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A Quick Heads-Up About AI

AI was involved in this article.

If you’re someone who doesn’t want to read anything that involves AI, this is your chance to hit the back button and move on. Seriously. No hard feelings. You don’t have to read it, give it a chance, or leave me a comment explaining why you don’t like AI. I’m giving you the heads-up before you start.

For everyone else, when I say AI was involved, I don’t mean I typed “write me an article about Nintendo” and copied whatever came out. That’s not how I use it. These are my thoughts and opinions. Usually, I talk through an idea, use AI to help me organize what I just said, read it back, change things, go back and forth with it, and eventually get it where I want it.

I’ve written before about how I use AI, so I’m not trying to hide it.

Still here? Okay. Let’s talk about some old Nintendo cartridges.

This whole idea started because I was thinking about Nintendo’s legacy and all these games we still physically own.

Think about it. There are still NES cartridges out there. Super Nintendo cartridges. Nintendo 64 cartridges. Game Boy games. GameCube discs. Wii discs. Wii U discs.

Those games didn’t suddenly disappear just because Nintendo stopped making the hardware that plays them.

Then I started looking at what other companies are doing.

One example is the ModRetro M64. It’s a modern system designed to play original Nintendo 64 cartridges, and it costs $229.99.

That’s a lot.

But obviously there’s a market for this stuff.

I was also watching a Wulff Den video about open-source cartridge rippers, and that got me thinking about this even more. There are people out there building devices that aren’t that far off from what I’m imagining here.

So if people are making these things, and people are buying these things, why couldn’t Nintendo do it?

Now, I know part of the answer. Nintendo likes selling us old games again.

And you know what? I’m actually okay with that.

If Nintendo wants to take an old game and remaster it, remake it, put it on Nintendo Switch Online, or just sell it digitally again, go ahead. I’m not arguing that Nintendo needs to stop doing any of that.

My thought is simply: Why can’t we have both?

If I already have the cartridge, give me a way to use the cartridge.

And that’s where my idea for Nintendo Legacy Adapters came from.

I’m thinking specifically about the Switch 2 here. Not the original Switch. Make this a Switch 2 thing. Give people another reason to buy the new hardware.

I had the idea in my head, but I wanted to actually see what these things might look like. So I used AI to render some concept images.

To be completely clear, none of the products you’re about to see are real Nintendo products. Nintendo has not announced these. The images are AI-generated concepts that I’m using in a non-commercial way to help give shape to an idea.

With that out of the way, I came up with three devices.

Nintendo Legacy Cartridge Adapter — Home Console

This is the one that really started the whole thing.

You could make individual adapters for NES, Super Nintendo, and Nintendo 64. But then I started thinking about how annoying that would be. Now you’ve got three different boxes, three cables, and you’re unplugging one because you want to play something from another system.

So my idea is one adapter with three slots: Super Nintendo in the front, Nintendo 64 behind it, and NES in the back. You connect that one device to your Switch 2 and use whichever cartridge you want.

And I want to make an important distinction here. I don’t just want the cartridge to act as a key that unlocks a ROM Nintendo already has on the Switch 2.

I want to play my cartridge.

That’s part of the point.

Nintendo made these systems. Nintendo has the expertise. If that means the hardware inside this adapter needs to be more complicated to properly read and run those cartridges, then make it more complicated.

And charge accordingly.

Nintendo Legacy Cartridge Adapter — Handheld

The handheld version could be much smaller.

Game Boy, Game Boy Color, and Game Boy Advance could all be handled by one device with one cartridge slot.

We’ve actually seen Nintendo play with this general idea before. The Super Game Boy let us play Game Boy games on the Super Nintendo, and later the Game Boy Player did something similar with the GameCube.

So why not bring that idea forward?

Nintendo Legacy Disc Drive

And then we get to what would probably be the most complicated one.

GameCube. Wii. Wii U.

Make an external optical drive that connects to the Switch 2 and reads those original discs.

Now, I know it’s not as simple as plugging in a USB DVD drive and suddenly everything works. The Wii had motion controls. The Wii U had the GamePad. There are games and accessories that would create all kinds of complications.

But I’m sure Nintendo can figure something out.

And Yes, Nintendo Should Make Money From This

This is another part of the idea that I think is important.

I’m not asking Nintendo to make these things for $20.

Let’s say the cartridge adapter costs $100. Maybe it’s more. If Nintendo actually puts the work into making this thing function correctly, I’m okay with them charging an appropriate price.

You think $100 is expensive?

Okay. Go buy an original NES, Super Nintendo, and Nintendo 64. Hook all three of them up to your modern TV and get everything working properly.

Suddenly $100 doesn’t sound quite as ridiculous.

And again, look at products like the M64. There are already people willing to spend more than $200 on modern hardware because they want to keep using their old cartridges.

This wouldn’t be for everybody.

Nintendo doesn’t need to manufacture 30 million Legacy Adapters. Make enough for the enthusiasts and collectors who actually want them, price them so Nintendo makes money, and keep selling the old games digitally to everybody else.

That’s really all I’m asking for.

Keep Nintendo Switch Online.

Keep the remasters.

Keep the remakes.

Keep the digital rereleases.

Sell me an old game again if you want to.

But if I happen to still have that cartridge from 30 years ago sitting on my shelf, give me an official way to use it too.

There’s something about putting that original cartridge into a modern Nintendo system that downloading the same game from a digital storefront can’t replace.

Nintendo has spent decades building this incredible library of games.

Maybe part of celebrating that legacy should be finding a way to let us keep using it.

Prof. Rock

What If Nintendo Embraced Its Legacy?

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