anyone know any specific details regarding this game? Consiering it is a late generation Super Famicom game (1998!) you would think there would be more info, but apparently not. About this game... was it released in retail? I hear sketchy bits of info that it wasn't, only through mail order like Pocket Monsters Blue.
There's a copy on ebay I plan to buy in a few hours depending on what I find out
http://cgi.ebay.ca/ws/eBayISAPI.dll?ViewItem&item=230110667351&fromMakeTrack=true
The seller states that it was "only released on the super famicom memory cart and thus fairly hard to find"
What is the Super Famicom Memory cart? Was it some service like the Famicom Disk System kiosks? As much as you guys can tell me the better.
As far as I know, the memory carts were like flash carts and you'd go to stations set up and pay to download the game to the cart.
And also as far as I know, Red was the mail order game, not blue.
no blue is the mail order game red and green were retail
Crazy. I was misinformed then.
So it had nothing to do with the Steleview? I just want to make sure that I can play this without the use of some obscure adaptor. Since the auction is ending soon, I want to get it soon. Thoughts?
According to Nintendo Land, it was released on Satellaview: http://www.nintendoland.com/home2.htm?snes/access.htm (scroll down, there's a list of Satellaview games)
Maybe it was released on this format as well as the flash cart thing?
As a side note, it'd be cool if this came out on Virtual Console now that the Advance Wars series is popular in America.
But this is BS Famicom Wars. It was a demo version that contains only the first maps and cos. The full version was released by some other means. What I'm wondering about is if you think this auction is for the BS version or the full version? From what I know about the Steleview it took a special cartridge and needed the Steleview to run. but this device doens't look like its part of it at all. Maybe Manuel could translate what the cart says?
Vertual Console Super Famicom Wars or the original Famicom Wars. There's an English patch that translates everything into English but the title due to it being flash and special. I love Famicom Wars. I even wrote a review for it here on FW if you're interested.
I will have to take a look at that review.
As for the auction, like you said, it doesn't look like part of the Satellaview. Up until this thread, I had never heard of a SNES system where you flashed games to a cart, but if that existed, then this cart definitely fits the bill. The label is just basically an artistic representation of blankness (actually, it reminds me of the Wii's channels).
I'd say it should play fine without any extra hardware.
I just found this on wikipedia: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Nintendo_Power_(cartridge)
"Each cartridge's flash RAM is divided internally into eight blocks. Unless an 8-block game is loaded onto the cartridge, however, one block is reserved for the game selection menu, leaving only seven blocks for games."
That fits your auction; they've got 7 blank images on that cart. Provided the guy actually loaded Super Famicom Wars on it, I think you're golden.
Yeah. The boxes on the label mean its a writable cart. im jealous.
So does this mean that you can only get Super Famicom Wars through these means? Nintendo has since closed the Nintendo Power download thing (almost exactly a year ago now), but what if no download carts still hold SFW any more? What other games were exclusively released on this format?
Another thought I just had was about hacking that cart so you could load roms on to it. I wouldn't have the foggiest idea how to go about something like that, but it seems initially possible.
Helpful! Thanks everyone. The seller finally emailed me back. This is what he had to say:
Hello. This is the full version, not the BS Steleview version that was released as a promo only. The game is written on a blank memory cart you could buy in retail stores in the late 90s. I had this game downloaded on the cartridge by sending the cartridge to Nintendo. The numbers you see refer to "blocks" of memory you could download games to. Nintendo would provide stickers to place over each number to identify which games were on it. In this case, Super Famicom Wars takes the whole cartridge, so there's only one game. I've lost the sticker over the years unfortuntely. While nothing to do with the Steleview, as you guessed, the memory cart service was something indeed similar to the famicom disk system kiosks.
Quote from: satoshi_matrix on January 21, 2008, 08:38:30 pmHello. This is the full version, not the BS Steleview version that was released as a promo only. The game is written on a blank memory cart you could buy in retail stores in the late 90s. I had this game downloaded on the cartridge by sending the cartridge to Nintendo. The numbers you see refer to "blocks" of memory you could download games to. Nintendo would provide stickers to place over each number to identify which games were on it. In this case, Super Famicom Wars takes the whole cartridge, so there's only one game. I've lost the sticker over the years unfortuntely. While nothing to do with the Steleview, as you guessed, the memory cart service was something indeed similar to the famicom disk system kiosks.
Well, now the mystery is solved. That's cool that you could send it to Nintendo to get them to put it on there... I wonder if you can still do this? Nintendo of Japan is crazy when they come to supporting their products-- we all know that they just recently stopped supporting the original Famicom.
Are you serious? I didn't know that haha. what did they do to support it up until now?
The Famicom and stuff was supported till 2003, they even rewrote your disks if you sent them to Nintendo.
Probably because of the demand. The Famicom is like THE most popular system in all gaming history from what I understand. And in recent years, it's hit a huge revival with adults wanting to recapture their childhood memories and younger people getting into it for the first time.
If you ask me, there's just something about the 8-bit generation that makes it special. magical even.
I honestly prefer simplicity over the stuff that comes out now. Games were made with heart back then. Now companies jump onto anything that they think will make them a buck and throw together a halfassed game "based on a movie" or something like that.
NES/and especially Famicom will probably always be my favourite system. Nintendo systems in general are usually better but they really won't be able to outdo themselves. I just can't wait until I'm in my 30's and have kids to show my games to. I can only imagine what will have come out by then. Something that makes the PS3 and Xbox 360 look primitive no doubt. In any case, it should really be interesting, and I can only hope that my future kids would share the same interest in retro gaming as me.
Quote from: MaxXimus on January 22, 2008, 10:54:12 am
Games were made with heart back then. Now companies jump onto anything that they think will make them a buck and throw together a halfassed game "based on a movie" or something like that.
You're just looking at the past with a nostalgic point of view. The gaming industry really hasn't changed too much. There were just as many crap games being made then as there are now. Seriously, think of how many derivative "space shooter", Mario clones, and lackluster sports games there are for the Famicom/NES. The "based on a movie" games are certainly nothing new, either. They predate the Famicom!
It's unfair to say that modern games don't have any heart. There's no shortage of crap games, to be sure, but there are still a number of creative, artful, and (sometimes) fun games being made.
Quote from: UglyJoe on January 22, 2008, 11:10:48 am
Quote from: MaxXimus on January 22, 2008, 10:54:12 am
Games were made with heart back then. Now companies jump onto anything that they think will make them a buck and throw together a halfassed game "based on a movie" or something like that.
You're just looking at the past with a nostalgic point of view. The gaming industry really hasn't changed too much. There were just as many crap games being made then as there are now. Seriously, think of how many derivative "space shooter", Mario clones, and lackluster sports games there are for the Famicom/NES. The "based on a movie" games are certainly nothing new, either. They predate the Famicom!
It's unfair to say that modern games don't have any heart. There's no shortage of crap games, to be sure, but there are still a number of creative, artful, and (sometimes) fun games being made.
Amen to that ;D.
Indeed. I would even be willing to bet that there are fewer crappy games nowadays due to the devolopment and marketing costs involved. As people have said before, very few games these days have small devolpment teams. Final Fantasy games have teams of 70+ as do tons of others. Look through the credits of various games and just try to count the names!
The only game I can think of in recent years (that totally kicked ass by the way) is Ikaruga for the Gamecube which was made by only 4 people.
Nintendo may have stopped writing Famicom Disk System carts in 2003, but according to Wikipedia (and I remember when this news story broke, so it is true):" Nintendo of Japan continued to repair Famicom systems until October 31, 2007, attributing the decision to discontinue support to an increasing shortage of the necessary parts."
Now that's devotion!
As for games "dwindling" today, MaxXimus pretty much stated my thoughts. Games today are still high-quality, there's no doubt about that. You could say, however, that games have changed and that you don't like what they are becoming. Not necessarily my feelings, but understandable if that is how you feel.
I'm not saying that every single game that comes out is a bad game, because there are lots of newer games that I love very much, but there is no denying the fact that a company wont just jump onto the first thing they think will make them a buck. There really is no originality anymore. everything seems to be a copy of something else in some way, shape or form, ot as I said before, just a crappy game based on a movie.
Quote from: MaxXimus on January 22, 2008, 08:12:58 pm
I'm not saying that every single game that comes out is a bad game, because there are lots of newer games that I love very much, but there is no denying the fact that a company wont just jump onto the first thing they think will make them a buck.
You say that as if it's a bad thing. These are game
companies. Their number one goal is making money. Original games are always a fiscal risk. Current-gen games cost so much to produce, that even the biggest game companies can't afford to sink a lot of money into game that won't turn a profit.
Quote from: MaxXimus on January 22, 2008, 08:12:58 pm
There really is no originality anymore. everything seems to be a copy of something else in some way, shape or form, ot as I said before, just a crappy game based on a movie.
And as I said before, this is nothing new. The good game / crap game ratio has always been around 10 / 90.
The fact is, there are very few original games out there. There are even fewer original games that can turn a profit. Whenever there is one, it's time for the clones and derivative games based on that new original idea. That's the way the game market works and that's the way it's always been.
Personally, I'm a fan of one particular genre of gaming above all others: remakes. For some reason I absolutely lovvvvvvvvvvvvvvvvvvve remakes. some of my favorites I can think of right now include
Doom 64 (N64) -> Final Doom (PC) Man do I love Doom.
Kirby: Nightmare in Dreamland (GBA) -> Kirby's Adventure (NES)
Rockman Mega World (Genesis) -> Megaman 1-3 (NES)
Metroid Zero Mission (GBA) -> Metroid (NES)
Megaman Powered Up (PSP) -> Megaman 1 (NES)
Megaman Maverick Hunter X (PSP) -> Megaman X (SNES)
Pokémon FireRed/LeafGreen (GBA) -> Pocket Monsters Red/Green (GB)
Pheniox Wright series (DS) -> Gyaku Saben (GBA) [I HONESTLY loved the first game prior to it being localized for the DS]
Resident Evil (GC) -> Resident Evil (PS1)
Return to Caslte Wolfenstien Tides of War -> Return to Castle Wolfenstien (PC)
Super Famicom Wars (as this thread proves!) -> Famicom Wars (Famicom)
Star Fox 64 (N64) -> Star Fox (SNES)
Trauma Centre: Second Opinion (Wii) -> Trauma Center Under the Knife (DS)
I'm probably missing a whole bunch, but basically I love all remakes XD
I would disagree.
Generally, if you played the first game, I can't see shelling out again for a remake that will be similar.
Quote from: satoshi_matrix on January 22, 2008, 11:23:25 pm
Personally, I'm a fan of one particular genre of gaming above all others: remakes. For some reason I absolutely lovvvvvvvvvvvvvvvvvvve remakes. some of my favorites I can think of right now include
Doom 64 (N64) -> Final Doom (PC) Man do I love Doom.
Kirby: Nightmare in Dreamland (GBA) -> Kirby's Adventure (NES)
Rockman Mega World (Genesis) -> Megaman 1-3 (NES)
Metroid Zero Mission (GBA) -> Metroid (NES)
Megaman Powered Up (PSP) -> Megaman 1 (NES)
Megaman Maverick Hunter X (PSP) -> Megaman X (SNES)
Pokémon FireRed/LeafGreen (GBA) -> Pocket Monsters Red/Green (GB)
Pheniox Wright series (DS) -> Gyaku Saben (GBA) [I HONESTLY loved the first game prior to it being localized for the DS]
Resident Evil (GC) -> Resident Evil (PS1)
Return to Caslte Wolfenstien Tides of War -> Return to Castle Wolfenstien (PC)
Super Famicom Wars (as this thread proves!) -> Famicom Wars (Famicom)
Star Fox 64 (N64) -> Star Fox (SNES)
Trauma Centre: Second Opinion (Wii) -> Trauma Center Under the Knife (DS)
I'm probably missing a whole bunch, but basically I love all remakes XD
You forgot all the FFs!
hmm...well trust be told, I'm not much of a fan of the Final Fantasy games.
Dawn of Souls = I could never get into Final Fantasy 1 for some reason..2 I have no idea about, I would suspect as much.
IV, V, and VI Advance = ports, not remakes. Although I DO like all three, espically VI
III for DS = pass, because I didn't like the Famicom version.
Although I am very excited about the fourthcomming Final Fantasy IV DS which should be much like III DS. If the trend continues, that means by 2010 we should get V DS and VI DS! Remakes! Yes!
well, it arrived now. maybe I'll post a youtube video of it.
A video from the time the power is turned on so we can see everything would be nice, haha.:P
OKay for now, a text discription:
When you first turn it on, you get that Japanese "beep" kind of like when you first turn on a Gameboy, or turn on US Super Mario All-Stars. Next, your greeted to a nice looking menu that has a digitized photo of the Super Famicom itself in the background. At the bottom there is scrolling text, but I can't read it due to kanji content.Anyway, the menu has many boxesand really reminds me of the Gamecube Memory card BIOS. For my cart, all of the boxes but one are empty, and the one that is there displays a red tank icon and has "Super Famicom Wars" written in katakana. Simply press start and Super Famicom Wars boots up; no loading times, no problems.
now on to Super Famicom Wars itself; Super Famicom Wars is more of a remake of the original Famicom Wars then it is an actual sequal, but there ARE many differences. The gameplay is much more similar to what we've come to know from Advance Wars. It has all the units Advance Wars does and even a few that AW doesn't have. There's a little tiny tank that costs less then the tank in Advance Wars, a flak cannon that's basically artillary that can hit planes, an armored APC that can fire like a recon and a super powerful plane that acts as a combo between the fighter and bomber. The graphics have been revamped and the music is almost all remixed Famicom Wars fare. There are COs in the game each with different attributes, but no CO powers or anything like that. Still, its very cool to be able to see the beginnings of everything that made Advance Wars so much of a smash hit back in 2001.
-Side Rant-
Back in 2001, I was soooooooooooooooooooo excited for the Gameboy Advance. Much more than I was the Gamecube even though it was amazing as well. I had loved the Gameboy Color and seeing previews and even the illfated "Nintendo Power Advance" it just made me so excited. Among the first wave of games a lot of them looked meh to me except for two: F-Zero Maximum Velocity and Advance Wars. I heard VERY good things about Advance Wars and F-Zero just blew me away. I bought them both with my system and while I enjoyed F-Zero more in the short term, Advance Wars turned out to be the best game I bought for several years and still ranks as one of my favorite handheld games of all time.
I'll have pics up soon.
I have so wanted this ever since I saw this:
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=gl4HK4sqhqU
After seeing how cool a humorous advance wars can be, I really don't have any interest in AW: Days of Ruin. The should make advance wars SD for the DS (even the title is a number of jokes in itself!).
Days of Ruin isn't bad at all. In fact, the whole post-apololiptic thing makes fresh. And since of course, it features all of Famicom and Super Famicom Wars' maps, its fresh to play on it too. And the new units make the gameplay change too! I'd say its worth checking out.
Quote from: michaelthegreat on February 11, 2008, 11:58:49 pm
I have so wanted this ever since I saw this:
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=gl4HK4sqhqU
After seeing how cool a humorous advance wars can be, I really don't have any interest in AW: Days of Ruin. The should make advance wars SD for the DS (even the title is a number of jokes in itself!).
Wow, that's hilarious. :D
Thanks for the writeup on how the loadable carts work, Satoshi, I'd love to see pics/video.
I'll see what I can do. I've been super busy lately so I'll see about doing this sometime eventually.
In fact, Ijust recentrly ordered a video capture card because I intend to start creating video reviews and posting them on youtube. This will potentially include NES/Famicom, Commodore 64, SNES, Genesis, Sega CD, N64, Wii, Gamecube, PS1, PS2, Xbox, Xbox 360, Gameboy, Gameboy Color and Gameboy Advance games.
If anyone has any tips on what programs I should look to use, and any potentail names (I've been thinking of "Satoshi's Reviews" but I want something with a little more kick to it) and general tips.