This documentary tells the story of XBAND, a 1994 modem network that enabled online multiplayer and matchmaking on 16-bit consoles.
XBAND was a multiplayer network and modem for the Super Nintendo and Sega Genesis that was released all the way back in 1994! XBAND featured skill based matchmaking, the ability to send and receive email, instant message-like chatting, electronic newspapers, leaderboards, multiple gamer profiles, nationwide stats, and worked by adding network play to pre-existing games like Super Mario Kart, MK, Street Fighter, Madden, NBA JAM, and more! XBAND had more features than XBOX Live did at its launch, and it was all made possible in 1994 for SNES and Sega Genesis consoles (There’s a Saturn version too!). So what happened to XBAND and why wasn’t it a success?
This documentary features new and exclusive interviews with XBAND’s developers, its users, and the team that’s worked to bring XBAND modems back to life so that you can play your 16 bit consoles over the internet today. Join me as we look back at the true start of online console multiplayer networks. This is the Story Of XBAND!
Steve Biedlingmaier & Matt Hershenson names are misspelled in the Catapult credits. Please accept my sincere apologies.
Check out Retro.live’s XBAND revival progress and their other projects at retro.live/
#retrogaming #GamingHistory #SNES #SegaGenesis #Nintendo #XBAND
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Why it's here
4 people recommend this
What people say. Recommended as a fascinating look at retro gaming history and the impressive engineering behind runtime game patching over dial-up.
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On “Vintage video game cartridges with built-in modems”
It was. Very much so. I have a lot of fond memories of playing Kirby's Avalanche and Killer Instinct on the SNES over the phone lines. I could not fathom why more people didn't flock to the XBAND. It represented everything I ever wanted as a kid gamer. They had the right idea. Way before its time unfortunately, and shockingly. I still don't really understand why it didn't take off. Luckily, just last month (May 2019) there was a one hour documentary on it that covered a lot of the development of the unit. Well worth watching. link to this video
On “Vintage video game cartridges with built-in modems”
Amazingly enough, link has a working implementation of XBAND. You can see a demo of it in the excellent Wrestling With Gaming documentary on XBAND: link to this video
On “How SNES emulators got a few pixels from complete perfection”
If this is interesting to you, I recommend this (1) documentary on XBAND, a peripheral used to access an Xbox Live-like service for the Super Nintendo. It's a fascinating piece of engineering for the time. (1) - link to this video
On “A Closer Look at the Super NES Doom Source Code Release [video]”
There's an excellent retrospective on YouTube about the xband and how it was built. It was a product ahead of its time. For example, the way they got games that weren't built for laggy multiplayer to work was unbelievable: they recognized the cartridge and patched the code. Yes, that means every game that worked was a result of a custom built patching of that game's code at run time! link to this video
