Mega Man 9 looks like a(n advanced) NES game, sounds like a NES game and plays like a NES game. But would it be possible to create such a game on a stock NES?
The emulator Capcom used to create MM9 was supposed to emulate NES hardware and the programmers were to adhere to those limitations. However, having partially completed the game, I wonder how closely they did so. More importantly, if it could run in a real NES, it should.
In this article, Hironobu Takeshita, the producer of the game, says that the game could not fit in a Famicom cartridge because it is too large.
http://www.gamasutra.com/view/feature/3 ... onobu_.php
However, I wonder if it were reprogrammed, I think it could probably fit within a large NES cartridge. Mega Man 4-6 on the NES used 512KB and had more stages than this game. MMC3 can support 768KB. MMC5 can support 2 Megabytes! Graphics during those cutscenes would obviously need to be compressed.
In terms of removing features, the online capabilities would have to be removed. The challenges may also have to go if they take up too much space or slow the processor down (because there is alot to track!)
The sound and control should be fine. The chief problem is the graphics, given the NES's color and sprite limitations. Undoubtedly there will be more flicker in a NES port than in the Wii version. I cannot tell whether they are breaking the background tile limitations (too many colors, too many unique tiles) or the sprite limitations (more than 8 per line/64 per screen). Finally, if there is too much going on in a particular screen, would the game increase speed to avoid slowdown whereas the NES would be stuck with 1.79MHz?
The cartridge would also need some S-RAM to handle the save function within the game. However, the NES and Gameboy games used a password system that would probably work well enough to encompass the shop items (but not the challenges!) Perhaps to save space and manufacturing costs a password system would work better.
The emulator Capcom used to create MM9 was supposed to emulate NES hardware and the programmers were to adhere to those limitations. However, having partially completed the game, I wonder how closely they did so. More importantly, if it could run in a real NES, it should.
In this article, Hironobu Takeshita, the producer of the game, says that the game could not fit in a Famicom cartridge because it is too large.
http://www.gamasutra.com/view/feature/3 ... onobu_.php
However, I wonder if it were reprogrammed, I think it could probably fit within a large NES cartridge. Mega Man 4-6 on the NES used 512KB and had more stages than this game. MMC3 can support 768KB. MMC5 can support 2 Megabytes! Graphics during those cutscenes would obviously need to be compressed.
In terms of removing features, the online capabilities would have to be removed. The challenges may also have to go if they take up too much space or slow the processor down (because there is alot to track!)
The sound and control should be fine. The chief problem is the graphics, given the NES's color and sprite limitations. Undoubtedly there will be more flicker in a NES port than in the Wii version. I cannot tell whether they are breaking the background tile limitations (too many colors, too many unique tiles) or the sprite limitations (more than 8 per line/64 per screen). Finally, if there is too much going on in a particular screen, would the game increase speed to avoid slowdown whereas the NES would be stuck with 1.79MHz?
The cartridge would also need some S-RAM to handle the save function within the game. However, the NES and Gameboy games used a password system that would probably work well enough to encompass the shop items (but not the challenges!) Perhaps to save space and manufacturing costs a password system would work better.