Wii Virtual Console, Launch Titles Finalized

For gamers anticipating the 19th of this month, you have a lot to look forward to. The virtual console launch titles and Wii launch window games have been finalized. A full 32 Wii games will be available within five weeks of the console's launch, and fans will be able to buy 30 classic Nintendo, Genesis, and TurboGrafx titles by the end of the year. Even with a disappointing showing for classic SNES titles (no Link to the Past outside of Japan) the virtual console list should make every gamer, Wii fan or no, smile. From the list: "NES Games (500 Wii Points) - Mario Bros., The Legend of Zelda, Donkey Kong, Donkey Kong Jr., Ice Hockey, Pinball, Soccer, Tennis, Urban Champion, Wario's Woods, Baseball, Solomon's Key." I haven't owned a NES in quite a while, so I'm really happy to see the likes of Ice Hockey making a comeback. Wow ... got in so many fights with my brother over that game.

Comments

Can't wait for more!

[Deluxe_247]

It looks like Nintendo is taking a page right from Microsoft in their online approach, and due to their huge history of games on their past consoles they are likely to have an even higher revenue stream from 'classic' game sales.

FTFA: "Nintendo reportedly plans to make ten new games available every month, so retro fans may want to set aside a budget -- if future releases can uphold this level of quality, all those Wii games may become almost a secondary consideration."

10 Every month?? That's pretty aggressive - but then again how many games have they produced for NES, SNES, 64, etc? A few thousand im sure. I'll be waiting for some of the gems (and would even be willing to pay a premium!) such as Metroid, Kid Icarus, Ikari Warriors/Contra(Online Co-op perhaps??) and the like.

Microsoft really had an amazing strategy with their online classic game downloads, but it looks like Nintendo is going to take it to the next level - and I for one will happily shell out a wii amount of cash for their golden oldies.

Re:Can't wait for more!

[meringuoid]

10 Every month?? That's pretty aggressive - but then again how many games have they produced for NES, SNES, 64, etc? A few thousand im sure.

Remember, it needn't be only Nintendo games either. Go to third parties and say to them 'how would you like some free money?' They'll put their back catalogues up for download, no problem, because it costs them nothing to do it and they stand to get some money.

At a rate of ten a month, Nintendo will probably run out of NES, SNES and N64 ROMs some time around, oh... 2060. Assuming they only put up games that were actually worth playing, there'll still be enough to last the reasonable lifetime of the Wii.

Re:Can't wait for more!

[mwvdlee]

Remember, it needn't be only Nintendo games either.

In fact, I think a few of the Genesis launch titles aren't by Nintendo ;)

Re:Can't wait for more!

[meringuoid]

I only got to see the Virtual Console list after I'd posted; page wasn't loading for a while there. Original Megadrive games on the new Nintendo machine. Wow. If you'd told me back in 1992 that someday I'd sit down to play Sonic The Hedgehog on the new Nintendo console, I'd have laughed in your face...

Re:Can't wait for more!

[Hitto]

While the philosophical "because I can" approach might be interesting, why bother? I'm getting a Wii, but I already have a controller-to-usb adapter so I can play roms on my PC.

I bought Mario and Zelda for the GBA when the whole NES classics line was released - even though it was easier to just use a flashcart, just out of respect, but Nintendo hadn't even thought of adding anything new in them, which, for Mario, was a HUGE disappointment - They'd already released a deluxe edition for the Gameboy Color that allowed a simultaneous-two-player coop mode, while the GBA port had the same old "when I die, it's your turn to play" shit.

I will wait before buying those legal roms to see if they're anything more or better than what I can get for free. Moreso, have you seen the zillions of nes rom hacks? How will the Virtual Console rival with that?

Re:Can't wait for more!

[CastrTroy]

I'm pretty sure that in Canada that 1 point will be 1 cent then. According to XE.com, 1 Yen = 0.00856575 $US. 1 Canadian penny is worth 0.00885100 $US. Those numbers are both pretty much the same. About .8 cents. I don't think they want to have people dealing with fractions of a penny, just as they won't want people dealing with fractions of a Yen. Also, as i've mentioned, iTunes sell for 99 cents in canada, same price as they are in the states. It's not a question of cost at this point, but rather what people think is a good price. So a 2000 point card would cost $20 + Tax. I live in Ontario, so that comes to $22.80

A few titles I didn't expect.

[hal2814]

I really expected the first few titles to all be super-popular titles everyone has played. Then I saw Solomon's Key. Sometimes I've wondered if I'm the only person who has ever played that game. It isn't fantastic but it's very good. I'm glad it will have the chance to get a little more much-deserved exposure. And when I saw Mario Bros I was preparing to lambaste the article post on not differentiating between Mario Bros and Super Mario Bros but the article got it right. It IS Mario Bros. That is so cool. I've always been a fan of it and its derivatives (especially Mario Clash on the Virtual Boy).

It is a shame that they're almost certainly using the NES version of Donkey Kong without all the levels and that Super Mario World and Zelda Link to the Past aren't available at launch but I'm sure they won't be far behind.

PC Engine (TurboGrafx) games!

[nickos]

I'm really looking forward to playing Bonk's Adventure and Super Star Soldier again, but why are they launching Bomberman '93 instead of Bomberman '94!!!

Not all NES games were "original IP"

[tepples]

Go to third parties and say to them 'how would you like some free money?' They'll put their back catalogues up for download, no problem, because it costs them nothing to do it and they stand to get some money.

Unless it's LJN/Acclaim or Ultra Games/Konami, which made a lot of movie/TV license games. I doubt that Mirage Studios would agree to license the classic Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles games in a new edition for nothing. Likewise with Fox and The Simpsons. But then, I wouldn't even want to play Robocop.

Re:No thanks

[@madeus]

You want me to pay extra for ancient games?

You are not being asked to pay extra, you are just being asked to pay.

I'll stick with my emulators, thanks

You mean "I'll stick with not paying because I can get them for free".

Re:Squirrels with Attitude

[thebosz]

Over on the Xbox. Since Conker is a Rare-owned property and Microsoft owns Rare, it's quite unlikely we'll see any Rare games on the VC, which is quite sad. Note though, that only includes entirely Rare-owned properties. Stuff that Nintendo owned, but Rare developed (like Donkey Kong Country) should appear sometime in the future.

Yes, this means that the likely hood of Perfect Dark is absolutely nil, buy there's a small chance of Goldeneye on there (but that's a whole slew of licensing issues right there).

Of course, these are just guesses from some random Nintendo fan, anyone know for sure?

Re:No thanks

[HappySqurriel]

As much as I'm a supporter of the VC and plan to buy games off of there, I do understand why people have objections to paying for the same old games again...

If you have objections you realize that you don't have to buy the games ...

If you own the games and a system then feel free to play those games on that system ...

If you don't own the game, or the system, buy it online from ebay; you'll probably be able to get a NES/SNES/N64 game for about $10 (plus shipping) and you'll be able to buy a system for about $20 (plus shipping).

Personally, I agree with the argument for getting "Abandonware" for free being that there are no longer many legal ways to pay for those games; when companies like Nintendo and Gametap start making legal ways to gain access to their old libraries it is not reasonable to continue to steal those games.

Re:No thanks

[Nalanthi]

I've always thought this "What the?!?!? they expect me to pay money for mario again!!" stuff to be... rather short sighted. The industry has several choices on what to do with old games. They can just leave them to collect dust forever and become forgotten and unavailable as the original hardware and emulators become broken and obscure. This requires neither them or us to spend money but you will eventually lose your ability to play these games unless you are extremely technicaly inclined like oh say.. some old DOS games. They can give away the rights to emulate it to a company that can monetize those rights in such away as to ensure that the game remains playable. This means that you can continue to play the game but you must pay for it in order to compensate the company for format shifting the content. They can build legacy hardware or emulators into their current products. Hardware is expensive and could easily be labled "questionable tech shoved down our throats." Sony had to include a PS2 chip in the PS3 to enable backwards compatability and I don't intend to chunk my PS2 so I don't really need this. Either way you have to pay either for the hardware to continue to play the game or the software develepment of the emulator and any space shifting of content that must be done.

The bottom line is that you are paying money for services rendered. If you want to play Mario on your NES no one is going to charge you a dime. But if you want to play Mario on a different system don't you think the people that did the work to make this possible and distributed it deserve some compensation.

As gamers we have proved that we are not happy with any of the possible options.

The Xbox360 was lambasted for there lack of complete backwards compatibility. They tried to keep costs down by only emulating easy and desired games. The gaming community judges them for not providing what they want.

The PS3 includes a PS2 chipset to ensure complete backwards compatibility with the PS2 and PS1. Gamers applaud. Then we judge them for providing a console that costs 500 dollars (IMHO the 600 dollar version really only adds bells and whistles unlike the differences between the Xbox360s)

The Wii bases itself on the current hardware to ensure for backwards capability and low costs and they get lambasted for not being next-gen. THEN they provide an emulator and download service for almost all of the consoles they have ever produced and gamers fuss because we are expected to pay again for games we have already bought as if writing the emulator, format shifting the content, setting up the distribution channel and the bandwidth don't cost Nintendo anything.

We don't like No backwards compatibility. We don't like free but incomplete backwards compatibility. We don't like expensive consoles with perfect backwards compatibility. We dont like cheap consoles with good backwards compatibility. We don't like paying for backwards compatibility.

Re:Why would anyone want it for the Wii????

[trdrstv]

Flat rate pricing. No premium for premium games, but no discounts either (at least not yet).