Nintendo Wii And GameCube Games Are Being Remastered For Nvidia Shield--But Only In China

In one of the more unexpected partnerships of recent years, Nintendo has announced that it's working with hardware manufacturer Nvidia to bring a bunch of Wii and GameCube games to the Nvidia Shield--but only in China.

The companies revealed that Nvidia's Android-based home console will feature ported versions of games like The Legend of Zelda: Twilight Princess and New Super Mario Bros. Wii. You can check Twilight Princess out in action in the video below, courtesy of Daniel Ahmed:

It's unclear how the games have been updated to run on the Shield, but we do know that, at the very least, the Shield's version of New Super Mario Bros. Wii will run at 1080p. We'll have to wait and see if any other graphical improvements have been done on the games.

If you happen to live in China and want to get your hands on one of these, it'll cost you RMB 1499 ($227). Games will be available for RMB 68 ($10). Unfortunately, it seems that this will likely remain China-exclusive permanently, as all communications from Nvidia and Nintendo indicate that it's specifically targeted at Chinese audiences. However, it's still cool to see Nintendo branching out and gradually letting its games be ported to other platforms.

There are reportedly more than 300 million gamers in China, so it's no surprise that Nintendo would want to try to bring some of its games to the market. After 15 years, China lifted its console ban in 2015. Sony (PlayStation 4) and Microsoft (Xbox One) brought their consoles to the country, though Nintendo hasn't brought the Switch there. One issue that persists is that games must pass through China's Ministry of Culture to be approved for release.

The first question that Nintendo president Tatsumi Kimishima fielded during Nintendo's latest earnings briefing was about bringing the Switch to China. Kimishima starting off by saying Nintendo is "aware of the vast size of the Chinese [gaming] market, but we are not selling [the Nintendo Switch] in that market at present."

"We have previously researched the possibility of selling our products in China, and that effort continues as we consider bringing Nintendo Switch to the Chinese market," he said.

Nintendo's stock price jumped in September after Chinese internet giant announced that its online multiplayer game Arena of Valor is coming to Switch. Sources told The Wall Street Journal at the time that investors are happy about this because it could be a signal that Nintendo will work with local companies to bring the Switch and its mobile games to China.