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Wii

Virtual Console Offers 100 Games, 4.7 Million Sold 125

Posted by Zonk from the that's-quite-a-bit-of-mario dept.
GameDaily reports on new numbers from Nintendo, discussing their ongoing success with the Wii's Virtual Console offering. According to the piece, there are now over 100 games available on the service, and some 4.7 Million downloads have been transacted since the system's launch late last year. "Nintendo has been updating the Wii Shop with new Virtual Console games every Monday. The top five downloads worldwide to date have been Super Mario Bros. (NES), Super Mario 64 (N64), Mario Kart 64 (N64), Super Mario World (SNES), and The Legend of Zelda (NES). 'With an Internet connection rate reaching 40 percent, Wii owners have more options than ever to find the kinds of games they love to play,' says George Harrison, Nintendo of America's senior vice president of marketing and corporate communications. 'Beyond the Wii Shop Channel, all types of people are getting connected and checking out the information and entertainment options available on the Wii Menu. Whether voting, creating a Mii or just checking the weather, everyone has a favorite channel.'"
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Virtual Console Offers 100 Games, 4.7 Million Sold More

Virtual Console Offers 100 Games, 4.7 Million Sold

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  • Success? (Score:2, Insightful)

    by magicsquid ( 85985 )
    This sounds more like success for Nintendo in general rather than success for the Virtual Console. Sure, as Nintendo did with the N64, they have the ability to basically support the VC on their own, but in order to make it a true breakout success, they need the support of third parties. The only way they're going to get more of that is if the third party games actually sell. Maybe third parties don't care as much because of the extremely low development costs. That's possible. I can't imagine a compan

    • in order to make it a true breakout success, they need the support of third parties

      Define "breakout success". I don't see any way this can't be seen as a breakout success.

      The only way they're going to get more of that is if the third party games actually sell.

      What? From wikipoedia:

      Banpresto, Capcom, Chunsoft, D4 Enterprise, Enterbrain, Irem, Jaleco, KEMCO, Koei, Midway Games, NCS Masaya, Netfarm, Paon, Rocket Company, Konami, Square Enix, Sunsoft, SNK Playmore, Taito, Tecmo, Takara, and TOMY are confirme

      • Re: (Score:1)

        by tepples ( 727027 )

        Define "breakout success". I don't see any way this can't be seen as a breakout success.
        Only Atari can make it a breakout [wikipedia.org] success.

        Do you mean newly deveoped games?
        Yes. When will games start showing up in Wii Ware?

        • Yes. When will games start showing up in Wii Ware?

          This is my biggest question. VC games are great but when I've got half of my favorite classics in the original cart form and emulators for half of the consoles I own it doesn't really excite me all that much.

          I want to know when we can buy Wii Sports/Wii Play like mini-games from the VC.. I'd love to download a simple fun cheap party game from the Wii shopping channel and play it from the internal memory on the Wii Remote. There are loads of original titl

    • The only way they're going to get more of that is if the third party games actually sell.

      What are you talking about? Some of the biggest VC sellers are for the Sega Genesis and the TurboGrafx. Are you seriously suggesting that Nintendo produced those titles?

      • Re: (Score:2)

        by Maxwell ( 13985 )
        FTA the top five are all Nintendo games. I bet the top ten are as well. So all those 3rd party companies, all 20 or so of them listed in GP, are fighting for spots 11 and higher. aka Scraps. When 3rd party titles dominate the top 5, THEN we can say they have good 3rd party support.

        JON

        • Re: (Score:2)

          by Gulthek ( 12570 )
          Explain how 3rd party support requires 3rd party popularity.

          Are you suggesting that the 3rd party games are restricted/hindered compared to the 1st party games?

          Should Nintendo go back in time and make crappy games so that 3rd party games will "dominate the top 5" in their classic game store?

          WTF?

        • Re:Success? (Score:5, Interesting)

          by AKAImBatman ( 238306 ) * <akaimbatman AT gmail DOT com> on Friday June 01, 2007 @01:45PM (#19354479) Homepage Journal

          FTA the top five are all Nintendo games.

          This is because the Nintendo titles have greater mass appeal than the Genesis/TurboGrafx titles. That does NOT mean that the Genesis/TurboGrafx titles are doing poorly. In fact, Hudson originally announced only 5 TG-16 titles destined for the Virtual Console. Since then they've expanded the list to some of the best titles ever made for the system. This includes: Bomberman '93, R-Type, Military Madness, Bonk's Adventure, Bonk's Revenge, and Blazing Lazers.

          While Nintendo and their partners have been keeping hush-hush on a lot of the VC sales data, Hudson's strong support [vc-pce.com] for the VC certainly suggests that they've been having good success with the service. Sega seems to be becoming similarly infatuated [sega.com] with the service.

          It's also interesting to note that there hasn't been a strong Nintendo title released for the VC since Starfox 64.

          I bet the top ten are as well.

          I'm not sure I would be so quick to say that. Nintendo's games will always dominate simply because they dominated back in the day. (e.g. 3 of my 6 VC games are Nintendo titles.) But that doesn't mean that the third parties aren't doing exceptionally well. Sonic, for example, was exceptionally popular back in the day. I would be surprised if it wasn't on a top 10 list.

          When 3rd party titles dominate the top 5, THEN we can say they have good 3rd party support.

          That, I'm afraid, will never happen. The customers are Nintendo players downloading titles on a Nintendo system, and have fond memories of playing Nintendo games. Combined with the timeless reputation of some of their games, Nintendo's classics library cannot be beat. As I said, though, this does not mean that third parties aren't seeing wonderful sales through the VC.

          Anecdotally, I have heard a lot of excitement from friends/acquaintances over TG16 and Genesis titles. (Though the 600 points for TMNT got a big 'WTF?') The only catch is that there's more of a spread between which titles they're interested in. Some like shooters, some like beat'em'ups, and some like platformers. Nintendo's appeal tends to be more universal.

          • Though the 600 points for TMNT got a big 'WTF?'

            Though I'm not sure what arrangement was made for XBLA to get the Turtles Arcade game on it for $5, but I suspect that the costs were such on the VC that they charged a premium to the customer to pay Ubisoft (Who currently hold the license to the Turtles property). Both games were Konami games, but Ubisoft has the exclusive Turtles license currently, so without an agreement between both neither game could have been published. Perhaps Nintendo charges rates

          • Re: (Score:2)

            by miro f ( 944325 )
            now if only we could download some of those titles here in Australia.

            I am sick of getting shafted for no reason by Nintendo

        • Re:Success? (Score:5, Insightful)

          by Maul ( 83993 ) on Friday June 01, 2007 @01:48PM (#19354559) Journal
          I've purchased TG16 and Genesis virtual console titles. In addition, I've purchased SNES titles that were 3rd. party produced, such as Castlevania 4 (Konami) and Street Fighter 2 (Capcom). The 3rd. party titles are there to purchase.

          In my opinion, there reasons Nintendo titles dominate the top five are:

          1. Purchasers of the Wii might have a bias towards Nintendo titles.
          2. Many of the first party NES and SNES titles have withstood the test of time better than 3rd. party titles, in my opinion.
          3. A lot of the popular 3rd. party titles can't make it to the VC due to licensing issues, or the fact that they've been rereleased on the GBA. (The reason you likely won't see FF4-6 on the VC is due to the GBA rereleases).

          What were the most popular SNES games of all times? You probably can't track this info down anymore, but I would wager that if you asked a bunch of gamers who played during that era, they're answer is going to be a first party title or a Square game.
          • http://vgchartz.com/worldtotals.php?name=&console = SNES&publisher=&sort=Total [vgchartz.com]

            That link shows all of the 1+ million sellers on the SNES. The top 10 has 8 Nintendo games and 2 Capcom games (Street Fighter 2 and Street Fighter 2 Turbo). #11-15 adds another 3 Nintendo games and Final Fantasy VI and Dragon Quest VI. #16-20 adds 2 Nintendo games, Final Fantasy V and Dragon Quest V and Chrono Trigger.

            So you weren't far off... Nintendo games and Square/Enix are right behind.

          • Re: (Score:2)

            by _xeno_ ( 155264 )

            (The reason you likely won't see FF4-6 on the VC is due to the GBA rereleases).

            Plus, given that the translations for the re-releases were generally better (to their credit, they kept the "Spoony Bard!" line), it's probably just as well. The FFVI Advance release also fixed many of the bugs in the original game. (Evasion does something now! Shields have uses! Relm no longer crashes the game, making her simply useless instead of downright dangerous!)

            About the only issue with the GBA FFVI re-release is that

          • Despite having access to the original consoles and carts (in boxes stored somewhere in the house) and emulators/roms, I still picked up quite a few VC games: Super Mario Bros. (NES), Legend of Zelda (NES), Castlevania (NES), Elevator Action (NES), F-Zero (SNES), Super Castlevania IV (SNES), Super Mario World (SNES), Sonic The Hedgehog (Genesis), Kid Chameleon (Genesis), and Splatterhouse (TG-16), so far.

            I like VC games because I can play them when I am already in the mood to play a console game, and the
          • I would add a fourth reason, which is that the most of these titles are being downloaded by nostalgic older gamers who lived through the NES/SNES era. As such, they're probably first buying games that they already owned on previous systems; an act that, by virtue of the relative number of Nintendo games available vs. third parties, heavily favors Nintendo.

            Later, they might branch out and try something new. But older gamers are all too aware that the vast majority of third party titles in those days were ut

          • A lot of the popular 3rd. party titles can't make it to the VC due to licensing issues, or the fact that they've been rereleased on the GBA. (The reason you likely won't see FF4-6 on the VC is due to the GBA rereleases).
            Then why has Super Mario Bros. showed up in both Classic NES Series (GBA) and Virtual Console (Wii)?
        • Considering they have 9 of the top 10 best selling games (of all time, on any platform) and 14 of the top 20, they'd have to actively sabotage themselves to not dominate the top five list.

    • Re: (Score:2)

      by Guppy06 ( 410832 )
      "The only way they're going to get more of that is if the third party games actually sell. Maybe third parties don't care as much because of the extremely low development costs."

      But we already have at least one third-party that doesn't want their old games competing with their frequent and pricey re-releases.

    • Re: (Score:2, Insightful)

      by NiK0laI ( 1012851 )
      I'd say that the VC has been successful for Nintendo, I mean they are selling games for $5 minimum a pop, it's not like they spend any significant amount of time developing the games. At $5 a piece thats $23.5 million dollars they made doing practically nothing.

      • I mean they are selling games for $5 minimum a pop, it's not like they spend any significant amount of time developing the games.

        Does this include the cost of making sure an emulator is dead-on accurate? Or will you claim that Nintendo already incurred this cost as part of the development of Animal Crossing Population Growing for Nintendo GameCube?

        And who gets residuals?

    • Re: (Score:2)

      by LKM ( 227954 )
      Some reasons for Nintendo's dominance were already mentioned in other comments. Here are two other ideas:

      The old Nintendo franchises are still valid. Nobody remembers Kid Chameleon, and recent Sonic games were crap, but the Nintendo franchises still hold up. Zelda and Mario are still huge entities.

      Another reason could be that third-parties are holding back with the big guns. No Final Fantasy, for example.

  • Blame me. (Score:5, Interesting)

    by MeanderingMind ( 884641 ) * on Friday June 01, 2007 @12:52PM (#19353595) Homepage Journal
    I'm one of those morons who ditched their old consoles with the advent of each new one. Now, Nintendo, Sega and the rest get to sell me nostalgia at top dollar.

    I've purchased 4 NES games, 2 SNES, 2 Sega Genesis and 3 N64 games thus far. It's not an average, but assuming it is we divide 4.7 million by 11 and get 427,000ish people like me in the world.

    Scary, eh?

    • Re: (Score:3, Informative)

      by AdamWeeden ( 678591 )
      Well you are actually an anomaly. I've only bought 2 VC titles so far, and going by the sale totals [wikipedia.org] it looks like 7.4 million Wiis sold compared to 4.7 million VC downloads which actually mean that on average there are about 2 VC downloads for 3 Wiis.

      • Re: (Score:2, Insightful)

        by maxume ( 22995 )
        It'd be interesting to see how many people even have their wii hooked up to the internet. It wouldn't surprise me if it was less than 50%.
      • Per the preview, about 40% of Wii consoles are online at the time, or have been connected. So that's 2.96 million consoles. That's actually 3 VC downloads to every two Wii's that are connected. I'm sure that will be attributed to about half the on line Wii owners trying out a title or two, with the GP poster and a small percentage of his buddies purchasing five or more. (Look, ma! I'm a statistician! Just like a real one!)

    • Re:Blame me. (Score:5, Interesting)

      by AKAImBatman ( 238306 ) * <akaimbatman AT gmail DOT com> on Friday June 01, 2007 @01:23PM (#19354127) Homepage Journal

      I'm one of those morons who ditched their old consoles with the advent of each new one. Now, Nintendo, Sega and the rest get to sell me nostalgia at top dollar.

      I have 8 to 10 classic game consoles at home, and yet I have purchased about 6 games from the Virtual Console. There are a variety of reasons for this:
      • Convenience - It's a lot easier to boot the Wii and play a quick NES title than it is to pull out the classic console (which you lovingly repaired the pins), snake the cables behind the furniture, and hook it up to the television.
      • Availability - I never had a Sega Genesis, nor have I ever felt the need to own one. The system didn't have much in the way of lasting appeal, but it did have Sonic. Now that I can purchase Sonic from the Virtual Console, I have even less reason to own a Genesis.
      • Price - Believe it or not, TurboGrafix systems and games are not that cheap in the wild. $8 a pop is a pretty good deal for many of these games. Especially uncommon cult classics like Military Madness and Blazing Lasers. If the rumors of Nintendo adding Neo-Geo games turn out to be true, the value of the Virtual Console games will go through the roof! (Neo-Geo carts still cost upwards of $30 used.)
      • Storage - I try to keep my games and systems neatly organized. Playing games on the VC allows me to do less to disturb that order, and can even save me storage space for titles that I don't necessarily want to invest in physical copies of.
      • Authenticity - Playing games on the Virtual Console feels much closer to playing them on the original system than playing them on an emulator does. Nintendo seems to make an effort to replicate the experience as closely as possible. The NES-style controls of the Wii Remote and SuperNES/Playstation feel of the Classic Controller help heighten that sense of authenticity.

      Nintendo may not have the most original idea with their VC service, but they've struck gold in terms of its implementation. :)

      • Re: (Score:2)

        by LKM ( 227954 )
        I, too, have bought a lot of games I already own. I don't need to connect the SNES to my beamer to play them (which never really worked anyway), if I take my Wii somewhere, all my games come with me without taking any space, the Classic Controller is a really great controller, the games look very pretty using Component cables (at least those which work with my beamer - some games unfortunately don't show on the beamer if I use the Component cables), they auto-save whenever I want.

        I think it's great. Some ga
    • Even if you have the old consoles, the VC has a lot of appeal. I still have my SNES, but some of the cartridges don't work anymore, or only work sporadically. And if you want some rare games this could be way cheaper - have they released Earthbound yet? You're lucky to find that one for $30-40 on eBay, sometimes it's as much as $80. I bought one used SNES game from gamestop.com and it came DOA - but I couldn't return it in store and it would have cost as much to mail it back as the refund I would have gotte

      • I still have my SNES, but some of the cartridges don't work anymore, or only work sporadically.
        Have you tried soaking one end of a cotton swab in rubbing alcohol, scrubbing both sides of the gold-plated edge connector with the wet end, and then scrubbing both sides with the dry end?
    • Top dollar? The Wii Console games cost somewhere between 1/5th to 1/20th their original retail price (after adjusting for inflation), so all things considered, it's not a bad deal.

      It's actually kind of a shame that someone can make a terrific game, but just because it was made 15 years ago, it should only be worth 1/10th its original price. But that's a whole different story :)

  • Original carts (Score:4, Interesting)

    by HalAtWork ( 926717 ) on Friday June 01, 2007 @12:55PM (#19353645)
    Too bad there's no program for someone with the original carts to enter into a program that allows them to download their games onto the Wii. Maybe someone could come up with a reader that plugs into USB for the NES, Genesis, TG16, N64, SNES, etc that allows you to use your originals. I like having all my games accessible on one system so I don't have to have them all set up, but I have a lot of games and paying for them all twice would suck, especially if the Wii's successor won't allow you to transfer them...

    • Re: (Score:2)

      by rm999 ( 775449 )
      I think at that point ROMS simply work better. Many cartridges have some sort of magnetic data loss over time - a ROM is a perfect digital copy of the game. I see no legal or moral problem with using a ROM of a game you already paid 50 dollars for 20 years ago. Now if only Nintendo had a way of allowing us to do this (e.g. somehow proving you own the game to get an encrypted ROM that works on only your console would even be fine.)

      Until game companies make it easier to do stuff like this, I don't feel bad ab
    • If they could only get the rights to do this, I would love it. I've got a still-working N64 sitting in my basement with 6-8 still-working games and one controller whose analog-stick's dead zone continues to grow slowly but frighteningly. Even if I lost my saved games and Controller Pak data, I'd welcome the opportunity to trade this dieing cartridges for a more permanent digital record of my legitimately-purchased games.

      Oh, and I still can't find out if emulators can handle all of my games.

  • Speaking of... (Score:4, Funny)

    by WED Fan ( 911325 ) <akahige@NOspAm.trashmail.net> on Friday June 01, 2007 @12:57PM (#19353689) Homepage Journal

    Where's Phantom these days?

  • Now if they could just find a way to actually create the consoles to run those nifty downloaded games.

  • In home arcade. (Score:4, Insightful)

    by Anonymous Coward on Friday June 01, 2007 @01:01PM (#19353755)
    One of the great things way back when home consoles became available was the ability to play until your heart's content without paying any additional money other than buying the console and the cartridge (hey, I started out with the Atari 2600). Of course I still would occasionally go to the arcade, but now I didn't have to.

    Now that consoles (not just the WII of course) connect to the internet and there are shops (and advertisements) it's only a matter of time until someone rolls out a pay to play model. Of course there already are the online communities/games which require monthly subscriptions but c'mon, these companies can milk much more money out of us. It's only a matter of time before they do and it's very, very sad.
  • Unless Nintendo is planning on creating new VC offerings (or find ballsy enough third party developers to join them), at a certain point, they'll run out of titles to put on there. How many AAA titles (that they have the rights to) are really left from NES/SNES/N64? I'd have to think that the majority of these buys are for Mario or Zelda properties, and they've put almost all of those onto the VC already.
    • Well, if they get really desperate for new content, they do have the entire 18+ years of Gameboy titles all the way up to the GBA they can tap into. (Mario Land 2 would probably do pretty well, as would the gameboy versions of Zelda.)

    • Re: (Score:1, Interesting)

      by p4rri11iz3r ( 1084543 )

      How many AAA titles (that they have the rights to) are really left from NES/SNES/N64? I'd have to think that the majority of these buys are for Mario or Zelda properties, and they've put almost all of those onto the VC already.

      I tend to disagree, there are many games which I am still looking forward to (granted, many of them are Mario-related) such as:

      • Super Mario 2
      • Super Mario 2 (Japanese version) - Really hoping to get this... Never got to play it.
      • Super Mario 3 - Pretty much a guaranteed 1M+ sells
      • Super Mario World 2
      • Mario Party 1-3 (from N64)
      • Goldeneye 007
      • Donkey Kong 64
      • Blast Corps - Granted, this game is mostly unheard of, but that doesn't prevent it from being one of the greatest, most underrated games from the N64.
      • Tetr
      • Fat chance of seeing Goldeneye 007 or Blast Corps, as they're owned by Rare, now a division of Microsoft Game Studios.

        You won't see Perfect Dark, Banjo-Kazooie, Banjo-Tooie, and Conker's Bad Fur Day for the same reason.

        Oh, and with Zelda 2 being released next week, all the non-disc console Zeldas except Majora's Mask will be out.
        • Actually, Rare has said that Microsoft-owned franchises on the VC are "a possibility" [play-nintendo.com]. Personally, I would not bet on it, but I wouldn't count it out, either. Could make Microsoft some money while hurting Sony... They are developing DS games, so you never know.

      • Goldeneye 007

        That probably won't happen. Ownership of exclusive rights in this game is split among Nintendo, Microsoft (which purchased Rare and has its own console out), and Activision (which currently holds the exclusive James Bond 007 license from EON).

        Blast Corps - Granted, this game is mostly unheard of, but that doesn't prevent it from being one of the greatest, most underrated games from the N64.

        Also a Microsoft product.

        Tetris (NES version) - It rules over all other versions of Tetris.

        Mr. Rogers [wikipedia.org] and his Neighborhood [wikipedia.org] want to ensure that all new Tetris products include "standard Tetris" [tetrisconcept.com], the rule set that includes infinite spin [ytmnd.com] and spin triples [ytmnd.com].

    • I'd guess that of the five systems from which the Wii is offering games there must be close to a couple of thousand titles, all told. I'm sure Nintendo could purchase the rights to just about any game they wish for a pretty paltry price. Those companies can either sell the rights to Nintendo and make a few bucks for free, or let those games fade into oblivion. It's not like Kanomi (for example) has an alternative platfrom on which to re-release Contra, enabling them to make money on archaic software which h

      • It's not like Kanomi (for example) has an alternative platfrom on which to re-release Contra
        Konami has re-released Frogger on a dedicated game system [amazon.com].

      • It's not like Kanomi (for example) has an alternative platfrom on which to re-release Contra,

        I own this on Xbox Live Arcade currently. Contra is also in a newly released compilation pack on the DS. Then again there is Thier PC compilation. [gamezone.com] There isn't anything from preventing them from publishing it where / however they want. Actually I wouldn't be surprised to see one of these classic compilations in an arcade at some point.

    • I'm not sure "ballsy" is the right word - more like "small and desperate to break into the market." I don't know how much it costs to develop for the VC, but it can't be that much. It seems like the ideal place for a fledgling company to get in with some interesting 8- or 16-bit action. I know nothing about game development, so maybe I'm wrong and Nintendo makes you buy an entire Wii dev kit plus a several-thousand-dollar VC add-on, but I doubt it.
    • They are already talking about indy games being added to the Virtual Console lineup, and they have a ton of systems to tap into (NES, SNES, N64, Genesis and TurboGraphx16) plus rumours that NEO GEO will be added to the lineup.

      By the time they use up their AAA games, we'll have quite a selection onhand.
      • Neo Geo is definitely forthcoming, and there's a very good chance many Commodore 64 titles will be added as well!
      • Can one develop for the Virtual Console? Is it really an entity in and of itself that can have games made for it? It seems to me like it is really just a collection of emulators with a unified front-end. I suppose developers could essentially make new ROMs for these, or maybe Nintendo will allow them access to the API which allows the emulators to work with the VC. Or better yet, maybe a stripped down Wii API and dev-kit for use in downloadable games. I don't know, I'm just spewing out stuff that I thin

    • Re: (Score:3, Interesting)

      by Wdomburg ( 141264 )
      Erm, there's a fair number of Mario titles left:

      Super Mario Bros.: The Lost Levels (orig SMB2 in Japan) (NES)
      Super Mario Bros. 2 (NES)
      Super Mario Bros. 3 (NES)
      Dr. Mario (NES)
      Super Mario Kart (SNES)
      Yoshi's Safari (SNES)
      Super Mario World 2: Yoshi's Island (SNES)
      Super Mario RPG: Legend of the Seven Stars (SNES)
      Mario Party (N64)
      Mario Party 2 (N64)
      Ma
      • It's kind of annoying that they are so focused only on the higher quality and famous games rather than the long tail of every game ever made for a system. Maybe that will come later, but it would be nice if you could read one of those 'worst games ever' articles and follow a link and buy it for 50 cents on the virtual console and actual see for yourself that it is the worst game ever.

    • Good thing they're not only using AAA titles, then. Seriously. Final Fight? J.J. And Jeff? Legend of Kage? What is this shit?
  • Lets have less Turbographix games, and more Secret of Mana.

    That is all.

    • Re: (Score:2)

      by Rycross ( 836649 )
      Square has explicitly stated they don't want any part of the Virtual Console. After all, they make a killing off of releasing the same games over and over for full price. I'd imagine they'd want to keep Secret of Mana off of the VC in case they decide to give it the same treatment as FF4 and FF6.
      • On Square wanting to keep possible cash cows off the VC, where they would be reduced to about $8 (The usual price for an SNES game, 800 wii points = $8), I can see that. Now only if they would give Secret of Mana any attention and stop coming out with sequels/prequels/alternative storylines that drag the good Mana name through the muck.

        On the subject of RPGs though, I'm hoping to start seeing some on the VC soon. Sega has Shining in the Darkness planned to come out soon (good times, but where's Shining Fo

        • Re: (Score:2)

          by Omestes ( 471991 )
          Oh god, if they release Shining Force... I was one of the few games that made me happy I owned a Genesis when I was young. Later when I discovered emulators I played through both of them back to back, at the expense of WoW and life. So enjoyable. We need more turn based strategy games. The only game that stands up to them is Final Fantasy Tactics, but that was rather drawn out, and dragged quite a bit (its Square, so its to be expected).

          On the Genesis front they need Shining Force, Alysa Dragoon (stupi
          • You should try Tactics Ogre sometime. There was a Super nintendo game, as well as a gameboy game I believe. It's been some time since I played either one though. IMO these games were much more enjoyable than FF Tactics.

      • Actually, I believe Squeenix said they were not considering downloadable content for Wii titles at the moment. Seeing as how Actraiser was just released as a VC title, I'd say they are interested in the possibilities of the Virtual Console.

        Of course, they're certainly not going to let their big cash cows out, so long as they can keep re-releasing them and we keep buying them (like FF1 and FF2 being put out as separate titles for the PSP version.>

      • If that is true, how come they have ActRaiser on the VC? While not one of their top games, I remember playing it back in the early 90s.

      • Re: (Score:2)

        by Tridus ( 79566 )
        Except they haven't re-released Secret of Mana in any form. I mean we're on the what, THIRD rehash of FF4 now?

        If they won't go out and re-release it as a seperate thing, the VC seems like a cheap way for them to do it instead. I can guarantee there's a market for the game, despite all the bad things they've done to it with stuff like Children of Mana.
      • Comment removed based on user account deletion

    • Re: (Score:2)

      by Yvan256 ( 722131 )
      That's not a problem, they have no Turbographix games on the VC.

      TurboGrafx-16 games, on the other hand...

  • The fantastic Retronauts podcast [1up.com] talked about this milestone recently. They determined that as ownership of the Wii increases, Virtual Console purchases per person decreases. They surmise that all the hardcore fanboys who rushed out to buy the console bought a disproportionately large number of VC titles. It will be interesting to see the numbers after a year.
  • It's not nostalgic until I can struggle through Battletoads!
    • Do you really want to give people more incentive to throw their wiimotes? ;)

    • Re: (Score:2)

      by Dorceon ( 928997 )
      Unlikely. Rare made it, and Microsoft pwns them now.
      Oh wait, 'owns' was actually correct that time.

      • Re: (Score:1)

        by morari ( 1080535 )
        Wow, you're correct. I didn't realize Rare had done it. That's a let down. What about Dinosaurs For Hire, on the Genesis then? That was an even harder game! At least I managed to beat Battletoads. ;)
    • When Bubble Buble comes out, I will be happy. Until then.. it's Mario Strikers Charged.
  • I don't know if it's a matter of my getting older and not remembering the feel of the controls of these ancient games, or if there's poor latency/response in the Virtual Console itself, but I found the Starfox64 to be pretty "syrupy" in the controls, and hard to jump on cue in the Mario64 as well. I'm not inclined to spend too many more Wii points if all of the Virtual Console suffers from bad latency.

    I initially wished for the standard Wii-motes to play the Virtual Console games, but I fear those bluet

    • So far, I have Bomberman, Gradius 3, and Kirby's Adventure. Each of these are pretty demanding on timing, especially Gradius 3. I've not noticed any lag or delay in controls.
    • You may want to check if your TV has a "game" mode, if you have an HD television. If the TV is trying to scale the signal (or if it's DLP-based), that can introduce enough lag to through off games that rely on precise timing.
      • Most people who (console) game on LCDs dont even realize theres any kind of lag because they get so used to it. For a couple of weeks at work we had a guitar hero demo set up with a 42" LCD. I played it every day on my lunch and had all the high scores, but then i tried playing at my friends house and i was terrible, coming in early on everything, because id learned to play on an LCD with a lag. This was one of the reasons i bought a CRT HDTV.
  • It's amazing the life (and bucks) Nintendo is getting out of these titles. Take the original Super Mario Bro, it appeared on nintendo, then later packed with preceding titles (Allstars) then on the GBA, and now on a virtual console. Who else can take the same game and then over abnd over 20 years later still be selling it again pretty much the same as ever. I'll take the free emulator versions over these anyday thank you. I wish more emulators could establish some multiplayer TCP/IP stuff though. I suppose
    • Allstars was a great package. It had the first 3 North American Super Mario titles, Super Mario 2 from Japan, and some versions bundled Super Mario World as well. Plus all the games let you save your progress so that you didn't have to start from the beginning every time you powered on the console. And of course the graphics were astounding!
    • Just a nitpick: The original Super Mario Bros. never appeared on the GBA. It appeared on the GBC as Super Mario Bros. DX along with its sequel, the japanese version of Super Mario Bros. 2.

  • I really wish they'd release N64 Re-Volt. That game ruled ...

    Rich.

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