Sorry, Operation Rainfall — Nintendo seems flood-proof.
[aditude-amp id="flyingcarpet" targeting='{"env":"staging","page_type":"article","post_id":686974,"post_type":"story","post_chan":"none","tags":null,"ai":false,"category":"none","all_categories":"games,","session":"D"}']Let’s get this straight first: I don’t advocate piracy. I pay for my entertainment. Sometimes I even pay for it twice, as I’ve written before on the subject of remakes. So when I tell you that, after experiencing and reading about Nintendo's most recent corporate blunder, I wouldn’t scold you for sailing out for international cyber-waters, you had better believe I’m going to make my case.
I purchased a Nintendo 3DS at launch, and I only had one game to play on it: Pokémon Black, a "relic" of the last generation. I was satisfied with waiting for the future. I was going to buy the Ocarina of Time remake, and I was sure there would be a future Mario or Pokémon title that I would sincerely regret not being able to play. But I had one reason above all for picking up the new handheld: I wanted a taste of the Virtual Console.
Sadly, Nintendo doesn't seem to care about its fans. Even ones who aren't as greedy and entitled as I am.
You know there will be something worth playing…eventually.
Apparently, most of the hype for the 3DS eStore existed in my own head, because Nintendo doesn’t seem to know the meaning of the word. I guess it's refreshing for a game company not to promote its wares to the point of overkill, but it sure would be nice sometimes to know what’s coming out and a general release date. Honestly, tell me Pokémon Blue and Red will be out in late 2011, and that’s enough for me. No such luck.
I was under the impression that the eStore would be available at launch. It wasn't. Then it was supposed to be ready by late May. Nope. It finally launched on June 13th. At 3 a.m. With minimal functionality.
Even weeks later, I still have to try twice to download any title successfully. Naturally, the company has no problem taking my money, regardless of whether or not I can download something without getting an error message.
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Error message imminent in three…two…one…
I won’t knock the titles that have been released on the eStore so far. Super Mario Land, the first Game Boy title ever, is a nice addition. Link’s Awakening? Yes, please! Even seemingly throwaway titles such as Alleyway, Donkey Kong, and Tennis are more fun than you’d think they’d have any right to be. A month to download Excitebike 3D was a pretty nice nod to the fans.
But Nintendo seemingly refuses to promote any further titles. Will there be more NES classics? Where are the big guns in the Game Boy vein? Nintendo hasn’t even confirmed that GBA games will be available at all.
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I’m fully aware that all of these titles aren’t going to come out at once. It would have been nice, though, to get more than three on the Virtual Console after waiting nearly three months. I’m also fully aware that many of the classics I long for are available on the Wii’s Virtual Console. Well, I’m sorry — I’m not buying a Wii, not at the end of its life cycle. Consumers are spending enough on this portable to warrant Nintendo giving its Virtual Console some worthwhile games. If Nintendo won’t let me play Super Mario RPG on my 3DS, then I guess I’ll have to resort to other means.
What's the hold up?!
Nintendo's stubborn behavior goes beyond the 3DS, too. A fan-based campaign known as Operation Rainfall recently attempted to gain Nintendo's attention through grassroots means. They sent snail mail, tweets, Facebook messages, e-mails, and apparently even called Nintendo's offices to request three titles for the North American market: Xenoblade Chronicles, Pandora’s Tower, and The Last Story.
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In the end, Nintendo finally responded. What did it say? "There are no plans to bring these three games to the Americas at this time." That’s corporate speak for, "Sorry, never going to happen."
What we’ve got here, both with Virtual Console and Operation Rainfall, are cases where people are more than willing to pay for a product — one that, ostensibly, wouldn’t cost Nintendo that much. Surely it wouldn’t take a lot to prep those classic titles for release on the 3DS or hire a few people to do some translation for a couple of RPGs.
Even if the company isn't willing to do that, Nintendo should provide an explanation to its loyal fans. Tell us that you don’t think those three games will sell enough to warrant localization. Tell us that you’re lazy and greedy, that if I want to play those NES games I’m going to have to buy a Wii.
At least tell us why, so we won’t feel so bad when we take matters into our own hands and throw up the skull and crossbones.