Although the final officially licensed cartridge was released for the NES in 1995 (PAL-exclusive the king lion, for those curious), indie game developers have continued to sniff out some of the more recent innovations in the legacy platformer with their homebrew titles. One particularly recent and notable example – Broke Studio’s Super tilt brothers.was viewed by gizmodo – Brings Wi-Fi-enabled online multiplayer to NES nearly 30 years after the console was discontinued.
Super tilt brothers. It is an open source eight-bit fighting game with platform mechanics. It’s basically just a copy of a Nintendo game Super Smash Bros. series, albeit without any of the recognizable characters — perhaps it’s best not to poke Nintendo’s copyright lawsuit after all. Players can eventually choose to expand the existing roster with their own custom characters, though the game is open source and can be upgraded through an internet connection.
Broke Studio has completed development and testing for Super tilt brothers. The game and its Wi-Fi cartridge are now raising money to cover the cost of manufacturing the hardware through a Kickstarter campaign. A pledge of €55 (about $61) gets you a boxed copy of the game cartridge and digital access to its original soundtrack and comic book, though all the usual crowdfunding disclaimers apply, so proceed at your own risk. Provided all goes smoothly, Broke Studio expects to ship the game globally by April 2024.
The game cartridge supports online cooperative multiplayer on unmodified NES consoles thanks to a dedicated board with an ESP8266 Wi-Fi chip, Wi-Fi antenna and FPGA circuit. Players can bypass the console’s lack of a front-facing wireless interface and configure their Wi-Fi settings directly through the game’s system menu. From there, you can access various matchmaking options, including ranked competition and even private play with friends.
Super tilt brothers. It also includes a story mode for playing solo, improving your skills, and supports local co-op if you want to relive the couch-based multiplayer experience. Both Story mode and local multiplayer are available to try out on the web or via a downloadable demo ROM that can be used either with an NES emulator or directly on the console itself if you have a suitable flash cart.
Since Wi-Fi support comes from Super tilt brothers. Cartridge and not a console mod, unfortunately you cannot use it to play other NES games online. Instead, Nintendo Switch Online supports multiplayer on a few NES titles, but you’re limited to playing with friends.
Fans of retro games may remember that the NES actually had limited Internet support – a modem was released for the Japanese version of the console (known as the Famicom) in 1988 that connected to the cartridge connector. It has seen limited success as online applications have mostly been limited to horse racing betting and stock trading. The Famicom modem was not released for the US NES market.