Dataminer Shares New Details About The Emulation In Super Mario 3D All-Stars

I knew that the reason for using emulators was this but that doesn't mean that they cannot improve the games. We've seen wide-screen support for Super Mario 64 and we've seen Super Mario 64 and Super Mario Sunshine at 60fps, both running on emulators.

I'm just saying, mario strikers on the switch would be so cool

Just emulate Time Splitters 2 for me and I’m set. Of course with online multiplayer

@BlueOcean. Nintendont is a fanmade GC emulator on the Wii that adds a ton of features and extras like 16:9 progressive resolution for all games, region unlocking, faster loading and a huge amount of digital save space. And that was released for free almost 10 years ago!

Seems entirely logical to me, build something that will last. If they've got GC and Wii emulation sorted then it could open the floodgates for plenty more games to arrive now.

Maybe we could get more games from Sega's Dreamcast to Gamecube ports.

This sounds good but it's important to keep calm, lol.

Unless you want full remaster

@Papichulo Nintendont isn't emulation. GameCube games are running natively.

I really hope they're not planning on releasing more lazy ports at an over inflated price. Considering they've announced nothing for the holiday season I think its more likely than not.

There's already N64 games on the Switch; Star Wars Pod Racer, Doom 64, Mario 64. Wii; Xenoblade and Mario Galaxy. Gamecube; Final Fantasy Crystal Chronicles and Mario Sunshine. With that said it would make the Nintendo Switch Online Service worth subscribing to if N64, Wii, and Gamecube came. I would subscribe if any of those consoles were on the service.

If this is true, glad I didn't buy 3D all stars

Nintendo Life at least could say that NERD means Nintendo European Research and Development but no, they leave just the word and whoever is reading the article has no idea what that means. lol

@GrandScribe Age of Calamity is their game for the holiday

Meanwhile on Series S and X....

@Medic_Alert Regardless of what you want, companies will release what they want and the public will do the final decision.

@sixrings Meanwhile on PS5.. wait, there's nothing.

Rogue Squadron: Rogue Leaders PLEASE AND THANK YOU!

I'm more interested in seeing if Sunshine will perform full speed with a 60fps hack, because it does on a Wii.

@BlueOcean for Sunshine though is the Switch CPU fast enough to run a Gamecube emulator like that?

@AlienX thats running native though and at 240p, and originally it was designed for 60fps so presumably the Gamecube wasn't that far away from doing it, meaning an Overclocked Gamecube (Wii) could. In an emulator thats a bit more demanding, especially when increasing the resolution and adding widescreen so I wonder if the Switch CPU can run it like that

This is a limited game for a limited audience who wants to relive the old games. So yeah, thinking / expecting these games to be anything but emulation / simulation is just a setup for disappointment.

Meanwhile, I'm very happy with the package.

Loving it as is, emulation or not. Except I’m rubbish at Sunshine. Don’t even think I finished it back in the day. I’m reminded how i just can’t aim straight. Much like life.

@carlos82 It is possible because Switch is running Super Mario Galaxy code in a native way and Wii is based on GameCube architecture so they can do the same for GameCube games:

https://www.eurogamer.net/articles/digitalfoundry-2020-super-mario-3d-all-stars-switch-tech-review

@Papichulo Yep, Nintendo could and should offer their fans much more than this. It's like they want the official releases to be the worst, it doesn't make sense. Don't they want us to play the official versions?

@BlueOcean yes but running it native will be less taxing then using an emulator, perhaps thats why Galaxy has had code ported in the first place

I know we have it on the 3DS but can we get Luigis mansion GC on switch. That’s all I want now

I am not fan of the situation. I would rather play a proper port, not just an emulation ...It is insulting.

@dewokkel boy, do I have news for you...

Paper Mario All Stars plz

I would love a Mario Kart collection in a similar vein (with the N64/GameCube/Wii installments).

Perhaps they could also include the GBA/DS/3DS games ideally in the same, but more likely in a separate "Handheld" collection, particularly as they will require more work (to work around the use of the second screen). And if they could incorporate wireless and split-screen local multiplayer, that would be absolutely amazing (and online multiplayer should be easy enough to implement for DS/3DS anyway). 3DS games mostly look good when natively rendered at a higher resolution, and surprisingly, so do a lot of DS games with 3D graphics.

I hope we get more N64, NGC and Wii games on Switch. I also would like to see the original Luigi’s Mansion on the Switch with sharper graphics. The 3DS release was nice but the visual was downgraded and there’s no way to play it on the TV. Another re-release of that would be cool.

Alright. this Absolutely CONFIRMS a Madden 08 port. Scott-flavored hype train let's go

Nintendo life deleted the comment so I will censor The hole thing this time. Mario: hey you do you want to call, Me: B####, Mario: ok calling B####. by the way B#### is nintendo. Is that better nintendo life? (B#### is nintendo by the way)

The Legend of Zelda 3D All-Stars, (featuring Ocarina of Time, Wind Waker, and Twilight Princess) sounds like a strong possible release for next year to celebrate Zelda' s 35th anniversary.

Making a game run at a higher resolution, using an emulator isn't a 'remaster'. I think the term he's looking for is 'cashgrab'

@westman98
No Majora’s Mask?

Say what ya'll will, but I still want those 3 games on a cartridge for my Switch. How many 'perfect' games were made in the 90s/00s totally glitch free, etc? Hardly any. The 3-pack is still a good deal to any adult with a job. Hopefully they patch out little inconsistencies like those grey cubes in Sunshine. If you aren't interested in the games, or are interested in emulating them at a higher frame rate, then do that and shhhh. Let me know when you hack it onto the Switch. I still like that stuff but I'm happy to buy this package.

@Hunt3r_Cr0wl3y
I really hope so. Also would like Dark Moon on Switch with some checkpoints, Amiibo features, HD remaster or upscale and the ability to play on the TV.

Even Nintendo emulates 😁

I'd say it's more an example of Nintendo covering its bases. They don't know when or if they'll want to bring other retro games to Switch, but when they decided to bring up these games, it made more financial sense to create a system that would make the process cheaper and faster for other titles in the future. This way, they don't start over each time, unless they want a legit remake.

Now all we need is waverace blue storm and Fzero GX

And people think n64/GCN games are going to come to NSO? Laughable when they are still actively selling them at retail.

We need the good news in this crapfest of a year. PLEASE let the speculation prove true.

@iN5OMANiAC That's business baby, and I'm buying in this instance. It's convenient.

@koekiemonster oh, do tell please 😉

I dont want to pay $60 for emulation games, they should have remake them for the switch, takes more time for them, wonder how they will make this to 4k, if emulation is the future that proves no 4k will happen in the next 20 years with nintendo...

@Papichulo That's not emulation, it's a virtual machine.

@carlos82 No, it's 480p, and you got some other things wrong, the resolution increase doesn't affect emulation speed considerably because it's done by the GPU, the CPU is busy with the emulation. As for widescreen that's not done by the emulator, it's done by the game itself, the Sunshine build used here is 640x360 when run on a real GameCube. This kind of widescreen doesn't increase hardware taxing either because like all the other Wii and GameCube titles it's still the same resolution or less.

It is because of what you said that I even suggested it in the first place, the game was already designed for 60 fps, but it's possible this emulator is running the game at a slower (emulated GC CPU) clock speed to keep performance up.

Game was rebuilt, we don't know how fast or slower it may be against the original.
For all we know functions of the game could've been replaced for more generic, easier to emulate versions.

@westman98 The Wind Waker and Twilight Princess can simply be Wii U ports.

F-zero SNES
F-zero x N64
F-zero gx GameCube

What a trilogy this would be.

More 60 dollar roms? I cannot wait!

Nintendolife: 9/10

Nintendo fans. "Sick of waiting for N64 and GC games, give us these games on switch"

Nintendo fans years later" emulation of N64 and GC games is a disgrace "if they are not remastered ports then don't bother"

Gotta admit it's funny reading the comments on various websites.

This sounds great. And while it's true that emulators can be made to offer more but the more you add to them increases testing time because you have to test everything you did that's new. I would love (infinitely more than any widescreen stuff or increases in framerate) for them to just fix the Mario 64 camera to be dual analog and work like it does in Odyssey (where it doesn't move mid jump all the time). But I recognize that would require more testing. Nintendo's pretty good at limiting camera movement to not reveal graphical optimizations off screen like pre-loaded models under the floor or missing extremities below the counter in a store or the entire backside of a model not being rendered or textured at all. Any of those abstractions can become very leaky if you just open the floodgates graphically without rigorous testing which means more time and not getting this game today but maybe in January or March. Maybe they'll be able to patch Widescreen in in the future, who knows. But throwing terms like "lazy" around is so incredibly disrespectful to individual employees (read: people) we don't know who are probably actually working very hard under extreme circumstances from their homes. If you don't think these games are worth $20 each, or $10/$20/$30 or $15/$20/$25 (or whatever split) given the increase in resolution and the remade textures/fonts + the music collection then that just means the collections aren't for you, nothing more. I've paid for Mega Man 2 on different platforms more times than I remember and I'm sure I'll do it again because I love the game. I don't really care how it's implemented that I get it. No matter how old it is I'll never think Mario 64 isn't worth even 10 dollars. I just paid $13 for some f-ing pancakes.

Paper Mario TTYD and F-Zero GX HD please.

@Don
Yep. Much like how there was no Galaxy 2.

@sanderev
Ideally, such a Zelda collection would consist of the 3DS remake of Ocarina of Time and the Wii U ports of Wind Waker + Twilight Princess.

But Nintendo may not be so generous.

@westman98 It will no doubt be the N64 version of Ocarina, far easier for them to reuse the emulator developed for Mario. Using the 3DS version would require a rebuild I would think, I doubt the Switch could handle 3DS emulation, plus you'd need to compensate for the dual screen features.

When I heard these were emulated I wondered what the possibility was of the ‘limited release’ 3D all stars games then becoming available on The virtual console set up at the end

@Doofenshmirtz Super Mario Strikers is good but Strikers Charged is really something else, my favorite Mario Sports game. Would love to see Strikers Charged HD or a follow-up.

@Atariboy I'm loading ISOs from a USB drive with the Nintendont app I downloaded from the internet that I had to physically upload and test through the Homebrew Channel on the Wii. I'm not using any discs and accessing all kinds of features programmed by the makers of the emulator. There's even Mario Kart and F-Zero arcade exclusive games you can EMULATE on it.

@mikegamer Yes, Nintedont is using the Wii as its brain but it's emulating software I don't physically own and at a higher resolution with faster load times and extra save file space. Good emulation improves upon the original. Bad emulation is justass you pay $60 for.

@Shadowthrone also I assume the rights with popular 64 games are frustrating. Is Rare willing to play ball? What about Tony Hawk? Does anyone actually care to play Jet Force Gemini or Body Harvest anymore?

@rjc-32
Yeah, I personally expect the collection to consist of an N64 emulation of Ocarina of Time and the Wii U ports of Wind Waker + Twilight Princess.

Metroid Prime Trilogy HD could also end of being a port-emulation hybrid like Galaxy (i.e. the CPU runs natively while the GPU/Audio is emulated).

@Papichulo Actually, Nintendon’t runs GameCube games natively. Yes, you have them installed on a USB device, but it’s still running the games natively on the hardware. It just forces the games to run in Wii Mode, rather than limiting them to run in GC Mode.

All I know is sunshine plays like crap, delay on jumps random glitchy move sets, quite sluggish controls at times. And why did they not update the levels so if you die you have to jump back in not from the plaza but the area where you entered the puzzle room. It’s not really a continue if I have to start over!
My daughter wanted to play after really enjoying odyssey, but she soon realised this is not very user friendly. Tho galaxy is very much so. (Tho It should have a menu option to turn motion on or off not some half assed thing where we have to keep waking up motion to select yes or no in game).
I really feel this is all a bit of a mess and not the normal approach for Nintendo which normally updates games to appeal to all ages and capabilities.

NES and SNES and N64 is okay, but newer games should run native.

Don't hope for Paper Mario for two reasons. 1: Nintendo's mandate on no original characters based on Goombas and such. 2: The textures of the PM characters are very low res, and there's a lot more of them. It would take more work than just the M on Mario's hat.

Hmmm maybe Super Mario 3D All Stars is limited because Nintendo will bring N64/GC games to the Nintendo Online Service after the sales end?

And yet we can't get backwards compatible games from Xbox or playstation, always tease then they turn around and say they won't or can't. Nintendo does it time after time with their systems, this other companies are supposed to be ahead of the game but can't even do something this basic. Call this ports lazy but they are anything but, besides we all want em so stop complaning , keep em coming Nintendo we need more N64 games =

@Lord That all sounds disappointing. I’m with you that Nintendo normally port and play test to perfection. I was really looking forward to opening my copy and replaying the games. Sounds like it may just stay sealed for the collection and I can replay them on the original hardware. Will check out the all stars next time I’m over at yours.

I thought I would have trouble with the apparent rushed nature of these ports or emulations, but they've hit right in the nostalgia. Right now I wouldn't have the collection any other way. Even the 4:3 Mario 64 has been so perfect for me and my memories of the game.

@Minish-Cap Plus Turok and Turok 2: Seeds of Evil.

@Mushvision Last I checked neither the GC nor the Wii could play ISOs out of the box. Nintendont is technically a fan made mod that can do that and then some, so yes it's using proprietary hardware but someone actually had to sit and program the code to EMULATE all kinds of things the original hardware couldn't. You cant install Nintendont on your iPhone, it's not that kind of app. It's an emulator specific to the hardware.

Basically, if Nintendo hates it then you know it's fan made emulation.

Paper Mario All-stars and Mario Party All-Stars please! First three games fun each series.

More 60 dollar roms? I cannot wait!

@koekiemonster Can you name two ROMs that Nintendo is selling for $60 US on the Switch?

@Thekingjames said no one ever 😆

Now all we need is waverace blue storm and Fzero GX

@Kidfunkadelic83 Thank you, brother/sister. REV ALL Nintendo AA games! If Nintendo makes these two titles available for NSO (as part of the current subscription), I promise to play them via Switch instead of the GameCube at my right elbow here. Let the fans leave them in no doubt as to how much we miss these titles.

@Papichulo What I'm saying is that the non backwards compatible models of the Wii and all Wii U's, are internally capable of natively running GameCube code. Nintendont utilizes that, even though some emulator style tricks like forcing 16:9 are possible.

@GrandScribe Hyrule Warriors:Age of Calamity is gonna be the Holiday title of Switch for this year.

@Papichulo By using that logic then DS flash cards are emulators too? Which is not the case at all.

Nintendon’t is a side loader that can load ISOs that run natively on the Wii. Yes, someone had to program it, but it is not an emulator.

how Nintendo can think of releasing Perfect Dark on Switch, if Rare now belong to Microsoft?

@Atariboy That’s exactly my point too.

Nintendo fans. "Sick of waiting for N64 and GC games, give us these games on switch"
Nintendo fans years later" emulation of N64 and GC games is a disgrace "if they are not remastered ports then don't bother"

@kobashi100 Ah, perspective. Thank you.

If the products are "good enough" and reasonably priced, then I would buy them, as one who argues loudly for game preservation, and all its cultural content. If the products are overpriced, I would wait until a sale - but I would not complain in the hypocritical manner others are employing, as you correctly point out here. If I do not support reasonable efforts while making demands, why should anyone take me seriously?

Remember: people were assuring us in these forums that each title would be released separately for $60 US!

I own a copy of the original Sunshine and I've fairly easy access to the other two titles, so the collection does not interest me.
That being said, my question for naysayers is simple - is the product good enough as a port? Is it less buggy than Skyrim on Switch? Does it run into situations that clearly demonstrate the hardware is inadequate, like Dragon Quest Builders 2? I can credit objections to the price, and the "limited release" means that it will likely never be sold for less than MSRP.

And yet , expectations of remasters/complete rebuilds are just that - expectations. Do they work as 1:1 ports? If so, the majority of complaints and negativity here will not sway me. It is as much the mindless tone of your comments as the content that causes me to "tune out", as someone else said in a recent post.

@Minish-Cap Pretty sure Crystal Chronicles was a source code port. With the left out features and microtransactions added. I could be wrong though. You could edit a rom, or they could have effectively altered the source code and compiled it as a GC game and then wrapped it in a emulator.

Paper Mario The Thousand Years Door on Switch please...
Paper Mario All Stars (N64, Gamecube, Wii)

This is no different than when Square does the same thing with Final Fantasy. I pay them money despite their half baked ports and people will pay Nintendo money for theirs.

Except Square kind of has an excuse because they lost all the files from the old Final Fantasies at some point. Nintendo still has theirs.

@Kabloop
Yeah, so there's a few on the Switch already.

@Papichulo No, Nintendont isn't an emulator, it's just a USB loader. GC games don't need to be emulated on the Wii because the Wii is natively backwards compatible with GC games on a hardware level - that's why it can play them from disc. All Nintendont does is allow them to be run from a HDD, USB stick or SD card.

You could have used Dolphin as an example instead - that's a GC/Wii/Wii U emulator for Windows, Mac OS and Linux and has already been made to work on hacked Switches.

@BongoBongo123
I'm not familiar with those games. I have heard of them, just forgot about those games.

@Papichulo Running ISOs isn't emulation.
Emulation is when software written for one computer system is made to run on a different system using an extra layer of software in between (the emulator) that's essentially a translator between the two systems.
That isn't what Nintendont is doing. The Wii is based on GC hardware so it's natively backwards compatible - nothing needs "translating".

@Minish-Cap Yeah, they're good remasters.

Since they allegedly only started back in February and built this from the ground up the bareness of the collection at least makes some sense. Some stores still haven't received copies because apparently these games were printed very late and aw shipping delays on top of that.

it's the hope that kills you.

Quit these DATAMINES articles NintendoLife. Don't encourage these kinds of acts.

I'd bet on some Zelda games for the Legend of Zelda 35th anniversary event next year...

Don’t wait on any old game from Nintendo. They aren’t a normal company. They are more defined by what the don’t do than anything else.

It's very strange. I recall how upset people were with all the speculation, utterly convinced the collection wasn't coming, or if it was they would be individual titles. Then it was announced and people were upset about the limited release, the lack of galaxy 2, no widescreen for 64 and no 60 fps for all 3. Now it's out and the complaints are about emulation, despair that those systems won't come to NSO and no new games.

I wonder what games these people do play? I mean you're welcome to complain, but there's a ton of new and great games that have come out recently that might keep you and your ilk busy, even if you're mad about all stars 3d.

Seems like a golden oppertunity for Nintendo and I very much hope that more GC and Wii era titles come to Switch!

Of course there is no stopping the haters. I am frankly so sick of the negativity that has cropped up around this release. It's almost as bad as the release of Pokemon SW/SH. I wonder if people just got tired of beating that drum and shifted their attacks to this after they realized their tantrums did nothing and the game still sold wonderful well, just like this release will.

@Cosats And the award for the Dumbest Post of the Day goes to...

@Snakesglowcaps This is exactly what I thought when reading this information.

@Cosats No.

@COVIDberry now that was some sound logic and you are now my favourite person here

@Discostew you’re going to make me tear up buddy. That trailers everything that would complete me as a gamer if it happened on switch.

@Papichulo No it isn't lol. Nintendon't just bypasses the fact that the Wii U disc drive can't boot gamecube discs and emulates a couple tiny missing features. The games themselves run mostly natively in BC mode. It's not an emulator.

Baten Kaitos is the other gamecube game I'd love a remake of.

@BlueOcean The lack of new features or improved games is due to one thing, plain and simple: Nintendo’s laziness. We’ve seen some AMAZING M64 remasters done by fans in their own free time. I don’t think anyone can tell me with a straight face Nintendo couldn’t do even better with minimal commitment of resources.

I don't get why people use the term "lazy" as if they can do better. Sure have there been fan texture overhauls? How many of them were ever finished? Or stayed true to the original vision of the game? Very few. And Dolphin, Project 64 etc have been in active development for over 15 years. And even still Project 64 struggles with some N64 games. Nintendo had to develop this emulator, test it and rework Sunshine's controls to work without analog triggers. That's not lazy. That takes work. And Mario Sunshine and Galaxy look AMAZING to this day! And if people actually played the package they'd see Mario 64 got way more work done than just an M on Mario's hat.

I'm not one to get this annoyed about a game. But, the people commenting here are behaving as if they could do a better job. If so let's see you build an emulator and make sure these games run on the Switch with all their proposed "improvements"! Any takers? Hmmmm hmmmm!!! Game development is not as easy as people think it is and most developers the term lazy is a massive insult considering the love and passion you need to survive in this industry.

@Wexter

Here's the sad thing. There are some who actually think Nintendo stole code from those emulators to make this. Like, Nintendo has been doing N64 emulation at least since the Wii, and Sunshine/Galaxy run at full speed on the limited Switch specs (1Ghz on 3 CPU cores, 4th is OS-reserved), yet the very emulator they think Nintendo stole code from cannot handle these games at full speed within the same limitations. They require OCing the CPU to 1.7Ghz, and try to use all 4 cores. Even then, they still have issues.

Yes, Nintendo understands their own hardware as they have documents that detail how they are designed to require lesser specs, but that very thing is what makes the claim of stolen code even more hilarious. The stolen code would be useless to them.

It means Metroid Prime Trilogy INCOMING

@Nemesis666 close, I thought it meant Nintendo Entertainment Research Development

@Silly_G if Capcom was able to perfectly execute their port of Megaman ZX/ ZX Advent (which were both NDS games) to fit one screen then I'm pretty sure Nintendo could learn a thing or two from that lol

@Wexter well, the Majora's Mask HD Remake is sexy to say the least
Yes, most things haven't been done and some don't work on outdated emulators, but it isn't fair to say that people don't try. Take the SM64 remake that one guy did. Nintendo felt scared enough that they would lose money from it that they filed a lawsuit against the developers who made it. It must suck to work on recreating something for years only to have it completely stripped away from you because someone else is scared it'll take away from the original. Yet, Nintendo takes stuff away from their content as well, such as the port of SM64. Did they really have to take away our beloved "Gay Bowser" meme?

Nothing will come of it but we can hope eh?

Trust the internet to lazily throw around lazy accusations about lazy video game development

Great. I'm really excited to buy more low effort ports for my increasingly dusty Switch.

@COVIDberry It's not the same as yes, we want GC/N64 games on the Switch and as long as they are a part of the Nintendo Online Service we do not mind they are just emulated (because obviously..), but when they are released like proper games on the cartridges, it is absolutely unacceptable if they are not properly coded!

This comment section proofs that everything they would do, would be wrong.

@COVIDberry defenately would love some of Nintendos old IPs revived. Could add pilotwings and 1080 to that list too. Soo many dormant IPs begging to be revived.
PS. Im a brother 👊👊

@dewokkel I know that 2 has the best feel but 3 had some comedic moments and gave it a style.

I bet we will see more emulated games @ zelda's 35th anniversary next year. ocarian of time, wind waker & skyward sword for example - 3pack like mario 3d all stars.

and i hope they will do the same for mario kart's 30th anniversary in 2022 mario kart 64, mario kart double dash and mario kart wii in one package ^^ <3 (or replace mario kart wii, which i hated ....with mario kart 7)

@MysteryCupofJoe oh yes, 3 will be fine too, but like you said; 2 had the most charm for me. 3 had the inflation gun or something, I loved that one.

@Yeetermcboi Dude fans know at this point that remaking a Nintendo game without permission can and will result in their work getting a cease and disist. Nintendo is not scared they just have very protective lawyers for good reasons considering Mario is more recognizable than Mickey Mouse. It sucks for the developers, but they knew what they were signing up for when they started. If they didn't they are ignorant of IP laws.

@Pigeon Considering that took two years to develop and was only one game sure Nintendo could have done more. But, considering you got three HD remasters for the cost of one? Hmmmm... me think you are asking for a bit much.

Question is: if it's an emulator, am I able to run that modded Super Mario 64 with graphics fantastically remade by fans?

@dewokkel Or Kirby Air Ride

Maybe they'll reuse these emulators for a Zelda collection next year, on Zelda 35th Anniversary
Eg: Ocarina of Time &/or Majora's Mask (N64), Wind Waker (GC) and Twilight Princess &/or Skyward Sword (Wii)

@Discostew I just think fans don't understand what actually goes on in development studios. Nintendo is "lazy", "scared of fan remasters", "they stole emulator code", "does not care about fans" as if they know for a fact that is what goes on at Nintendo. Nintendo obviously is not lazy or else you would not care so much about their games. But, games also take time to develop. It's like for people who claim they love games so much they clearly don't understand anything that actually goes into production.

@fadetonoir But it's manipulating the hardware to do something through software tricks that it can't normally do. I guess you can call it a hack more than an emulator because it relies on the Wii to do its trick, but I consider it an emulator since I can play games from a different system (especially with Wiis and Wii Us with no GC disc drive) booting up ISOs that I got from the internet. Not to mention games that were never released for the console.

It's not like SNES9x or other cross platform emulators, it's a UI that bypasses the manufacturer's limitations. So no it's not a traditional emulator, but it runs enough like one for me to call it that.

@rmap I think you're referring to the Mario 64 with Unreal Engine graphics. That's a PC mod which requires a beefy computer and a few other things. I'm not sure the game was completed as it was a fan project in development.

@Papichulo But that does not make it an emulator! TO be an emulator it has to EMULATE the original hardware by working as a translator between the software and the current hardware! All Nintendont is a piece of software that tricks the Wii hardware to run in Gamecube mode. It does not do anything to the ISO or the OS, it does not work as a translator as the ability to run the software is already on the OS and the hardware. All it does is enable the feature that is already there.

If you're going to use an example use Dolphin, or Project 64 or by Bowser even DOSBOX. Nintendont is not an emulator all it does is enable a feature that already exists on the hardware level that Nintendo disabled. That is like saying the PS2 emulated the PSOne when in reality the hardware to run PSOne games was built into the PS2.

@dewokkel yes please please please! Timesplitters <3

@Papichulo By that logic softmodding the Wii to play Wii games from HDD is "emulation". But it isn't and that's why it's called softmodding and not emulation. Different terms for different methods.

Like I already tried to explain, emulation is when software is running on hardware it wasn't written for, using an extra layer of software (the emulator) that essentially translates the game code into instructions the new hardware will understand on the fly. This isn't necessary for GameCube games on the Wii because the Wii is essentially an upgraded GameCube - they both have PowerPC CPUs and the Wii's GPU was a newer version of the GameCube's. That's why the Wii has full native backwards compatibility with GameCube games - nothing needs to be emulated.

So Nintendont doesn't work in any way like an emulator. The Wii was designed to play GameCube games from disc but not from HDD, so all Nintendont does is pass GameCube code from HDD to the Wii so the games can be played. It does nothing in terms of translating PowerPC instructions to, say, x86/64 instructions the way Dolphin (an actual emulator) does.

@Nemesis666 I assumed it was Nintendo Entertainment R&D.

@Papichulo I can't believe you got 19+ other people to like your original comment. You should admit it's wrong.

@Lindhardt I agree. That would be awesome.