Nintendo Explains why Original 3DS cant run SNES games

According to Nintendo, its because of the 3ds' cpu cant handle the 16 bits. This means that SNES games will not be coming to the original 3ds.

“As previously announced, New Nintendo 3DS has an improved CPU, which enables Super NES games to run on the system with quality results,” Game Informer was told by a Nintendo representative. “The Super NES games also include Perfect-Pixel mode, which allows players to see their games in their original TV resolution and aspect resolution.”

Is the 3ds really that weak though? People can run SNES games on psp, so I feel like it cant be too bad to run on 3ds. What do you guys think, is it Nintendo not wanting to put extra work into it to get it to run on the original 3ds or is the og 3ds just that under-powered?

Source: http://www.gameinformer.com/b/news/archive/2016/03/09/nintendo-explains-why-snes-games-will-only-run-on-new-3ds.aspx?utm_content=buffer745ab&utm_medium=social&utm_source=twitter.com&utm_campaign=buffer

They just want to sell New 3DS,lazy excuse.

I'm sure the 3DS can run the SNES games, but running it with the Home Menu and Miiverse integration as well as giving it Save States probably costs a lot of CPU power or whatever.

That or Nintendo is just trying to add more value into a New 3DS to get people to buy more.

Its a BS excuse...they just want to give the impression that New3DS have more of its *own* games..so it can sell more. :P

It's a little of column A, little of column B.

The home-brew can do it argument falls a bit flat. They'll push the system all the way, when Nintendo is clearly not going to drop features like Home and save states. IIRC, the 3DS isn't much beyond the PSP at the end of the day.

Of course, given how they expect people to rebuy them on 3DS, there's the undeniable money grab aspect too.

@darkspineslayer: Yeah I had the feeling that the 3DS can do SNES when I'm playing GBA titles on my 3DS with no problem. I always assumed it was an OS fault

I agree, I mean, I don't see how the original 3DS can't run SNES games but can run GBA games that basically 16-bit games?

@FireEmblem_Man: The GBA titles DID get to drop OS features. And IIRC they literally run in DS mode, so it's not exactly emulation?

Don't quote me on any of this. maybe @charizard1605 can explain better.

I am reassured with my n3DS purchase.

@Legend002: I just want to comment that I am in total agreeance of your Sig and Avatar.

@LegatoSkyheart: I respect those with great taste. *<3 Cordelia*

To be fair, in Nintendo's eyes, it's probably true. They also said the same thing about GBA games on 3DS, yet I have the GBA Ambassador games and they ran on my original 3DS with no issues at all, but Nintendo said they weren't high enough quality to sell..

Remember something: It isn't a lie if YOU believe it. Nintendo obviously believes their own b.s.

Ehhh, to be honest I don't care at all about this. I got a N3DS because: the L button broke on my old 3DS so it hindered my 100% run in OOT3D and my playthrough of Smash 3DS, my birthday was less than a month before it came out so it made a great late birthday present (Birthday January 18, release date February 13), and I just wanted an upgrade because I have had the same old 3DS for almost 3 years so I felt it was time to upgrade. I also got some armor for the N3DS while later (probably July or August 2015?) so it's now drop proof.

Anyway, the best thing to do is just wait for a price cut on the N3DS which probably will happen around later this year and then get the SNES games. I'm not going to get any SNES games on my N3DS until the Unified account system is activated across the world, which is probably the smartest thing to do right now if you have a N3DS.

I guess the reason they did the SNES games was because they wanted to add more exclusivity to the N3DS because there weren't any big exclusives for that system (as in not many N3DS exclusives).

So in conclusion, this is probably a dumb excuse, but it doesn't affect me at all, nor should it affect any other N3DS owners either. However, I would wait until the Nintendo Account launches, so that way we won't have to worry about buying the same game twice.

My DS runs SNES games. And that's all I'm going to say about that (I'm aware of forum rules :)). Nintendo now realizes the benefit of the eshop, and downloading games. So, it will get people to buy the New 3DS. It won't matter either way. The NX will replace it soon enough.

If Nintendo think their customers will believe that that, then they obviously think their customers are morons.

@aigis: "people can run SNES games on psp"

What?

PSP was pretty much a portable emulator machine

Yeah it's a bullcrap excuse.

@sonic_spark:

DS does not run them "quality", EVEN when adding an additional cart. Even psp is not perfect. Nintendo is pretty ace when it comes to VC quality. Couple hiccups here and there but it's clear a lot of effort goes towards getting a quality representation.

Ehhh, sounds like an excuse not to do the extra work making it run on older 3DS models. I mean, I've seen hackers running N64 emulators on PSP and 3DS should be more powerful than THAT.

Disappointed because I want to purchase SNES games but I only have an original 3DS. Oh well.

sounds like a load of shit they made up to sell more New 3DS handhelds

they got Galaxy Force II arcade port running on a 3DS they can sure as shit get an SNES emulator running if they tried

anyhow, people can buy those flash carts that have removable micro-SD cards to play DS/GBA ROMS on the regular Nintendo DS, and they also had emulators to run SNES games from, if they can run SNES games on a DS they surely Nintendo can do it legit on a 3DS too

It has nothing to do with the 3DS being under-powered or them not wanting to put in the work, they want to sell New 3DS's and they want people to double dip to buy New 3DS's...

What a lazy excuse, absolutely terrible.

It requires homebrew, but it is possible. You can actually run n64 games on psp too, but its not that great

All you suckers probably buy the same Virtual Console games on Wii, WiiU, and N3DS

They want you to buy the new hardware.

And they also want you to rebuy the games as well....

yeah and you cant blame them. I bought NES games on Wii, so I've shown that the system works.

lol What a load of shit.

Good grief they are full of crap on this. 3DS must be many, many times more poweful than SNES. There is no way it can't emulate SNES games. Doesn't it emulate N64 games? It even has a pretty good port of a Wii game (and yes, I realize a port is not the same as emulation... but still). This excuse is laughable.

Well, i just have a 3DS, so i guess i need to find a sucker to sell it and get the N3DS.

Or just keep my 3DS and don't bother with the SNES thing.

I wouldn't buy SNES games on the 3DS regardless, but my question is... if I buy an SNES game on any Nintendo system will it be available on any other Nintendo system that also supports SNES games?

I don't believe this, but even if I did it's not what's too concerning. What's bothersome is why, now that Nintendo has consolidated their online accounts, crossbuy does not apply? You have to buy the whole game, AGAIN, instead of being able to download it for free had you purchased it prior on the Wii or U. Nintendo has everyone's purchase history from their NNID.

There's a nagging doubt in the back of my mind that Nintendo's not going to bring accounts as everyone has been hoping for. I don't believe they ever specifically stated they would, it was just an assumption from gamers. This isn't boding well.

Huh. I had no idea the DS was more powerful than 3DS. The DS can run SNES games. I fucking hate when companies lie, hoping we're idiots.

I don't think they're lying 100% here. I'm fairly sure they could get every SNES game running perfectly on older 3DSes, but they'd need to code it specifically to that hardware instead of placing it into an emulated environment which basically "brute forces it" (or so is my understanding). Homebrew 3DS SNES emulation is choppy as hell, and those who've tried it support Nintendo on this. But again, if they really wanted to I've no doubt it could be done. Just another example of them being lazy or not seeing enough profit in it to be worthwhile.

So is the original 3DS's CPU weaker than a freaking Intel Celeron from 2001? Because that is what I had back then and I played SNES games via emulation just fine on it.

No. Nintendo is very greedy with their VC games. You'd think you could recieve a download code for a game you've purchased that you can activate on all Nintendo platforms it's available on (to make up for their inability to provide an account for us), but no. More money is better. I've personally bought Super Metroid three times because of this. Looks like I'll have to buy it a fourth time if I want a 3DS version.

True, I remember now that you mention it that SNES game didn't work good on DS. They almost worked though, and if some random dude can do that, I'm pretty sure Nintendo themselves can make them work on a regular 3DS. Even though SNES games don't run good on the DS, they still run good on other older-than-3DS hardware. It's probably as you say, though. The little hassle of getting SNES games to work on regular 3DS is probably enough for Nintendo to not bother at all.

If I remember right the chip used in the SNES was (6502?) actually a 32bit internal chip. That could be the reason?

Then there was a custom scaling chip, and a custom audio chip, plus the fact your translating from long word to short word RISC chip. Probably more overhead then that cheap arm chip can handle.

Yup, clearly a moneygrab. Everyone knows that if you want to sell billions of units you need to provide a handful of old ass games

Why doesn't the PS4 just play all PS3 games? Or the XB1 just play all X360 games? All marketing ploys? Hmm. That could be part of it. Emulation isn't necessarily possible or easy on certain hardware, even if that hardware is 10x more powerful. Also depends on how accurate you want it to be emulated.

I been loving my new 3DS for awhile now and Nintendo can make those claims all they want, it doesn't bother me at the slightest.

I've got 2 3ds and I'm barely playing them... I really would've been downloading Snes games like crazy if this feature were available, but alas.... No new 3ds in my future nor handheld Snes games :(

The PS3 is technically faster than the PS4 at certain tasks so it's impossible to emulate it at full speed. I'm no expert but I think the 3DS is many times more powerful than the SNES.

Meanwhile, Sega has been releasing Genesis and arcade games on the 3DS with actual 3D visuals and all those bells and whistles like save states and crap. Sega does what Nintendon't even to this day.

Yeah, what's up with that?

So my 3DS can run Majora's Mask and Ocarina of Time...PERFECTLY...but can't handle the all mighty SNES. LOL

I love you Nintendo but seriously...STFU you lying liars.

So my 3DSXL can play remaster games from the N64 like Star Fox 64 and Ocarina of Time and Sega's 3D Classics.........but it can't play SNES games.....???????lolololololololol

They gotta move the New 3DS somehow. Until now there was no point other than Xenoblade 3D and Binding of Isaac Rebirth

This just in: The Snes, even to this day, was and always has been the most powerful console ever made. Nintendo's dirtiest little secret has now come to light. The SNES is the graphics king.