Recently, spotted by NeoGAF member Rösti, it was reported that Nintendo has filed a patent to allow for Gameboy emulation on other hardware, including on the seat-back displays of trains and planes, as well as mobile phones, which was originally filed back in July this year.
According to posts on video game message board NeoGAF, as cited in PCmag, Nintendo was recently given a patent for what's only described as "hand-held video game platform emulation."
"A software emulator for emulating a handheld video game platform such as GAME BOY.RTM., GAME BOY COLOR.RTM. and/or GAME BOY ADVANCE.RTM. on a low-capability target platform (e.g., a seat-back display for airline or train use, a personal digital assistant, a cell phone) uses a number of features and optimizations to provide high quality graphics and sound that nearly duplicates the game playing experience on the native platform," reads part of the patent's description.
Nintendo explains that putting their games into another platform takes a lot of effort:
"A low-capability platform may not have enough processing power to readily provide acceptable speed performance," Nintendo explains. "Unless the software emulator is carefully designed and carefully optimized, it will not be able to maintain real time speed performance when running on a slower or less highly capable processor."
"Our games such as Mario and Zelda are designed for our game machines so if we transfer them into smartphones as they are, customers won't be satisfied. If customers aren't satisfied with the experience, it will decrease the value of our content," said Nintendo president Satoru Iwata in a May interview with Bloomberg.
However, this event does get a couple of different comments online, expressing how fans want it to be played on smartphones:
what are u talking about, we have gameboy games on our phones already, and has been a long time lol, and nes snes n64 games as well
Is Nintendo finally realizing what has been going on for a decade now or did they not care?
Aparently. they have filled many other patents for the same thing before. So I guess it only about protection
It's about time Nintendo. You have been on the downward spiral for years. The Wii was a fad. The only good games are the ones made by Nintendo. Time to transition to software only. You'll stay out of the red. They make bad hardware decisions but have great software. Know your strengths and cut your weaknesses. Can't wait to play Nintendo games on other hardware.
As of now, there is no confirmation yet coming from Nintendo.
