Nintendo Online – The Original Revolution
By Adam Riley
There are many people who will look at Nintendo and its online plans for the DS portable system and now the Wii and simply assume that the company is merely following the lead set by Microsoft and its XBOX L!VE service. However, little do those people know, Nintendo was in fact the leader of the online revolution for the Videogame Industry. Once again the home of Mario is actually the innovator, not the imitator. Join C3 as we follow the rocky road right from the start...
Everything started way back in 1986 with the Nintendo Entertainment System and the Famicom Disk System, a machine that was definitely ahead of its time, but held back by NintendoТs greed, demanding a stake in developersТ franchises if they appeared on the format. It may not have been online, but there were download stations dotted around Japan (rather like those related to the DS nowadays), where consumers could insert the proprietary double-sided discs into them and get hold of new titles.
But the real kicker was when the Super Nintendo came into being, quickly riding on the coat tails of the success the NES/Famicom received in Japan. The system was, and still is, regarded as one of the finest platforms ever released due to its wide range of support. However, most of the revolutionary games came about thanks to additions to the actual game cartridges, helping to extend the life of the system beyond what many expected. In fact, it even ate into early PlayStation sales to some degree due to games like Donkey Kong Country and non-European releases like KirbyТs Dreamland 3, NamcoТs Tales of Phantasia and a flurry of Squaresoft games Ц namely Treasure Hunter G, Bahamut Lagoon and Seiken Densetsu 3. This allowed Nintendo to test out its network abilities once more, with a device known as the Satellaview.
This satellite modem was released for the Super Famicom and first began broadcasting on 23rd April, 1995, running until 30th June, 2000, with the final game released for it being in March, 1999. It only set Japanese gamers back е14,000 (~г62), which was not bad considering the infrastructure involved and what was ultimately on offer. Usually shortened in name to the СBS-XТ (Broadcast Satellite X), whilst it did not give straight access to the Internet, it did allow the download of various games. They came in three different varieties Ц new, re-release or remake format. In a similar vein to what Nintendo is trying to push at the moment with the Virtual Console, as well as re-releasing older SNES titles, it also released a variety of both completely new games across the broadcasting format, as well as new entries into popular series (such as Zelda).
Due to restrictions in how much could be downloaded at any one time, games were normally released in instalments throughout a specific day or across the period of a week. There were even special extras released for certain games, adding new maps and dungeons to the likes of The Legend of Zelda. In fact, Nintendo even offered up a fully voiced version of Zelda, called СBS The Legend of Zelda: Ancient Stone TabletsТ Ц a first for the series, and something that has never been done since. It worked rather like a radio broadcast, so as people played through the game, actors would talk over the cut-scenes as part of the СLive VoiceТ service. There would also be narrators that gave gamers helpful hints and passed on vital information for those who were completely stumped. Unfortunately, though, because of this all being live, with an internal clock keeping track of everything, these particular games could only be played at designated times of the day. But hey, it was a step further than anyone else in the console market at the timeЕ
Another prerequisite of the service was that you had to subscribe to a satellite radio station that had been set up by a company called St. GIGA. The reason for this was so that between the hours of 4:00pm and 7:00pm you could download games, gaming news and adverts onto the memory cartridge you received as part of the BS-X bundle, as well as take part in various online puzzles that could win you prizes if you were good enough. Does this not all sound rather familiar, sort of how Nintendo could work the WiiConnect24 angle? It certainly is a possibility! Even the memory cartridge itself was part of the fun, acting like a basic version of Animal Crossing, with owners being able to input their name, sex and create a character that could be moved around a town, with the numerous houses and shops being direct portals to games. Again, this all smacks of how the Wii will have various channels that take you straight into games you have downloaded.
But that is not all Ц look at this: the BS-X unit itself (which sat underneath the SNES), just like the Wii, had 512KB of memory within it and whilst it is nothing compared to the 512MB that the Wii has, at the time it definitely allowed smaller SNES games to be stored on it. However, there was an optional 8 Megabit memory pack that was available for those that either wanted larger games or even more than one. This definitely was a key point in NintendoТs online trial timeline, but the company was not about to stop there.
Spurred on by the impressive success of the Satellaview, Nintendo pushed ahead with its online plans once more with the advent of the Nintendo 64. Early on in the systemТs lifespan, the company revealed plans for its third Сunder-the-systemТ device (both the Famicom Disk Drive and Satellaview connected to ports underneath their respective systems), the Dynamic Drive for the Nintendo 64, which quickly became dubbed as the 64DD (which caused much hilarity amongst certain Internet forum groups, just like people had a similar reaction to the name Wii over here). It was first revealed in 1995 and was being pushed for a Western release and as the answer to the impending competition of the PlayStation and its CD format. However, relying on magnetic disks meant that the costs of manufacture were to be much higher than that of Compact Discs, whilst not actually being as large (650MB for CDs, between 4 and 64MB for the DD disks, although they were re-writable).
Seeing that the reaction to this add-on, though, was not quite as favourable as anticipated, all went quiet on news of a Western release and the plans for its Japanese dщbut well slightly altered as well, with it only being distributed in reduced numbers and buyers having to sign up to a system whereby their games were distributed in twos every two months, along with magazines and newsletters, as part of a subscription fee to RANDnetDD (a set up akin to Satellaview). You see, inside the 64DD there was an internal modem that gave gamers limited access to the Internet, just as Nintendo had done in the past. You could even get a mouse and keyboard to go with it, with them plugging into the controller ports of the N64! And once up-and-running, gamers could boot it up (thanks to the standard Operating System included, similar to the one found in both the GameCube and DS so far, with the Wii to follow) and chat with people, whilst also sending and receiving emails. It was, more importantly, the means of getting into online multiplayer action for releases such as F-Zero X and its expansion pak. This was NintendoТs biggest step so far, providing online multi-player gaming to the Japanese public. Original N64 games could even be hooked up with the 64DD to access new stages, extra mini-games and even for saving personal information. But sadly it never took off and died after just nine releases. Thankfully, though, several ideas and games that were underway for it have not been completely ditched with many being reworked for the new generation.
But what about the handheld side? Surely not all of the experiments from the home console field were bundled together to form the basis of the Nintendo Wi-Fi Connection on the DS and Wii? Well, the answer is indeed СnoТ, since Nintendo has again actually dabbled in the online connection world for its portable systemsЕand again, only in Japan. Whereas most of you may have at least vaguely heard of the add-ons for the Famicom/NES, Super Famicom/SNES and Nintendo 64, the Game Boy Color and Game Boy Advance adapters may not be as familiar to you all. Around the time Nintendo and Konami set up a joint venture company called Mobile21, the Mobile System GB was released in Japan in time for the festive period of 2000.
This adapter was a clever little device that slotted nicely into your Game Boy Color and then connected to most of the popular cellular phones at the time in Japan. It also came with a Сtrainer cartridgeТ, a network-software cartridge that gave access to NintendoТs online server that was dedicated to GBC owners, the Mobile Data Centre. Once hooked-up, players could send / receive emails, get the latest gaming updates, as well as exchange game data with other users. The biggest title to make use of this last feature definitely has to be the immensely popular Pokщmon Crystal, and it was even the first to use the system. News updates could be sent, monsters could be traded and gamers could even take part in online battles with others around Japan! However, the service was not free like with the Wi-Fi Connection, and it has to be assumed that the lack of major support could well be down to a lack of sales uptake. A key example of a Third Party ditching the idea would have to be Konami with its beatmania GB GatchaMIX2, which was to be the third beatmania GBC exclusive under the name of СGB Net JamТ, with tracks available for download using the Mobile System GB, but ended up just releasing as a normal game with 25 songs included.
On the other hand, though, it did remain strong enough to warrant its continuation on the next generation Project Atlantis, also known as the Game Boy Advance. In fact, Nintendo seemed to have grand plans for the scheme, sending out Press Releases about the online mobile adapter, stating how not only was game software downloadable and not only were gamers allowed to chat, exchange emails or play against each other, but there was to be a new digital camera released on the GBA Ц a successor to the black and white Game Boy Camera. The plan was that you would be able to see the face of the person you are up against. Nintendo was definitely touting the GBA as basically what Sony believes the PlayStation Portable to now be Ц a personal communication terminal with multi-functionality. NintendoТs president at the time, Hiroshi Yamauchi, he of the iron-fist ruling and evil stare, championed it as being a positive direction for Nintendo. It was to be a way to explore new areas of multi-player gaming. Mario Kart Advance was an example of a game to take advantage of the system, albeit only for transmitting Ghost Data so you could try to out-pace your opponents that wayЕbut it was definitely better than nothing.
Takao Ohara has been interviewed by various sources due to not only being an integral member of the Nintendo Wi-Fi Connection team, but also because he had his hand in prior СexperimentsТ (although he actually states that they were full blown projects in Japan, not the little trial-and-error programmes we seem to see them as being). A lot of the lessons learned from the network activity dating back to the Famicom/NES were put to use when devising the Nintendo Wi-Fi Connection, to offer the world a simple, reliable and cheap (free) option for going online to play your favourite titles. With his vast experience in the field, it was no wonder he became leader of the Wi-Fi Connection project.
It may have been a long and arduous journey, but Nintendo seems to have learned many strong lessons from their long-term experience in the world of online gaming and networking. And now its key objectives seemed to have all come together: 1.) Make the connection simple; 2.) Create a network where novices cannot be intimidated by veterans; 3.) Provide anonymity for those that worry about using online gaming and being abused in a variety of forms because of this; 4.) Do not make the cost ridiculously high or provide a free service if viable.
So, do you still believe Nintendo is merely following in the footsteps of Microsoft with its (admittedly very strong) XBOX Live service? Be sure to share your thoughts on NintendoТs online history with us by joining in the debate below...
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