Should nintendo GameCube make a Compilation nes game?

[Mait1571]

Just wondering what people thoughts were if Nintendo should make a compiltation game of Nes Classics, such as Zelda 1, 2, Donkey Kong's, Mario 1,2,3 ect...

I know you can find 30 of Atari's greatest games on 1 disc for the Ps 1. Would like to here some replies!

[zmeston]

Just wondering what people thoughts were if Nintendo should make a compiltation game of Nes Classics, such as Zelda 1, 2, Donkey Kong's, Mario 1,2,3 ect...

I know you can find 30 of Atari's greatest games on 1 disc for the Ps 1. Would like to here some replies!

Nintendo has already re-released many of their classics, though not in uber-compilation form: Super Mario All-Stars for the SNES, The Legend of Zelda: A Link to the Past for GBA, Metroid as an unlockable reward in Metroid Prime, Donkey Kong as an unlockable reward in Donkey Kong 64, and The Legend of Zelda: The Ocarina of Time as a preorder incentive for the GameCube. (And I'm sure I'm forgetting others.) It'd be great to see a big ol' Nintendo compilation, but I'm confident they'll stick with their current methods of exploiting their back catalog.

-- Z.

[kevincure]

And since that DC NES disc shows that every NES game from every region can fit on a CD with room to spare, I'd love to see a little "History of Nintendo" going on.

[Britboy]

If they released a compilation, I would go out and buy a Gamecube tomorrow.

[odysseyzine]

If they released a compilation, I would go out and buy a Gamecube tomorrow.

Me too. I love compilations. That was my favorite thing about Dreamcast... All of the emulator compilations.

[Nature Boy]

Don't forget the eReader either: Balloon Fight or Excitebike are already available.

I think a retrocomp would do well for them, but I have a feeling they feel they can get more value out of them by using them as incentives. OOT as a preorder bonus was a freaking fantastic idea IMO.

[Mait1571]

Personally, I would love to see Nintendo and other game making companies such as Konami, Capcom, ect... put out a compilation disc. I think it would sell great. Plus, it would give a chance for alot of the new gamers to see what games I and other old school gamers grew up playing!

[brandver3]

I read that Sega was looking into the E-reader.

I would love some classic Capcom action on it. Oh well

[MarkM2112]

And since that DC NES disc shows that every NES game from every region can fit on a CD with room to spare, I'd love to see a little "History of Nintendo" going on.

Ummmm... what DC NES disc is that? I've never heard of such a thing! Where can one get such a disc?

[kevincure]

They ported an emulator (I believe NESTERdc) to the Dreamcast, so you can burn a CD with the NES ROMS and the emulator. If you have a DC that can play burned games (Oct. 1999 or earlier on the serial, or modded), then you can play such a disc.

[Arcade Antics]

Personally, I would love to see Nintendo and other game making companies such as Konami, Capcom, ect... put out a compilation disc. I think it would sell great. Plus, it would give a chance for alot of the new gamers to see what games I and other old school gamers grew up playing!

Classic compilations rule! But remember that Konami, Namco, Midway/Williams/Atari etc. already put out many compilations for the PS, PS2, GBA, DC, etc. and they didn't sell as well as they would have needed to for us to see lots more. They sold reasonably well, but not super-duper-well. :)

And you can get the Namco Museum disc for GameCube right now.

[zmeston]

Personally, I would love to see Nintendo and other game making companies such as Konami, Capcom, ect... put out a compilation disc. I think it would sell great. Plus, it would give a chance for alot of the new gamers to see what games I and other old school gamers grew up playing!

Classic compilations rule! But remember that Konami, Namco, Midway/Williams/Atari etc. already put out many compilations for the PS, PS2, GBA, DC, etc. and they didn't sell as well as they would have needed to for us to see lots more. They sold reasonably well, but not super-duper-well. :)

And you can get the Namco Museum disc for GameCube right now.

I don't have the NPD/TRSTS sales info in front of me, but the Namco Museum compilation is by far the best-selliing of the bunch, thanks to the presence of Pac-Man and Ms. Pac-Man. (The latter was also a best-selling Sega Genesis cartridge for eons, as I recall.)

The best-selling PS1 game of all time, on a barely-related note, is Hasbro's so-so update of Konami's Frogger.

I'm not sure how the fantastic Activision Anthology did, since it received a stealth release -- or were there print ads I missed? -- and was barely approved by Sony (which initially approved AA only because of its downloadable content, then made the developers yank the feature because they didn't use Sony's own protocols).

And again, as I mentioned earlier, game companies realize that they can exploit their best IPs one at a time.

-- Z.

[Felixthegamer]

I'd love to see it, but I am not sure it will happen. They did realease some for Snes and GBA as some one else mentioned. It seems to me they are more interested in releasing them as updated versions for GBA. I really would like it though!

[Sylentwulf]

Classic compilations rule! But remember that Konami, Namco, Midway/Williams/Atari etc. already put out many compilations for the PS, PS2, GBA, DC, etc. and they didn't sell as well as they would have needed to for us to see lots more. They sold reasonably well, but not super-duper-well. :)

And you can get the Namco Museum disc for GameCube right now.

These were all either VERY SMALL (5-20 games? Bah.) or had HORRIBLE "Emulation". Hence, they sold very badly. If Nintendo put out an officially released NES disc with at least 200-300 Nintendo games, with their current emukation, I'm SURE it would sell very well.

[Arcade Antics]

If Nintendo put out an officially released NES disc with at least 200-300 Nintendo games, with their current emukation, I'm SURE it would sell very well.

Well, yeah. :-D But that's the most humongous "if" of all time. At this point we'd be lucky to get a Nintendo comp of 5 games. ;)

[zmeston]

Classic compilations rule! But remember that Konami, Namco, Midway/Williams/Atari etc. already put out many compilations for the PS, PS2, GBA, DC, etc. and they didn't sell as well as they would have needed to for us to see lots more. They sold reasonably well, but not super-duper-well. :)

And you can get the Namco Museum disc for GameCube right now.

These were all either VERY SMALL (5-20 games? Bah.) or had HORRIBLE "Emulation". Hence, they sold very badly. If Nintendo put out an officially released NES disc with at least 200-300 Nintendo games, with their current emukation, I'm SURE it would sell very well.

Activision ran into tons of legal headaches during the assembly of Anthology -- some people have a VERY inflated idea of what an Atari 2600 IP is worth -- and I can't imagine the logistical and financial nightmare of trying to assemble the publishing rights to several hundred NES titles. (How many NES games did Nintendo publish themselves? Someone here's gotta know!)

A small number of included games and/or poor emulation aren't to blame for disappointing sales of compilations; it's that mainstream gamers aren't familiar with older games, or simply don't want to play them. (The president of Sony recently said that many modern players don't even remember the 16-bit era, which is accurate.) Namco Museum is a best-seller because of Pac-Man and Ms. Pac-Man, two of the most popular videogames in history, not because of Rally-X or Mappy.

A 200-game compilation is a lovely dream, but it will never ever EVER happen, and I also doubt it would sell very well. Anthology was the best compilation ever made, receiving glowing reviews from virtually every print and website outlet, and still did okay at very best.

About the only thing compilations have going for them is their low development cost. Anthology was, by modern standards, a dirt-cheap project.

-- Z.

[YoshiM]

I'd honestly rather play the NES games on a GBA than on the Gamecube. Since the games were designed for a digital control pad, using the GC's puny D pad is gonna suck rocks. Unless they do some serious rework, the analog stick is going to be way too floaty for precision movement.

Also, Nintendo will probably milk as much as they can out of popular licenses from the past (ie port them to GBA) so the likelyhood of a compilation of any decent size is slim to none.

[kainemaxwell]

There's still many titles, by Konami especially that would do great on a retro pack- mainly the Castlevania and TMNT trilogies.

[Nature Boy]

A small number of included games and/or poor emulation aren't to blame for disappointing sales of compilations; it's that mainstream gamers aren't familiar with older games, or simply don't want to play them. (The president of Sony recently said that many modern players don't even remember the 16-bit era, which is accurate.) Namco Museum is a best-seller because of Pac-Man and Ms. Pac-Man, two of the most popular videogames in history, not because of Rally-X or Mappy.

I'd disagree with this somewhat. The number of included games has typically kept me away from bothering with compilations. The one compilation I have bought and really enjoyed was the aforementioned Activision Anthology. Not only because it has 48 games (so the quantity is there) but because of what they did with it. You don't just play the games, you unlock patches and game modes - it's taking the old school gameplay and adding the modern twist to it. None of the other compilations I've ever seen give you anything other than the game, and they give you not nearly enough games to boot.

Activision did it right. If other companies take note they won't be as disappointed. I've heard they're porting it to Xbox and Gamecube (as well as a high score table, which might make me buy a second copy...) so it obviously did very well for them.

[zmeston]

A small number of included games and/or poor emulation aren't to blame for disappointing sales of compilations; it's that mainstream gamers aren't familiar with older games, or simply don't want to play them. (The president of Sony recently said that many modern players don't even remember the 16-bit era, which is accurate.) Namco Museum is a best-seller because of Pac-Man and Ms. Pac-Man, two of the most popular videogames in history, not because of Rally-X or Mappy.

I'd disagree with this somewhat. The number of included games has typically kept me away from bothering with compilations. The one compilation I have bought and really enjoyed was the aforementioned Activision Anthology. Not only because it has 48 games (so the quantity is there) but because of what they did with it. You don't just play the games, you unlock patches and game modes - it's taking the old school gameplay and adding the modern twist to it. None of the other compilations I've ever seen give you anything other than the game, and they give you not nearly enough games to boot.

Activision did it right. If other companies take note they won't be as disappointed. I've heard they're porting it to Xbox and Gamecube (as well as a high score table, which might make me buy a second copy...) so it obviously did very well for them.

I completely agree that Anthology did it right. It helped tremendously that its developers at Contraband are old-school designers and programmers who actually remember the Atari 2600 era. Very cool about a possible Xbox port with a high-score table. I wouldn't mind clearly stated goals for the unlockables, either.

So how many games does it take to make you care about a compilation? Ten? Twenty? Namco easily could've included all two dozen PS1 Museum games in the PS2 version, but chose to include only the most recognizable classics -- a disservice to hardcore gamers, or wisely marketing the classics that people want to play (quality, not quantity)?

-- Z.

[Six Switch]

An NES disc would be sweet,and they could fit most of,if not,all of the games on one disc.But knowing Nintendo they wouldn't do that. :/

[ManekiNeko]

I'm going to have to agree with Zach on this one. Size isn't so much an issue about these compilations as the legality of them. Sure, you COULD smash hundreds of Nintendo games onto one disc, but you'd never get the rights to commercially distribute them all without hemmorhaging millions and millions of dollars in the process.
People are a little too greedy about classic game compilations. They've gotten so many ROMs from the Internet for free that they expect companies to give them dozens and dozens of old games for a ridiculously low price. Sorry, but it doesn't work that way. I think six to twelve games is a reasonable amount of software to put on a compilation disc, even if those games are primitive and leave a lot of space left on the disc. That extra storage can always be used for pictures, videos, and other goodies, to help make the compilation seem more complete. Remastered versions of the same games (like in Konami Arcade Classics for the Game Boy Advance) also adds appeal to game collections, and it's something more companies should be doing.

JR

[Sylentwulf]

<shrug> I haven't bought any classic compilation, as I said, they've all sucked, or been FAR too few games for the price.

(This goes for the PS2 Anthology as well, which is VERY good from what I've heard, Even for $20 there aren't enough games on it)

I'm sure Nintendo has enough first party games to make a HUGE NES release, and I've played a lot of them emulated in animal crossing, and they were done very well, They obviously have the emulation system in place (E-cards, download from animal crossing to GBA, in animal crossing, etc...)

[Kid Fenris]

Very true, 'neko. We often overestimate the extent to which companies would go with compilations. I'd love for Nintendo to bundle some of the Fire Emblem games together (and maybe translate them) for a GameCube release, but that's not too likely.

When it comes to classic collections, I always seem to pine for reissues of games that no one else could possibly want to buy. I'd like Capcom to put together packages of their little-known shooters and beat-'em-ups from the mid-90s, with Varth and Eco Fighters in one set, and Alien vs. Predator, Armored Warriors, Warzard, and Battle Circuit in another. Now I think I'll just pause for a moment to let the absurdity of that desire sink in.

And I'm also disappointed that Compile never got into the classic re-issue thing after Zanac X Zanac. It'd be nice to have the whole of the Aleste library on a few PSX discs.

Edit: Has Warzard/Red Earth been emulated?

[zmeston]

(This goes for the PS2 Anthology as well, which is VERY good from what I've heard, Even for $20 there aren't enough games on it)

Dude, if you can't be convinced to shell out $20 for more than 40 classic games and a host of wonderful supplemental material, you really ARE greedy.

-- Z.

[Nature Boy]

So how many games does it take to make you care about a compilation? Ten? Twenty?

I liked Activision Anthology because they included *everything*. Okay, there were maybe 3 they couldn't put on (because of legal problems), but they're all there. When a company releases only 10 at a time I feel like they're holding out on me. I'm not going to start buying 3 or 4 of these from each company.

Ten is way too few - unless that's all you've got in your library. I want everything you got baby.


Namco easily could've included all two dozen PS1 Museum games in the PS2 version, but chose to include only the most recognizable classics -- a disservice to hardcore gamers, or wisely marketing the classics that people want to play (quality, not quantity)?

I don't see why you couldn't market the big names and yet still give quantity on one disc. In fact, quantity would be yet another selling point to market (you don't have to mention the name of the games, just that you've got over 40 Namco classics including Pac-Man!)

I think ManekiNeko is right when he says, with ROMs basically free, that people have gotten greedy. That's definitely what publishers have to fight. But it's easy to fight IMO: give us lots of games with extra features (like the patches and the 80s music). If you actually put effort into it and make the package attractive, instead of trying to pawn quick buck games on us, it'll work. I owned (and still do) every Activision ROM on my PC, plus I have a good dozen carts of my favourites for my VCS, and yet I *still* bought AA the week it was released - because it offered me something that I couldn't get otherwise. Nobody else has done that yet.

[zmeston]

So how many games does it take to make you care about a compilation? Ten? Twenty?

I liked Activision Anthology because they included *everything*. Okay, there were maybe 3 they couldn't put on (because of legal problems), but they're all there. When a company releases only 10 at a time I feel like they're holding out on me. I'm not going to start buying 3 or 4 of these from each company.

Ten is way too few - unless that's all you've got in your library. I want everything you got baby.

This brings up a fundamental question that everyone on this forum grapples with: how much is a classic game really worth? If monkeys flew out of the world's collective butt and someone released a 200-game compilation, would you pay $50 for it? $100? I think Anthology is a screaming deal at $20, since it has most of the best Atari 2600 games ever made (homebrews not included!), and I think Namco Museum is also an incredible bargain, since it has several classic coin-ops. But you'd need to pay ME to play a collection of Mythicon, Xonox, and Data Age games.



Namco easily could've included all two dozen PS1 Museum games in the PS2 version, but chose to include only the most recognizable classics -- a disservice to hardcore gamers, or wisely marketing the classics that people want to play (quality, not quantity)?

I don't see why you couldn't market the big names and yet still give quantity on one disc. In fact, quantity would be yet another selling point to market (you don't have to mention the name of the games, just that you've got over 40 Namco classics including Pac-Man!)

You think Namco is stiffing you by not giving you more games; I think Namco is blessing us by giving us its best games. Then again, this is a collector's forum, so the urge to have everything is no doubt overwhelming. Heh.


I think ManekiNeko is right when he says, with ROMs basically free, that people have gotten greedy. That's definitely what publishers have to fight. But it's easy to fight IMO: give us lots of games with extra features (like the patches and the 80s music). If you actually put effort into it and make the package attractive, instead of trying to pawn quick buck games on us, it'll work. I owned (and still do) every Activision ROM on my PC, plus I have a good dozen carts of my favourites for my VCS, and yet I *still* bought AA the week it was released - because it offered me something that I couldn't get otherwise. Nobody else has done that yet.

it's very interesting you mention this, because it's the same approach that music companies are using to combat MP3 piracy -- giving consumers something beyond the basic product. I recently bought a U2 greatest-hits collection with a bonus DVD, for example.

-- Z.

[Nature Boy]

This brings up a fundamental question that everyone on this forum grapples with: how much is a classic game really worth? If monkeys flew out of the world's collective butt and someone released a 200-game compilation, would you pay $50 for it? $100?

I won't go into worth, but I won't pay the same amount for a retro compilation that I would for a new game. They definitely need to price them below the typical new release.

The eReader games are like $5 CAD which seems reasonable to me (maybe a bit on the high side), but maybe it's the fact that it's a novelty (being a card) and I've always liked baseball cards :)


You think Namco is stiffing you by not giving you more games; I think Namco is blessing us by giving us its best games. Then again, this is a collector's forum, so the urge to have everything is no doubt overwhelming. Heh.

I thought about this on my way home: the reason I don't buy compilations was the same reason I wasn't buying Simpsons episodes on VHS. They'd only give you like four episodes! Sure they might be four good episodes, but I'm not buying only four for $20. With their new strategy of releasing a season at a time (on DVD of course) I'm anxiously awaiting to purchase Season 3.

Also: would I buy a game like Mario Party if it just had the mini games but didn't incorporate them together into an overall experience? No way.



it's very interesting you mention this, because it's the same approach that music companies are using to combat MP3 piracy -- giving consumers something beyond the basic product. I recently bought a U2 greatest-hits collection with a bonus DVD, for example.

A greatest hits CD is another good example. Would I want the latest Nirvana CD if it didn't have a track I didn't already have? No way. As it was I wasn't planning on buying it - I got it as a gift. But if it hadn't had that extra track I would've been lining up on Boxing Day waiting to exchange it - and I'm a huge Nirvana fan (I've got like 20 bootlegs and this was the one song I didn't actually have somewhere).

[Alex Kidd]

I think a good collection for the GameCube would be "firsts" of all their succesful franchises.
Now I use the term "their" loosely, some are by capcom, some are by konami, etc... but the NES/Super NES are what got them on their way.

Castlevania
Contra
Donkey Kong
Dragon Warrior
Final Fantasy
Legend Of Zelda
MegaMan
Metroid
Super Mario Bros.

And they could have original emulated versions, as well as beefed up, probably to the point of 32 bit era graphics/sound and such.
As well as a horde of easter eggs like on the Activision collection for the PSX

Alex Kidd

You could argue Mario Bros. being the first in the Mario franchise, but the Mario gameplay we all know and fell in love with, was introduced in SMB.