Nintendo Renews Patent On Multi-Platform Game Boy Emulation, But Don't Get Too Excited

I can imagine they'll make an emulator where you can purchase games.

There are games on the Windows Phone stores which are just GBA games running in an emulator. This might go to take them down.

Nintendo could always offer a Virtual Console to other platforms like a Netflix sub thingy, but we all know they'll stand by their consoles till the day they die....

The day Nintendo allows any of their games to go to another console is the day they lose hope for their own consoles. Plus it would give people an extra excuse not to buy their systems.

@Angelic_Lapras_King Well that how businesses work. They don't put their product on a rival platform.

I see people at my school playing GBA games on their i Phones all the time. Nintendo needs to prevent this stuff. It's so easy to get emulators and games on pretty much any open-ended device.

The sad thing is that I see more kids playing Game Boy and DS games on their phones than on an actual Nintendo handheld... -sigh-

@Angelic_Lapras_King And why should they go to other platforms?

2000... That was around the time several GBC copiers popped up, so I think this patent was originally designed to fight those copier companies. With more recent systems like the Ouya being bold enough to advertise emulation as a feature, though, I think Nintendo is just preventing the 20 year copyright expiration date from being reached 6 years from now. They've already botched the Virtual Console, but they'll really lose out if they don't renew patents like these.

@PlywoodStick It is a patent nothing to do with copyright.

Dunno why it was even granted. First Gameboy emulator was made in 1994.

@unrandomsam Patents and copyrights are different things, but when it comes to emulation inventions, Nintendo has offered the Super Game Boy, the GCN GBA Player, backwards compatibility in the Wii and Wii U, and the Virtual Console. Most of the available emulation inventions in existence are 3rd party devices and software, while most of the available intellectual property is copyrighted, then approved by Nintendo, the 1st party. Increasingly, copyrighted software and IP is being used outside of the patented inventions they were designed for.

I don't know the details, but I would think the two become entangled frequently for emulation issues. I screwed up on the 20 year copyright thing! Thanks for pointing that out.

Wasn't there some group trying to strike down Nintendo's patent as it came after the earliest unofficial emulators?

i think that pic looks like the 3ds replacement it may be a phone or a tablet or something in between

@Andrew20
Since the patent was filed in 2000 it is more likely that device is meant to look like a generic Palm Pilot.

This is obviously a legal move towards taking action against emulators, which will result in them being illegal... Why on earth you say 'But don't get too exited' is just stupid, people DO NOT want Nintendo games running on poopoodoodoocacapoopledoople non-Nintendo hardware and you should know and more importantly condone that fact!

@jboy1807
Actually, the patent seems to be for a specific method of emulation to get the games performing like they would if done natively. So really, its more like they want the best emulation only available from their products like the Super Gameboy or GBA player.

Obviously your wrong about people not wanting Nintendo games on "poopoodoodoocacapoopledoople non-Nintendo hardware", older ones anyway, because plenty of people are indeed emulating them. The problem isn't emulators, they're considered legal for a reason, its that the method of obtaining games isn't always so.

There would be nothing stopping you from (legally) buying a digital copy of a game and emulating it on another device, likewise, theres nothing stopping Nintendo from making a name-brand emulator for them and making the roms only available on the e-shop either if they wanted.

@Angelic_Lapras_King That would make no sense...

"Loath" in the articles context is spelled like that. Just a minor nitpick.

And do people actually want official iPhone or Android emulation? I ask this because there are hundreds of emulators already on the store. And before you delete this comment, I'm not advocating you use those emulators. If you were to use one of those emulators, you'd realize that trying to play games meant for buttons on a touchscreen SUCKS CHIHUAHUA JEWELS

Well Ouya has all the emulators and it runs on an Android derivative. Do you think this may also allow Nintendo to block the sale of GBA clones such as the Super Advance Port by Retrobit? (I used it on my Super Retro Trio and it works well).

"there are numerous Game Boy emulators available on Android already, none of which have Nintendo's blessing"

none of which need nintendo's blessing, because emulation is not illegal, at least not in the EU.
unauthorised distribution of copyrighted material is not the same thing as emulation, even though nintendo's propaganda would have you believe they are one and the same.

@SethNintendo well they can be used to make new games although that's very rare, and your estimate of 95% is probably fairly accurate.
what about the people who already own a legal copy of copyrighted material, who have been denied their legal right to create a backup copy? why doesn't nintendo sell a usb card reader so that i can exercise my legal rights to software interoperability? it's because nintendo are the "cheap bastards", who want to resell me something that i already bought from them.

not that it matters, because EU law is quite clear on this point (the law allowing reverse engineering and emulation was amended a few years ago to explicitly prohibit devices whose sole purpose is to enable piracy, ie: modchips) that existing copyright laws are sufficient to protect roms.
there are strong economic reasons behind the law being this way.