Nintendo Virtual Console - A Reflection
- Nathaniel Hope
- May 11, 2018
- 13 min read
Updated: Nov 27, 2024
Apparently, the Virtual Console (or VC for short) is not coming to the Nintendo Switch. There was an article posted over at Kotaku.com about this news recently. A Nintendo spokesperson was quoted saying this:
“There are currently no plans to bring classic games together under the Virtual Console banner as has been done on other Nintendo systems.”
The fact that Nintendo won’t be bringing the Virtual Console or some form of it to the Switch is extremely sad news to hear. Especially since the announcement/launch of the Switch, the VC was one thing fans have desired most of all as a feature on the new console. This is extremely surprising, leaving many to feel unhappy with this new development of news. But after years and years of hoping for a better, improved Virtual Console with each Nintendo console iteration, only to become completely disappointed each time, maybe it’s time to just let it go. The VC was an amazing idea that had a lot of potential. But as the years went on, and as the Nintendo consoles changed and evolved, the Virtual Console was mired with a lot of frustrations. If we look back over the last 12 years of Nintendo’s Virtual Console history, we may start to understand why.
The Nintendo Wii
The Nintendo Virtual Console has been featured on the Nintendo Wii, the the Nintendo WiiU, and the “New” 3DS library of systems. It has been a part of the core Nintendo culture for the last 12 years, starting with the Nintendo Wii in 2006. With a handful of Nintendo classics spanned across multiple systems including the NES, SNES, and N64, all together in one system, the Virtual Console was off to a promising great start.
Within the first seven months of the Virtual Console launch, Nintendo of America issued a press release of its upcoming 100th VC title, which was Zelda II: The Adventure of Link. Within this press release, Nintendo stated that more than 4.7 million VC games has been downloaded, at a rate of more than 1,000 titles an hour. That is a lot of games!
All the way through the console’s final life cycle, we saw over 400 games spanned across even more of a variety of old school systems in North America. These systems include the Sega Master System/Sega Mega Drive/Genesis, Neo Geo AES, TurboGrafx, and the Virtual Console Arcade.
The overall experience of the Virtual Console was a positive one. But like everything, it wasn’t without its flaws. General criticism has been stemmed from the absence of many games due to rights issues. Because of rights issues, many popular games have been not been made available on the VC. Many have also been delayed from release. And when games were finally released, many were found to be altered somewhat. Also, one major problem was found in all the Virtual Console Nintendo 64 games. None of these games featured rumble or vibration. Rumble features were first introduced with the Rumble Pak add-on for Nintendo 64 controllers. It became a standard for games ever since. Games that required rumble features for puzzle solving like The Legend of Zelda: Ocarina of Time, would no longer be functional.
The Wii Classic controller, which plugs directly into a Wiimote controller, does not feature vibration capabilities (the Wiimote itself does). The Nintendo Wii console, however, does have 4 Gamecube controller slots. And for those of you who may not know, Gamecube controllers were built with vibration capabilities. A cool feature for the VC was the ability to play N64 games with a GameCube controller. Unfortunately, since the vibration feature was not made available in the library of N64 games, rumble features didn’t work for the Gamecube controllers either. But like I said, the overall experience of the Virtual Console was a positive one. But like everything, it wasn’t without its flaws.
The Virtual Console was quite a different experience on Nintendo’s next console, the Nintendo WiiU.
The Nintendo Wii U
The WiiU was announced as the successor of the Wii at E3 2011 and released November 2012. But the Virtual Console wasn’t announced for this system until 2013. The first year for WiiU owners was frustrating due to lack of content. And an apparent lack of a Virtual Console on the WiiU for the first year of the system’s release may have been one of the many contributing factors of the console’s struggles.
The announcement of the VC for the WiiU brought with it many changes. Nintendo said it would be a new iteration of the Virtual Console with an experience designed specifically for the WiiU.
The upside was for those who purchased VC games on the Wii, Nintendo allowed the ability to transfer those games to the new system. This part was exciting news. Fans didn’t have to worry about leaving behind their digital game library in favor of the new system. There was a surprise catch to that, however. Games were not transferred to the main WiiU menu for ease of access and ease of play. In order to play those previously purchased games, you had to navigate away from the WiiU menu and access the “Wii Menu.” This switched the console over to a main menu that looked exactly like the old Wii menu. And the main WiiU tablet controller did not work in the “Wii Menu”. Once switched over, you had to switch to a Wiimote controller to select and play your games. Basically, in a nutshell, it was like having a “Wii Console” inside the “WiiU”. This was also the area of the system where you access the ability to play your previously owned Wii games for backwards comparability.
The aesthetics weren’t really pleasing considering that you got a new Nintendo console with a new experience, and then essentially you are being sent back to a menu that resembled your old console in order to access your old games. Sure, you had the ability to access to your games, which was the main point. But with a new console, you want a new, engaging experience. Going to the “Wii Menu” took you away from the actual “WiiU”. Other than the console’s HDMI support, what was the point in getting a new console in the first place if the experience was going to be the same exact thing as your old Nintendo Wii console? Forcing players to switch Wii modes and then forcing players to switch controllers every time, just to access your games, that experience became quite annoying and frustrating. But that experience was only reserved for those who had already purchased games on their Wii console and then transferred them to the WiiU. The experience was completely different when you purchased games directly from the WiiU Virtual Console. Looking back, this was a possible tactic on Nintendo’s part when it came to the WiiU’s appeal of the new WiiU Virtual Console.
Purchasing games from the WiiU VC put the games directly on the WiiU main menu for easy access. You wouldn’t need to switch between the WiiU to the “Wii Menu” to play your games this way. There were no extra hoops to jump through. One of the features of the WiiU console was the system’s main controller, the WiiU game tablet. Games purchased directly from the WiiU VC also gave you the ability to play these games with the tablet controller and not a Wiimote + add on peripheral (such as the Wii classic controller). And the tablet allowed WiiU VC games to be played directly on the screen of the game tablet itself instead of the TV, allowing you to still play your game while others used the TV for other things. Previously purchased Wii Virtual Console games needed to be purchased again in the WiiU Virtual Console to utilize these features. But Nintendo offered these previous purchases at a discounted price.
The WiiU VC had major struggles in the console’s first year alone. Compared to the first 100 games made available on the Nintendo Wii in its first 7 months since launch, the WiiU only had about a total of 56 titles available. The variety of games made available were only between the NES and SNES systems, games that have already since launched on the Wii VC years prior.
Three years since the launch of the WiiU, the VC finally got some changes as Nintendo made Game Boy Advance titles available in April 2014. Nintendo 64 games were surprisingly absent from the WiiU VC within the first 4 years of the console’s launch. They were not available until April 2015. But in a surprising turn, and with the support of the second screen on the WiiU game tablet, Nintendo DS games were made available April 2015. Overall, the WiiU Virtual Console has seen over 311 games released in North America on the platform.
However, one major criticism of the Nintendo WiiU and the Virtual Console was that purchases were console specific and not tied to user accounts. This turned into a nightmare for those who lost their previous purchases due to faulty consoles. Games could not be re-download and it caused quite a backlash within the gaming community. Needless to say, the WiiU was plagued with many issues. From the experiences we’ve all witnessed in the console’s life cycle, the Virtual Console was one area with quite a few frustrations. There were a lot of questions, a lot of backlash, and a lot of feedback regarding Nintendo’s Virtual Console strategy from the gaming community, including Nintendo’s own shareholders.
Unfortunately the the craziness didn’t stop there as Nintendo's struggles continued. This time in handheld form with The Nintendo 3DS.
The Nintendo 3DS
Nintendo also launched the Virtual Console service for the Nintendo 3DS in June 2011, three months after launch. It too, has seen its share of issues. The biggest issue started with the launch of the 3DS itself. The handheld console sat at a $249 price tag. Previous generation Nintendo DS systems, such as the Nintendo DSi and DSi XL systems were ranging from $99-$129 by the time the 3DS was released.
Less than six months later, on July 28, 2011, Nintendo announced a significant price reduction from US$249 to US$169 amid disappointing launch sales. The company offered ten free NES games and ten free GBA games from the Nintendo eShop to consumers who bought the system at the original launch price. They called it the Nintendo Ambassador Program. This strategy was considered a major success, and the console has gone on to become one of Nintendo's most successfully sold handheld consoles in the first two years of its release.
Aside from the standard fare of NES and SNES games found on the Wii and WiiU consoles, the 3DS offered a library of titles found on the NES, Gameboy, GameboyColor, and Sega Game Gear games. But because of the Nintendo Ambassador Program, the cat was out of the bag. When the first Nintendo DS was released, it had a slot available for GBA games for backwards compatibility. But this new 3DS system did not. While, it was good on Nintendo to give away free games to early 3DS adopters, the world now knew that playing GBA games on the 3DS digitally was possible. But the games they gave away were never released to the public outside of the ambassador program. Over the years, as the 3DS Virtual Console library builds, fans were left wondering if they were ever going to offer GBA games on the 3DS. It seemed only natural considering they had Gameboy and Gameboy Color titles available. But sadly, this did not come to pass. Instead, Nintendo released GBA games on the WiiU in 2014. This was a bit frustrating considering these games were first introduced on a handheld device, the Gameboy library of systems. Only to be teased by the ambassador program at the possibilities, it eventually led us to eventually be disappointed when Nintendo made them available on a stationary console instead, the WiiU.
However, the 3DS Virtual Console got a surprising addition with the inclusion of SNES games. It was announced in March 2016, 5 years after the console's launch. The unfortunate side of this announcement was that you can only play these games if you own a “New” Nintendo 3DS. This, in turn, meant you will need to purchase the ‘new’ system in order to purchase and play these games.
Improvements made for this "new" model of 3DS systems were upgraded processors and increased RAM, an added analog stick called the “c-stick”, and face tracking 3D for accurate 3D viewing. The upgraded hardware also supports the new “Perfect Pixel mode”, which allows SNES games to be played at their original resolution and aspect ratio. Because of this, SNES games are not supported on the original Nintendo 3DS models or Nintendo 2DS models. While it was exciting that SNES would have the ability to be played on-the-go for the first time in Super Nintendo’s history, it was extremely frustrating that you had to purchase a “new” 3DS system in order to play them.
Overall, since its initial release, the Nintendo 3DS Virtual Console has seen over 200 games released on the platform ranging from Gameboy, Gameboy Color, NES, SNES, and Game Gear titles.
Past, Present, and Future
Looking back, with the release of the Virtual Console, it’s had its ups and downs over the last 12 years. But overall, it’s been a part of the core Nintendo culture and has seen many successes despite its many frustrations. With every iteration of the Virtual Console found on a variety of Nintendo systems, there has always been fan feedback, both negative and positive. But the bottom line is, fans love the Virtual Console and is something they’ve wanted Nintendo to continue to support with every console iteration since its introduction with the Nintendo Wii. The support for the platform is overwhelming as people have proven that they are still willing to pay money to play their favorite games (even pay for the same game multiple times) on all of these systems. And at the end of the day, that’s all gamers want. Gamers want to have the ability to play their favorite games, however they wish, on any console they wish.
After the announcement and launch of the Nintendo Switch, the first thing fans have asked consistently is “will the Switch have a Virtual Console?” Well, a year after its launch, and after a year of rumors, wonder, and hope, it looks like that our answer is “no”. After a year of speculation, with that previous post from Kotaku interviewing that Nintendo spokesperson, it seems that the Virtual Console was not meant to be. And in the end, with the same way Nintendo handled the release and last minute cancellation of the NES Mini, we’re going to have no choice but to add this disappointing news to the category of sadness and frustration.
Funny thing to add though. In July 2011, a month after the announcement of the WiiU console at E3 2011, it was recorded that Nintendo of America’s Director of Entertainment & Trend Marketing Amber McCollum stated that Gamecube games would be made available for download on the WiiU in the Nintendo eShop. However, no titles have been made available, and Nintendo has not announced any further plans to add GameCube games to the service. Rumors of GameCube games appearing on the VC have been circling around the internet for years since then. There have even been rumors this past year that we would see Gamecube games on the Nintendo Switch for the Virtual Console, prior to this article.
Maybe I’m reading too much into this. It’s possible that I am. But video games have been a passion of mine as I live and breathe this stuff on a daily basis. I have been following Nintendo and their many strategies on the Virtual Console since it launched in 2006. 12 years, guys. 12 long years of nothing but hype, support, staying positive, and staying optimistic.
And after years of rumors, speculations from one console to another...After another year of rumors since the Nintendo Switch’s launch...to the recent disappointing news regarding the VC and the Nintendo Switch...To this...This whole article that I have written...Looking back on how the Virtual Console has been handled by Nintendo all this time, constantly mired by frustration and disappointment...Maybe it’s time to just let the Virtual Console go. Maybe it’s time for something new. Maybe it’s time to try something different. What exactly? I am not sure. But the answer may be hiding within Nintendo’s new online service, soon to be released this year.
Nintendo Online 2018
Nintendo has recently posted details regarding its new online service coming to the Nintendo Switch this September. One of the things I want to see most for the new Nintendo Online service is an overall fun experience. Compared to how the Nintendo eShop and Virtual Console were set up in the Wii, WiiU and the Nintendo 3DS, the Nintendo Switch system’s current online experience is terrible. The eShop on the Nintendo Switch at launch was absolutely horrible compared to its predecessors.
Both the 3DS and WiiU eShop stores are inviting, fun, and brings you to an experience only found within the world of Nintendo. Before the Nintendo Switch, the eShops were engaging, vibrant in color, full of a variety content, with an always ever evolving theme to celebrate all things Nintendo.
Themes changed often, sometimes to celebrate or coincide to a new video game release. One of my personal favorites, the shops would play video game music in the menus, some specific to a particular Nintendo series. This added to the fun, added hype, and created an overall positive experience. It was really fun to hang out in these shops, read all there was to read, see what all there was to see, and sometimes pick up a digital game or two.
The Nintendo Switch does not have any of this. All the Nintendo Switch really has is a basic eShop with a basic list of games and new releases. It doesn’t really have an identity that makes you feel like you are hanging out in a Nintendo space. Don’t get me wrong, I absolutely LOVE my Nintendo Switch. The games are amazing and I have a wonderful time on the system. But not the Nintendo eShop. It’s current state is absolutely awful compared to past Nintendo experiences. See for yourself.
But with the launch of the Nintendo Online service, I am truly hoping for the best.
I really am hoping for the best. We are going to be paying for this service after all. A lack of a Virtual Console is sad to see, yes. But maybe that’s a good thing. Nintendo is always trying to find new ways to be innovative and engaging. It’s possible that they may have something better to offer than what the Virtual Console was.
Currently, Nintendo is planning on adding over 20 NES games to the Switch with this new Nintendo Online service. It won’t be under the Virtual Console banner as they have been in previous consoles, however, they are adding a new and interesting feature. Those NES games will include some sort of online play. That includes online competitive or cooperative multiplayer, or simply taking turns controlling the game. And that’s just the start of something different with Nintendo Online. Sega is also bringing a library of its classic games to the Switch as individual downloads, including Sonic The Hedgehog, Phantasy Star, and Alex Kidd. The collection will be released worldwide this summer, under the banner of “Sega Ages.” Who knows, maybe we’ll see new life in Gamecube games on the Nintendo Switch in the future (we can only hope). If not under a “Virtual Console banner”, then maybe through some other means. Whatever Nintendo decides to bring to the table, as long as they can bring a new, fun, and inviting experience that gets me excited about all things Nintendo, then maybe there is hope yet.
Thanks for reading.
Sincerely,
BlueNile101
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