Recently, I booted up my Nintendo Wii and decided to browse through the Wii Virtual Console service for the first time in ages. It's a rather strange experience sifting through that particular shop interface in 2015, but as I scrolled through the pages and lists of games I couldn't help but be rather impressed. According to Wikipedia, the list of games spanned nearly 400 titles across nine different systems.
The selection of available consoles still makes me smile. I remember opening an issue of Nintendo Power at one point during the Wii launch hype and finding out that Sega Genesis games were going to be included in the Virtual Console service. As an admitted Sega fanboy I was ecstatic and sure enough, you can still boot a Wii today and buy copies of classic Genesis titles from Alex Kidd to Vectorman. The Sonic games supported Lock-On with Sonic and Knuckles. Even stuff like MUSHA, which is incredibly hard to get a hold of in physical form, found its way onto the service.
I discovered a love for the Turbografx-16 by playing games like Bonk and Dungeon Explorer for the first time on Wii VC. NeoGeo stuff being available was mind-boggling. There were even a select few Commodore 64 titles available at one point, though sadly they've been delisted.
I also loved the ease of multiplayer, especially for consoles like the Turbografx where the multitap was required. Pick up some Wii remotes, Classic controllers, and even Gamecube controllers and you're good to go without dealing with any of that stuff.
So yeah, the Wii VC is pretty awesome, looking back on it. I don't think I ever stopped to appreciate how wonderful the whole thing was until I went back into the shop just this past week. What are some of your favorite titles available?
- Nintendo Entertainment System
- Super Nintendo Entertainment System
- Nintendo 64
- Sega Master System
- Sega Genesis
- TurboGrafx-16/TurboGrafx-CD
- Neo Geo
- Commodore 64
- Virtual Console Arcade
The selection of available consoles still makes me smile. I remember opening an issue of Nintendo Power at one point during the Wii launch hype and finding out that Sega Genesis games were going to be included in the Virtual Console service. As an admitted Sega fanboy I was ecstatic and sure enough, you can still boot a Wii today and buy copies of classic Genesis titles from Alex Kidd to Vectorman. The Sonic games supported Lock-On with Sonic and Knuckles. Even stuff like MUSHA, which is incredibly hard to get a hold of in physical form, found its way onto the service.
I discovered a love for the Turbografx-16 by playing games like Bonk and Dungeon Explorer for the first time on Wii VC. NeoGeo stuff being available was mind-boggling. There were even a select few Commodore 64 titles available at one point, though sadly they've been delisted.
I also loved the ease of multiplayer, especially for consoles like the Turbografx where the multitap was required. Pick up some Wii remotes, Classic controllers, and even Gamecube controllers and you're good to go without dealing with any of that stuff.
So yeah, the Wii VC is pretty awesome, looking back on it. I don't think I ever stopped to appreciate how wonderful the whole thing was until I went back into the shop just this past week. What are some of your favorite titles available?