We store cookies, you can get more info from our privacy policy.
Wii

Rev to Support CD-ROM Games on Virtual Console

by Jonathan Metts - March 24, 2006, 7:15 pm EST
Total comments: 35 Source: Hudson Soft

Hudson elaborates on TurboGrafx (PC-Engine) capabilities for Nintendo's upcoming download/emulation service.

According to an announcement by Hudson's Japanese office (link above), the Virtual Console support for TurboGrafx games, announced yesterday, includes both card and CD-ROM games. The Hudson/NEC-designed system was known as PC-Engine in Japan, where it enjoyed far more success and is remembered for several classic games which were never released elsewhere. The system underwent numerous revisions, going from a solid-state storage format to a few different CD-ROM formats.

Today's announcement confirms that the Nintendo Revolution's emulation will cover games stored on ROM cards and at least one of the CD formats, known as CD-ROM2. Whether the Super CD and Arcade CD formats will be supported is currently not clear. Hudson notes that more than 670 games were released on the system over the years, 122 of which were published by Hudson itself.

Aside from expanding the selection of TurboGrafx games that will be available for play on Revolution, this news also gives hope that classic Super CD games such as Dracula X may be among the playable titles. Some of these PC-Engine games are rare collector's items, fetching high prices even in Japan. Furthermore, support for CD-ROM games may indicate forthcoming announcements for Virtual Console support of other disc-based platforms.

Thanks to the GAF crew for the tip!

Official GDC Keynote Summary

Genesis and TurboGrafx games to be playable on Revolution's Virtual Console service.

Nintendo President Challenges Developers to Create Bold New Games

Nintendo Also Announces Plans to Offer Classic Sega and TurboGrafx Games

SAN JOSE, Calif., March 23 /PRNewswire/ -- Nintendo President Satoru Iwata

today challenged a crowd of game developers to think differently and take a

fresh approach to the creation of video games. During his keynote address at

the Game Developers Conference in San Jose, Calif., Iwata said Nintendo will

provide developers with the tools they need to disrupt the traditional methods

of game creation, much as the company already has.

These tools include the controller for Nintendo's next home console

(code-named Revolution), which lets users control the action on their

television screens through the motion of the controller itself. The

controller lets game developers create new kinds of gaming experiences, ones

that enhance the experience for hard-core gamers while making video games more

accessible and less intimidating to novices. The new forms of innovative

software that can be created by any size developer will be made available for

download via Revolution's Virtual Console service.

"This new approach is like stepping onto an unexplored continent for the

first time, with all the potential for discovery that suggests," Iwata said.

"No one else can match the environment we're creating for expanding the game

experience to everyone. Our path is not linear, but dynamic."

Iwata also announced partnerships with Sega and Hudson to offer

downloadable access to their classic games via Revolution's Virtual Console.

Revolution owners will be able to relive their past gaming glories from the

Sega Genesis console by playing a "best of" selection from more than 1,000

Genesis titles, as well as games sold for the TurboGrafx console (a system

jointly developed by NEC and Hudson). These games join Revolution's access to

20 years of fan-favorite Nintendo games from the NES(R), Super NES(R) and

Nintendo(R) 64 eras.

Iwata also revealed for the first time that a new game called The Legend

of Zelda(R): Phantom Hourglass would be released for Nintendo DS later this

year.

Iwata, a game developer himself, revealed behind-the-scenes stories about

the development of three key initiatives.

For the industry leading Nintendo Wi-Fi Connection, internal engineers and

developers overcame a series of hurdles to make the system seamless and

flexible enough to allow players to choose to play wirelessly either with

friends or against unknown opponents. The Nintendo Wi-Fi Connection reached

1 million unique users in just 18 weeks -- nearly five times the adoption rate

of the leading online game console network.

He described a pivotal meeting in coming to agreement on development of

the incredibly popular "brain games" in Japan. A leading Japanese scientist

attached a sci-fi-looking wired helmet to a Nintendo staffer and then visually

demonstrated stimulation of brain activity as the staffer played prototype

software.

Finally, he described the hundreds of sketches, dozens of prototypes and

company-wide collaboration that led to the final form of the unique Revolution

controller system, which resembles a traditional TV remote control. He called

the related research and manufacturing costs of the new control system,

"...our method to disrupt the market...realizing a new way to connect a player

to his game."

Talkback

ShyGuyMarch 24, 2006

Rev is going to need a bigger storage medium. Maybe they will redo the audio and fmv into smaller formats, hmm

Karl Castaneda #2March 24, 2006

Dracula X, eh? Well, Ian, maybe your wish will come true after all. face-icon-small-smile.gif

KnoxxvilleMarch 24, 2006

CRIKEY!! Bring on the Saturn....hell, gimme some Dreamcast too!! face-icon-small-happy.gif

ShyGuyMarch 24, 2006

Oooh, How awesome would it be to play Shenmue on the Rev?

StrellMarch 24, 2006

Please tell me this will mean reprints of some sought after games.

Konami, Rondo of Blood. Chop chop.

Lol, can you imagine the Revolution section at Ebgames? Super Smash Bros Online, Metroid 3, and then next to them, a huge section of PC-Engine games. "Only for the Revolution....mostly."

Smash_BrotherMarch 24, 2006

Personally, I'd love it if they brought back the Sega CD and 32x games. I was never able to play the 32x games but some of them definitely looked interesting.

UncleBobRichard Cook, Guest ContributorMarch 24, 2006

Nights anyone?

IceColdMarch 24, 2006

Quote

Originally posted by: ShyGuy
Oooh, How awesome would it be to play Shenmue on the Rev?
10 years ago someone would have killed you for suggesting that.

JonLeungMarch 24, 2006

More storage space?

Compression?

Some kind of efficient live data streaming?

Some or all of the above?

LouieturkeyMarch 24, 2006

Makes you wonder if they are going to increase the amount of internal flash memory on the system then. If the CD games are available, each of those can be more than 512MB. I can't wait to try some of those PC Engine games. I always wanted a TurboGraphix16 and never had the money at the time. Now I can get them for much cheaper along with Genesis/NES/SNES/N64 games. Here's hoping Saturn/32X games are available as well. face-icon-small-smile.gif

TMWMarch 24, 2006

Nah...Dreamcast uses GD-ROM. As they go through the trouble of specifying CD-ROM in the press release, I think that means other formats are not included.

That being said, Saturn used CD-ROM, so theoretically, it is possible to have Saturn games.

Many of the early CD-ROM games used uncompressed audio and video clips added to otherwise tiny game programs. That data could be compressed with modern technology to keep the file sizes quite low. However, I do think it's quite possible that Nintendo will increase the internal flash storage for Revolution. You can also buy SD cards for more storage, and those get huge and are reasonably priced.

Ian SaneMarch 24, 2006

" Dracula X, eh? Well, Ian, maybe your wish will come true after all."

YEAH!!!

WuTangTurtleMarch 24, 2006

OMG a positive, short, and simple post from Ian.........has H3LL frozen over? Just kidding Ian.

I hope CD-I is a format they won't support......and im sorry i even mentioned it, i know the letters "C", "D", and "I" probably make certain people spontaneously barf uncontrollably. Here's a towel clean urself off.

AussiedudeMarch 24, 2006

Maybe the drive in the rev burns cd/dvd', so it could save it direct to disk. They already mentioned downloaded games have some sort of code that would only allow that game to play on your rev. Sure this would probably allow some sort of piracy, but for older games they probably wouldnt care as much as for the new software.

KDR_11kMarch 24, 2006

Maybe it can read the original media and there will be rereleases of ancient CD games?

Infernal MonkeyMarch 24, 2006

Quote

Furthermore, support for CD-ROM games may indicate forthcoming announcements for Virtual Console support of other disc-based platforms


jurassic0uj.jpg timegal4qb.jpg

silpheed9qe.jpg 1097344939002wh.jpg

*Pleasure noises*

WesisapieMarch 25, 2006

this is starting to get crazy... mays well just support every console ever while they are at it.

Infernal MonkeyMarch 25, 2006

If by every console you mean every obscure console, then yes!

KDR_11kMarch 25, 2006

Perhaps they will make it possible for the Rev to receive new emulators after it has been released so they could keep adding consoles even after launch...

JonLeungMarch 25, 2006

They should work with SNK and get Neo-Geo games on there. The King Of Fighters! And other 2D fighting games! Come on!

I don't think it'd be impossible to add more emulation later on...I already doubt they'd have everything available all at once anyway, even after they've acquired the rights to the games. The big games could be deliberately held back for release later.

capamericaMarch 25, 2006

Man I would Love to have all of SNK's games on the Revolution.
Maybe even a few Playstaion 3rd Party exclusives may show up on the Revolution as well *cough*SquareGames*cough*

I don't think Dreamcast games would be to hard to bring over, most Dreamcast games could be backed up to normal CDs and ontop of that you have download game services like GameTap who offers some Dreamcast games for download.

RennyMarch 25, 2006

bonk.gif

BigJimMarch 25, 2006

SNK would be cool. I loved King of the Monsters. face-icon-small-smile.gif

The Virtual Console is turning out awesome.

jasonditzMarch 25, 2006

Wow, I hope this means Sega CD will be supported as well. Robo Aleste and Odama on the same system? That'd give people the screwiest ideas about the Warring States period.

BlackNMild2k1March 25, 2006

So the TG-16(PCE) card slot is whats under the flap on the front of the Rev?

wouldn't be nice if all old systems could be supported at sone point or another?
Disc based support: TG-16 CD, Sega CD, Saturn, NeoGeo CD, 3DO, CDi and if possible somewhere down the line; a hack to play PSX games.

Virtual Console support: NES, SNES, N64, GB/GBA(wireless transfer to DS), SMS, Genesis/32x, Saturn cartridge add ons, TG16(PCE), NeoGeo, Atari(all versions) & Jaguar.

If all(most) of that could be done on the Rev, it would instantly become the ultimate console!! Everyone(that considered themselves a gamer) would have to own one, on principle alone.

jasonditzMarch 25, 2006

You could play some PS1 games on the Dreamcast, so there's no good reason Nintendo couldn't theoretically support it too if they wanted.

KnoxxvilleMarch 25, 2006

I remember when I was a wee lad and managed to convice my rich friend (everybody had one....or WERE the one ;p) to get the TurboGraphx over the Genesis. Man, I should be a lawyer, because the arguements I made were spec-TACK-ular! Needless to say, I got to play Bonk, Dungeon Explorer, Vigilante, Legendary Axe (SPAUNG!), R-Type, Military Madness, and a great deal others on someone else dollar....now THAT'S GANGSTA!!

Plus they even sprung for the CD upgrade and so I got my Bloody Wolf, Y's, and 'Fighting Street' on....ahhhhhhhhhhhhhhhh, YOUTH!! face-icon-small-happy.gif

ArbokMarch 25, 2006

Quote

Originally posted by: jasonditz
You could play some PS1 games on the Dreamcast, so there's no good reason Nintendo couldn't theoretically support it too if they wanted.


Except for the fact that the company that made it happen, Bleem, was sued nearly out of existance for doing that until the DC itself died...

http://www.armchairempire.com/Editorials/rip_bleem.htm

KirbySStarMarch 25, 2006

See what I want to know is if they'll let us download Japanese games that never came out over here and just have a label on it saying it isn't in English. It's nice to have options.

jasonditzMarch 25, 2006

Quote

Originally posted by: Arbok
Quote

Originally posted by: jasonditz
You could play some PS1 games on the Dreamcast, so there's no good reason Nintendo couldn't theoretically support it too if they wanted.


Except for the fact that the company that made it happen, Bleem, was sued nearly out of existance for doing that until the DC itself died...

http://www.armchairempire.com/Editorials/rip_bleem.htm


Sony never won that lawsuit, Bleem just didn't have enough money for the legal expenses.

KDR_11kMarch 25, 2006

I think the courts even were in favour of Bleem but well, justice for the rich, persecution for the poor. Large companies can oppress anyone just by dragging out a frivolous lawsuit forever and waiting until the victim can't pay anymore. In theory there's a law against that but in practice it doesn't get invoked and I think it doesn't trigger until the attacker is defeated, which never happens.

ssj4_androidMarch 26, 2006

So, I assume this means only game downloads, and not original media? Original media could be cool. Maybe they could even add in old DOS games?

Infernal MonkeyMarch 26, 2006

Quote

Originally posted by: KirbySStar
See what I want to know is if they'll let us download Japanese games that never came out over here and just have a label on it saying it isn't in English. It's nice to have options.


Yeah, Sin and Punishment plz~

SgtShiversBenMarch 26, 2006

It's terrible Infernal, I have those four games for the Sega CD....and hot damn, Jurassic Park is freaking AWESOME!! Playing Phoenix Wright made me pop it back in and beat it...even if I got mauled by dinos again face-icon-small-sad.gif

Got a news tip? Send it in!
Advertisement
Advertisement