I want to play my NES, but I don't have any software
July 12, 2018 11:31 AM   Subscribe

The problem with [the NES console in Animal Crossing] is that it was thought to be unplayable. Every time you interacted with it, you would just see a message indicating that you didn’t have any software to play.

It turns out that this generic console item actually attempts to scan the memory card for specially constructed files that contain NES ROM images! The NES emulator used to play the built-in games is apparently a complete, generic NES emulator for the GameCube, and it’s capable of playing most games thrown at it.
posted by frimble (7 comments total) 39 users marked this as a favorite
 
Hokey smokes this is a DEEP DIVE of an article. I love it.
posted by zerolives at 12:08 PM on July 12, 2018 [1 favorite]


That's an amazing code review! Most of the tech documents for the mega tech companies I do work for are not even close to that detailed. That also might be the greatest Easter egg ever added into another game.
posted by The_Vegetables at 12:55 PM on July 12, 2018


But how many A presses do you need
posted by saturday_morning at 3:14 PM on July 12, 2018 [2 favorites]


I'm assuming it would run in a GameCube emulator so you could run an emulator in an emulator.
posted by nathan_teske at 3:50 PM on July 12, 2018


This is cool, I love the in depth documentation of the process (although I skipped most of the more technical parts, lol).

It's really interesting to think about the original developers adding this feature to the game with the idea to flesh it out later. And also to think about the community of people who care enough to hack around and find these things out.
posted by subdee at 5:06 PM on July 12, 2018


I'm assuming it would run in a GameCube emulator so you could run an emulator in an emulator.

Yo Dawg!
posted by Literaryhero at 1:24 AM on July 13, 2018 [5 favorites]


"The problem with this item is that it was thought to be unplayable. Every time you interacted with it, you would just see a message indicating that you didn’t have any software to play."

What? I distinctly remember playing NES games on that thing back when it was a new game. I also remember being super annoyed later versions nixed the feature, when I was assuming they'd continue to advance, maybe get SNES games the next time. I remember CluClu Land the most, it's the only way or time I've ever played that title -- through Animal Crossing. I'm just baffled by that quoted assertion. Perhaps they are playing a later virtual console version or something?

edit: D'oh, I'm a goober and totally skipped the first paragraph that explained this all. Very interesting stuff, neat how these exploits and things are still being used and looked into today. Makes me wonder what or if later versions will have the same sorts of things go down eventually or if certain old technologies are just easier to manipulate.
posted by GoblinHoney at 2:05 PM on July 16, 2018


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