Comment by TuxSH

Comment by TuxSH 2 days ago

17 replies

3DS has hardware support for GBA games too, actually, though these only got distributed via the Ambassador program.

Also had VC for most of Nintendo's platform.

chungy 2 days ago

I know, and you can basically restore full GameCube compatibility on the Wii U via Nintendont. Neither of them let you use the actual physical games from the old system, and needing to perform jailbreak hacks to use them and load ROMs on anyway doesn't count as much as out-of-the-box compatibility.

  • TuxSH 2 days ago

    Fair. A shame, still, especially for GC compat on WiiU.

    • Wowfunhappy 2 days ago

      The problem in both cases is that the consoles were actually missing a key piece of hardware: the ability to read the disc or cartridge.

      If you're a hacker-type person who has already digitized your gamecube collection (or, let's be honest, downloaded the games illegally) then this doesn't matter. But for regular consumers, there needs to be a way to verify ownership.

      Nintendo could have made some titles available digitally (which is what I wish they'd done), but that requires getting content rights sorted out for games that have never been sold digitally before, so the full catalog would not have been available. Also, there would have been a ton of hemming and hawing about "Nintendo is making me buy my Gamecube games again?!?" No comment on whether such complaints would have been reasonable.

      • chungy 2 days ago

        The problem is deliberate hardware choices. They may be reasonable choices, but if Nintendo wanted to prioritize forever backwards compatibility, we could still have a GameCube-compatible disc drive and GBA and DS compatible catridge slots.

      • bdhcuidbebe 2 days ago

        Downloading roms is all it takes to be regarded a hacker-type these days? I feel words keep losing their meaning …