I have a major tiger problem. I could use one of those rocks. How much for one, Black Dragon?

roms are good and all but nothing beats playing them on a fairly small console,with a nice game controller and a 50inch flat screen hd tv . though i admit some japan only titles like wonderboy 6 you basically have to get a rom to enjoy it. if it came out on the VC i'd buy it without thought. i would pay up to 15$ for it just because it's that awesome. i've ran across alot of japan games that i would buy just because ive played it on emulator, and blew my mind. so i'd have to say that roms don't have an effect on me not buying a vc game. i'd even say that roms help me decide on what games are worth the money and buy the games i found enjoyable.

So your saying that downloading ROMs of bad games in reality is actually going to put it up for a Virtual Console release?

She's saying that downloading ROMs is going to affect VC releases to pretty much the same degree that this magic rock will affect tiger attacks.

BUT SHE WONT TELL US HOW MUCH THE ROCK COSTS OR HOW TO GET ONE!!!

I want the bad games released on the Virtual Console. One man's bad game, is another man's nostalgic trip down memory lane.

Forget the rock and follow the Holy Gourd of Jerusalem!

@Adam, Chicken Brutus: sorry, guys, I sold the only one I had to Iwata. He gave me a golden Wii for it, how could I refuse?

@SSBFan1999: Chicken Brutus summed up my point pretty well. Download the ROM, don't download it, play it, don't play it -- it won't make a lick of difference as to whether or not Nintendo releases a game on the VC. As I said before, if they were honest-to-goodness tracking ROM downloads the way you say they are and choosing what to release by whether or not a ROM had been downloaded frequently, we would never have gotten any of the games we wanted on VC, ever. in fact, the VC would be filled with utter crap that no one in their right mind would ever buy, instead of games like OoT, MM, any of the SMB series, any of the Sonic series, Star Fox 64, BoFII, SMRPG... and the list of good VC games that have been released that people actually want to play goes on.

Hang on, I'm no expert on these matters, but surely if Nintendo was tracking who is downloading certain ROMs they would be more concerned about halting illegal activity? Wouldn't they use such information to try and stop people downloading these games? I apologise in advance if I'm being naive.

Even if they could track ROM downloads or playtime, which they most certainly can't, and even if they didn't want to prevent such activity with this knowledge, playing ROMs is not an indication of potential sales. I'm sure most who downloaded the Mother 3 or Earthbound ROM would love to get their hands on an official release. Before Super Mario RPG's release, the same could have been said for it. Sometimes a ROM's popularity is an indication of unwillingness to purchase the game, but sometimes it means the exact opposite: that there is a widespread interest in a product and great commercial potential.

I agree with Adam. Personally, my only ROM activity is restricted to games I can't reasonably buy. This would include Mother 3 for ANY English-speaking (and in the future, other non-Japanese speaking, thanks to Mato's work to make it easy to translate again) fans, Terranigma for anybody in North America (I haven't played that yet, but I intend to eventually...), and others with similar situations. There are plenty of Nintendo fans who would LOVE to spend their money on these games, if only they COULD!

And I think this is the biggest proof that Nintendo does NOT watch ROM downloads and play times, because the guys who made the Mother 3 translation patch said they'd surpassed a million downloads quite a while ago. Sure, you can't assume EVERYBODY who downloaded it would pay for a copy, but enough would to prove it has money-making potential outside of Japan.

Oh, and I also agree with the point CowLaunch made. If Nintendo WAS somehow tracking this stuff, they'd probably be trying to put a stop to it, too.

No you're crazy. If you really want the games you want you're going to have to ask for crap. Stop asking for Earthbound and start asking for Shaq Fu.

This fact astounds me more than anything. The patch is not advertised in any way that I know of, only word of mouth. If a million people downloaded it, that means there are a million people so interested in the game that they sought out a translation patch. That's not the same as someone browsing a ROM site and picking out Mario Bros. among a million other possible titles on a whim.

And if this patch is being discovered via word of mouth, that means that a lot of this word of mouth is good, meaning those who are playing the ROM aren't just playing it for a few seconds and deleting it. I would guess most of those million plus would buy such a game, even now.

For a game that is already made and has a professional translator offering his service for free, it's just baffling that they aren't trying harder to make the game available to the West. If the rumor of GBA games on the inevitable DSi VC is true, Nintendo of America will be completely out of excuses for holding back on this game. Maybe I'm cursed with incurable optimism, but I still think there is a chance of it coming out in America some way.

@Adam: I'm nowhere NEAR as optimistic as you are, but it's a nice thought. You're right about the astounding facts, though. It just goes to show how large the Earthbound community really is! Starmen.net advertises and has a link to the patch, and Earthbound Central talks about it of course (Earthbound news site started by the guy who WROTE the translation!), but that's pretty much it.

I will tell you that I've mentioned it in Gamestop a few times, and actually talked to a couple people who'd played it. I believe my store manager would LIKE to play it, if he ever had the time. He has gone on record as saying he'd download Earthbound on VC the SECOND it was finally released. He's the only manager my store has had since I was hired (out of three) who'd ever played it before, and possibly (don't remember for sure) the only one who'd ever HEARD of it! Cool guy, eh?

I'd buy it through the wind and snow, Over mountains and under seas. But seriously stop asking for Earthbound and start asking for Superman 64 and we'll get Earthbound. Its so stupid that it must work!

Can we have Superman 64, Mr. Zombies? Please?

NOA Rep. : NO NEVER!! IT'S EARTHBOUND FOR YOU BWAHAHAHAHHAHAA!!

@SupermarketZombies: How could you be so CRUEL?!? sneaks off to play, giggling gleefully

Y'know my friend has a copy of Superman 64. I've played it and it is hilarious! You just fly through rings to get to the end of the level. And there are so many funny bugs and things. In training mode there was an enemy somewhere and we could hear his shooting even though he was about a kilometre away. When we found him, we picked up a car and threw it at him, it sailed a metre above his head, and when it hit the ground 2 metres behind him he suddenly died. Then we turned it off and played MKWii. And that is the story of my life.

@Drowzeemon: That was your whole life, huh? I hope you spent a LOT longer on Mario Kart than you did on Superman 64, then. Besides which, you were apparently born with a friend, not to mention the ability to talk and play video games. To what do you owe this unique existence?

Lord Jabu Jabu of course.