E-reader PATTERN

[vanman]

I found a pattern between E-reader games. (If someone hase already posted this, my bad.) All of the Nes e-reader games, the real NES cartridge label is pixalized.

[Ze_ro]

I think it's just a coincidence. Nintendo used the "pixellized" art for a lot of their earlier games, and due to the size restrictions on e-Cards, it's the earlier games that are best suited to releasing on the e-Reader.

 

Super Mario Bros and Metroid also used the pixellized art, but I doubt you'll see e-Reader versions of them anytime soon, since they're awfully large to put on e-Cards. However, if Nintendo wants to prove me wrong by releasing them, I'd gladly take back my comments!

 

--Zero

[chrisbid]

SMB could fit on an E-Reader, but it would be around 10 cards.

[MegaManFan]

There is a good reason for the coincidence:

 

A lot of the "pixellized" label games are from very early in Nintendo game release history, so the memory amount they take up is quite small and can easily be "carded" so to speak. As you get into the late 80's and the games got bigger and more complex, requiring additional chips and lots of bank switching, the amount of cards you'd need to load them is staggering. Just thinking how many cards you'd have to read for Metroid, Kirby's Adventure, or Zelda II gives me a f'n headache.

[SteveW]

I need to break out my Oscar Bar Code Reader for my TI Home Computer and see if it can read one of those E-Reader cards.

[Jasoco]

Well, seeing as eReader cards aren't barcodes, they're very fine patterns of dots. Too small. Much too small.

[RCmodeler]

I saw these E-reader cards at my local EB, and I realized how stupid the whole idea is. The cards I saw are so beat up that you have to swipe them multiple times to make them work (like a worn-out credit card). The single-card games are lame, and the good games would require ~10 cards. Plus, what happens if you lose one? Tough luck!

 

It would make more sense and be more practical to simply release these games as GBA carts. The carts are easier to store, easier to handle, and more durable. Selling games as dot-coded cards is as stupid as trying to store Word documents on 70s-era punchcards.

[chrisbid]

5 dollars a game vs. 30 dollars

 

all of the NES games ive purchased use 5 cards each, thats not that bad, and i take care of my ecards better than a store demo.

[MegaManFan]

Indeed. Your average grubby five year-old might not be best suited to an e-Reader, ironically, but your typical teen or adult is not going to beat these into unreadable submission. In fact I've found the opposite is true - if I pull up a card by mistake before "swiping" it all the way, it often still gets the whole code anyway. And once you get down the rhythm, it takes less than a minute to e-Read in a whole NES game. My only gripe about the e-Reader is that it only has enough memory to store one card game at a time.

[vanman]

I think it is an alright concept, but you could spen $60 on a real nes with a bunch of games.

[Ze_ro]

I'd love to get an e-Reader, but they're too expensive around here, and there really aren't that many games for it.

 

--Zero

[RCmodeler]

5 dollars a game vs. 30 dollars

 

 

+$50 for the E-reader (or whatever it costs). I'm sure that Nintendo could easily port these games to GBA carts and sell them for $5 a cart.

[vb_master]

why not use PocketNES and a flashcart?

edit - Picrure of VisualBoyAdvance (emulator) and Thingy.exe (.nes converter) playing Metroid useing PocketNES to emulate the NES on the GBA.

[Jasoco]

why not use PocketNES and a flashcart?

edit - Picrure of VisualBoyAdvance (emulator) and Thingy.exe (.nes converter) playing Metroid useing PocketNES to emulate the NES on the GBA.

Here's what I want, and I might reiterate in a separate thread, is a Genesis cart with an emulator built in that takes SmartMedia. So I can play NES and SNES games on my Nomad.

[chrisbid]

5 dollars a game vs. 30 dollars

 

 

+$50 for the E-reader (or whatever it costs). I'm sure that Nintendo could easily port these games to GBA carts and sell them for $5 a cart.

 

 

carts cost at least 10 bucks to produce, the ereader goes for 40 dollars new, or 70 dollars bundled with an original GBA system. Used E readers go for 30 or less...

[Ze_ro]

what I want is a Genesis cart with an emulator built in that takes SmartMedia. So I can play NES and SNES games on my Nomad.

 

Well, I wouldn't hold my breath if I were you... Emulating the SNES on the Genesis is completely out of the question... and even emulating the NES is probably too much. In order for one system to emulate another, it generally has to be at least an order of magnitude more powerful.

 

I'm sure that Nintendo could easily port these games to GBA carts and sell them for $5 a cart.

 

They could... but they'd lose heaps of money. Cartridges cost a pretty good chunk of cash to manufacture, not to mention the box and manual and such. Mass production brings that cost down a bit, but I seriously don't think they'd be able to make a profit at $5 a cart. Releasing these games on cards makes them substantially cheaper to produce. A set of 5 cards for a game probably costs less for Nintendo to make than a manual for a normal GBA game.

 

I'm also quite certain that the e-Reader actually has some Nintendo emulation built into it. I'm not sure to what extent it can emulate the NES... but this makes things even easier for Nintendo, since it means that they wouldn't even have to port the games, just print them onto a card with zero development costs.

 

Instead, it would be better for them to release a cartridge with a collection of games on it, like Namco, Midway, and Atari have done in the past. Stick all the e-Reader games on a single cartridge, charge $30 or so for it, and it would probably sell quite well.

 

--Zero

[JB]

what I want is a Genesis cart with an emulator built in that takes SmartMedia. So I can play NES and SNES games on my Nomad.

 

Well, I wouldn't hold my breath if I were you... Emulating the SNES on the Genesis is completely out of the question... and even emulating the NES is probably too much. In order for one system to emulate another, it generally has to be at least an order of magnitude more powerful.

The GBA CAN emulate the NES.

It's already been done.

 

http://www.pocketnes.org/

[Ze_ro]

Yeah, of course it can... but he's talking about the Genesis emulating the NES... which I don't think can be done without extra hardware.

 

--Zero

[Jasoco]

Yeah, of course it can... but he's talking about the Genesis emulating the NES... which I don't think can be done without extra hardware.

 

--Zero

Which would be located in the cartridge. It's an NES on a chip. I'm sure someone can create a way to do it. All it needs to do is take the ROM as a Cartridge, process everything and send the output to the screen via the Genesis. All the while gathering controller input from the A and B buttons using the C button as Select with A and B switched.

 

Anyone? Anyone? Bueller? I seriously think the NES could be emulated that way. Maybe not SNES, but at least NES.

 

Not easy, but it could be done in a small area space.

[RCmodeler]

Instead, it would be better for them to release a cartridge with a collection of games on it, like Namco, Midway, and Atari have done in the past. Stick all the e-Reader games on a single cartridge, charge $30 or so for it, and it would probably sell quite well.

 

 

Best Idea Ever.

 

It's clear to me that this E-Reader card deal is Nintendo milking the game public for money in exchange for 15-20 year old games. $30 for a "NES Collection" that is durable and will last for years makes more sense to me than ~$100 for an E-reader plus a couple dozen card games. Nintendo is being greedy.

[Video]

The reason Nintendo doesn't simply emulate NES games on cards is... Wait a minute. They already have.

 

The reason the Ereader exists, is to take a lot of games people wouldn't pay more than $5 for anyways, and make a way to sell them at that price. $40 for the eReader, and $4 per game pack, total, if you buy all the game packs is $92. And the Ereader doesn't stop there. You can use it, with games that support the feature, to put extra levels on a preexisting game. Go ahead and Buy Super Mario Advance 4, super Mario Bros 3, and get the ereader cards. It lets you play extra levels. Or use the eReader to unlock extra charactures in a game. Use it in Pokemon for example to unlock the other 150 something or other charactures that aren't available other ways (other than cheating, and where's the fun in that, or trading)

 

The eReader is a interesting tool, that Nintendo can use for years to come, to modify games that come out, or if nothing else, do interesting things, like take a card, scan it in, and pull up a screen of characture info, like they do with Pokemon cards.

 

I never looked at the $40 price tag as a bad thing, especially considering I got the thing, and 13 ereader games for less than I would have most likely paid for those 13 games as original carts. And it plays on the go.

 

As for lasting, the eReader cards last as well as anything else that's taken care of. I've got some $20+ year old Atari manuels and overlays that are in better condition than the game cart is.

 

All my eReader cards are still in perfect condition. Of course, I don't just shove them all in my pocket to take them with me. The get put into a hard case that caries about 25 cards. You can get them at any cardq collectors store, and they'll protect the cards when not in use.

[TheGrandPubaa]

I've never posted here, obviously. I just figured i'd give my two cents.

 

Using cards to produce the games has it's own good and bad sides, most of which has already been mentioned. However, recently, Nintendo has been implementing a very nifty idea(though, it takes some money to do it...).

 

Imagine being able to expand a game beyond it's normal programming. For instance, adding newer levels or characters or items. 5 bucks to add new stuff to a game is quite a good price for an expansion pack, y'know.

 

The first game to really take advantage of the E-Reader like this is Super Mario Advance 4: Super Mario Brothers 3(odd title choice on N's part...). It does pretty much what I described above.

 

To do this, you need the E-Reader, a Link Cable, and two GBAs, and therein lies the problem. In any case, this is a great way to expand the games released for the GBA IF it's implemented properly(which I doubt it will be). It certainly reeks of dreamy possibilities. I don't have this kind of set up(not even an E-Reader), but I may if it comes down in price and gets some better/more games released.

 

Hmm...I wonder if somebody could scan the cards and print them out to make copies? I would figure it could be done if done right...

 

-TheGrandPubaa(from the Jag forum)

[JB]

Yeah, of course it can... but he's talking about the Genesis emulating the NES... which I don't think can be done without extra hardware.

 

--Zero

DOH!

Remind me not to post at 3AM anymore.

[Ze_ro]

It's clear to me that this E-Reader card deal is Nintendo milking the game public for money in exchange for 15-20 year old games.

 

Don't look now, but that's the exact same reason half of their GBA library exists! They're already milking the public with all the Super Mario Advance games that we already own. They're not the only ones either... Capcom has released stuff like Final Fight One, Ghouls 'n' Ghosts, Megaman & Bass, and a couple of Street Fighter games.

 

Companies must love this machine... all they have to do is port a SNES game (which probably takes about a weekend) and people will buy it because hey, it's classic, and it's now portable.

 

The reason the Ereader exists, is to take a lot of games people wouldn't pay more than $5 for anyways, and make a way to sell them at that price.

 

It has some other uses as well... Pokemon and Animal Crossing cards were produced in order to provide some more content for both of those games.

 

adding newer levels or characters or items. 5 bucks to add new stuff to a game is quite a good price for an expansion pack

 

It's a nice idea, but I can't shake the feeling that there's no real content on the cards themselves. My guess is that the content is all on the cartridge itself, and the card just tells it to let you use it. I'm fairly certain this is how it worked with Pokemon and Animal Crossing stuff as well.

 

Imagine if you bought a CD, and then had to pay extra to unlock the last song on the disc. You'd be pretty pissed off, yet somehow it's okay to do this in a video game.

 

--Zero

[Ze_ro]

Boy, that post seems rather negative now that I read it again...

 

--Zero