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[Hero of Legend]

So in the aftermath of the newest additions to the Wii U VC, being the LONG awaited N64 and DS platforms, certainly gives us even more games to look forward to.

Let's look over the current line-up in terms of systems:

Wii:

NES, SNES, N64, Master System, Genesis/Mega Drive, Neo Geo, TurboGrafx-16/PC Engine, "Virtual Console Arcade", MSX*, Commodore 64**
*Japan-only **Delisted

Wii U:

NES, SNES, N64, GBA, DS, TurboGrafx-16/PC Engine*, MSX*, Wii**
*Japan-only **More just a straight digital release than emulation

3DS:

GB, GBC, Game Gear, NES, GBA*
*Only 10 titles for Ambassador folks, with a full-release looking very unlikely

So yeah, that's the current lot.

At first glance, you see a big issue; Sega's Game Gear is the ONLY 3rd-party system available worldwide this gen! For some reason, the Genesis/MD and Neo Geo have yet to make the jump period, while the TG16/PCE is MIA in the west despite being available worldwide on Wii.

Have Nintendo commented on this? I don't recall so. I can't imagine there being any technical difficulties whatsoever. Maybe Sega and SNK are cool with just letting people buy the games via Wii-mode. Who knows. And I have no clue why TG16/PCE is still Japan-only.

And looking up MSX, wow, it's a Microsoft console of sorts, I guess that's why we never saw it in the west, and it got greenlit for a JP release because of their lack of success there?

So we have the past and present, why not look at a possible future.

Obviously Nintendo need to get the bare minimum and try to get Genesis/MD and Neo Geo on Wii U period and TG16/PCE out in the west as I mentioned, they're just glaring omissions. As for new systems, this is the exciting part for me.

They can finally attempt to get Saturn and even GameCube support on Wii U. Dreamcast? Now that's a dream! For GC they NEED to use the GameCube adapter and mass-produce them. Unless they cost an arm and a leg to make, I don't see why they can't mass-produce them.

That or release an official cord that connects the GC controller either to a Wiimote or via USB. The latter can be seen as the adapter but split for cost-saving if SOMEHOW the adapter isn't viable.

For 3DS, how about some Neo Geo Pocket Color and Wonderswan support? Yeah I too would love to see GBA properly released as well as DS (why not do DS on 3DS ala Wii on Wii U digitally?). Maybe the latter will happen, we'll just have to wait and see.

Yeah folks will come in and say "Why the hell is _____ not released yet, I want that before another system they'll just put out shit for!'. But this is more about systems and wishes for them, rather than complaining. You can mention it, I just don't want the thread to turn into that.

So what are your thoughts on the VC and the systems supported and your desires for the future?

 

[Trago]

I'd love to buy a VC game once and have it playable across all of Nintendo's devices.

 

[me0wish]

I still find it really cruel that they force us to pay money to transfer VC games from Wii to Wii U mode.

I have to pay over 40$ to transfer my games because I'm more loyal to Nintendo than other customers? This is the main reason I avoid VC now.

 

[QuixoticNeutral]

Full forward compatibility for existing purchases at no additional cost to the user is a must for the next generation of Nintendo systems. The Wii to Wii U VC transition did not go smoothly at all and almost certainly reflected short-term, one-generation-at-a-time thinking in their software architecture/pipeline. As for third-party platforms (as well as the dearth of returning third-party software on VC apart from a handful of publishers), I strongly suspect there were contractual issues here—i.e. parties like Sega and Square unwilling to renew their deals, either from hedging on the Wii U's performance and deciding it wasn't worth it, or devoting their resources and licencing efforts towards a mobile-centric strategy to capitalize on the boom.

Thankfully, this generation of purchases, at least, is already tied to NNID and it looks as though Nintendo sensibly intends to carry their account structure forward.

 

[bobawesome]

I'd love to buy a VC game once and have it playable across all of Nintendo's devices.

That'll be the day.

 

[Crimsonclaw111]

The Wii U virtual console sales are probably very very low... I imagine most people just kept their purchases in Wii mode rather than paying the upgrade fee, and thus other publishers don't really care about relicensing stuff.

I hope they never axe the Wii virtual console, because they're never getting that level of support back.

 

[TheShampion]

Virtual Console remains both my favorite and most frustrating features of any console. Favorite because every so often there is an amazing release that allows me to relive my favorite games (like Earthbound, Megaman.EXE), or experience a game I never was able to before (like Sin and Punishment, Rondo of Blood), and frustrating because of the potential for being a one stop place for old school gaming is totally being wasted.

I hope that this service keeps on being iterated and improved upon. In the meantime, having savestates in Mario 64 and playing it on the WiiU is really nice.

 

[BinaryPork2737]

I'd love to buy a VC game once and have it playable across all of Nintendo's devices.

I would too, but I don't see that happening until the next generation of Nintendo platforms.

At this point I would be satisfied with SNES and more GBA games on the 3DS, to be honest.

Spoiler

And I don't see that happening this gen either.

 

[Zeyphersan]

So what are your thoughts on the VC and the systems supported and your desires for the future?

I will obviously welcome any system that wants to join the Virtual Console, regardless of if I would personally buy games from that system

The thing I'm concerned about is systems created after the GBA/Gamecube. Unless every single console from now on is going to support the Wii Remote and Sensor Bar, there can never be a Wii virtual console. Unless every system is going to have two screens with at least one being a touch-screen and a microphone, there can't be a DS virtual console (after the Wii U). I love what Nintendo did with the Wii and the DS, but every handheld and console before it just used buttons, which means as long as their systems have buttons, the Virtual Console can continue perpetually forward. Not so with the DS/3DS and the Wii/Wii U

 

[Crimsonclaw111]

I will obviously welcome any system that wants to join the Virtual Console, regardless of if I would personally buy games from that system

The thing I'm concerned about is systems created after the GBA/Gamecube. Unless every single console from now on is going to support the Wii Remote and Sensor Bar, there can never be a Wii virtual console. Unless every system is going to have two screens with at least one being a touch-screen and a microphone, there can't be a DS virtual console (after the Wii U). I love what Nintendo did with the Wii and the DS, but every handheld and console before it just used buttons, which means as long as their systems have buttons, the Virtual Console can continue perpetually forward. Not so with the DS/3DS and the Wii/Wii U

In these cases I'm so, so happy for PC emulation. Unless you're the Xbox

 

[amnesiac]

For next gen, they need:

• All previous games and systems released on the Wii U available from the beginning! I'm not going to start from the top again, and I refuse to pay for upgrades. Absoulute necessity for me.
• Lots of games, released in a timely manner. Not one or two a week, give us a bunch so we can have Nintendo's history on all our consoles.
• Cross buy. Nuff said.

What would be nice:

• A subscription service. Let us pay $10 a month for access to a great-sized Nintendo back catalog.
• More emulation features. Multiple save states, scanline/filter options, etc.

 

[Rnr1224]

I love VC but the 3DS needs more love. Bring over the SNES and GBA games already!

 

[Rayven]

First post nailed it. I want a unified platform with VC as my forever library of games. Steam has paved this road and solidly established expectations.

My hope is that Nintendo's failure in this area is attributable to tech constraints and not greedy business practices or even apathy. After all, it's not easy to stand up a huge platform serving millions of users. Guess we'll see.

 

[SatoAilDarko]

I just want turbografx Wii U games in the USA. Give me my five-player Bomberman '95.

Here's the thing about the Virtual Console with price. For the more obscure games they probably aren't getting a ton of money. With how easy it is a lot of people just pirate them.

The group of people wanting those niche games and really to pay for official versions is probably very small. Suppose they cut SNES prices to $4. Would that cause twice as many people to buy them making up the loss?

SNES isn't happening on 3DS due to CPU.

What should happen is that start selling GBA, DS rims on 3DS and Gamecube rooms on Wii U. Though they may have issues just be upfront. There are some PS Classics with more serious issues.

As for cross-buy hopefully the new account system in the Fall will allow that to happen.

 

[Killer Yakuza B]

And looking up MSX, wow, it's a Microsoft console of sorts, I guess that's why we never saw it in the west, and it got greenlit for a JP release because of their lack of success there?

The MSX is not really a Microsoft console. It's not even a console actually, it's a computer, and it was a success.

 

[Adam Prime]

I just want turbografx Wii U games in the USA. Give me my five-player Bomberman '95.

Here's the thing about the Virtual Console with price. For the more obscure games they probably aren't getting a ton of money. With how easy it is a lot of people just pirate them.

The group of people wanting those niche games and really to pay for official versions is probably very small. Suppose they cut SNES prices to $4. Would that cause twice as many people to buy them making up the loss?

SNES isn't happening on 3DS due to CPU.

What should happen is that start selling GBA, DS rims on 3DS and Gamecube rooms on Wii U. Though they may have issues just be upfront. There are some PS Classics with more serious issues.

As for cross-buy hopefully the new account system in the Fall will allow that to happen.

Could New 3DS run SNES games? I wondered if they would announce that during the Direct. Maybe during E3?

 

[Revven]

Gamecube VC will only happen if Nintendo actually plans to make the adapter function with anything other than Smash. And that requires them to make the game(s) recognize the adapter and subsequently, the controller. Gamecube games simply won't work without the original controller because of the pressure-sensitive shoulder triggers which both the Gamepad and Wii U Pro Controller lack (they have digital triggers).

Games like Super Smash Bros. Melee and Sunshine (especially Sunshine) used that feature of the controller and wouldn't be 100% complete without the GCN controller. So, until Nintendo begins to show willingness to a) offer Gamecube controller support for other games and b) produce more Gamecube adapters then Gamecube VC won't happen and people will need to let go of that dream.

Other than that comment, the future of the platform ... my desire? More consistent and more often releases. There is a terrible trickle with their platform which makes it terribly unlikely you'll get the game you want in a generation. It's why I never bought any VC titles on the Wii because none of the games I wanted came out in a time I wanted them. They were either too late into the generation for me to care (i.e Mario Party 2) or weren't worth the price being asked (to me). That's another issue with the VC...

Price. Pricing is very important and I feel as time has gone on $5 is really asking too much for NES games and $8 is too much for SNES games. N64 games being $10 while Wii games are also $10 is baffling. There needs to be a better pricing structure that's much more consumer friendly. If I had my way, it would look something like this:

NES: $2
SNES: $5
GBA: $5
N64: $8
Wii: $10
DS: $10

And anything in below N64 generation-wise can either use the same pricing as NES or SNES/GBA.

I know Nintendo is a business and they're trying to make as much of a profit from NES and SNES games since they're probably not selling as much as they'd like right now but honestly? The 30 cents thing they had going in... 2013 got me to buy games I wasn't even remotely interested in getting -- Super Metroid for 30 cents? Fucking bought and I wouldn't be surprised if many other people were like me and just bought it for the hell of it because it was so cheap. But I haven't bought a VC title since then because the prices are just too high for the age of the games and their general longevity/content (especially some NES games).

Either they do what I said above (not the exact same pricing structure but certainly something similar) or they start having more sales for VC titles than they currently do (which the last time I remember any VC sales were some Mega Man games and they barely hit the $2 mark iirc). More effort needs to be made in coming up with sales on VC games -- VC could be so successful if the prices were adjusted but they don't seem to be willing to change them. :/

 

[JB2448]

As you've said, Wii games are pretty much just the games as they were, only digitally. This is because Nintendo doesn't consider them Virtual Console titles. You will not see one reference to them as Virtual Console titles. They're labelled in the shop as "Wii Retail/Download."

 

[LegendofLex]

N64 games being $10 while Wii games are also $10 is baffling.

Wii games are $20.

Also, I don't see why NES games should be $2 when NES games are some of the greatest games ever made. Super Mario Bros. 3 for $5 is a steal.

 

[shouamabane]

The VC Arcade is on the Wii U VC?

The group of people wanting those niche games and really to pay for official versions is probably very small.

I wonder how well Earthbound did? For me, the biggest value on VC is games/systems I missed out on. I've played through several TG16/CD games, plus games like Rondo of Blood and Demon's Crest that are hard to get a hold of.

 

[Revven]

Wii games are $20.

Whoops, I was mistaking the special sales they had when the games launched for the actual price. My bad.

Also, I don't see why NES games should be $2 when NES games are some of the greatest games ever made. Super Mario Bros. 3 for $5 is a steal

I don't really agree. They can be the greatest games ever but $5 is way too much to me for a game that I'll only likely play through once... and maybe again in a decade or more. Whereas if it was $2, I would be more willing to buy it without question. NES games are certainly great single player games and are timeless but at a certain point you have to say, when you're adding all these other systems to the platform, the NES being the bare minimum price at $5 is an issue.

Then again, maybe we would need to be saying that a static price across all titles of a system is an issue in and of itself. Maybe then Nintendo needs to adopt a non-static pricing so smaller games like Baseball on the NES aren't $5. They might then sell more games like Baseball all the while games like SMB3 would retain the $5 price-tag and for every SMB3 they don't sell they sell something like Baseball instead because it's $2.

Which may or may not make up for SMB3's $5 pricepoint... I dunno.

 

[Infernal Monkey]

It's a shame Virtual Console on 3DS has essentially come to an end in Japan and Europe already. There hasn't been a single game released in 2015 so far. =\

 

[Dr. Feel Good]

It's a shame Virtual Console on 3DS has essentially come to an end in Japan and Europe already. There hasn't been a single game released in 2015 so far. =

Holy shit. That's crazy.

 

[ekgrey]

Okay, wait a sec...forgive my ignorance here. I'm a newish Wii U owner and haven't used Wii mode yet. Are y'all saying I can buy the Wii-only VC titles for play on my Wii U in Wii mode?

 

[Nudull]

Virtual Console, on paper, was an amazing concept; all of Nintendo's greatest games from all of their consoles and handhelds available under one digital service. They've made plenty of mistakes along the way, but I'm very optimistic about the future. Hopefully, VC will get more much-needed support.

 

[Dad]

Okay, wait a sec...forgive my ignorance here. I'm a newish Wii U owner and haven't used Wii mode yet. Are y'all saying I can buy the Wii-only VC titles for play on my Wii U in Wii mode?

Yeah, if you switch into Wii mode and access the store from there. Be warned though that you can't use the gamepad or Wii U Pro controller for Wii VC games.

 

[Gleethor]

Okay, wait a sec...forgive my ignorance here. I'm a newish Wii U owner and haven't used Wii mode yet. Are y'all saying I can buy the Wii-only VC titles for play on my Wii U in Wii mode?

Yup.

 

[Princess Viola]

Okay, wait a sec...forgive my ignorance here. I'm a newish Wii U owner and haven't used Wii mode yet. Are y'all saying I can buy the Wii-only VC titles for play on my Wii U in Wii mode?

yup, all of them. (unless they've been delisted)

 

[ekgrey]

OMG eeeeeeeeeeeeeee!!!
This knowledge has made my fucking weekend. Thanks guys. Holy crap.

(Sucks about the controller limitation but I have a Classic Pro so it's all good)

 

[Crimsonclaw111]

The only thing that sucks about Wii mode is that you can't get discounts on Nintendo Points anymore since they switched to actual money.

 

[Sixfortyfive]

Reportedly, the Genesis Virtual Console is dead because M2 (the company that handles most of Sega's digital stuff) would rather work on completely revamped 3D Classics titles than straight emulation.

And I'm fine with that decision.

 

[Nudull]

Reportedly, the Genesis Virtual Console is dead because M2 (the company that handles most of Sega's digital stuff) would rather work on completely revamped 3D Classics titles than straight emulation.

And I'm fine with that decision.

Wouldn't be as bad if we had gotten Saturn games or something to compensate. Then again, I have very little experience with their 3D stuff aside from Sonic the Hedgehog, so I wouldn't know if this is ultimately for the best.

 

[EndlessFloydian]

Well, all I know from what's been stated by Iwata before is that the next system(s)' architecture will absorb the Wii U. With that, I'm assuming what's on the VC (through the eShop) will remain. Or, pessimistically, I'd say we may be in for a "Wii U Mode" again.

Also with Wind Waker HD, I'd also prefer it if other select GameCube games see an HD treatment rather than simple VC ports. But I'll take anything at this point. I'm surprised Wind Waker is the only remaster from Nintendo that is on Wii U this far. If nothing is shown at E3, I wouldn't expect anything til Nintendo's nXt (assuming it's a home console).

 

[sörine]

Could New 3DS run SNES games? I wondered if they would announce that during the Direct. Maybe during E3?

My Ninjahaxed 2DS can run SNES games just fine. And that's thanks to a single hobbyist programmer, done in his free time with limited system resources. There's no real hardware barrier to old 3DS running SNES games.

 

[ghibli99]

I've stopped caring, to be honest. I was really into it during the Wii era, especially with all of the excellent Turbo CD games. And this gen, I'm happy with Sega/M2's work with the 3D Remasters (particularly the arcade games). I'd actually like more efforts like those instead of just straight ports of mostly common console games.

 

[Sixfortyfive]

I've stopped caring, to be honest. I was really into it during the Wii era, especially with all of the excellent Turbo CD games. And this gen, I'm happy with Sega/M2's work with the 3D Remasters (particularly the arcade games). I'd actually like more efforts like those instead of just straight ports of mostly common console games.

Agreed.

The only Virtual Console games I ever bought were either never-before-released in the US or had notable bugfixes. I never saw the value proposition in anything else.

 

[Agent Unknown]

Wii U VC in NA is a joke compared to OG Wii's back catalog and Wii U VC in Japan. And that is at least significantly thanks in part to Dan Adelman who has specifically stated in several interviews that he was the one who helped implement the drip feed model for VC in North America. Whoever took his post after he left NOA has obviously continued this rediculously staggered business model of his which better be done away with when the account system and NX roll around. Dan Adelman = good for indies on Wii U, terrible for VC. Wii U is selling badly in both Japan and NA, yet Japan gets Square RPGs, PC Engine/TG-16, MSX, ect. OG Wii even had obscure C64 titles, there's no excuse.

If I was in any position of authority at NOA in relation to the eShop, I'd at least try to get in touch with someone at NCL and basically say, "Hi, any chance you could have somone talk to Square and see if they'd be willing to bring over a few SNES RPGs over here and maybe talk to Konami and ask them to possibly get some Bomberman and Turbografx titles for us?" Like does NOA even try?

Anyways, as someone else said, I'm not starting over with VC on NX. I'm not going to tolerate slowly staggered VC releases again, and I'm not paying upgrades next round either.
I'll be keeping my Wii U hooked up to my entertainment system next gen in order to access my VC catalog if I have to and will rely on my classic game/cart collection to fill in the gaps. I rarely feel the need to purchase GBA VC (only two titles I have are Advance Wars and Klonoa) as I maintain a healthy GBA cart library and DS VC seems incredibly pointless to me due to BC on 3DS and the compromised aspect ratio looks terrible.

The VC Arcade is on the Wii U VC?

I wonder how well Earthbound did? For me, the biggest value on VC is games/systems I missed out on. I've played through several TG16/CD games, plus games like Rondo of Blood and Demon's Crest that are hard to get a hold of.[/QUOTE]

VC Arcade is not on Wii U, only accessible through Wii Shop in Wii Mode.

Earthbound did VERY well on VC, it was the #1 selling title on the eShop for months and stayed in the eShop top ten for almost a year. That and Ness Amiibo shutting down GameStop really show how shortsighted and clueless Reggie has been towards EB/Mother series in America.

 

[@MUWANdo]

The staggered sales model isn't responsible for the dearth of games on the Wii U VC, it's the complete lack of international interest from big publishers like Square-Enix and Sega that's lead to the drop-off in content.

 

[Agent Unknown]

The staggered sales model isn't responsible for the dearth of games on the Wii U VC,

Of course the staggered business model is at least partly responsible.

it's the complete lack of international interest from big publishers like Square-Enix and Sega that's lead to the drop-off in content.

That's why I said it'd be nice if someone at NCL was asked to get in touch with third parties. I'm sure someone at NCL could persuade them to throw us at least a few bones considering Wii U is as dead over there as it is here, if not moreso. The games are already emulated on Wii U over there, just transfer the English roms into the emulators over here, don't see how that would be costly or how they'd have much of anything to lose.

 

[JoeM86]

I believe Iwata has said, or at least implied that the VC will be available at launch on the next console, and as the next console and handheld share architecture/OS and absorb Wii U architecture, that means the Wii U ones will carry over, and hopefully with the new account system, as does your ownership.

In Japan, there has been 1 3DS Virtual Console game since May. It is my belief that they shifted work there and have been working on GameBoy/GameBoy Color games for Wii U and/or NX. This is furthered by Kirby Dream Land and Dr. Mario being the Game Boy versions in the Super Smash Bros. for Wii U Masterpieces, as they are just Virtual Console games being run.

As such, logically, that will carry over from the 3DS onto the NX and so it's possible, based on what is said, that at launch the NX will have NES, SNES, GB, GBC GBA, N64 and DS games on the Virtual Console at launch, all due to the previous consoles, and that could be one hell of a potential marketing ploy.

The 3DS can't handle GBA at the moment, so they're not coming and now they're working on a new console and handheld, them shifting it over would be a waste of resources but with NX being a same OS/similar architecture situation, it stands to reason that the NX Handheld will be able to play NES, SNES, GB, GBA, N64 and maybe DS titles.

The staggered sales model isn't responsible for the dearth of games on the Wii U VC, it's the complete lack of international interest from big publishers like Square-Enix and Sega that's lead to the drop-off in content.

Bingo. Nintendo have pretty much released almost all their viable NES and SNES games on the Wii U Virtual Console. They have ~20 GBA and N64 games and 70 DS games to do, though, but the issue is solely with third parties, as it is with the Wii U itself

 

[LOCK]

With the Wii U, I feel that Nintendo is setting up the service to be fully functional on the next round of systems. They are getting both the console and handheld platforms set up on the Wii U so that they infrastructure will already be complete for the new systems. Along with the eventual implementation of account systems, which we know will be a major thing in the future for them.

So yeah, the next systems will be great.

 

[Agent Unknown]

As such, logically, that will carry over from the 3DS onto the NX and so it's possible, based on what is said, that at launch the NX will have NES, SNES, GB, GBC GBA, N64 and DS games on the Virtual Console at launch, all due to the previous consoles, and that could be one hell of a potential marketing ploy.

...it stands to reason that the NX Handheld will be able to play NES, SNES, GB, GBA, N64 and maybe DS titles.

They'd better have full support right away and my purchases better carry over without another "upgrade" structure as that's the only way I will bother with VC again next round. I'm taking an "I'll believe it when I see it" approach with everything they do next time.

 

[Shaanyboi]

I'd love to buy a VC game once and have it playable across all of Nintendo's devices.

With cross-save. That's key...

 

[Crimsonclaw111]

If the next system is based on Wii U, does it stand to reason that Wii U and Wii games will be backwards compatible again?

A system with Wii U, Wii, and VC support would be amazing. Doubly so if you can homebrew Wii mode again.

 

[JoeM86]

If the next system is based on Wii U, does it stand to reason that Wii U and Wii games will be backwards compatible again?

A system with Wii U, Wii, and VC support would be amazing. Doubly so if you can homebrew Wii mode again.

I don't think it's that it's based on Wii U but more that it can absorb Wii U

 

[Crimsonclaw111]

I don't think it's that it's based on Wii U but more that it can absorb Wii U

Well whatever they end up doing, several gens of backwards compatibility would be awesome.

 

[Agent Unknown]

I don't think it's that it's based on Wii U but more that it can absorb Wii U

Yeah, hopefully that's all they're doing as they'd be nuts to stay with Power PC structure again, they need to finally abandon the GC/Wii chip structure for good.

 

[Shaanyboi]

If the next system is based on Wii U, does it stand to reason that Wii U and Wii games will be backwards compatible again?

A system with Wii U, Wii, and VC support would be amazing. Doubly so if you can homebrew Wii mode again.

I wouldn't expect Wii support... Don't VC Wii games still force the system to reboot into Wii Mode?

 

[Zeyphersan]

Reportedly, the Genesis Virtual Console is dead because M2 (the company that handles most of Sega's digital stuff) would rather work on completely revamped 3D Classics titles than straight emulation.

And I'm fine with that decision.

Didn't M2 do the GBA Virtual Console?

With cross-save. That's key...

Pretty much. Cross-buy is nice, but without cross-save it's pointless.

 

[Fox Mulder]

The VC has great potential, but third parties dont give a shit. Here we are at this point in the wiius life and even the Nintendo library is smaller due to their slowness.

The Wii built up a nice diverse library and was a great affordable introduction to stuff like tg16 or neogeo. Too bad the library got decimated by delistings and is walled off in Wii node.

Even Nintendos lack of desire to get proper versions of FX chip games is sad, a shit gba version of yoshis island doesn't cut it.