When the Nintendo DSi launched it helped to shake up Nintendo's approach to selling games on its portable hardware, following the lead set by Wii and introduction a download store. A hugely popular arrival was Flipnote Studio, a free download that allowed talented users to create basic but entertaining animations and drawings.
Users were then able to share creations online through Flipnote Hatena, a website that passed one million users. This app and the online service only lasted 4 years, however, due to the arrival of 3DS and a successor - Flipnote Studio 3D. The original Flipnote Hatena service was taken down.
The 3DS entry had a troubled initial release in Japan, though, with Nintendo disabling online sharing features after inappropriate content was distributed through the app. Its release in the West was extensively delayed, before arriving as an offline experience.
For some the peak of the concept was in its original guise on DSi, and now 'Sudomemo (Austin Burk) and the wider Flipnote development community' have launched Flipnote Archive, which is hosting the entire available DSi archive from the defunct Flipnote Hatena servers. The site states that this is 44 million Flipnotes from 1.2 million creators, accounting for 12TB of data.
The project has been in the works for quite some time, with the team having to overcome hurdles such as formatting and successfully generating the correct sound from the files. The results are a lot of fun; as an early taster below are a couple of funny Flipnotes from Aardman (Wallace & Gromit, Shaun the Sheep) that were part of a marketing promotion back in the day.
It's well worth a browse, as there are some amazing animations that were created by eager artists on the DSi.
[source archive.sudomemo.net]
Comments (16)
Wow, these 2 samples are brilliant.
I'd never be able to do this.
I will take a look at some others.
Virtually everything about gaming these days focuses on the past.
God this takes me back.
I never had Flipnote myself, however I did make a lot of flip-animations in the Notes app on the DS which I absolutely loved. Seeing the amount of talent on display in just these two examples is staggering, just absolutely wonderful.
Also, if anyone here is interested in more Flipnote animations, check out kekeflipnote on Twitter! He does these exact kinds of animations there and they are a sight to behold.
certainly found all of mine and my best friend from elementary school's flipnotes, i'm hoping for this site's longevity
I absolutely loved the 3DS entry. My brother and I would send funny pictures with sound bytes back and forth and get a laugh out of them. I was truly disappointed when the app disabled its best features and never used the app again.
Where can I see the inappropriate animations? 😂
The first cartoon would have been better if the present contained socks.
Man, this really brings me back. Loved Flipnote Studio, there were some incredibly talented people.
Flipnote Hatena was my life back then! For such a long time it was the main reason why I used my DSi. So many of my current interests came from there lol.
OH MY GOD I FOUND MY OLD FLIPNOTE PROFILE 🤣🤣🤣
@Orokosaki I certainly won't argue, although online media makes it look even worse. How do you right ten articles a day on Nintendo to make sure readers check in every day? They could do deep dives into every e-shop game or... Endlessly dig up things from the past. And I'm pretty sure nostalgia gets more views than a $5 game on e-shop.
Mine is not that good but it's great that someone got it archive. Hopefully Nintendo stay away from this and let the archive live on.
lmao found my old profile
Glorious. Still Facebook friends with some folks from back then. Genuinely my first foray into meme culture (or should I say "maymay", hahaha).
@Orokosaki I mean, what does that say about the modern gaming industry? If all everyone's doing is looking back, then doesn't that show there's a problem with modern games?
I much prefer old games as they were obviously made with much more care, passion, and soul. They released as full, complete packages and weren't just about draining your wallet for content.
I think game companies need to do some looking back themselves.
@Orokosaki It’s not just gaming. People attack the blockbuster end of the movie industry for constant remakes, despite society as a whole becoming obsessed with glorifying the past by tearing down the present.
For example, go find any old TV clip on YouTube and look at the comments. They’re filled with variants of “all of the TV I watched as a kid was awesome! It’s all terrible now!” It’s all rose-tinted revisionism that the major industries have (quite reasonably) latched onto.
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