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Why I don't bother asking Nintendo questions anymore

 
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TheRedEye
The Internet's Frank Cifaldi
The Internet's Frank Cifaldi


Joined: 26 Aug 2003
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Location: Oakland, CA

PostPosted: Thu Oct 04, 2012 1:12 am    Post subject: Why I don't bother asking Nintendo questions anymore Reply with quote

I wrote:
This is a longshot, but we're interested in how a recent Nintendo release came to be: as you're probably aware, a "special" version of Donkey Kong is available now on the 3DS that restores a level that was not originally available.

What we want to know is: what is the origin of this? Is this something that was just recently made by Nintendo? Maybe it's something that was done in the old days but never actually released until now?

If you can provide any clarity or connect me with the right people, we'd appreciate it. Thanks!


Nintendo PR wrote:
Hey Frank,

This version of Donkey Kong is actually the same one that was included in the special red Wii units in Europe. GamesRadar has a good writeup from when it was announced in 2010:

http://www.gamesradar.com/europe-gets-exclusive-perfect-version-of-nes-donkey-kong-in-its-mario-25th-anniversary-wiis/


I wrote:
Yeah, I know, but what I'm trying to figure out is where did that come from? Is this something newly made by Nintendo, or something dug out of the archives?


Nintendo PR wrote:
Frank, word from Nintendo is that this is the NES version of DK with levels from the arcade version added into the game.
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kap
Minister of Paranoia
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PostPosted: Thu Oct 04, 2012 2:55 am    Post subject: Reply with quote

Frank, word from Nintendo is that this is a video game that has Donkey Kong as well as some levels in it and that you can play it on your Wii.
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Xkeeper



Joined: 04 Nov 2005
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PostPosted: Thu Oct 04, 2012 5:09 am    Post subject: Reply with quote

To be fair, what little evidence there is supports the idea that it's just the NES game with the level tacked on hastily. So at least there's that.
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Pemdawg



Joined: 25 Oct 2006
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PostPosted: Thu Oct 04, 2012 10:43 am    Post subject: Reply with quote

*facepalm*
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BMF54123
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PostPosted: Thu Oct 04, 2012 6:20 pm    Post subject: Reply with quote

I can say with 100% certainty that it's just a hack, and a shoddy one at that. The base ROM is completely identical to the original version, aside from a few patched addresses that point to new level data and routines at the end of the ROM, so whoever did this obviously didn't have access to the source code (or no longer had the tools to compile it).

The hack is shoddy because it often doesn't take into account the NES' limited Vblank time: the game will occasionally glitch, printing garbage characters to the screen, because the new routines take too long to finish and spill into the next frame. For example, some sprite updates are handled by copying the entirety of sprite RAM to a new page, modifying it, and then copying it back, which is a horribly slow process, and not something Nintendo's original programmers would have ever done.
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ICEknight



Joined: 15 Dec 2003
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PostPosted: Thu Oct 04, 2012 6:49 pm    Post subject: Reply with quote

Which is a shame, since Nintendo is probably going to treat this version as the original Donkey Kong from now on (so they don't have to use ITC's code anymore).

Last edited by ICEknight on Thu Oct 04, 2012 6:56 pm; edited 1 time in total
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etabeta



Joined: 21 May 2007
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PostPosted: Thu Oct 04, 2012 6:49 pm    Post subject: Reply with quote

probably yeah, but the Wii version was created by Nintendo in any case so it's an *official* hack Wink

and if you look at the other anniversary game released (the SMB 25th anniversary) it was an even cheaper hack, given that they changed only ~10 bytes of the rom, to display "25" in the blocks...
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Pemdawg



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PostPosted: Fri Oct 05, 2012 12:53 am    Post subject: Reply with quote

I'm just hoping someday someone will hack it into a port of the arcade D2K hack.



And also that Donkey Kong Plus for GB will leak.
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KingMike



Joined: 04 Nov 2003
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PostPosted: Fri Oct 05, 2012 1:28 am    Post subject: Reply with quote

BMF54123 wrote:

The hack is shoddy because it often doesn't take into account the NES' limited Vblank time: the game will occasionally glitch, printing garbage characters to the screen, because the new routines take too long to finish and spill into the next frame. For example, some sprite updates are handled by copying the entirety of sprite RAM to a new page, modifying it, and then copying it back, which is a horribly slow process, and not something Nintendo's original programmers would have ever done.


Is the glitching noticeable even on Nintendo's Wii/3DS VC emulators?
(I'm guessing those aren't EXTREMELY accurate and obviously Nintendo won't care if it runs on the actual hardware or not.)
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Carnivol
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Joined: 21 Jun 2004
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PostPosted: Fri Oct 05, 2012 11:51 pm    Post subject: Reply with quote

Ahah. Those replies are just fantastic.

They're like prime samples of why I generally don't even bother asking any company's PR department about anything other than basic PR stuff. Anything even remotely technical I'll just sit on until I can speak to a human being who'll interrupt my question and finish it for me... that's when I know I've found the one soul who can answer all my questions.

The few times I do ask people like that stuff ... it tends to be more like me just giving them the instructions for what I want them to do for me ... rather than asking them to help me.
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TheRedEye
The Internet's Frank Cifaldi
The Internet's Frank Cifaldi


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PostPosted: Sat Oct 06, 2012 12:42 am    Post subject: Reply with quote

sure, but try talking to a human at Nintendo. it's nearly impossible.
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Pemdawg



Joined: 25 Oct 2006
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PostPosted: Sat Oct 06, 2012 12:57 pm    Post subject: Reply with quote

So R.O.B. wasn't discontinued. They just moved him to Customer Service?
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Kiddo



Joined: 11 Jul 2008
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PostPosted: Sun Oct 07, 2012 4:59 pm    Post subject: Reply with quote

If you thought this was bad, try asking them about Charumera Ramen Zelda no Densetsu and see if they still spew out an automated about about BS Zelda no Densetsu, which is a completely unrelated product. < . <
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