[TaySan]

The official Nintendo Museum appears to be emulating SNES games on a Windows PC, which is slightly embarrassing

Emulators are bad, remember. Until they're useful, of course.

www.pcgamer.com

Nintendo has had a difficult relationship with emulation, and that's putting it mildly. The company has often legally pursued emulator developers and ROM websites, and its website makes it clear that it's not ok to copy or download older titles, nor download a ROM for emulation even if you own the original game, lest you fall foul of various copyright laws.

Twitter user @ChrisMack32, however, seems to have made a rather embarrassing discovery. They've posted a video of a SNES controller being disconnected (via USB, no less) from a booth at the official Nintendo Museum in Japan, and it turns out it makes a rather familiar noise—the "ding dong dun" of a Windows USB device disconnect.

Hmm. While we only get a brief look at the screen, it appears whatever device the controller was connected to seems to be playing Super Mario World. That's a SNES title, of course—which suggests that its being emulated on a Windows PC underneath.

Well, it is the superior machine, of course. Still, for a company that has keenly banged the drum against emulators and sites distributing ROMS—even if they're used by those that own an original copy of the games they wish to emulate—it does seem a bit rich. Nintendo has even argued that emulation "harms innovation", which also seems like a bit of a stretch.

On the other hand, what did we really expect? A proper SNES running in every booth at the Nintendo Museum? Sounds like a nightmare to maintain, to me. You could always run them officially on the Nintendo Switch of course, to keep things above board.

But that's a Windows sound effect for sure, so unless this video's been edited, it looks like the Nintendo Museum may have taken the easy route and booted them up on a good old fashioned PC, via an emulator.

It makes sense that they would use emulation, but it would have been cool if they had used the original hardware instead. Also, why not use their own emulator?

 

[Hardensoul]

Aren't they using their own emulator? Or you meant own hardware? All the NSO games and the minis are emulated, so they do have their own emulation software.

PC is probably easier to update or add the games later, than a dedicated hardware?

 

[Optimus]

I wonder why they wouldn't just use Nintendo Switch consoles. There's only like *checks notes* 200 million of those things worldwide. Surely they could have 100 of them at the Museum. They function perfectly for stuff like this.

 

[Pyrate]

Aren't they using their own emulator? Or you meant own hardware? All the NSO games and the minis are emulated, so they do have their own emulation software.

PC is probably easier to update or add the games later, than a dedicated hardware?

They made their own emulator on Windows? Or do you reckon they just downloaded bsnes and ran with it.

PC is probably easier to update or add the games later, than a dedicated hardware?

The embarrassing part here is that Nintendo frequently argues all emulation ever is illegal and bad, no exceptions. It's rules for thee not for me.

 

[ExpandKong]

The embarrassing part here is that Nintendo frequently argues all emulation ever is illegal and bad, no exceptions. It's rules for thee not for me.

I'm not sure this is what they frequently do.

 

[Pyrate]

I'm not sure this is what they frequently do.

Intellectual Property & Piracy FAQ | Nintendo Support

en-americas-support.nintendo.com

While we recognize the passion that players have for classic games, supporting emulation also supports the illegal piracy of our products.

That was only one example because I really can't be bothered to actually point out something this obvious and well known. They don't even want you to rip your own games lmfao:

Intellectual Property & Piracy FAQ | Nintendo Support

en-americas-support.nintendo.com

 

[John Day]

Intellectual Property & Piracy FAQ | Nintendo Support

en-americas-support.nintendo.com

That was only one example because I really can't be bothered to actually point out something this obvious and well known. They don't even want you to rip your own games lmfao:

Intellectual Property & Piracy FAQ | Nintendo Support

en-americas-support.nintendo.com

Not sure what's the deal though. They do emulate their classics on the Switch, so...

Nintendo's argument is that emulation = piracy. It's not against the tech itself, it's what people use it for. Whether they are right or not, that's quite another discussion.

 

[The Bloody Nine]

The Franky signal has gone up, big time.

 

[Franky Family]

The Franky signal has gone up, big time.

Dedicated to:

My Nintendo Switch

The Police, ladies and gentlemen...

 

[lock2k]

Good. I am, as well, in my house. All day every day. lol

 

[Neil Young]

I like how people are SHOCKED that Nintendo is cheap.