All first party Nintendo games FREE on Revolution!

Praxis · Post by **Praxis** » 2005-06-02 04:43am

Well, this solves the debate about, "Will the downloadable games be free?"

Amid the loud roars and beating chests of Sony and Microsoft last week, you'd be forgiven for forgetting about Nintendo completely.

Nintendo - the once dominating force of videogames - sat quietly in the corner, all alone and looking at its watch every five minutes, while its rivals danced and cheered the night away, full of satisfaction and optimism.

But Nintendo hasn't given up. The lack of any next-gen gameplay footage and the omission of the 'revolutionary' controller at the pre-E3 Nintendo conference may have been a disappointment, but Nintendo does have a plan up its sleeve.

In a recent interview with US website GameSpot, Nintendo of America vice president George Harrison answered some burning questions, finally giving some kind of clue as to how Nintendo plans to play this generation.

Beginning by referring to Nintendo's next-gen chances, Harrison confidently claimed, "Revolution will have no real problem standing up to [PS3 and Xbox 360]," keenly pointing out that, while Sony and Microsoft have laid their cards on the table, Nintendo is yet to actually reveal its final specs, regardless of what has been said by the press.

Harrison then explained that getting developers on board is key to the Revolution strategy, and Nintendo is working hard to ensure Revolution is both easy and cheap to develop for.

As far as what makes the console revolutionary, Harrison was coy regarding the controller, instead focusing on Nintendo's online plans and downloadable games service.

"People sort of picked on us for not prematurely jumping into online or internet gaming," he mused, going on to point out that now the company has more to offer besides online gaming. Harrison then confirmed that past-gen, Nintendo-created titles will indeed be downloadable for free.

This is a clever move by Nintendo: regardless of the final power of Revolution and the frequency of new titles, Nintendo knows that its loyal fans will cry tears of joy over a free service that lets them download previous Nintendo classics straight out of the box.

Third-party developers could charge for the privilege to download though. Or, alternatively, they could offer downloadable classics as an incentive to buy their next-gen full price releases. Either way, classic Nintendo titles such as Castlevania and MegaMan may not be immediately accessible.

A similar model applies to online gaming. Playing Nintendo titles across the internet will be free, whereas third-party publishers will be able to charge whatever subscription rates they wish.

Still, with a massive back-catalogue of titles and some key franchises that gamers have been wanting to play online for some time - Mario Kart, to name but one - it's unlikely the occasional fee for a third-party offering will spoil Nintendo's idea too much.

I'm trying to get the source, I'll post back when I get it.

Assuming its not a misprint or fake...

All Nintendo games for NES, SNES, and N64 will be downloadable free, and for third party NES, SNES, and N64 games, it will be up to the third parties who own those games whether they want to charge or not.

So Mario World, Super Metroid, all the Zelda games (WOOT! I never got to play Majora's Mask or A Link to the Past!), and all the other Nintendo branded games are free, but games like MegaMan X for the SNES may or may not be free depending on what Capcom chooses.

Awesome. The main games will be free, at least. I'm happy.
As long as all Zelda = Free...

Praxis · Post by **Praxis** » 2005-06-02 04:46am

Found it.
http://gamesradar.msn.co.uk/news/defaul ... ionid=1587

Post by **Mr Bean** » 2005-06-02 04:50am

All hail Nintendo, and damn them because it looks like I'll be buying a Xbox360, PS3 and now *grumble grumble a Revolution

Sharpshooter · Post by **Sharpshooter** » 2005-06-02 05:09am

[Artie]Nice![/Artie]

...though I'm still sticking with emulated stuff, unless they also do releases for Treasure Hunter G, Shin Megami Tensei, Front Mission: Gun Hazard, and all the other good titles we got stiffed on.

wautd · Post by **wautd** » 2005-06-02 05:13am

Regardless if the Revolution will suck. I'm buying it fur sure now

Faram · Post by **Faram** » 2005-06-02 05:16am

Well that is it.

I am buying a Nintendo when it is out.

Just Link would be more than a goor reason to get it, but ALL old titles?

OMFG that is cool beyond reason.

wautd · Post by **wautd** » 2005-06-02 05:25am

You know, untill last week I was still like:

- I'm going to buy an PS3, not an Xbox
- I also buy a Revolution if those old games are free

Now, its like
- PS3 still seems cool
- I'll buy Revolution for sure. I'm a sucker for old games and thats a shitload of old games
- Wait a minute? Xbox2 for a mere 300 bucks?

My wallet cries

DarkSilver · Post by **DarkSilver** » 2005-06-02 05:25am

all praise nintendo....for they give us gamers the love.

Free download for all first party games on the rev, = my gaming dollars.

HemlockGrey · Post by **HemlockGrey** » 2005-06-02 06:33am

I haven't bought a console since I nabbed a used N64 in 1999...but now I must buy a Revolution. Not an XBox or a PS3, though, any titles that I think are worth playing on those will probably come out for PC.

Now, I know the Rev is compatible with gamecube games, but for the purposes of this free download is Gamecube considered "past-gen?"

Post by **Mr Bean** » 2005-06-02 07:36am

HemlockGrey wrote:I haven't bought a console since I nabbed a used N64 in 1999...but now I must buy a Revolution. Not an XBox or a PS3, though, any titles that I think are worth playing on those will probably come out for PC.

Now, I know the Rev is compatible with gamecube games, but for the purposes of this free download is Gamecube considered "past-gen?"

From what the arcitule stated and word in some of the Nintiendo forums, it appears so(Or at the very least it seems some Gamecube games will be downloaded because they've already mentioned Widwaker)

Stark · Post by **Stark** » 2005-06-02 07:46am

'Sweird - it's got GC hardware, but you can download? How does a 2-3Gb game fit on 512 flash cards?

Post by **Vympel** » 2005-06-02 07:59am

That's incredible. Original Metal Gear, here I come!

Praxis · Post by **Praxis** » 2005-06-02 11:21am

wautd wrote:You know, untill last week I was still like:

- I'm going to buy an PS3, not an Xbox
- I also buy a Revolution if those old games are free

Now, its like
- PS3 still seems cool
- I'll buy Revolution for sure. I'm a sucker for old games and thats a shitload of old games
- Wait a minute? Xbox2 for a mere 300 bucks?

My wallet cries

"in the neighborhood of the original XBox" however. The original XBox cost almost $400 to build. $350 would be in the neighborhood.

Praxis · Post by **Praxis** » 2005-06-02 11:22am

HemlockGrey wrote:I haven't bought a console since I nabbed a used N64 in 1999...but now I must buy a Revolution. Not an XBox or a PS3, though, any titles that I think are worth playing on those will probably come out for PC.

Now, I know the Rev is compatible with gamecube games, but for the purposes of this free download is Gamecube considered "past-gen?"

No, GameCube games are 1.6 GB, the thing only has 512 MB of flash memory

Though you can expand it with SD cards.

GameCube games aren't downloadable, but you can pop the disk in and play them.

N64 and preivous are downloadable.

'Sweird - it's got GC hardware, but you can download? How does a 2-3Gb game fit on 512 flash cards?

It's NES, SNES, and N64 games that are downloadable. GameCube disks play when you put them in as do the next gen games.

Master of Ossus · Post by **Master of Ossus** » 2005-06-02 12:43pm

Alright. This makes it the first next-generation console that I will buy for sure.

I will almost certainly buy either a 360 or a PS3, but probably not both. Those two companies will have to fight to the death to earn my consumer dollars, and it'll come down to the games. I'm really not impressed with the 360 so far, so if they don't come out with some good stuff then I'm going with the PS3, right now.

Seriously, the old games are worth the price of the system--particularly with the added convenience of having only a single system with all of them.

Vendetta · Post by **Vendetta** » 2005-06-02 01:05pm

Vympel wrote:That's incredible. Original Metal Gear, here I come!

This is for Firstparty titles.

Metal Gear is Konami.

Plus, the original is for the MSX, the NES port is pretty crap (not, of course, as crap as Snake's Revenge).

Chardok · Post by **Chardok** » 2005-06-02 01:06pm

Mike Tyson's Punch out....*twitch* free? So....buying...revolution....

Daltonator · Post by **Daltonator** » 2005-06-02 01:16pm

Fanboy circuits overloading...!!

I think I just creamed in my jeans.

Davis 51 · Post by **Davis 51** » 2005-06-02 03:26pm

YESSSSS! Now I can tell all the people who told me that the Revolution will flop to SUCK IT!

Darth Garden Gnome · Post by **Darth Garden Gnome** » 2005-06-02 03:30pm

Oh. Shizaam.

LttP. The second best Zelda game ever made. For the Revolution. It has been too long, my love. We will embrace one another again. Soon.

Fleet Admiral JD · Post by **Fleet Admiral JD** » 2005-06-02 04:26pm

Nintendo is third in consoles, but brings in the most profit. Ausome.

It's great having a dad who works for them...So. Much. Free. Stuff.

salm · Post by **salm** » 2005-06-02 05:35pm

I hate 99% of all games Nintendo ever made... but free games? Viva la Revolution!

General Zod · Post by **General Zod** » 2005-06-02 06:03pm

hells fucking yes. i must echo salm at this point. viva la revolution! *orgasms*

RedImperator · Post by **RedImperator** » 2005-06-02 06:11pm

I was seriously considering not upgrading to a next-gen console at all, and if I did, it was going to be a PS3. This changes everything. Even if I never buy a single Revolution game, it's worth the sticker price. Jesus, talk about playing to your strengths. This thing essentially launches with a game library in the hundreds.

Spanky The Dolphin · Post by **Spanky The Dolphin** » 2005-06-02 06:26pm

RedImperator wrote:This thing essentially launches with a game library in the hundreds.

For free!!

This could be perhaps one of the most brilliant things Nintendo has ever done in terms of marketing.