Battle Toads reproduction from iam8bit

[fcgamer | 4,802]

Yeah it would be easy cash for those companies, why not?

[Tulpa | 3,580]

3 hours ago, phart010 said:

I doubt Nintendo would want to participate with any of their IP. 
 

But all the other publishers seem to be more open to these retro re-releases with their IP. With Capcom and Irem already on board, there’s no reason why we can’t have Sweet Home, Corcoran, Hammerin Harry, and Kung Fu 2 (Spartan X2). It’s just a matter of time.. if they do t make these it’s a missed opportunity.

If someon could reach out to Konami (including Hudson) you could finally get an “official” NA release Getty’s Fuumaden, Kid Dracula, Gradius 2, Adventure island 4

And of course Sunsoft could give us a Mr Gimmick And Sunman.. why not, they are already putting their games on these cheapo emulator machines in Walmart..

Yeah, there's no way Nintendo does this. They're far more interested in releasing old games for the Switch on e-shop, where they pay no overhead, get all the profit, and pick up the entire casual market. They're not going to make cartridges for schlubs like us ever again.

Sweet Home would be cool, but I wonder if they might think it's a little obscure. Yes, it's a proto-Resident Evil game, and if they made that connection, it might make them do it.

Konami is a wild card on something like this. On the one hand, they seem way more interested in making pachinko machines and mobile shit. On the other, they did release the TG-16 mini, but the pandemic really smothered the release of that, and I wonder if they're still interested in retro-vintage stuff. Maybe they'll bite, maybe not.

[elprincipe | 143]

Obviously Nintendo would probably not do it but other companies could. I bought Holy Diver and would buy other games like this that were never brought to the U.S., even if I already have a repro of them. There are tons of Famicom/European games that are worthwhile. Price them at $50 and I believe plenty of people would be interested. $100 and a game that was already released in the U.S., no thanks.

[avatar! | 1,855]

On 8/21/2020 at 9:02 PM, Tulpa said:

Actually, a true North American Mr. Gimmick release would be the bomb.

The question is would a North American Mr. Gimmick include the audio chip in the Famicom version? Somehow I doubt it, which in my mind rather defeats the purpose since the music to the game is a large reason it was just so good...

[Tulpa | 3,580]

30 minutes ago, avatar! said:

The question is would a North American Mr. Gimmick include the audio chip in the Famicom version? Somehow I doubt it, which in my mind rather defeats the purpose since the music to the game is a large reason it was just so good...

I dunno, reproduction makers usually include it, so it's not a huge technical obstacle. 

[avatar! | 1,855]

2 minutes ago, Tulpa said:

I dunno, reproduction makers usually include it, so it's not a huge technical obstacle. 

That's true...

and iam8bit has released the soundtrack. So, here's hoping they'll release Mr. Gimmick on cartridge!

https://www.iam8bit.com/products/gimmick-cd

[Koopa64 | 52]

20 minutes ago, Tulpa said:

I dunno, reproduction makers usually include it, so it's not a huge technical obstacle. 

The proper USA unreleased version doesn’t have expansion audio though. 

[Tulpa | 3,580]

4 minutes ago, Koopa64 said:

The proper USA unreleased version doesn’t have expansion audio though. 

So use the Japanese one like the repro makers do.

[Koopa64 | 52]

1 minute ago, Tulpa said:

So use the Japanese one like the repro makers do.

But if we’re talking about iam8bit doing a Mr Gimmick release, shouldn’t they use the proper USA unreleased version? 

[Tulpa | 3,580]

2 minutes ago, Koopa64 said:

But if we’re talking about iam8bit doing a Mr Gimmick release, shouldn’t they use the proper USA unreleased version? 

If they are getting the rights from Sunsoft, why not get the version with the best audio? It's not like Sunsoft is going to care 30 years later, especially if they get a check out of it.

[Koopa64 | 52]

Well, not everyone has an NES with the expansion audio modification and it seems wrong to make a licensed print run for an unreleased game and not use the actual unreleased rom. 

[Tulpa | 3,580]

Sell both then, and give people a choice. Any number of repro makers do that exact thing.

As avatar! said, the expansion audio is a big reason why people want to play the game.

As for the "wrongness" of not using the US ROM, I don't really give a shit. It's been 30 years since the game was made. Plenty of people have modded NESes, or have a console that can play the audio.

 

Of course, it's all academic if Sunsoft doesn't want to license it.

Edited August 23, 2020 by Tulpa

[phart010 | 1,717]

3 hours ago, Koopa64 said:

Well, not everyone has an NES with the expansion audio modification and it seems wrong to make a licensed print run for an unreleased game and not use the actual unreleased rom. 

There certainly is a solution to this problem, although I don’t know how realistically retro-bit or iam8bit would consider it. They could make a simple resistor board that plugs into the bottom of the NES and bundle it along with Gimmick.. These boards have been successfully made by modders and give you a way to experience expansion sound without doing any permanent changes to your North American NES system

 

Remember, retro-bit has the deal with Irem they’re charging $60-ish vs iam8bit charging $100.. I dont think either have a Sunsoft deal yet, but extra parts would cut into retro-bits margins harder than iam8bit.. and considering that maybe half of the audience is not playing on an original American NES, probably a waste of resources. But it would be cool.

On a side note, looks like retro-bit has already announced Hammerin Harry, Undercover cops, Megaman wily wars, as well as a handful of sought after Genesis re-releases 

[Tanooki | 4,971]

I've seen that before, a smart move since it's a dead port outside of Japan legitimately so.  I decided to chop up a top loader though with the HiDefNES kit so I can run all that lovely audio right off a real game or everdrive.

[phart010 | 1,717]

5 hours ago, Tulpa said:

Sell both then, and give people a choice. Any number of repro makers do that exact thing.

As avatar! said, the expansion audio is a big reason why people want to play the game.

As for the "wrongness" of not using the US ROM, I don't really give a shit. It's been 30 years since the game was made. Plenty of people have modded NESes, or have a console that can play the audio.

 

Of course, it's all academic if Sunsoft doesn't want to license it.

What happens if you play a expansion sound game on the North American NES anyways? Does the sound glitch out??

I was thinking maybe it was like master system FM sound. On master system some games have the FM sound available but if your system can’t play the extra sounds, then it just sounds like normal sound without the extra sound channels.

Edited August 24, 2020 by phart010

[Koopa64 | 52]

13 minutes ago, phart010 said:

What happens if you play a expansion sound game on the North American NES anyways? Does the sound glitch out??

I was thinking maybe it was like master system FM sound. On master system some games have the FM sound available but if your system can’t play the extra sounds, then it just sounds like normal sound without the extra sound channels.

On the NES, the regular sound from the 2A03 CPU will still work, but you won't hear any expansion audio if it's not routed through the cartridge slot somehow. Some games will sound really empty, but it's less noticeable with Gimmick as the 2A03 does the heavy lifting in that game. Honestly the unreleased USA prototype sounds fine, it would be way less headache to just use that version.

Edited August 24, 2020 by Koopa64

[Tulpa | 3,580]

Compare for yourself. I think it's no contest.

 

[guitarzombie | 929]

I have both the real PAL version and a full sound repro. Honestly, I don't miss the extra sound as much as I thought I would.  I still have a Gimmick full sound repro cart I dont need anymore.  If you played the famicom version without the extra sound, you miss a lot of stuff.  The USA version IMO does a really good job of keeping the core of the music and omitting some of the 'glitz and glamour' parts that aren't integral to the harmony/melody.

Also I would imagine they would have to redesign the PCB a bit since they both use 2 different mappers, unless they would wanna use the Yamaha chip.  I forgot the name of it, but its pretty big. Could be expensive too.  Im all for choice, but if they're thinking people are gonna have to modify their NES's, it probably wouldn't be worth it to put it into production.

I also dont think people wanna play the game just for the audio.  The entire game itself is just great.

 

*EDIT* I didn't even realize my full sound repro would work on the AVS.  I wasn't sure if it had that ability.  But I guess I should have known since it has the famicom port.  Thats cool!  But I feel better that I have the real thing.

Edited August 24, 2020 by guitarzombie

[fcgamer | 4,802]

Yeah, I listened to the above samples, sure the "full" version is arguably "better", but the other version sounds pretty good too.

[guitarzombie | 929]

Also in that YT clip, the extra audio is MUCH louder than it should be I think.  

[NesQuest | 93]

On 8/24/2020 at 11:33 AM, guitarzombie said:

Also in that YT clip, the extra audio is MUCH louder than it should be I think.  

Agree the levels in the audio mix sound off.  But it does add dimension and depth to game play IMO. I dig it!

[avatar! | 1,855]

Lagrange Point is another game with fabulous music that I wish would have had a US release! Although I know some people produced really great English translation hacks  

Ya'll remember back in the day, when Konami actually made good games...

 

 

[avatar! | 1,855]

And, gone...

[T-Pac | 7,682]

If Mr. Gimmick got a legit release by one of these companies, I would be stoked. For people like me who've never had the opportunity to play it before, I don't think the enhanced-sound issue really matters - any licensed release would be a dream come true. 

The same goes for any other game that's too pricy to get by legitimate means, but is highly-acclaimed for its gameplay (like Recca or Musha).

-CasualCart

[guitarzombie | 929]

Ive said that if Gimmick was released here in the US it would beat out Samson as the most expensive game for the system at this point.  Not beating SE but I don't count it personally towards the set.