points for a pack of Channel Skins, and have several themed packs, perhaps releasing a new one each week. I know I’d buy.
Oh, how awesome that would be.
December 4th, 2007 at 3:30 pm
what about patches for gamecube games? Sure, they’re more recent, and might not be possible depending on how the Wii handles Gamecube emulation(or however they do it), but I’d love to finally get some Dual Dash with more than four people/two cars.
Or am I the only one that enjoyed the co-op nature of Double Dash?
December 4th, 2007 at 6:12 pm
I think they should offer updates on Mario 64 and Ocarina of Time to support widescreen!
December 4th, 2007 at 6:58 pm
@ Soup:
I also enjoyed the co-op of double dash. I even went and got two broadband adapters and played double dash with 8 people. Not the best investment I’ve ever made, since we only played 8 players one time
December 4th, 2007 at 7:09 pm
All of this sounds great, but why aren’t more people excited about Pokemon Snap. That should be a major VC title.
December 4th, 2007 at 11:44 pm
Because Pokemon Snap is a play-only-once game. After you beat it, it’s boring.
December 5th, 2007 at 3:16 am
“Sounds exciting right? Right?! No, of course it doesn’t”
“Of course” it doesn’t? Where do you get off acting like you represent Nintendo fans across the world? Not everyone’s so jaded. Some of us are quite easily amused….otherwise why would be emptying our wallets every time a new Pokémon game comes along that recycles the same ideas as the last dozen or so titles in the series? I know I’m far from the only person who has fond memories of writing funny captions for Pokémon photos and sharing them with the rest of my family. Could you be more arrogant than to call a feature boring when you know darn well that Japanese Pokémon are going to go nuts over it? What works for Nintendo fans over there should work just as well here, and if it doesn’t, then WE’RE the ones with problems–not Nintendo. Sharing funny Poké(note the accent mark)mon snapshots with other Pokémon fans sounds like a blast–IF you thought the original game was a blast, which apparently a lot of people do otherwise they wouldn’t be releasing it, would they?
December 5th, 2007 at 7:20 am
Japanese Pokémon = Japanese Pokémon fans.
Shut up, it was late. lol
December 7th, 2007 at 2:32 pm
Needless to say, I’m getting Pokémon Snap! the minute it comes out, online sharing or not! But online picture sharing just makes it double-sweet!!
And from the ideas thrown out here, I second the ideas of being able to skin your Wii interface, and introducing achievements to all Wii games, including VC titles. That has been a strong selling point of most Xbox 360 games…
December 31st, 2007 at 9:03 am
thanks for the laugh Poochy