Ideas and Thoughts: Space World '97

29-Nov-97

Space World 1997... Nintendo really impressed me. Why? Read on... why'd I put this paragraph? Good question. Why am I still writing it if I'm done? Well, it'll look really stupid having a less-than-one-line paragraph at the top. Does this paragraph look OK now? Well, almost. By the end of this sentence it should. OK, now it looks fine.

First of all: The Legend of Zelda: The Ocarina of Time. I'm not going to spend much time on this, because it wasn't what impressed me most. I mean, we already knew it existed and was going to be great, so what we basically got was confirmation from those who got the chance to play it. :)

So what am I going to talk about? Add-ons, my dear Watson. Wouldn't you know it, I've got another dinky little paragraph here. Hmm.. what fills space... oh, I know! Maybe if I pre-render this, it'd take up more space. Nah, it's long enough now. I'd better get back to writing about Space World '97, or something akin to that anyways.

First of all, the 64GB (64 GameBoy) pack. This is some of the biggest proof that Nintendo is doing about anything to accomodate Pocket Monsters fans. :) But, according to Mr. Miyamoto, it will allow you to play GameBoy games, and not just share data, though that's it's main function. Since it can play GameBoy games, I'll assume it'll have all the features of Super Game Boy, if not more. More, you say? Well, I'm thinking multiplayer. Nah, not multiplayer like the Super Gameboy 2 in Japan, which has a link cable port. I'm talking all on-screen! And with one cart! I mean, the N64 has definitely got enough power, RAM, etc. to do this. I mean, take one GameBoy cart and run 4 of it at the same time... understand what I'm saying? Anyways, once it does this you could have multiplayer split screen, though perhaps you'll want to sit up closer to the screen. :) Get one Dr. Mario cart, and play a 4-way split-screen game! Eh?

Then, there's the microphone, or as we previously referred to it as: the Microphone Pak, though it turns out it's not a controller pak, so... I don't need to tell ideas for this, because I already wrote a page about ideas for the Microphone Pak, so go read it!

Now, what was a huge surprise to me was the picture-getting devices! First of all, the GameBoy camera, which, with the 64GB, will allow you to take pictures on the GameBoy and put them on the N64, for use with, obviously, things such as Mario Artist. But Nintendo's other picture-getting method was quite something I'd never thought of before, and that's something! The capture cart (or whatever it's called), takes video input cords, and will let you capture images from the TV, video tape, whatever (any TV-using video game too!), for use with, obviously, things like Mario Artist. Want to see my ideas for uses with picture things? Basically they're the same as my ideas for the Microphone, only with pics instead, so there's really no need to write them out. There is one thing, though... that capture cart used in conjuction with a game... using TV as a background... :) Think about it! Play a game of Tetris, and have Monty Python be your background. Or another idea: you know those videos Nintendo sends out? Well, they could have a section in each that gives Mario Artist users the equivelant of new clip art! It could show screens full of various pics, and each would only stay there for a few seconds, enough for you to catch it, yet still allow them to have plenty of stuff. Omigod, I just thought of something else cool...using a tape as data! Sound odd? Well, I mean, a modem transmits everything with sound, so transmitting things via a tape with sound AND picture is possible. Here's an analogy: it could read the screens and their dots similar to a HIGHLY advanced brail. :) Of course they wouldn't use that for much... again, something extra for those tapes, perhaps? Instead of just "See this video of Zelda: TOOT?", you play it through, and you get it real-time on your N64. But why not just watch it on tape? Well, perhaps it'd allow you to move the camera around or something.

Basically, what impressed me was that Nintendo seems to be fully exploiting the 64DDs writability, which is what needs to be done the most. It's made me think something else too, about Nintendo's next big home system, the successor to the N64. I'm thinking it will be at least in some ways, backwards compatible. I mean, if an N64 owner has the GameBoy camera and 64GB pak, the microphone, the capture cart, the mouse, etc. and really like them, is that person really going to want to have to buy the new kind for the new system? Perhaps there will be newer/improved/redesigned/cheaper versions for the new system, but if Nintendo can create an accessory-ful and successful environment, they're not going to want to leave that behind, or risk losing people in the transition.

Joshua Slone lives on Earth.