Nintendo not planning on addressing Mario Kart 64 ghost data issue
by David Hinkle 
{ Feb 1st 2007 at 10:30AM }
According to Nintendo, they have no plans on addressing the issues all of us face when trying to save ghost data in the recently released Virtual Console title Mario Kart 64. According to a Nintendo spokesperson, by way of Pro-G, "Due to unavoidable technical reasons unfortunately it is not possible to save ghost data." Turns out, gamers are warned of this issue before downloading the title. With the steep price of 1,000 Wii Points, shouldn't consumers expect a little more effort on Nintendo's part? How hard would it be for someone to implement code into the game informing it to save the ghost data to the Wii's memory? We really hope that this doesn't set a trend for future N64 VC releases that used Controller Paks to save data.
Reader Comments (Page 1 of 1)
Charles @ Feb 1st 2007 10:37AM
I have a small hunch based on the way nintendo is so stubborn about listening to what the public wants so long as their legal documents are safe that it will be like that unless and essential part , or rather the whole game is based on the factor of saving on the controller save pak
20XX @ Feb 1st 2007 11:00AM
Nintendo has been sickeningly lazy about the whole Virtual Console thing.
Brian Arnold @ Feb 1st 2007 11:37AM
"How hard would it be for someone to implement code into the game informing it to save the ghost data to the Wii's memory?"
We really don't know, to be honest. It might actually require some really weird tooling around with the emulator in very difficult ways. It might be easy, but, we just don't know. They might feel that there's not enough return on investment to make the necessary tweaks.
It stinks in some ways, but, well, we don't have enough detail to really get mad about it. We can request that they do what they can, but for all we know, they may already have done that. I'm sure that with enough time and money it could be done, but, it may not be worth the time and money, from a business standpoint.
Shaun @ Feb 1st 2007 1:01PM
Oh come on it's not rocket science...
Either the games don't need any work at all and they just drop the ROMS (with some security tweaking) onto the servers and the emulator works. In which case we accept things don't emulate that well but we expect the releases to be a hell of a lot quicker!
Or they actually have to tweak the code to get it to work through the virtual console for all the games. In which case the code is old enough and on a system they should understand inside and out. So why can't they fix or even rewrite it.
The answer is simple, they make money for doing very little with the VC games. Time invested in this wouldn't make them much more money. It's both lazyness and business sense.
Eithan Smith @ Feb 1st 2007 1:37PM
It's news like this that pretty much puts a nail in the coffin concerning adding on-line to old games. I mean, if Nintendo can't even bother to patch something this little, what are the odds that they'll add on-line functionality?
Andrew @ Feb 1st 2007 2:50PM
Steep price of $10.00?
Cry me a river.
Michael Vaughn Green @ Feb 1st 2007 3:05PM
Why would you want to save Ghost Data? Who spends there days playing a 10 year old game trying to beat racing scores? (Take out a pad of paper and track your times if you are that desperate)I think the problem isn't so much that Nintendo is lazy. It has to boil down to a money/time issue. Is a company going to invest that much time/effort into correcting an issue that only a slight number of people care about? I love Mario Kart 64 because of the multi-player aspects. And isn't that what the game is intended for?
20XX @ Feb 1st 2007 3:16PM
$10 is too much when you want Mario Kart, but you get Not Quite Mario Kart.
Marc @ Feb 1st 2007 4:32PM
Jesus Christ, you guys complain about EVERYTHING!
You should be happy enough that they are selling you Mario Kart 64 at only 10 bucks. But now your complaining you can't save your ghosts?
Boo Hoo!
Either suck it up, or let it go and dont buy the damn game!
"$10 is too much when you want Mario Kart, but you get Not Quite Mario Kart."
Not Quite Mario Kart? You must be mistaken because almost any Nintendo fan can agree that this is probably one of the absolute best Mario Karts ever.
And if your so worked up over this, dont buy the game, pure and simple.
Abscissa @ Feb 2nd 2007 11:02AM
I think we're overlooking one important thing: Mario Kart 64 is the worst Mario Kart ever, and was vastly inferior to Diddy Kong Racing.
(/me cleverly dives behind a rock to avoid the backlash of flames ;) )