Virtual Console titles dictated by regional managers
Nintendo's Kenta Tanaka, head of the 3DS's Virtual Console project, has said the choice of games ported to the service depends in part on regional Nintendo executives.
"The Nintendo eShop region managers mull it over among themselves, saying 'I want that one game for North America,' or 'I want this title for Europe,' or 'This software is necessary in Japan.'" Tanaka noted in the latest Iwata Asks.
"It gets a bit messy sometimes because a game that is still popular in America may never have been sold in Japan!
"Once the roster begins to take shape among the shop managers, we estimate the practicability and production costs of those titles and consider the scheduling involved."
Genre is another deciding factor.
"Roughly speaking, action games and puzzlers are easy to make, while you have to check a lot of spots in RPGs, which takes a lot of time," Tanaka explained.
Tanaka didn't have a Game Boy as a kid, and is so obsessed with recreating the experience he longed for that he has tried to rebuild it entirely - flaws and all. Although he concedes that going "overboard" would make the game's difficult to play, Tanaka ensured that Game Boy titles played on the 3DS's Virtual Conole feature a yellow-green tint, like the original hardware's LCD display.
Some animations leave afterimage effects, and the image is adjusted to emulate the way the Game Boy's screen was set slightly beneath its cover.
"I even recreated the way the red LED on the left-hand side of the screen cover would grow a little faint when the power started running low. I don't know if anyone will like that, but I paid attention to that as well," Tanaka admitted.
Thanks, Gamasutra.