Show HN: Play multiplayer and singleplayer NES games online

[knux]

Make sure you keep the display pixelated when you scale it for "zoom in".

  .nes-screen {
    image-rendering: pixelated;     /* webkit */
    image-rendering: optimizespeed; /* firefox */
  }

[gge]

Ahhh ok. I'll add this to the next commit.

[JauntTrooper]

Why doesn't Nintendo port old NES/SNES/GameBoy games to smartphones and sell them for $1-$2 each?

They're so much more fun than all these compulsive microtransaction games.

[noxToken]

Virtual console sales. Nintendo doesn't want you to play those titles on a tiny touch screen. I agree with them there; screen + tactile buttons are a much superior way to play.

The heart of it all is in the virtual console emulator though. If you want to play Super Mario World, Metroid, Earthbound, and other classic titles, they want you to go through their store on their systems where they have total control. The DS family and Switch are both portable systems, so to them, there isn't much incentive to make sure Android/iOS emulation are bug free.

There is also that stigma attached to paying for mobile games. I mean, Super Mario Run did really well, and it is a polished runner that (in my opinion) is worth the full price tag. But the prevailing logic is still that paid games are for consoles/Steam and free games are mobile fodder.

[magpi3]

Nintendo likes to keep it's IP on it's own hardware, but Square Enix (for one) has released several of it's most famous RPGs on Android (most of the Final Fantasies, Chrono Trigger, etc.).

Updates do have to be made to support a touch interface, which is why I think you're request is not a trivial undertaking for most companies. RPGs work, but I can't imagine playing a game like Contra on a touch screen.

[vlunkr]

Cause without buttons they suck :)

[chongli]

Because Super Mario Bros would be an absolutely terrible experience on a touchscreen. The game is hard enough on the original console with a zero-latency CRT. Put it through an emulator and a bunch of layers of abstraction to a comparatively glacial LCD, then try to control it with non-tactile onscreen buttons? No, thank you.

[TazeTSchnitzel]

Why doesn't Nintendo write new games for smartphones? (Ignoring the odd exception.)

Same answer really. They make games consoles.

[saltedshiv]

Licensing

[aplose]

Because it would reduce demand for them if they were to try to get them onto the Switch with a much higher markup.

[samuraijack]

People, you need to stop disconnecting the moment you realize you are player 2 in super mario bros 1985!

[chc]

Why? Who would want to be a stranger's player 2 in Super Mario Bros.? It's alternating multiplayer — you may as well just play the game single-player.

[marxdeveloper]

Looks fun, too bad everyone quits after I play for 5 seconds as 1st player! https://puu.sh/vuGsj/77a05399eb.png

[dmitripopov]

Seems like the emulator window does not get cursor keys, cursor down, for example, selects a ROM.

[throwanem]

I had the same problem until I manually focused the emulator window by clicking it. Fine after that. Firefox 51.0.something x32 on Windows 7.

[gge]

Yes, that is an issue I have to look into.

[softwareman]

No sound...but awesome stuff \o/

[gge]

Thanks. I've managed to get the sound working somewhat locally. Since this is based on JSNES (https://github.com/bfirsh/jsnes/), I'm gonna submit a pull request to that repo and push the latest commit to my repo.

[kreetx]

You shouldn't have posted this :)

EDIT: I remember playing a copycat of konami's contra at childhood, and had wondered what the name of that game was. Now I know the original, thanks!

[baldfat]

I would have thought the Nintendo Lawyers would have sent out their Scud Missile on that server within 5 minutes.

[petepete]

It was released as Probotector in Europe and the men were replaced with gun-wielding robots.

[n-gauge]

Hehe... like the way you load all the javascript inside a div before removing the div - sneaky.

[gge]

:)

[sunilkumarc]

I had forgotten about Golf. One of my favorites video games! Awesome stuff this is.

[jwebgordon]

Simpler times when you could name a golf video game, "Golf."

[bruceb]

RBI baseball two player online would be awesome. (If taking requests)

[jgritty]

Came here to say this. Also Tecmo Bowl

[gge]

Certainly! Anyone can request more games by replying to this post.

[DrSayre]

Does the Arrow keys not work for anybody else?

[scottmsul]

It think the edges might be cutoff by a few pixels.

[1011_1101]

Lawsuit incoming?

[Spoom]

Typically a cease and desist letter (to both the actual author, the host, and the registrar) is enough to remove things like this. They will sue (and easily win) if the C+D is ignored though.

[optikals]

As a fan of Nes, I thank you.

[gge]

Have you been playing since the NES was released or recently? I only started recently with emulators.

[aplose]

Given the list of mirrors, it appears the author knows what they're doing is illegal.

You don't have to agree with copyright law (and by all means, please try to change it!), but please don't take other people's work and build products out of it without their permission.

[nugget]

What if widespread non-compliance with corrupt, unfair, or antiquated laws is one of the natural means by which people apply pressure to "try to change" them?

[lubujackson]

If I bought the game in 1989 I can still legally play it in digital form, yes? I'm not sure why copyright now means a company can charge me 100 times for the same product in different forms. It didn't used to and I'm not sure how this changed mindset in any way helps creators or society.

[JCFalkenberg]

"You don't have to agree with copyright law (and by all means, please try to change it!), but..."

Do you apply this reasoning to all laws (eg sodomy laws before they were struck down), or just some subset of them?

[gge]

The mirrors are there in the case that my server goes down.

The ROMs were downloaded from emuparadise.me

[Kenji]

You're like the angry little kid who runs to the teacher when other kids have fun doing forbidden but perfectly reasonable things that harm nobody.

[oculusthrift]

hosting ROM's like this is extremely illegal with respect to IP