Nice bag updates, you're probably the only site who updates this

frequently. I also like the volume of readers you answer questions to,

other sites just answer like 2 people's questions.

Anyway, you wrote this response to a reader's question: "if developers

are capable of reprogramming the old games to enable online multiplayer,

I suppose there's nothing to stop them from optimizing the old engines

for more fluid graphics."

The thing is, the way I understand it the Revolution is going to get

basically a bunch of N64 roms and an emulator will be built in to the

Revolution System. The thing is, this is not necessarily true, because

the emulator that's built into the Revolution will probably use the

online connection to emulate a normal 4 player game on the N64.

Developers aren't going to spend the time to recode the N64 games to

enhance them to put them online, that would take way too long.

Imagine this. You go on the Nintendo WiFi Connection and you pick out 3

other players to play with you. Before the game is started, the systems

link up and basically directly connects your controllers to the virtual

controller ports in the N64 emulator. so basically, it doesnt change

the N64 games, it just gives you an N64 controller with a chord that's

as big as you want it.

The big problem with your theory is that, without altering the original game code, there's no way for you to find people to play with. The best you could hope for is that the Revolution could do some kind of match-making in the background, but I'm not sure how well that would work, and you probably wouldn't have any control over it once you booted up the N64 game.

Hahahah! A fake delay? Come on! Nintendo is a video game company, not a

magician! That is such a load of crap. Anyway, thanks for posting those.

On Nintendogs, can you unlock every breed even if you don’t go into bark

mode? I mean every breed from other "flavors" as Craig of IGN calls it. I

have one friend that might buy it, but I don’t see him often. I realize you

may have answered this and I'm sorry if you did.

I believe you can unlock every breed even without meeting other people with the game, but Bark Mode helps you do it a lot faster than if you just built up enough trainer points on your own.

Just one more question that you can add to my last question about a possible DSW: Do you know if Nintendo plans to release the pink DS in the United States? I just noticed that they were going to start selling that in Europe. I wasn't planning on upgrading my girlfriend from a GBA to a DS, and I was just going to buy my little sisters GBAs for Christmas, but if they've got pink coming for the DS, I know that they will all love that. Although, I might have to buy different colors for my lil sisters so that they don't fight over who's is who's.

It's highly likely that more colors will be announced just in time for Christmas. But which colors, there's no telling.

have had Army Men: RTS for three months now. It's a great game. Not very good graphics, but they do their job. If you can find it, pick it up. I got mine at Wal*Mart for 12 bucks.

Well, I guess it's probably not a collector's item if it can be so easily found at Wal-Mart, but it may still be a cool game to pick up if you're an RTS fan.

Hey there! Got a couple things to ask...

1. Why is it taking so long for Elektroplankton to

bring over here? Id've figured it'd be very simple to

do so as it doesnt seem very text heavy. Unless its

riddled with Japanese sounds we couldnt possibly

handle.

2. Although its very unlikely to happen. Is it

possible Nintendo could sneak in Sonny and the other

MG64 Originals into Touch Golf? I long to hear "Its a

Sonny Day!" again....

3. Is there a possibilty of us getting F-Zero Climax?

I heard it takes place after the series is over and

since it was cancelled over here I was just

wondering...

-WarioFan63

1. I'm not sure if NOA ever seriously planned to release it in the U.S. They certainly loved showing it off at E3, but that may have been to send a message to the media rather than to preview a game they were planning to release in the future. Or perhaps they're waiting to see how Nintendogs sells, since the two games seem to operate on parallel (yet completely different) concepts.

2. I doubt it, since the two games have different developers. It is possible if Nintendo owns those original characters (which I'm not sure about), but even if that's the case, they may figure that most people just don't care enough about the non-Mario characters. Then again, the original 1080 Snowboarding guys showed up in Wave Race: Blue Storm, on a different system with a different developer, so there is some precedent for what you're proposing.

3. Seems unlikely, with the Japanese version out since last October and the game completely absent on NOA's schedule for the rest of 2005. Maybe they weren't satisfied with the sales of GP Legend. If you haven't already, check out Dan's import review of Climax to help you decide whether to import it.

Hello Mailbag,

In response to a previous writers question, Nintendo has already stated that they are experiementing with ways to improve the graphics of previous generation games. So I would bet anything the old N-64 games would run smoother and look cleaner than ever. (Even that crappy Superman 64 game)

Yeah, Sony also did this on the PS2. It plays PSone games with smoother textures and faster load times. But again, Superman 64 is going to look and play like crap no matter how much anti-aliasing or frame-buffering you add.

Dear PGC,

Love the site.

Just wondering if there is going to be another in the Paper Mario series coming out. If so would it be on the GC or the Revolution. My entire family enjoys playing them.

Thanks,

An old gamer

Yeah, the series has done well in every region, so I expect it to continue. But not on the GameCube, since Nintendo has said that Zelda will probably be the last major game they release on the GC.

It's since been commented by Nintendo on other

websites (I believe I've read it on IGN) that that MP3

video was just meant to give an idea of the game and

was actually running on GameCube hardware.

Well, that's true in one sense. It was running on a GameCube development kit with more RAM...which, for the time being, is the Revolution development kit. And the real Revolution dev kits are going to be based on the same architecture as GameCube, so developers working with these "Super GameCube" kits should be able to easily move their projects up onto the real thing. Regardless, I have full confidence that Metroid Prime 3 will look a lot better on Revolution than the E3 video might lead us to believe. Not that the video looked bad, but it certainly wasn't a shocking leap over GameCube graphics, and it certainly didn't have me saying "Wow!", which Mr. Iwata has assured me will be the case when I finally do see what the Revolution can do.

How do you think the DS will connect to the Revolution? My thought is that

since they both use Wi-Fi, the DS will "talk" to the Rev and a person could

then display play a DS game through the Rev to be displayed on the TV.

Nintendo has already confirmed that the DS and Revolution will communicate with each other wirelessly, but we don't yet know what this feature could be used for. I rather doubt it would be for displaying DS games on your TV, given the strange display setup and the difficulty of playing touch screen games while looking at a separate monitor.

In the last mailbag Rognarok asked why Nintendo would

aim for the Revolution to have low power consumption.

You responded that this might help keep the Revolution

small. It seems to me that keeping power consumption

low is itself a benefit, to help save money on

electricity. Did you not see this as a valid

reasoning? - Lokno

Of course it's a benefit in and of itself, but not one so critical or marketable that Nintendo would want to design their entire system around it. There has to be another reason, or multiple reasons, more compelling than simply shaving a few cents of our power bills.

I know there is not going to be a touch screen on the Revolution controller, for obvious cost reasons. But has anyone discussed the possibility of a touch pad (As in, the rectangular mouse-replacement found on laptops)? Using the DS screen as a mouse works great, even if you are controlling the action on the top screen and I can't think of a reason why this wouldn't work for controlling action on the TV. It could also work to simulate a light gun (via cursor) as well. I'm just not sure how much cost this would add to the controller.

-Rick Felice

Yeah, that's one possibility, but I'd be disappointed if that is the main controller innovation. It does, however, jive with Nintendo's mantra of "look at DS to see where we're going with Revolution's design". And it doesn't violate Iwata's promise that there will be no touch screen on the controller.

Dear Bag,

Why do you think there is no chance that "The Tower SP" will come to

N.A.. The original "Tower" game was infact titles "Sim Tower" and was

even published by Maxis. Maxis is owned be EA, so it would be a simple

translation and (que John madden) Boom!, Sim Tower on the go.

Thanks for the often updates.

A Dead Pixel

The Japanese version came out months ago, and there is no U.S. version on NOA's gigantic list of GBA releases through the end of 2005.

I remember reading a gaming magazine a few months ago(I think it was EGM)

and it said something along the lines that if you pre-ordered The Legend of

Zelda: Twilight Princess, you would get a free updated copy of The Wind

Waker with "realistic" graphics and two dungeons cut out from the American

release. They even had a screenshot showing the old Wind Waker and updated

one with new graphics to verify it.

My question is, whatever happened to this pre-order bonus? Does Nintendo

still plan to release something like this, was it cancelled, or was EGM just

pulling a fast one on me?

Thanks for your feedback!

Sorry, that was EGM's annual April Fool's joke. Nintendo has not yet announced any pre-order bonus for Twilight Princess, though I'm sure there will be one...in 2006.

Do you recommend the GBA Movie Player or the Play-Yan for the Nintendo DS? Will I need to understand Japanese if I import either? Will the Japanese Movie Player or Play-Yan work with a North American DS? PGC Rules!

Beens The Great

Our hardware reviews of the GBA Movie Player and Play-Yan should answer all your questions. Both will definitely work in your American system, by the way, though you may have trouble with the Play-Yan's PC software converters...see Windy's review for details.

Ive actually heard of [Army Men RTS]. It was scheduled to come out a bit after the PS2 version, but then 3DO went out of buisness. Take 2 bought the name and released it as a budget title over a year later. Its quite sad that Take 2 refuses to bring over the 2K sports games (Top Spin!) to GC but they brough that game over. At least theyve got some DS games planned.

Ah, that may be why we never heard of it. Budget games often get little marketing or PR support, since they're intended to appeal to impulse shoppers who don't see TV commercials for games or visit websites like PGC. One reason you won't see Take Two publishing any sports games on the GameCube is that 2K Games (a.k.a. Visual Concepts) stopped developing for GameCube years ago. In the case of Army Men RTS, the GC version was probably already 100% done before Take Two bought the rights to the series.

I have to call it a night, but I've got many more letters to get through, so please check back soon for more mailbag shenanigans!