Nintendo Files Patent for Game Boy Emulation on PC, Phones and More

By Az Elias 27.11.2014 14

Nintendo Files Patent for Game Boy Emulation on PC, Phones and More on Nintendo gaming news, videos and discussion

Way back in 2003, Nintendo filed a patent to emulate its handheld video game systems. Today, the USPTO has published a continuation of that patent in the US, described as "Hand-held Video Game Platform Emulation."

The details of said patent says that emulation of Game Boy, Game Boy Color and Game Boy Advance would be possible on devices including PCs, PDAs, mobile phones, and even the back seats of airlines and trains.

Patents don't mean the ideas always come to fruition; it could even be a legal method for Nintendo to halt unofficial emulators. With lots of talk about whether Nintendo should or shouldn't make its older titles available through other methods than its own games systems, though, could legally playing classic Nintendo titles on mobile phones actually be a possibility in the near future?

Image for Nintendo Files Patent for Game Boy Emulation on PC, Phones and More
Image for Nintendo Files Patent for Game Boy Emulation on PC, Phones and More
Image for Nintendo Files Patent for Game Boy Emulation on PC, Phones and More

Do you think Nintendo is planning to make its Game Boy range of games available through these methods, and would you want to see Nintendo bring its old titles to mobile phones and PCs in the future?

Comment on this article

You can comment as a guest or join the Cubed3 community below: Sign Up for Free Account Login

Preview PostPreview Post Your Name:
Validate your comment
  Enter the letters in the image to validate your comment.
Submit Post

Comments

Luna Eriksson is offline. Luna Eriksson 27.11.2014#1

No, I do not think so. That would be a suicide move by Nintendo. This is most likely a legal act against unlicensed emulators.

The difference between illusion and reality is vague to the one who suffers from the former and questionable for the one suffering form the later.
 
Azuardo is offline. Azuardo 27.11.2014#2

I honestly don't see this as a bad thing tbh. That's if this does develop into actual emulation and putting games on trains/planes.

 
Agul is offline. Agul 28.11.2014#3

Grrrr... here's an idea, Nintendo:

Wii U VC Service
Nintendo 64 (WITH Expansion, Rumble & Controller Pak emulation)
GameCube (WITH Memory Card emulation)
Game Boy
Game Boy Color
DS
Neo Geo
TurboDuo
Master System
Mega Drive
Game Gear
Sega CD/32x
Saturn
Dreamcast
MSX
Commodore 64
Arcade

3DS VC Service
Super NES
Game Boy Advance
Virtual Boy
DS
Neo Geo Pocket series
Wonder Swan series
Lynx
TG-16
Master System
Mega Drive
Nintendo 64
Neo Geo
Arcade

Chance favors the prepared mind.
 
Flynnie is offline. Flynnie 28.11.2014#4

I could have sworn that I've seen some Nintendo games on airlines before...maybe I'm wrong...

id say nintendo are just revising an old patent. I don't think anything will come of this.

 
Phoenom is offline. Phoenom 28.11.2014#5

This is merely so they are on stronger grounds when going after other emulators.

( Edited 28.11.2014 08:32 by Phoenom )

 
Darkflame is offline. Darkflame 28.11.2014#6

Christ, Prior art means nothing at all these days.

(also, emulation IS NOT ILLEGAL - its the ROMS that are illegal as they are copyrighted. And even if there is legal rights still only gameboy original chipset - its sharp that made the cpu, not Nintendo, so they should have the rights over it)

http://www.fanficmaker.com <-- Tells some truly terrible tales.
Last update; Mice,Plumbers,Animatronics and Airbenders. We also have the socials; Facebook & G+. 
 
J4K is offline. J4K 28.11.2014#7

Nintendo should at least consider the iOS/Android route for their older backlog. I fully understand them wanting to keep their latest releases on their current hardware, but I also feel them slowly losing relevancy in the public eye. People are starting to leave Nintendo behind.

Put Pokemon Red on the App store though? Or Smash Bros 64? You'll see people playing it everywhere on their phones, which may lead them back to buying Nintendo hardware to play the latest games. Sort of remind them why they loved Nintendo so much growing up.

I know for a lot of Nintendo fans this sort of thinking is radical, but I think Nintendo needs to be a little radical to prevent them from falling out completely. I fear Nintendo is becoming more and more like Blackberry every day.

 
Azuardo is offline. Azuardo 28.11.2014#8

Jacob4000 said:
Nintendo should at least consider the iOS/Android route for their older backlog. I fully understand them wanting to keep their latest releases on their current hardware, but I also feel them slowly losing relevancy in the public eye. People are starting to leave Nintendo behind.

Put Pokemon Red on the App store though? Or Smash Bros 64? You'll see people playing it everywhere on their phones, which may lead them back to buying Nintendo hardware to play the latest games. Sort of remind them why they loved Nintendo so much growing up.

I know for a lot of Nintendo fans this sort of thinking is radical, but I think Nintendo needs to be a little radical to prevent them from falling out completely. I fear Nintendo is becoming more and more like Blackberry every day.

This is exactly my line of thinking.

Regardless of whether the above patent has any relevance at all to Nintendo actually thinking about emulation, I think it's definitely something they can consider without actually having any negative connotations.

You tap into an entirely different and huge market and sell classic games that aren't in any way impacting current game development. Want more? Come buy a Nintendo 3DS or Wii U and experience bigger and better Nintendo games - old and new. It's true it not only can reach people that never play consoles or Nintendo, but also reaches people who have since stopped playing Nintendo or consoles in general.

I don't see the bad at all. It's not going to impact current Nintendo players in any way. Those fans still get their Nintendo consoles and games. Nintendo expands its games and its brand to a new audience, and gets more money.

Perhaps the idea to some fans of playing Nintendo games on non-Nintendo hardware is outrageous and blasphemous, but I can only see tapping into this market with classic games as a positive thing, and still allows Nintendo to keep making hardware and great games.

And hell, failing emulation for mobiles/PCs, the games on trains/planes idea is brilliant. Definitely pursue that, Nintendo.

 
Cheesing It Up is offline. Cheesing It Up 28.11.2014#9

Jacob4000 said:
Nintendo should at least consider the iOS/Android route for their older backlog. I fully understand them wanting to keep their latest releases on their current hardware, but I also feel them slowly losing relevancy in the public eye. People are starting to leave Nintendo behind.

Put Pokemon Red on the App store though? Or Smash Bros 64? You'll see people playing it everywhere on their phones, which may lead them back to buying Nintendo hardware to play the latest games. Sort of remind them why they loved Nintendo so much growing up.

I know for a lot of Nintendo fans this sort of thinking is radical, but I think Nintendo needs to be a little radical to prevent them from falling out completely. I fear Nintendo is becoming more and more like Blackberry every day.


Pokemon is an obvious choice. Heck, I remember all my mates playing in on their phones a few years back.
Not sure about Smash Bros. due to control issues.

 
darkflame (guest) 28.11.2014#10

"Put Pokemon Red on the App store though? Or Smash Bros 64? "

...and people would be put of the games for life because of how sucky they would play on touchscreen controls. Smilie

Theres some games that might work, although Nintendo typically designs games so tightly to their system that most would fair very badly on "emulated" controls.

J4K is offline. J4K 28.11.2014#11

darkflame (guest) said:
"Put Pokemon Red on the App store though? Or Smash Bros 64? "

...and people would be put of the games for life because of how sucky they would play on touchscreen controls. Smilie

Theres some games that might work, although Nintendo typically designs games so tightly to their system that most would fair very badly on "emulated" controls.

Smash Bros might be a poor example (I was throwing out whatever came to mind, not writing a Masters thesis on the subject), but I would wager a good majority of games would be just fine with controls tweaked for touch. It won't be perfect, but then the point isn't to provide a Perfect Nintendo Experience. It's only to get people back to using Nintendo on a daily basis -- to remind them that they still even exist as an option.

They can then go buy a Wii U or 3DS to get the better, tighter experience. This isn't about replacing Nintendo hardware. It's getting the foot back in the door. Something Nintendo needs to think about since the door is currently being slammed in their face.

 
jb is offline. jb 28.11.2014#12

Flynnie said:
I could have sworn that I've seen some Nintendo games on airlines before...maybe I'm wrong...

id say nintendo are just revising an old patent. I don't think anything will come of this.


Ya - I played F-Zero and Mario on Singaprore Airlines around about 14/15 years ago - was a SNES-based emulator, it seems!

I think Nintendo definitely need to consider it - even offering small demo experiences that act as tasters to the "real deal" - like Jacob says, foot in the door.

Cubed3 Admin/Founder & Designer
 
Flynnie is offline. Flynnie 29.11.2014#13

Why would Nintendo sell their old back catalogue on the App Store for 69p-£1.59 and then have to pay Apple a licensing fee. Nintendo can say FU and sell 25 year old NES and GameBoy games on the eShop for £5-6 instead and get all the profit.

The reason why 3rd parties aren't making games for Wii U? Probably because Nintendo are being greedy by charging to much of a licensing fee. It's stranger that the 3DS isn't being supported as much when comparing it to the DS and it's most likely because Nintendo are charging too much. 

( Edited 29.11.2014 02:17 by Flynnie )

 
Ikana is offline. Ikana 29.11.2014#14

jb said:
Flynnie said:
I could have sworn that I've seen some Nintendo games on airlines before...maybe I'm wrong...

id say nintendo are just revising an old patent. I don't think anything will come of this.


Ya - I played F-Zero and Mario on Singaprore Airlines around about 14/15 years ago - was a SNES-based emulator, it seems!

I think Nintendo definitely need to consider it - even offering small demo experiences that act as tasters to the "real deal" - like Jacob says, foot in the door.

Yup - I played SNES games on the plane to New Zealand (could well have been Singapore Airlines), also about 15 years ago! So this could just be the same kind of thing again.

 

Subscribe to this topic Subscribe to this topic

If you are a registered member and logged in, you can also subscribe to topics by email.
Sign up today for blogs, games collections, reader reviews and much more
Site Feed
Who's Online?
mikem52, Ofisil

There are 2 members online at the moment.