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Duel screen games on single screen devices.

thePlinko

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So now that the 3DS and Wii U eshops are gone, the demand for more legacy content on the Switch has grown even more. To an extent, Nintendo has done something about it, adding GB and GBA games to NSO along with 50% of the Switch library being nothing but Wii U ports, but sometimes it’s not that simple.

The Wii U was the only way to (legally) download DS games, and there are plenty of 3DS games stuck on the console. Since the Switch only has the one screen in either docked or handed mode, and I sincerely doubt that we’ll see another two screens system for a long time, this doesn’t seem like an easy thing to port over.

So my question is do you think we’ll ever see Nintendo port them? And more importantly, how do you think they’ll get around the hurdles? This doesn’t necessarily mean ported to the Switch, but maybe their next console or any future console after that.
 

VikzeLink

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When you play DS games on the Wii U there are many options for how to play them. You can choose to use the gamepad as the lower screen and the TV as the upper one, or you can just display everything on the TV in various ways and only use the gamepad for touch controls.

That's where the problem lies tbh, the touch controls. They'd need to rework that somehow. One possible solution that I just thought of would be for nintendo to offer a new, special type of controller that you can buy for the system. A controller that is only a touch screen
 

mαrkαsscoρ

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there already exists some DS games on switch w/ others incoming, it's really a case by case thing depending on how touch screen heavy a particular game is, not sure how likely we'll see a switch NSO for instance
 

thePlinko

What’s the character limit on this? Aksnfiskwjfjsk
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there already exists some DS games on switch w/ others incoming, it's really a case by case thing depending on how touch screen heavy a particular game is, not sure how likely we'll see a switch NSO for instance
Yeah, but most of those games had to be directly remade or altered in some way to work without the touchscreen. I doubt that it would be too efficient to do that for every game, even just the ones without a major use for the bottom screen.
 
Any game that made extensive use of two screens will be hard to bring over. I'm thinking of the likes of the DS and 3DS Mario & Luigi games, Nintendo Land, and Game & Wario.

Touch screen games could work. It would definitely be harder on a capacitive touch screen but maybe Nintendo could sell capacitive styluses on their site. That would help for the likes of Kirby Canvas Curse and Kirby and the Rainbow Curse.

Games that felt like they shoehorned in two screens, like Star Fox Zero, could easily work by simply making the TV display accurate.
 

twilitfalchion

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I agree on it really just being an individual port job for each game. Nintendo's already shown that minimal effort for porting games that are from systems with nonexistent gimmick features is the norm. I'd expect that even more so for systems where the gimmicks are a big enough hurdle to require extensive control or gameplay reworks.
 

Mikey the Moblin

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My solution to this is the same as it always has been. Develop remote control compatibility between the switch and smartphones (or even 3ds) so that people can use their smart phones as a touch screen for emulated ds games and touch compatible switch games without having to play in handheld mode.


Sidenote, please bring back drawing on the map in tears, one of the best features from the ds games
 

thePlinko

What’s the character limit on this? Aksnfiskwjfjsk
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My solution to this is the same as it always has been. Develop remote control compatibility between the switch and smartphones (or even 3ds) so that people can use their smart phones as a touch screen for emulated ds games and touch compatible switch games without having to play in handheld mode.
Ok, so then what happens in games where you need to use both the touchscreen and button controls at the same time like Metroid Prime Hunters?
 

thePlinko

What’s the character limit on this? Aksnfiskwjfjsk
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As I mentioned in my previous post, but that no one seem to have picked up on; Nintendo should create a new controller, that you can buy separately, that features a touch screen on it
See, I thought about that too, something along the lines of the special replica controllers that they released for the other NSO consoles, but instead it’s made to look like the bottom half of a DS.

The problem is that I’m pretty sure those would be incredibly expensive, even when compared to the other controllers due to needing an entire screen, not to mention the battery life would most likely be horrible. I just don’t see Nintendo putting in the effort to making an expensive new controller that’s only purpose is to play relatively obscure 17 year old games. That really doesn’t sound like it would sell too well to me.
 

Mikey the Moblin

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As I mentioned in my previous post, but that no one seem to have picked up on; Nintendo should create a new controller, that you can buy separately, that features a touch screen on it
I much prefer the smartphone solution since Nintendo likes them quite a bit, there's already a Nintendo online app, the switch is already Bluetooth compatible, and most people already have one, and the only people who would absolutely need this feature are likely older fans (since the point is DS games)
A controller with both buttons and a touch screen, or a USB attachment for phones with controller inputs, would be a cool way to customize and get a bit more profit out of the whole thing, but it's so much easier to develop an app that does it on its own than to develop and manufacture an entire new line of controllers, so if they ever did it I think it would be in addition to another cheaper solution
 

thePlinko

What’s the character limit on this? Aksnfiskwjfjsk
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I imagine you could get some kind of hardware accessory to that effect that would attach to your phone.
Which would fall back to the same problem I had with releasing a new controller for it, being that this is a big hassle for a couple of old games. If anything, having to buy an add on for a third party device on top of that seems like an even bigger hassle. Not to mention the fact that the DS touchscreen is significantly different from a phone touchscreen.
 

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