Backwards Compatibility: Where's Nintendo's Credit?

Having a system where you can enjoy both new titles as well as older games is definitely a win.

Recently, both Sony and Microsoft have made strides to support titles from their past systems. This has caused a good chunk of the gaming community to go into an uproar of excitement. While this is all fine and dandy, it's left me wondering: where was all this sunshine and happiness when Nintendo started doing it 17 years ago?

[Sonyslave3]

All hail big N they always have been a fan of BC from day 1 on their consoles.

[3-4-5]

Yea when I bought my 3DS in 2012 I had never owned a DS, so it was awesome to be able to play those games.

I would have never discovered my love for Dragon Quest and RPG's in general if not for the BC on 3DS.

It completely expanded my library and allowed me to play games like FFTA2, which I love.

BC isn't a must, but it's highly appreciated IMO.

[FallenAngel1984]

This article is wrong in one aspect. The Game Boy Color was the first Nintendo system to have backwards compatibility in 1998, not the Nintendo DS.

It's great that Nintendo has taken effort to keep the practice of backwards compatibility since day one. Although some later models of the GBA, DS, and Wii took this feature out.

[AKR]

Thanks for pointing that out; it was edited.

[LaWiiG]

I would say the Nintendo Color was and wasn't. It does have a rather extensive library.

[Bzone24]

You have a little more editing to do. As uth11 pointed out below, Atari was actually the first console to do it.

Backwards Compatibility: Where's Atari's Credit?

[DarXyde]

Later Wii and 3DS models took it out?

That's news to me. Support?

[deafdani]

He said Wii, DS and GBA. Not 3DS.

It's true. Nintendo removed backwards compatibility from those systems a few years after release to make them cheaper.

[DarXyde]

My bad, I meant DS.

Honestly, I haven't heard anything about Wii or DS losing backwards compatibility.

[deafdani]

To be more accurate, they lost their compatibility simply because Nintendo removed the Gamecube controller ports on the Wii and the GBA cart port on the DS, to cut down on production costs and make them cheaper. Naturally, that also meant they couldn't play Gamecube titles and GBA titles, respectively, for obvious reasons.

[MJunior]

Not sure, but I think that SEGA also deserve credit in this.

[Rookie_Monster]

As I recalled, non of the Sega systems are BC.

I could be wrong though.

The one aspect of the Dreamcast that was cool though is there was actually a product known as bleemcast that actually lets you play a couple of PS One game like Metal Gear Solid and GRAN turismo with higher resolution and better textures. But of course due to legal reason and Bleem went into bankruptcy stopped that from becoming a big thing.

[WPX]

The Sega Genesis/Mega Drive had backwards compatibility with the older Sega Master System/Sega Mark III consoles.
Well, sort of, since an adapter was needed to play them.
The 32X sort of counts too LOL.

[uth11]

Nintendo didn't invent it in consoles either. The Atari 7800 was backwards compatible with the 2600 in 1984 (and the Colecovision was also backwards compatible with the Atari 2600 via adaptor, spawning some lawsuits :). )

[HakatoX]

I still have one with the adapter.

[migh_and_highty]

No credit because BC isn't that highly-used of a feature. As long as there are a good number of current-gen releases coming out, there isn't really that need to play an older game bar one or two games you really loved/have nostalgia for.
I never used it on wii and don't see myself using it on xb1. It's certainly a nice choice for those who want it, but the general core do not use it.

[MASTER_RAIDEN]

It's attitudes like this that allow companies to turn around and sell you $4 games like devil may cry 4 as an "HD Remaster" for $40.

[Thegamer41]

No, not really. Nothing is stopping people from buying the original and playing it on their old consoles. If someone sold their old consoles, that is on them.
I've rebought a few remastered games even though I still own the ps3 version and the console because I want an upgraded version of the games I really enjoyed. It's an option and not a substitute for BC.

[migh_and_highty]

What? It's people buying the games that makes remasters successful. And you're talking about capcom here, the most financially on-the-edge publisher out there. Am I solving a problem by playing old games, or changing my opinion to 'older games are played' when they so blatantly aren't.

[deathtok]

"The general core do not use it."

I'm genuinely not sure what this means or how you arrived at this conclusion. I use BC and I've been a gamer my whole life.

Furthermore, I'm not sure why this topic elicits so much negativity in the gaming community when file formats and Blu-Ray are applauded for their legacy support.

[Retroman]

@ migh_and_highty

I suppose you sold ALL!! your xb and 360, ps3,ps2,ps1 games then.
sometimes old games are fun to play until what you want release.

[Aloy-Boyfriend]

As if they invented it...
Maybe it is true Nintendo invented the Internet as well

[skydragoonityx]

Clickbait

[Ark_]

Where is that clickbait?
You mind to explain your reasoning?

[_-EDMIX-_]

Who is to say they haven't gotten any? I don't really get this idea that something being covered by the gaming media = morally just lol.

Who cares? IGN, Gamespot, Gametrailers etc don't equal all of gaming.

"why is it all of a sudden such a big deal that the PS4 can now emulate PS1/PS2 games, and that the XBOX One can now run 360 games?"

Who is to say it wasn't a big deal with Wii was BC to Gamecube or Wii U BC to Wii? Or even 3DS BC to DS?

Don't let excitement for one thing, some how mean the ignoring of something else.

I never understood someone thinking attention from the media = just cause. People likely cared about BC to those platforms too, even if some news articles from main stream gaming sites didn't cover it, I don't know if some unit of measurement of appreciation exist based on media clicks.

[freshslicepizza]

the wii u often gets ignored around these parts. most hot topics center around the ps4 versus the xbox one and will likely continue that way until nintendo's new system comes out.

[_-EDMIX-_]

Your right, it does, but who really cares? I don't think other systems being more popular on theses gaming forums some how equal the entire gaming culture. I'm sure those 10 million who own the Wii U appreciate its BC, even if they are not posting about it.

Agreed too as I feel NX could be BC to Wii U if it indeed is more console then handheld. I actually think its going to be handheld that outs to the TV, but slightly OT.

[jay2]

because lets face it nintendo need all the support it can get, the wii u doesn't have any 3rd party support etc. so its sort of a requirment not an amazing feeling (and have the emulators dont things like added troophies/awards/upped the res, let you play on disc etc. that part yeah discs can be used but thats it in terms of it, its basic and low emuator a dirty job really. we'll let you play the old games on the new hardware but thats all we'll do.

[WeAreLegion]

People always praise them for BC. What are you talking about? You see it everywhere.

[Software_Lover]

........ How many wii games are worth playing/replaying?

[Crazay]

Mario Galaxy is probably about the only thing.. or te House of the Dead series just because they were so cheesy it was awesome.

[wonderfulmonkeyman]

Forgetting about Mad World, Xenoblade, The Last Story, Pandora's Tower, No More Heroes, Red Steel, and quite a few others, there...

[rjason12]

There are tons of gems on Wii to be played on the Wii u, Mario Galaxy, the resident evils, Zelda, metroids, etc etc.

[Crazay]

@monkeyman

Didn't like Red Steel, hated No More heroes, didn't play the rest.

[OtakuDJK1NG-Rory]

Xenoblade Chronicles
The Last Story
Pandora's Tower
Fire Emblem: Radiant Dawn
Fatal Frame IV
The Legend of Zelda: Skyward Sword
Super Mario Galaxy 1-2
Donkey Kong Country Returns
Kirby Return to Dreamland
PunchOut!!
Metroid Prime Trilogy
Metroid Other M
Mario Kart Wii
Mario
Sin & Punishment: Star Successor
Super Smash Bros. Brawl
WarioWare: Smooth Moves
Mario Strikers Charged
Mario Super Sluggers

Monster Hunter Tri(Though you can just get the HD version)
Zack & Wiki: Quest for Barbaros' Treasure
MadWorld
Okami
Tatsunoko vs. Capcom: Ultimate All-Stars
Muramasa: The Demon Blade
Arc Rise Fantasia
Tales of Symphonia: Dawn of the New World
Red Steel 2
No More Heroes 1-2
The Conduit 2
Goldeneye 007
Sonic Colors
Resident Evil 4
Epic Mickey
Rayman Origins (If you never played it)

N4G make it almost too easy for me.

[Darkfist]

look at all those games, many of them that hardly anyone played or cared about, you even put Metroid Other M in the list lol

[OtakuDJK1NG-Rory]

@Darkfist
Right lol
What the highest well received platformer last gen and best selling platformer last gen? Super Mario Galaxy 1-2

What the highest well received JRPG and that brought JRPG back to the front last gen? Xenoblade Chronicles

What the best selling and highest rated fighting game last gen? Super Smash Bros. Brawl

I can go on.

[jcnba28]

A ton.

[Crazay]

http://wallpaperswa.com/thu...

[wonderfulmonkeyman]

*Disclaimer: The following post is going to tick off anyone that has an unreasonable amount of dislike for Nintendo.
If you'd rather save yourself the mental stress, please do ignore me.*

Not too long ago, anyone who mentioned the Wii U's BC as a positive feature that made the system a good choice, got that feature downplayed by all manner of reasons to try and discredit it.
"It's not that important; I only want to play new games!"
"It racks up the price, so it's not worth having!"
"I'd rather play prettier versions of my old games than the same ones again!"

Yet now that Sony and Microsoft are doing it, suddenly it's "ALL HAIL BC!"

As interested and happy as I am that I might someday be able to play Ar Tonelico on PS4 [yes, I'm still open to getting the system, even if it's not appealing to me in its current form], the hypocrisy from these kinds of gamers still disgusts me to no end.

But I don't really expect any different; popularity is God in this generation, for gamers, and no one's going to think twice about standing up for third place in sales even if it means they'll be subjecting them to one case after another of devs and companies taking a mile out of every inch their fans give them.
People are even forgiving Sony, if not outright praising them, for putting up an entirely unnecessary pay wall for online multiplayer when they've been fee-free for ages before now.
And I haven't heard a soul in ages question Live's fees.
Don't even get me started on how ridiculous it is to rent out streamed games from last gen.-_-;;

And while all that's going on, PC's do online for no additional fee outside the internet bill, and often do it better.
And even if there are a lot of issues with the lack of options present through it, Nintendo's online is also free as well, yet no fair credit is ever given to that fact; instead, constant downplaying or ignoring of any positives takes place, justified via everything they don't do similarly to others.

It's gotten to the point where I'm pretty much resigned to being slammed with downvotes just for liking anyone other than Sony.
And that makes me sad, because I've been with both Sony and Nintendo since the early days of their console efforts, and I don't like holding such a strong disgust towards the fanbase of any of my beloved systems.

[Crazay]

I've often said that Nintendo's backward compat was a smart move and when the WiiU came out, I really had high hopes for it. I knew it wouldn't have the same juice the other systems had but I honestly did want it to at least to better than it's done thus far. fact is, last generation of consoles, I had far more amazing games on Xbox and PS3 so for me back compat has always been something I wanted and hoped for. getting it with Xbox One is a big coup for me. it means I might be able to unload all 8 of my 360s and still have access to my extensive and large library. Nintendo's issue has been lack of content. plain and simple. If they can somehow convice the other devs that the next machine is worthy of their time, effort and money, hey they just might be able to retake the crown.

I really can't speak to the online exp with PC as I just don't do PC gaming. The idea gives me the $h!ts and I have no time nor desire to bother with it.

Now you bring up the point of Sony's piss poor attempt at back compat with PS Now. What a joke that was. I tried it and it was absolute crap. I'm sorry Sony faithful. It's awful and you damn well know it.

I'm happy the Sony and MS have finally woken up. I think it means we could well get this as a thing going forward.

[_-EDMIX-_]

"Not too long ago, anyone who mentioned the Wii U's BC as a positive feature that made the system a good choice, got that feature downplayed by all manner of reasons to try and discredit it.
"It's not that important; I only want to play new games!"
"It racks up the price, so it's not worth having!"
"I'd rather play prettier versions of my old games than the same ones again!"

Yet now that Sony and Microsoft are doing it, suddenly it's "ALL HAIL BC!""

The thing is, you have many on here that said it was a nice feature but not a game changer about Wii U and XONE and are still saying that about PS4.

I mean...consider I'm saying that about PS4 right now. Many actually are keeping the same stance. I see your point on people who specifically are saying this though.

I don't agree on it being a game changer or anything like it, its a nice feature..but I just don't see people in the millions buying a new platform, for games from a platform 15 years old.

"popularity is God in this generation, for gamers, and no one's going to think twice about standing up for third place in sales"

?? Who cares? These are game systems, not people. I think your a bit too emotionally invested in this, by a whole lot.

Consider I still own my PS3, still play my PS3 and feel it had one of the best line ups last gen, yet it was 3rd place for most of its gen. Do you really think I care that it was 3rd? Or what others thought of it? Or if people where um "standing up for it"?

Its a game system, not a person. There legit is no reason for someone to feel some need to "stand up" for a system or defend etc We buy games for fun, not from some morally just or noble reason.

I don't really know why anyone would apply this to a physical product.

[Maybay]

Well said.

[Darkfist]

says the guy who keep complaining about ps4 not having BC, and still complains when it finaly happens.

[wonderfulmonkeyman]

My complaint has always been about PS4 not having native BC for the PS3, at the very least.

Is that still the truth?
Yes?
Then my complaint stands.
I haven't done any backtracking and no goalposts have been moved; the moment Sony makes a PS4 SKU with native PS3 BC, they'll be half way to earning my upgrade, because all I'll need to do then is wait for online multiplayer to become free, and I can play single player only games, and games from my collection, in the meantime.

Again, having PS2 as an option makes me happy, but as far as I know, it's not native either; it's digital, and there's no guarantee that the games I want to see from that system will even show up on the shop.

That's why I can't give Sony full credit, here.

[WildArmed]

It's something I've said since day one.

Nintendo has been pushing bc a loooong time now. With every home console and most handhelds.

They've done a great job at treating their long time fans with respect.

[DivineAssault]

Theirs is the best BC of all the consoles..

[rjason12]

Nintendo has full BC it's ignored, MS, and Sony have it for a select few games, and they are praised for it, it doesn't matter what Nintendo does, they are always put down, they could have released a ps4 styled machine and it still would have been slammed. I've seen it happen with just about everything they've done recently. Amiibo is a prime example, when a game doesn't utilize amiibo or it only works for little things, people say "oh I'm not gonna buy amiibo since it doesn't really do anything, then they have a game where they unlock costumes or something, and those same people say "oh why are you locking content behind amiibos it's basically paid dlc"

[superchiller]

Sounds like a bunch of salt to me, why not just step up and own the fact that Nintendo's gimmicks just don't resonate with gamers anymore? Amiibos are nothing to be proud of, they are yet more gimmicks that just don't add much to the gaming experience, especially considering how much they cost.

[Sylth01]

Why not own up to the fact that nothing Nintendo does will ever satisfy you? All they are to you is a collection of 'gimmicks' you feel degrade gaming as a whole. A collection of 'gimmicks', I might add, that resonate with over 10 million who have bought the system.

As for Amiibos, it seems you are in the 'they don't do enough' camp (the other camp is 'they do too much'). You also seem to ignore that amiibos are not just meant for one game but are used, in some fashion, across many.

[_-EDMIX-_]

"Nintendo has full BC it's ignored, MS, and Sony have it for a select few games, and they are praised for it, it doesn't matter what Nintendo does, they are always put down, they could have released a ps4 styled machine and it still would have been slammed."

100% disagree. Wii sold 100 million, Wii U is at 10 million. There is a reason Wii U isn't selling and its not just do to not being "praised" or others putting it down.

Its not being praised for how Nintendo went about creating it and its getting slammed as a result. Its not about some popularity contest, theses are products, not people. Clearly due to something they are not doing correctly is why its not selling.

If it was "PS4 styled machine" it would for a mater of fact get more support, MOST of the support that Wii U didn't get was due to how it was made more so then lack of power.

http://www.gamasutra.com/vi...

Listen to the constructive criticism being stated by this team. That might be one of the reasons it didn't get support.

In terms of perception, who cares? Buy a system because it has games you like to play. That is like saying I'm upset about the public perception on PC gaming....

How much of this really effects your daily life though? lol

"Nintendo has full BC it's ignored, MS, and Sony have it for a select few games, and they are praised"

Mind you, that is 100% for a mater of fact wrong. It was noticed Wii U had BC, but just like XONE and PS4 are not doing MILLIONS MORE due to BC being announced, neither is Wii U. Your basing this on your own perception of reading comments or news articles, does it really matter if someone stated Wii U had BC or not? Does Wii U need a pat on the back? Your basically saying your upset that these set of consoles are being talked about more or um "praised" when its not as if Wii U wasn't in that same regard, again...does this even matter? Who cares?

Is there really some mortality unit of measurement or something? lol

[rjason12]

Nope just pointing out the hypocrisy of so called "core gamers". You've totally missed the point of my comment, and you've side stepped some of what I said and put in nonsense. My so-called "upsetness" (yes I know that's not a word lol) is because I'm tired of all the hypocrisy, it does go both ways with Nintendo fans too, seen it quite a bit recently (xenoblade articles lol). My comment seems to have gotten quite the rise out of you though, since you took the time to respond to it in such detail. The fact remains that I've seen on both sides of the spectrum that whatever Nintendo does, "gamers" tell them to do the opposite and then when they do the opposite they still get told to do the opposite. It does not matter what they do, they get bashed, look back in the snes and Genesis days even though the snes was pretty much better spec-wise to the Genesis, they were still bashed. I know Nintendo isn't perfect they do make some stupid choices but so does every company, I just personally see it happen to Nintendo a lot more, and any time someone tries to say something positive about them, there's automatic negativity that follows.

[rjason12]

Oh and about the article, look at how people are acting about the NX right now, we know nothing about it, and people have been saying that it's gonna come out next year, if Nintendo got developers involved early (I see the benefits of that) shit gets leaked, and you have people ranting that their new system is gonna come out super early and replace the older one.

[_-EDMIX-_]

"hypocrisy of so called "core gamers"

You know this how though? If someone is stating this specifically, seek to actually bring that up to the exact person that might have made those statements.

"whatever Nintendo does, "gamers" tell them to do the opposite and then when they do" ???

Gamers is many, not 1. Your not talking about 1 person, your trying to paint an entire industry of gamers in one stroke.

"I just personally see it happen to Nintendo a lot more, and any time someone tries to say something positive about them, there's automatic negativity that follows"

Can the same not be stated about every company on earth? Seriously?

Also when did you talk to 400 million + gamers? You know not of what everyone feels regarding all companies in gaming to really make such a claim.

Can you make it on a specific person? Sure, but actually do that vs generally, vaguely and broadly saying "gamers". We are all not the same, consider you and I don't agree, yet we are both gamers....have you not factored that maybe we don't have the same core value's or views? If someone states something that is contradictory, yes, by all means call them out, but I'm not really sure one can really say this about all gamers in general as it doesn't really make any sense as its assuming all gamers 100% made such statements, yet took those same statements back or something.

edit- also regarding NX, I can see why they would think that. Wii U isn't doing well, Nintendo stated they would talk about NX next year and I don't think it would be wise to announce a console, yet release it the next year when you have failing system currently. That is sorta like why companies announce price cuts close to the price change, they don't want a year or a year and half or anything of lower Wii U sales due to NX being known to release soon. Speculation happens with all new platforms.

"My comment seems to have gotten quite the rise out of you though, since you took the time to respond to it in such detail"

Also no need for personal attacks, the comment was not meant to be taken so personally, I'm generally speaking and I'm actually always thorough with my post. Look at my post history lolz.

[rjason12]

But I'm not talking about "just one gamer" I'm talking about the many I've seen over the years on many different sites. Who are you to say I don't point out the hypocrisy? It's kinda hard when there's so many different people who say this kinda stuff, all the time, and when I do call them out, I have at least two to three people like you, who reply to my message and try to argue with me like you are. I can see why they are saying that about the NX too, but the fact is that Nintendo has never broken their own 5-6 year cycle, it will very likely be released asap, but not as soon as everyone thinks it will be, the only reason they even announced it was in development (which everyone should have known anyway) was so that people would not try to say they are dropping out of the hole console business. And finally, I did not personally attack you? I didn't call you any names or berate you, I only stated that for someone who keeps saying "who cares" you seem to be taking a lot of your personal time to reply to quite a few people on here with well-thought out responses, if anything I was telling you that your comments were well-thought out? Lol. And now I'm out of bubbles so debate with you another time!

[_-EDMIX-_]

"I'm talking about the many I've seen over the years on many different sites"

Ok are they not free to actually change their minds? The reality is, if they supported a product for a set number of reasons, they are free to change their minds over time. These are again products, not people.

If I say something regarding XONE's BC to 360 in favor of it, it might be due to having a game I really wanted to play through it.

If I say something regarding PS4s BC to PS2 in favor of it, it might be due to having a game I really wanted to play through it.

...why is it that some how, liking those platforms and making those comments some how means I being a "hypocrite" just because I didn't say the same things about the Wii U? What If I have less reasons to care about Wii BC through Wii U?

The reality is, again....they are products, someone could have many reasons why they didn't say much about BC or really anything regarding 1 product, yet stated something else about another one. I mean...I could be saying this due to not having a 360, but having a Wii already thus BC not being a big deal to me for that platform. People are actually free to do that, they don't need to be honor bound to forever support 1 company out of default as much as they do to another...this is again not a person we are talking about, its a product.

"who reply to my message and try to argue with me like you are"

You mean have different views then you? The reality is, you didn't speak will all gamers on earth and even those your talking about don't need to by default side with a company just because.

" I can see why they are saying that about the NX too, but the fact is that Nintendo has never broken their own 5-6 year cycle"

They also never released a console that sold 10 million before..., this the worst selling console they've ever created. You are again adding some human characteristics, to a company, why would they out of this strange honor or tradition continue to lose money on a failing platform? Its hard to look at what they've done in the past and state what they might do as we don't have an example of them also doing it with a console selling this poorly.

"And finally, I did not personally attack you?" Not sure if your asking more or? lolz.

""My comment seems to have gotten quite the rise out of you" I would consider this a personal attack, it has nothing to do with what we are talking about.

"you seem to be taking a lot of your personal time to reply to quite a few people" If we talked about this face to face, it would not be limited to a few sentences, I post the way I speak and like to be thorough. "I was telling you that your comments were well-thought out" No harm then.

[RPGrinder]

Nintendo? Credit? On this site?

[Spotie]

If you're speaking JUST N4G, you give Nintendo more than enough credit to cover for everybody else.

As to the article, pretty much NOBODY is treating the PS4's PS2 emulation as the next big thing. And people have tried to correct those Xbox fans that have claimed the XB1's BC was a big deal.

That said, BC is, in general, as big a deal as it's always been. That is to say: not a big deal, but a useful and welcome feature, nonetheless.

[magiciandude]

Because playing old PS2 games on the PS4 is not a big deal at all. PS3 would've been different. Most gamers have moved on from PS2 games way long ago.

[WelkinCole]

Is it not obvious?.

The reason why Nintendo or even Sony (PS2,PS3) didn't get much credit for BC is because BC IS NOT A BIG DEAL.

Even now with all these talk about BC on both X1 and PS4 will not mean much when people finally realize that playing older game on their current console is really pointless when the next iteration of the big AAA franchise or new IP's they bought their current gen console for is available.

You guys really need to look at the market to gauge the value of BC to the masses.

From the onset of this current gen the PS4 without BC has sold twice as much as X1 and WIIU that has BC.

[superchiller]

No one wants to play Wii games anymore, the Wii was a poorly designed, low-spec, gimmicky system, and the vast majority of games for it were junk shovelware. So the fact that the Wii U offers BC (albeit poorly implemented) really doesn't make the console any more attractive to gamers.

In the end, the Wii was a cheap fad that fizzled out years ago, and the waggle gimmick was just a novelty that people got bored with very quickly. Unfortunately, Nintendo didn't learn any lessons from that, and used the exact same approach when they designed the Wii U, and we all know how that worked. Not too well at all.

[marloc_x]

I wonder what it will COST to play the PS2 library on current Sony hardware?

The feature is a nice gesture schiller..

..but I do appreciate the honesty in admitting the PS4 cannot manage it's predecessor's games😉