How to make a wifi cartridge for the original Game Boy. The things that people do with old hardware are pretty wild! Also has a very thorough and technical breakdown of what’s required to make it. Not something I’ll be doing anytime soon, but a fun read nonetheless.
Tag: nintendo
Super Mario Brothers is too hard for new gamers
The majority of test gamers were unable to complete the first level of Super Mario Brothers.
Around 90 percent of the test participants were unable to complete the first level of Super Mario Brothers. We did not assist them in any way except by providing the exact same instruction manual we used back then. Many of them did not read it and the few that did stopped after the first page which did not cover any of the game mechanics.
We watched the replay videos of how the gamers performed and saw that many did not understand simple concepts like bottomless pits. Around 70 percent died to the first Goomba. Another 50 percent died twice. Many thought the coins were enemies and tried to avoid them. Also, most of them did not use the run button. There were many other depressing things we noted but I can not remember them at the moment.
The Making of Goldeneye
Paul Drury on the making of Goldeneye for the Nintendo 64, the game that everyone had.
A key part of that appeal was the infamous Licence to Kill. GoldenEye was a first-person shooter of course, but the decision to recognise body-specific hits introduced a new subtlety to the genre. Shoot a guard in the leg and he reacts differently to if you blasted him in the chest.
I was never terrifically good at first person shooters. Goldeneye was no different, I routinely had my ass handed to me by my little brother. That’s not to say I didn’t have fun playing the game. I loved the proximity mines, one of my few ways to achieve victory; pepper a map and hide in a corner. And there was that ridiculous laser watch.
Behind SMB3
Chris Covell posted images and translations of Stars of Famicom Games, a children’s book showing how Nintendo games were made, from start to finish. The book focused on the making of Super Mario Bros. 3, and includes shots of Miyamoto, developers and artists. He also posted scans from a book about Dragon Quest VI.
SNES games that pushed the limits
A list of Super Nintendo games that pushed the limits in terms of what the system was capable of. I remember Donkey Kong Country and Super Mario RPG being two later generation games that wowed me.
Mario AI
Infinite Super Mario AI one of the submissions for the Mario AI competition has been released under a WTFPL license. Make sure to check out the videos.
Rock the block
Tetris celebrated its twenty-fifth anniversary this week. I remember long family roadtrips and playing Tetris against my brothers using two original gameboys that were tethered together. During my student days, there were also many evenings devoted to heads-up Tetris 2 with friends on a crusty old SNES.