Why Did Nintendo Do This?!?! Switch Online NES Kid Icarus BROKEN!
75Back in the early days of the NES, it was quite common for games that were longer in length to utilize a passcode system for players to be able to beat games and not have to do it in one sitting. Not only that, but it was a frequent way for developers to add in cheat codes. When trying to play some kid Icarus recently, I discovered that cheat codes are not working on the NES online portion of the Nintendo Switch. Nothing I tried worked. Why are these necessary, and why didn't the Famicom version of Kid Icarus use passcodes like the US game? Let's take a look at how the Switch Online NES version of Kid Icarus is, well, kinda BROKEN
So part of the reason why passcodes were even a thing is because of the fact that Nintendo did not utilize the Famicom Disk System here in the United States. See in Japan, Famicom Disk System games could save progress right to the disk. That meant they didn't need to invest in, what was at the time, expensive on-board memory, battery backups, or anything along those lines. Well, the Famicom disk system never came out in the United States, so Nintendo opted to utilize a passcode system.
We all know about Justin Bailey on Metroid, but there are just as many different passcodes to unlock levels, weapons, and other features on Kid Icarus. When I tried to go ahead and utilize these cheat codes on my Switch Online, however, none of them worked. Not a single one. My understanding is that the Switch Online actually utilizes a PAL revision of the ROM which patched out a lot of those cheat codes. The NES Classic had the same issue, as did the Nintendo Wii and Wii U eShop Virtual Console versions of the game.
Did you know that Nintendo did this? I didn't know until just tonight. I think it's kind of crappy to be honest with you, but it also explains why so many of the games have the SP special editions on the Switch online service.
#KidIcarus #NintendoSwitch #BrokenGame #CheatCode #Famicom #FamicomDiskSystem