by T¹ » Feb 18, 2002 @ 4:21am
GameBoy Advance could EASILY handle snails. It's processor may be lacking compared to a 206mhz StrongARM, but then it doesn't need to be as powerful. Computers & PPCs are general all-rounders, using a cpu to deal with the work (and 3D card if available) while consoles are custom-built gaming machines. Thus, while it's cpu may be slower, it has plenty of additional hardware for graphics, maths, etc. How do you think that it handles Doom? I mean, the SNES had a 3.58mhz cpu but also still managed to play Doom. While Snails is undoubtedly a gaming great, the maths is not so complex that it wouldn't run brilliantly on GBA. Even the original GB had a version of 'Worms'! Programming for a console is different from on a PC, in that you don't just delegate all the work to the cpu. Porting Snails is definitely feasible, and would not require any extra hardware in cartridge.
Another thing, though: To release Snails for GBA is NOT just the same as releasing on another format like PPC, palm, PC, Mac, etc as Nintendo requires developers to become licensees before they're allowed to release software. That's why their cartridges bear the "Nintendo seal of quality". It's why the quality of their console's games tend to be slightly higher, but there are fewer of them compared to competitor's systems, as Nintendo doesn't let just anyone develop for their system. Nintendo are also very fussy about certain things and tend to want to maintain some control over games (gore, family values, etc). However, i think that this shouldn't affect Snails much, and it would be a good idea to port it. GBA is one of the fastest selling systems ever, and releasing Snails for it would help expose it to a very wide audience.