Does anyone else think Nintendo's dropping the ball on the VC?

Brunn

Brunn

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I've always been a big believer in the Virtual Console and how it could really be a cash cow for Nintendo if they'd just do it right. I mean, Nintendo lives and breathes nostalgia, it's one of their biggest selling points. But they just don't seem willing to take advantage of the VC at all!

First off, the game selection is lousy for both consoles, particularly the Wii U. Where are all their most popular games that people keep repeatedly asking for? Where's the SNES games? Star Fox? Super Mario All Stars? Super Mario Kart? Yoshi's Island? All the Donkey Kong Country's? These should have been available day one. What about All the N64 games that STILL aren't on the Wii U? That's not even brushing on the Gamecube games they could easily add as well.

I mean, I know nothing about programming. But so far as I've seen getting emulators for computers and what not, getting the emulator to run is the hard part. After that it's just dumping in the rom, telling the controller what buttons are what, and playing. They already have a working emulator for at least NES and SNES. Why aren't more of these game roms available? The games themselves are the easiest part of the whole thing!

Secondly, the price. Lets face it, these are old games. Nintendo has no business charging 8 dollars for a SNES game, especially when it's digitally distributed and takes up no physical room. I can see charging a bit more for games like Mother that needed to be translated first, that DOES cost extra money. But Yoshi's Island? It's basically ready to go. Just put it on the system and take my money! If Nintendo dropped the price on most of their games by a dollar or two, I imagine their sales would jump up significantly. Especially if they put out more games people actually wanted to play. These old games already made Nintendo their big money, but taking the time to make them available to purchase through the VC for a small fee would be icing on the cake.

One of the greatest things about the Virtual Console is being able to play all your favorite games on one console, straight from a user friendly, simple menu. I love all the SNES games I played as a kid, and even though I still have them all and a working SNES, I don't want to have to set the whole system up just to play them. I only have limited space things in my apartment, and my SNES, PS2, N64, and Gamecube are all tucked away in a box in a closet. And with Nintendo really pressing their 'family friendly' atmosphere, Virtual Console games are a great way to get the entire family involved. If I had children, I guarantee I'd want them to play Yoshi's Island and Super Mario Kart.

I still can't believe they released Link Between Worlds, and didn't make Link to The Past available on the Virtual Console. Sure, I can play it through the Wii menu on my Wii U, but then I have to wait for it to load the Wii Menu, and go and fetch my lame Wiimote just to play it. Why wasn't it made available on the newer VC's where people could play it on the 3DS, or the Wii U with the new wireless pro controller?

So does anyone else feel like the Virtual Console isn't being taken advantage of in the right way? With the Wii U struggling to market the few games it has, wouldn't it be best to play up the backwards compatibility with older Wii games a bit more, and really fill the VC with their best games for little to no cost? Not to mention the joy of having those original SNES games on the go with the 3DS. It just feels like such a waste!
 
I agree with you all the way. I can't believe the lack of games that could be put out there, that simply AREN'T.
 
Every time I have to do a survey for Nintendo and they ask what other comments / suggestions I have I always reply "I am still waiting for SNES and GBA games." there are so many games on both systems I'd love to have now - especially portable. Robotrek, Secret of Evermore, Secret of Mana, Brain Lord, and Super Mario RPG to name a few, for example.

Also, yes and no, translating does not always cost extra money. Most of the time, developers will just have the fan community do it for free. There have been several cases in the past where games were translated for roms and the developers contacted those who translated the games and said "We are using your translated version for the NA release". When I used to frequent Capcom-Unity the Capcom staff would post asking if anyone wanted to help translate some of the games for free. They would receive a credit on the game's end credits scroll and maybe a pin or t-shirt or the pre-order bonus. Sometimes a copy of the game for free. It was a very gimmicky thing to do, but we wanted to see the games localized so a lot of people did it.
 
They release 1-5 games a week. I'd say that's enough. It's not like people can afford buying even more than that at one time. Plus, releasing all of the games sooner would mean that they have less options to release in the Wii U's later years. That would cause some backlash. I'm happy with it. I've got all of my systems out. I ALWAYS keep them out, no matter how many. I just shoot for as many outlets as my house can fit, and of course I'm not going to have multiple systems on at once. That makes all hook ups safe.
 
Every time I have to do a survey for Nintendo and they ask what other comments / suggestions I have I always reply "I am still waiting for SNES and GBA games." there are so many games on both systems I'd love to have now - especially portable. Robotrek, Secret of Evermore, Secret of Mana, Brain Lord, and Super Mario RPG to name a few, for example.

Also, yes and no, translating does not always cost extra money. Most of the time, developers will just have the fan community do it for free. There have been several cases in the past where games were translated for roms and the developers contacted those who translated the games and said "We are using your translated version for the NA release". When I used to frequent Capcom-Unity the Capcom staff would post asking if anyone wanted to help translate some of the games for free. They would receive a credit on the game's end credits scroll and maybe a pin or t-shirt or the pre-order bonus. Sometimes a copy of the game for free. It was a very gimmicky thing to do, but we wanted to see the games localized so a lot of people did it.



And even fan translations aren't necessary for many games. I mean, how 'hard' can it be to translate a 2D platformer?

I mean, in games where the only text is the HUD, maybe the intro and ending cutscene and the game over screen, you should be done within the hour. Same deal with racing games, sports games, shooter games (first person, side scrolling or space shooter alike) and fighting games, which all have so little in the way of text or things needing to be changed that you wonder what the hold up is.
 
They release 1-5 games a week. I'd say that's enough. It's not like people can afford buying even more than that at one time. Plus, releasing all of the games sooner would mean that they have less options to release in the Wii U's later years. That would cause some backlash. I'm happy with it. I've got all of my systems out. I ALWAYS keep them out, no matter how many. I just shoot for as many outlets as my house can fit, and of course I'm not going to have multiple systems on at once. That makes all hook ups safe.



I wish I had the room to keep all my systems out, but there's just no way. I would MUCH prefer to play my original N64 games with a proper 64 controller! As for one to five games a week, I guess I haven't noticed so many. When I go through the Eshop, I have bought literally every VC game I'm interested in, which is Super Mario World, Earthbound, Zelda 1 & 2 and the original Mario game. The last three I only bothered with because I had some mysterious discount and they were all only a dollar a piece. Every other game I would buy the instant it released hasn't been put out yet. Heck, I'll be buying Yoshi's Island on the 3DS AND the Wii U, if they ever bother to put it out.

They may be putting out some games, but so far most of their heavy hitting titles they haven't even touched yet. Those are the ones people want released, the ones people are waiting to shoving their money into Nintendo's pockets for. There's just not a good reason to wait on re-releaseing games that were already released years ago and it seems silly not to get those games out now, especially for the Wii U which is so limited on games anyway....
 
They release 1-5 games a week. I'd say that's enough. It's not like people can afford buying even more than that at one time. Plus, releasing all of the games sooner would mean that they have less options to release in the Wii U's later years. That would cause some backlash. I'm happy with it. I've got all of my systems out. I ALWAYS keep them out, no matter how many. I just shoot for as many outlets as my house can fit, and of course I'm not going to have multiple systems on at once. That makes all hook ups safe.



I wish I had the room to keep all my systems out, but there's just no way. I would MUCH prefer to play my original N64 games with a proper 64 controller! As for one to five games a week, I guess I haven't noticed so many. When I go through the Eshop, I have bought literally every VC game I'm interested in, which is Super Mario World, Earthbound, Zelda 1 & 2 and the original Mario game. The last three I only bothered with because I had some mysterious discount and they were all only a dollar a piece. Every other game I would buy the instant it released hasn't been put out yet. Heck, I'll be buying Yoshi's Island on the 3DS AND the Wii U, if they ever bother to put it out.

They may be putting out some games, but so far most of their heavy hitting titles they haven't even touched yet. Those are the ones people want released, the ones people are waiting to shoving their money into Nintendo's pockets for. There's just not a good reason to wait on re-releaseing games that were already released years ago and it seems silly not to get those games out now, especially for the Wii U which is so limited on games anyway....



Well imagine how much more money will overflow Nintendo's pockets if they released all the monster size titles at once or almost all of them. They could just be saying "Heck let's release all the crap no one cares about first, then we can get down to business afterwards." There's also the fact that Nintendo aims at kids/family friendly products. They could be saving the best for last because there are simply toddlers out there who haven't even been there for the Wii's release, which was almost 8 years ago. I'm sure anybody would like kids to get to experience games they missed.

I wouldn't call this a good business decision though. If it were me, I'd release half and half of hard hitting games and poo every week for balance. I also stand by you on the original DKCs,the N64, GC, and GBA games. The DKCs REALLY need a VC release somewhere. Not like Returns was bad by any means or Tropical Freeze doesn't look fantastic, but the originals were KING. If they were to be released around Tropical Freeze, Nintendo would have to make a room to pile money into, allow all staff to take breaks in there, and allow them to take as much money out of there as they can carry. That's how good it would be. To top it all off, add the Mother (EarthBound) trilogy collection for both 3DS and Wii U. Microsoft and Sony would drop off the face of the Earth.....or be acquired by Nintendo :P
 
I wouldn't release poo period, Nintendo has plenty of games to choose from. Even if it's one game a week, that's 52 games a year. Surely they've had 52 great games on their systems? They should have enough to span a couple of years. After that you don't really "need" new VC releases because there are enough games made specifically for the system that you no longer have to rely on VC games to be a selling factor.
 
Yeah, there's no shortage of good possibilities. Heck, here's a... few:

  1. Every Zelda game ever (Zelda 1, Adventure of Link, Link to the Past, Ocarina of Time, Majora's Mask, Link's Awakening, Oracle games, The Wind Waker, Twilight Princess... and on both home/handheld consoles where possible).
  2. Every Mario platformer (Super Mario Bros, The Lost Levels, SMB 3, SMW, Yoshi's Island, Super Mario Land, Super Mario Land 2, Super Mario 64, Super Mario Sunshine, on both systems where possible)
  3. Mario RPGS (Super Mario RPG, Paper Mario, Paper Mario 2, Mario & Luigi Superstar Saga at minimum)
  4. Donkey Kong Country 1-3, Jungle Beat, 64, Donkey Kong Land 1-3
  5. Pretty much every Kirby game up to Kirby's Air Ride
  6. Every Metroid game up to Metroid Prime 2
  7. The entire Mother/Earthbound series
  8. Yoshi's Story
  9. Wario Land 1, Virtual Boy, 2, 3, 4 and World (on both 3DS and Wii U). Oh you know what? Let's add Wario Master of Disguise and Wario Land Shake It too, both have basically been withdrawn from sale by now.
  10. All F-Zero games
  11. All Star Fox games
  12. Advance Wars series
  13. Fire Emblem series
  14. Pokemon series with added forwards compatibility (it's now proven possible, so we desperately need the first three generations and Stadium/Colosseum games on the Virtual Console)
  15. Mario Paint
  16. Luigi's Mansion
  17. Pikmin 1 and 2
  18. Super Smash Bros Melee
  19. Eternal Darkness (what, they need to if they want to keep that trademark)
  20. Mario Party 2, 3, 4, 5 and Advance (1 might be legally risky)
  21. Everything on this list: http://www.nindb.net/series/index.html up to Gamecube/GBA era
  22. The entire DS and Wii game line ups. I'm sorry, but given that most of them aren't even sold any more, there's no reason at all we shouldn't at least offer them on the eShop in some form now. Losing too much money? Then at least sell them digitally for near full price.
 
Yes Ninty is dropping the ball because their missing out on an opportunity to expand the 3DS virtual console in which I believe they could and if they take a page out of what SEGA did when they released 16 bit 3D classics then VC will rise again.
 
I agree all the way. They are literally sitting on top of a gold mine and haven't realized it yet. I would definitely but more games on the eShop if they added more VC.
 
The only games that I'm like diehard all for are: DK64 and TLoZ the Minish Cap.

I don't think they'll actually be releasing Ocarina of Time on the Virtual Console, because of Ocarina of Time 3D on the 3DS.
 
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The only games that I'm like diehard all for are: DK64 and TLoZ the Minish Cap.

I don't think they'll actually be releasing Ocarina of Time on the Virtual Console, because of Ocarina of Time 3D on the 3DS.


I'd like Minish to be on VC as well. My copy was stolen (it was in my gamecube's gameboy advance adaptor port when the gamecube was stolen)
 
I mean, I get that the Gamecube and N64 games will probably take longer to put up, since they don't have a Wii U version of the emulator yet that can run them. But the SNES and NES games? They're just sitting on a pile of money at this point.

Granted, I never had a NES, and I only got the most popular SNES games because it was my parents buying them, but a lot of the games they've released on the Wii U VC at least I've never even heard of. I'm not likely to buy an ancient game I've never heard of, whether it's good or not. I buy the games mostly for the nostalgia factor, because I want to replay my favorite old games. There are some I'll buy because I've never played them like Link to the Past, but I mostly want the games I played before. I just have a hard time imagining that 'Brawl Brothers' which I've never heard of, is as popular and would sell as well as 'Yoshi's Island' or 'Star Fox'.
 
The 3DS Virtual Console is doing better this time around: it finally has another exclusive against the Wii U: SEGA Genesis. Though I'm sure the Wii U will have it eventually, the 3DS is doing better this time around. And all the games are in 3D to boot, some even retaining their multiplayer features (preferably Altered Beast) which I bought right away despite.....realizing 20 minutes later I could've got it for a dollar on the App Store (major disappointment right there; could've had $5 still and still be able to do the multiplayer).

But anyway, they have the Oracle games on it as well, both of them at that. Now, as for the Wii and DS games: I mean come on both systems can already play them (Wii U/3DS via their slots) so we don't need them on Virtual Console for pete's sake you're just over demanding that.

The 3DS needs to finish it's Virtual Console lineup of Consoles with SNES, GBA and Virtual Boy so that they're finished; adding new consoles such as the Neo Geo and other unknown third-parties at a latter date once they've got the main stuff in there that we've been asking for. Though of course, they could start off, for GBA, with let's say: Metroid Fusion, Minish Cap and Kirby and the Amazing Mirror; finally getting those ambassadors out of their exclusive closet. Then we would eventually get SNES within time and hopefully the Virtual Boy since it's a 3D console AND apart of the Gameboy Line, though it should release only it's top three games: Mario Clash, Teleroboxer and Virtual Boy: Wario Land.

As for Wii U matters, well this is a 3DS forum and I came here because I like talking about my 3DS but I know nothing of the Wii U since that is something my brother owns. In my opinion, the 3DS could EASILY run N64 games by this point, but obviously they won't put that on there. I'll be happy if they did, though Mario Kart 64 on the go? Sign me up for that if they release it; especially multiplayer since that game has great music too and it's really quite an adrenalin boost (I know I didn't spell that right). But yeah, we shouldn't be too demanding anyway. Right now, and since Game Boy COLOR got released the same time the GAME BOY did, I SAY we should have the GAME BOY ADVANCE to start off the new year am I right?

They snuck in SEGA Genesis in there before the year ended, including pretty much all of it's best games except Vectorman and the remaining Sonic titles but I'm happy with what they put up (and quite frankly, I have Sonic Classics for my original DS for Sonic 3 and the other sequels, and Sonic 1 and 2 remastered in HD on my iOS device so I don't need Sonic games; though Altered Beast was a nice addition but sadly I kind of wasted money on that one since the new features from the iOS version merely are being able to play as random beasts in any level and the 3D effect).

To wrap this up: GBA should be the first priority we're asking for. The Virtual Console has been failing for releasing the better GB games that is true, but I'm satisfied with the GB games now and for GBC they have Wario Land 3 and the Oracle games which also satisfies me. So GBA should definitely be coming out of the waiting room now since it's been patient for almost three years now, so it's addition would surely be legendary. Then after it gets all it's first-party titles on there and best third-party ones, maybe with wireless/online multiplayer but that's optional, then we can focus on other consoles.

Verdict: GBA now, SNES later; Virtual Boy eventually, hopefully with Teleroboxer as the launch game; and then other third-party handhelds to follow if they make it in time for the 3DS' timeline
 
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