Nintendo reveals new virtual marketplace for high-definition system; NES and SNES games to be available at launch, with GBA titles coming later.
Today during a Nintendo Direct presentation, president Satoru Iwata announced that the Wii U will introduce a Virtual Console this spring. At launch, players will be able to download Nintendo Entertainment System and Super Nintendo Entertainment System games, though Game Boy Advance titles will be added at a later date.
In addition, Nintendo said there will be "special pricing" options for those who already own Wii versions of Virtual Console titles. This is $1 for NES games and $1.50 for SNES games.
Wii U Virtual Console titles will allow players to save game progress. Additionally, the games can be played on the Wii U GamePad and will feature support for Miiverse.
Lastly, in celebration of the Famicom's 30th anniversary, Nintendo is making one NES or SNES game available each month now through July for 30 cents. Each title will be available at the discounted rate for 30 days, and the first title--Balloon Fight--is now available in the Nintendo eShop for Wii U.
Other titles part of the promotion include F-Zero (February), Punch Out! Featuring Mr. Dream (March), Kirby's Adventure (April), Super Metroid (May), Yoshi (June), and Donkey Kong (July).
Eddie Makuch (Mack-ooh) is a News Editor at GameSpot. He works out of the company's Boston office in Somerville, Mass., and loves extra chunky peanut butter.
Who woul drepay for a NES game for a third time? Once back in the day, onc eon the wii, and again on the wiiU!
5 Like @Phazevariance Not everyone was able to play games back in the day, let alone afford them. I wasn't even alive at the height of the NES.
So GBA games playable on the Wii U? BRING IT ON!
Gimme:
Metroid Zero Mission, Metroid Fusion, Sword of Mana, Final Fantasy V, Final Fantasy VI... I would love you long Nintendo:)
1 Like I have loved ALL Resident Evil games Zero through 6 and the Chronicles games.
6 didn't feel any different than 4 or 5 atmosphere wise and if you really wanna split hairs, no RE game has had that creepy RE feel since the days of 1-3, CVX, REmake, and Zero.
I would 4/5/6 all fit into the same catagory... action horror.
I almost bought a 3DS for this game till I heard the console rumors... glad I waited!
1 Like Special pricing for customers that already own the games at $1-$1.50? Better then nothing but it should be free.
Wii U is getting more and more interesting by the day! Let's see what else they have to offer this year!
I wonder if Sony and Microsoft are going to be watching and waiting to see if they, too, can charge gamers a premium to rebuy their games for the next generation platform.
Seriously, Nintendo... I can't think of any less-compelling arguments to invest in a Wii U than the ones you keep giving us.
Wii U is getting more attractive to me thanks to HD, Ethernet and Virtual Console. It will be a "nice emulator" when I get the chance to buy it.
Today I learned the words "special pricing" can turn the biggest of Nintendo fans into complete suckers for the company's obvious greed.
3 Like ..."In addition, Nintendo said there will be "special pricing" options for those who already own Wii versions of Virtual Console titles. This is $1 for NES games and $1.50 for SNES games.".....
I disagree with paying a fee or having to re-buy a digital game already purchased for the wii or any of this generations consoles. A digital copy game has Zero value once purchased, you cannot trade it, loan it out to family, or sell it on ebay. If you, me, anyone buys say Zelda, FF7, Halo you can play it on this current gen systems, and redownload it again and again if you run out of space, or get a new version of console.
I feel this is just vultures picking a body clean (gamers wallets), you are basically repaying to download a digital game you already paid for, the server where you download the games are the same one you bought it on years ago, running on the same emulation software that is on current gen consoles.
I feel once you transfer your account over to the next gen console the games you have purchased under that account should not cost anything to redownload and play. YOU HAVE ALREADY BOUGHT IT ONCE BEFORE. Even at 1-1.5 dollars that can add up to alot during 5-8 yrs of buying old games DLC. Instead of nickel and dime-ing us to death how about constantly adding in new content, or compelling gameplay to earn our gaming dollars, not just figuring out ways to con us out of it.
@jenovaschilld I get your reasoning. However, don't they have to spend some resources to make these games playable on our gamepads and the Wii U in general? They should lose all of the resources they spent on making these adjustments?
Kind of, back on the VC for the Wii there were games that didn't work with the Wiimote so you needed either the classic controller or a Gamecube controller to play them, they could have done the same thing and since the WiiU Gamepad has pretty much all of the buttons that the classic controller did for the NES and SNES games they shouldn't have had to change anything.
Everyone is out buying the Wii U and I'm just sittin here, playing those games on an actual NES console.
@mydogbarks Blowing on the cartridges when they don't work, losing your saves, banging them against the side of the game system, FUN!
@Strider8009 they can only have punch out featuring mr. dream. Mike Tysons contract ran out, thats why they can use "Mike Tysons Punch Out"
See, I thought the VC came out at launch. Honestly, this makes me want to "wait and see" which/how many NES/SNES games come out.
nintendo rocks, glad they are holding strong to their franchises and the core statement of each franchise. They could've put a weapon in Mario's hands and made ratchet and clank style but they gave him a hose to clean up the muck left behind. It's just nice to have a set of AAA games that are not based on violence that a person can turn to once in a while.
1 Like Just beat Super Metroid for the first time on Super Nintendo cartridge. Nothing is more satisfying.
They're taking the time to incorporate many of the Wii U's features into these titles. That's what you're paying $1 or $1.50 for if you want to upgrade your copy.
I don't think it's a bad deal to be honest.
It's the system lock on digital content that has me shying away. That's much worse.
For those that are complaining that they're re-selling their games, even if you do have the cartridges how do you plan on playing them on the Wii U? I seriously don't know, if anyone wants to answer, go ahead :)
@SeAzhrei Your answer doesn't answer my question. I asked "even if you do have the cartridges how do you plan on playing them on the Wii U?"
@SeAzhrei @luqmanr No it doesn't, look at the question again, "even if" What I'm asking is that there's this situation where you have a Wii U, and you want to play SNES NES games on it, how do you do it without the Virtual Console that Nintendo's offering? I didn't ask how are you going to play your old SNES NES games, but how do you plan on playing it on the Wii U?
@luqmanr @SeAzhrei It does though. If you have the cartridge, why are you bothering buying it again JUST to play it on the WiiU? I can understand if its something your obsessive about. I own Chrono Trigger for 3 different systems. But your question insinuates a general "Its a new system so all the old games are automatically better!" vibe. The fact that the games will have game pad support is nice certainly, but it's hardly a deal maker for most people. Especially those who might already have many of the games on offer. Last, I think most people complain about big N re-selling their games because they already roll in the cash every cycle. It's not like they NEED to nickle and dime us to make a profit.
Welcome to the world of business where of course a company is "greedy." Just as you work for profit at your job so does Nintendo and everyone who works there. I completely understand humanity: we all want stuff (which includes food) and need a means to buy it all. Besides, the companies who produce games for Sony and Microsoft are far greedier than Nintendo who just recently started doing paid dlc.
On topic at least the payment is only for the Wii U extra features and not for just playing the games we already bought on the Wii. I don't see myself going for them, but it seems like a neat idea.
@mimipat42 I will get it for my favorites like Super Metroid and Star Fox 64 when they finally roll it out. Others I'll pass on.
But I don't mind paying $1.50. I mean I spend more than that eating out with friends over paying for food because that is where they want to eat. lol
1 Like Dear GOD!! How many times will Nintendo milk the same games? I refuse to support Nintendo since the GC went away. They do NOTHING for me and only put me off.
How nice of them to do this, so that you don't miss out on playing these unless you have the original games and consoles and can be bothered with setting it all up and play it again. We PC gamers might have to do some tweaking to get older games to work, but it pays off in the end. I've managed to get my first computer game, Dark Forces II: Jedi Knight (1997) to run on my Win 7 laptop. Then there is always GoG, which does that all for you, in case you don't have them already.
5 Like I call bullshit on the "special pricing" unless they are doing something to improve the games they should be free.
1 Like @ArabrockermanX They are adding GamePad support, allowing them to be output in the 1080P resolution, adding MiiVerse support, and Pro Controller support, and updated save states.
Sure the games will not be 1080P. Probably will still be the old resolution, but Nintendo will no doubt work on making them scale properly so they don't get distorted.
@bizuit @ArabrockermanX Is that sarcasm? If it is, I got some old games on my PS3 and I did download them on my PSP for FRE. Then I also downloaded them on vita for FREE. I could also bet it'll be the same on the new xbox. I'll be able to download my xlive games on my new xbox.
4 Like Look guys. You're paying for extra features so you can play the game on the tablet.
If you don't want the feature, don't pay for them.
I can still play ALL the VC games I own on the WiiU console just fine without the extra features in Wii mode.
I would agree with all the complaints if Nintendo were charging me $1.00 to play a game I already own with the Wii U console; but they aren't.
Seems pretty fair to me. Nintendo is under no obligation whatsoever to even allow you to play Wii VC games on your WiiU. The fact that they do that at all, demonstrates a certain amount of goodwill/added value for consumers.
They could have just as easily said "If you want to keep playing the VC games you purchased on your Wii, then you should keep your Wii."
Why should we have to buy our games again? This is just annoying. Why can't Nintendo (and Sony) realise that we don't want to have 15 consoles hooked up to play all of our games?
@flammable_zeus But you don't HAVE to have all those consoles hooked up! That's the point. That's why you're going to give in and buy all your games again so they can be on a single console.
MUAHAHAHA.
The latest 3D Mario game will be playable at E3 2013, with new Mario Kart and Yoshi games also announced by Nintendo.
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