Tag: Nintendo

Mod Guide: New-Style SNES RGB Bypass Amplifier

This summer, as part of our activities with the Residual Media Depot, Alex Custodio and I are modding several videogame consoles while closely documenting our work. The goal of this project is to create a series of succinct, approachable modding guides that detail the tools and techniques needed for hardware modding. New-Style SNES RGB Bypass Amplifier A common way to send video from a Super Nintendo Entertainment System (SNES) to a television is using composite video—the yellow cable featured alongside the red and white audio ones on the system’s Multi-Out. Composite, as the name implies, sends all the console’s video information through a single signal. Modders have long lamented the poor quality of composite video and have uncovered hidden affordances...

/ December 4, 2023

When We Can’t Play, Wii Emulate: A Critical Investigation into the Politics and Uses of Softmodding a Nintendo Wii

Last February, Nintendo launched Fire Emblem Heroes, a highly anticipated mobile spin-off of the Fire Emblem series for Android and iOS. Framed as a free-to-play “catch-them-all” tactical role playing game, Fire Emblem Heroes features collectible avatars of main and supporting characters from eleven games in the canonical series, strategically offering Nintendo and Intelligent Systems an additional platform not only to advertise their upcoming installment for the 3DS but also to rekindle interest in earlier games.  While intrigued gamers can purchase the most recent 3DS titles online or at any local games store, what happens when such an audience is drawn to a character from a title that ceased to be produced decades ago? What happens when new international fans wish...

/ May 17, 2017