RE: [Old Stream Archive - 08-31-17] Paper Mario Pro Mode #8
What's the difference between emulating and going through an old Game Cube? And where do you draw the line between emulation and not emulation? For example, when the Super Nintendo machine was remade (REDESIGNED) in the 1990's, was that a form of emulating as it was a different machine version than the original? You might say no as the same cartridges were used.
In the past few years, Nintendo came out with a new Nintendo machine that looked like the original Nintendo Entertainment System (NES) but smaller. Now, in these newer machines, the old games may be on the hard drives (HD) or on discs as opposed to cartridges, meaning they were copied and no longer in their original form or format. So, in other words, the hardware and software may have changed. So, wouldn't any of that be a variation of emulating the original games onto new formats and hardware?
Remember Mario All-Stars, a Super Nintendo cartridge video-game that contained a few those classic Mario games all on that same cartridge? So, it came out in the early 1990's, around 1993. It had games like Mario 1, Mario 2, Mario 3, the Lost Levels, etc. So, when they put those Nintendo games onto a Super Nintendo cartridge for SNES, was that not a form of emulating? All my questions here are trying to address the blurry line between what might be and what might not be emulation.
Are you trying to only endorse copies of games that are approved and endorsed by Nintendo as oppose to recommending anything that could be downloaded onto a thumb drive and easily shared to people everywhere, anywhere?
Did you know that you can play emulated NES and SNES and other games on the Wii and on the Xbox and Playstation 4 and many machines and computers? Well, it takes a bit of hacking into those machines. But these machines are computers. So, basically, anything that a computer can do, a video game console either can do or should be able to do if you hack it enough.
Emulation has certainly been a part of the industry, both in official and unofficial capacities, and the lines between emulation, remasters and remakes can indeed be blurry at times. I'd settle for a simple remaster or rerelease (essentially the same game but with some minor polish/fixes) but of course, we're all secretly hoping for a full blown remake with additional content. That would automatically give it more value than a copy of the old game, emulated or official.
But even if it were just a rerelease, well - for me, personally, it's easy to emulate the game because I have the knowledge and the means to do so. The reason why I and so many others would like an official rerelease is that it would allow a more general audience to try it as well. Most people haven't even heard of Paper Mario: The Thousand-Year Door and even if they did, they might not be able or willing to go through unofficial channels to try it out - in some cases, a bit of hacking is required, as you said. The best way to get the game out in the public eye is to have Nintendo make an official rerelease of any kind - not because of my personal loyalty to Nintendo, but because of the people who would be exposed to this game thanks to how easily accessible it'd be, not to mention Nintendo's marketing team with its massive budget drawing further attention to the game. In the end, who better to bring people in to play a Nintendo game than Nintendo itself?
So that's why I still think a rerelease would have value. You raise good points, though; people who truly want to play the game can already do so, but it's all about reaching the people who don't know what the game has to offer yet.
Thanks for sharing your thoughts, I really appreciate it!
I was excited when they remade Final Fantasy and also Metal Gear. So, I agree that they should remake Paper Mario for sure.
Nintendo came out with a new NES a few years ago. That was good. The next step would be for them to come out with a new N64 and Game Cube.