<div dir="ltr">Here's the Gamasutra interview with Hironobu Takeshita, the producer for Mega Man 9. He discusses how they made the game, and brings up some interesting points related to preservation:<br><br><a href="http://www.gamasutra.com/view/feature/3752/he_is_8bit_capcoms_hironobu_.php?page=1">http://www.gamasutra.com/view/feature/3752/he_is_8bit_capcoms_hironobu_.php?page=1</a><br>
<br>For one, MM9 is not made using Famicom tools - but it is done in the Famicom style. In fact, MM9 is much too big and complex to fit on an NES cart anyway. This tells us something interesting: that the development tools for those old systems, they're not really used anymore (and it's a stretch to ask whether or not Capcom even has original Famicom dev kits still). So to begin with, the old technology is not readily available for work.<br>
<br>However, you can still make an NES-style game today because the technology allows us to make something that 'emulates' (or rather, replicates) the style of the past. However, knowing what the hardware could do is important still for making an 'authentic' Famicom game versus simply replicating the look and feel. However, there are still people today who make NES games (and not by hacking existing ones). I don't recall the name of the team, but I believe it was led by a guy named Snowbro who is legendary for his NES hacking abilities. <br>
<br>Second, the people who are making games today do not know how to make the games the way they did 25 years ago. This is another interesting point for preservation, because now from a design perspective, we wouldn't be concerned just with development environments but rather with techniques. Who teaches people today to make games like this? Only the people who made games 25 years ago and who are now in producer or lead design roles. <br>
<br>Whether or not we want to consider things like this as our main turf of preservation, it's certainly something that's going to be needed by the production side if we want to understand 8-bit as an option. Knowing what you can and can't do with 8-bit style is as important as being able to use it as a means of expression.<br>
<br>I also think that I was going to somehow write Cave Story into this, but I can't remember how :)<br><br>So from a design perspective, there is not only tools but also technique.<br clear="all"><br>-- <br>The sleep of Reason produces monsters.<br>
<br>"Until next time..."<br>Captain Commando<br>
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