Forums > MobyGames > Dedicated consoles and dedicated handhelds
BdR (7207) on 4/18/2017 7:52 PM · Permalink · Report
It's pretty cool that MobyGames recently added a new platform for dedicated consoles and handhelds. :) Coincidentally I was just updating lcdgame.js for which I had taken some high-resolution photos. I've submitted them as games to MG already, but for anyone interested I've put the edited photos here as GIMP files.
As far as I know the LCD games market in the 1980s was riddled with clones, even more so than the number of NES clones. For example the game Highway was "published" (i.e. sold in toystores) by numerous manufacturers in various colors and shapes, see here. Another example, Nintendo's "Bomb Sweeper" was cloned in BOOM Finder, so is that clone a separate game? Also, some games are hardware clones of other games except with different graphics shapes. I'm not 100% sure but I suspect Sea Ranger and Plane & Tank might be the same game on a technical level.
So I don't know if these kind of games can be catalogued easily, but I guess we'll find out. :)
Simon Carless (1834) on 4/18/2017 9:25 PM · Permalink · Report
Clones should definitely be treated as separate games, yes - so there's a lot we COULD add here, haha...
OmegaPC777 (8238) on 4/20/2017 12:10 AM · Permalink · Report
Are screenshots of the game allowed in this platform like the others?
Simon Carless (1834) on 4/20/2017 2:26 AM · Permalink · Report
Yep, although it's pretty unclear how you capture them unless there's a working emulator (or I guess you can screen capture from a TV somehow?)...
BdR (7207) on 4/20/2017 7:10 AM · Permalink · Report
How about screenshots taken from Pica Pic or MADrigal's simulators? Seem a little unfair to just copy their work, but those are very good&clear photos of the LCD game devices.
Ideally anyone with old LCD games lying around could take a good photograph, but not everyone has the time or a good camera. I've found that phone cameras have very wide lens which deforms such close-up pictures very much (like a fish eye lens).
Simon Carless (1834) on 4/20/2017 3:59 PM · Permalink · Report
Maybe if you put (PicaPic emulator) in brackets on the screenshots that would be OK? Like (VGA version).
Tracy Poff (2094) on 4/20/2017 11:10 PM · Permalink · Report
As nice as those are, screenshots of them aren't any more screenshots of the handhelds than screenshots of Dunkey Munkey are of Donkey Kong.
BdR (7207) on 4/21/2017 6:46 AM · edited · Permalink · Report
That's not a good argument because it's a faulty comparison.
The LCD simulators are based on photos from the original device and the guys who create the simulators try to be as accurate as possible. While those old pacman/donkey kong clones (Dunkey Munkey, K.C. Munchkin, Climb-It, Roller Kong etc.) were made on 1980s home computers with all kinds of hardware restrictions, clearly not intended to be 100% like the arcade original. In fact they sometimes went out of their way to make differences to avoid copyright claims.
Tracy Poff (2094) on 4/22/2017 10:57 PM · Permalink · Report
I chose a very distinct clone to make the difference obvious, but either way these simulators are still clones. Even if they were (as far as we know) perfect clones, screenshots of the simulators would properly belong on a game entry for the simulator, not for the original game.
If the simulators were official 'ports', then the screenshots would attach to the same game, but a different platform. Since they're unofficial, if they are to be represented in MobyGames at all, then they should have separate entries with their own screenshots.
BdR (7207) on 4/23/2017 10:28 AM · Permalink · Report
Like I said, the creators of those simulators took the photographs with great care, using a tripod, a good lens, perfect lighting etc. That's about as good as it gets.
Cataloguing each separate simulator as a separate game is taking it a bit too far imho. So putting something like "(pica-pic simlator)" in the screenshots description is a better idea I think.
Alaka (106092) on 4/23/2017 5:31 PM · Permalink · Report
Tracy is right imho. I think this discussion was already had when someone wanted to add simulator screenshot to non-emulated arcade games and it wasn't allowed. The bottom line is new browser game entries are needed for those browser simulators if we are to keep this site consistent.
Tracy Poff (2094) on 4/24/2017 11:15 PM · edited · Permalink · Report
I'm not trying to disparage the work of the people that created the simulators. To the contrary, I want to give credit where it is due: they should get their own entries, with credit properly given to their creators.
That said, since these simulators are recreations, and not emulations of the underlying chips/code, it is at least possible that some mistake might have been made. We (in theory, at least) don't allow screenshots from inaccurate emulators for this reason, as well.
And, in the final analysis, these simulations fundamentally are not the games they recreate, not even to the extent that emulated games are. They share no code, were not created by the same people, and (I presume) are not even officially endorsed as alternatives to the original games.
From any side I look at it, all the arguments are against allowing simulator screenshots on the handhelds. The only argument for it is that acquiring actual screenshots is inconvenient. But it's not impossible.