I'm probably not the first person who's thought about this, but how cool would it be if Nintendo put Nintendo DS games (or even 3DS games) available for download on the eShop? The gamepad would be the bottom screen, and the TV would be the top screen! Do you think this could be a possibility in the future?

I'm just imagining playing Metroid Prime: Hunters on my Wii U with a Nintendo DS-style control scheme (using the stylus to move the camera in a first-person environment, that was pretty cool)

Even if this never happens, once Wii U gamepad drivers are more refined on PC (or Mac), maybe someone could set up a Nintendo DS emulator to work with the gamepad. Just some thoughts, but I personally think these aren't bad ideas!

I'm actually going to look into gamepad drivers for PC and see if I can find a Nintendo DS emulator that can output to two different displays

Definitely not a bad idea, but I believe the graphics would be very grainy and stretched. I don't believe DS games were ever designed to be played on the TV.

If not, at least 3DS. I have a Game-Boy Player, and that's not too horrendous.

I don't know why I find this so funny.

What's that you're playing on the Wii U - Ah, Medusa!
Seriously, that would look so ugly.

To be fair, she was sorta ugly to begin with.

Haha whoops, I meant to type "cool"

And yeah the DS games might look bad, but I'm sure it wouldn't be abysmal, because NES, SNES, and GBA games look fine when I play them on my TV
The gamepad probably has the resolution do show both DS screens on it, so that probably wouldn't be as bad since it's closer to the Nintendo DS screens in size...although the simulated screens might be a bit small

If DS games never show up on the eShop (that'll probably be the case), maybe there's a possibility that a select few will be remade in HD?

DS games I think would work better as remakes. I've never been impressed with the DS's ps1 level graphics. 3DS games, however, I think it would be cool to be able to play them on tv. Like, 3DS games are great to play anywhere, but if I'm sitting at home and have access to the tv, it would just be the preferred way to play. Just like the gameboy player for the gamecube.

Yeah you guys are right, 3DS games would probably work better for the idea
The great thing about that is Nintendo already has many 3DS games on its shop, so if they developed an emulator for the Wii U it probably wouldn't be too much of a hassle to bring them all over to the Wii U eShop

So have 3DS eShop games on the Wii U eShop? Then make it sort like the Wii to Wii U VC, where you can either pay full price to get the game without owning it on the 3DS, or if you have it on the 3DS, then you get a discounted price. Obviously it would be nice if it were free, but given Nintendo's strategy with the VC, it seems this could be a possible scenario.

In any case, I'd like to be able to play 3DS games on the Wii U. And I could see certain DS games hitting the Wii U's virtual console. Like New Super Mario Bros. and the Mario & Luigi games.

Nope. Developers would have to recode the games in order to do that, though a couple already have (Mighty Switch Force for example).

If Nintendo programmed the Wii U to be able to emulate DS/3DS games, wouldn't the developers not have to do anything? Just like emulators on PC; the developers don't edit the roms so that it can work on my laptop, but the developer of the emulator has to program it so that it can take key commands/gamepad inputs and the emulator can translate them into signals that the game thinks are NDS inputs. The game itself still "thinks" it's running in a Nintendo DS.

Maybe that's not how it works, but I always figured that if developers had to re-programm the games for something like the Wii virtual console, they would fix glitches and other things. Since all the games play exactly like they would on their original respective consoles, I always assumed that the game files were always unmodified.

Emulators don't have the original hardware to play the games and so they essentially have to translate (for the computer) how to use the computer's hardware to replicate the resources. Depending on how proprietary the original hardware was and the complexity of the system, this can be a rather exhaustive process, especially to create one emulator that perfectly plays all the original software. Virtual Console games are essentially emulators that are tailored to each individual game, which is an easier process (they only need to get one game working perfectly) though this means they have to build a new emulator for each game. It's not as simple as a process as it seems to consumers, it sounds basic but it does take time.

More on topic, this is definitely possible (and I'd love them to do it) but don't count on it. Nintendo would essentially be canabalizing their own sales if 3DS games were available to Wii U owners (they wouldn't need a 3DS for most exclusives) and DS titles would likely look hideous on large screens. It probably doesn't seem worth the investment for Nintendo.

I'd love DS & 3DS games on Wii U, but if they do it at all, they may wait until near the end of the console's lifespan, for reasons that @ShadJV just said.

Yeah you guys are probably right (also thanks for clearing up the emulator problems for me), I don't really expect to see this in the future

3DS game's don't look too hot blown up on my TV, trust me. It would be very weird to see this happen as the 3D is the main part of the 3DS (not that I use it tho ) As for DS It's more likely, I mean we are getting GBA games on WiiU, but still unlikely.

Let me rephrase part of my earlier statement. I don't think DS games are too far out of the realm of possibility for Wii U Virtual Console. Yes, many of the games could look hideous, but that's not stopping them from adding GBA games, so as long as they pick the right titles it wouldn't be too bad. Also, most DS games are no longer in print (to buy new) so Nintendo wouldn't be losing retail sales. I think DS is less likely than GameCube, and if they do add DS games it wouldn't be for a few years I would think, but I wouldn't rule it out completely. 3DS games on the other hand could potentially have a negative impact on 3DS sales, and, as me mentioned, the 3D feature would be rendered useless. So would Streetpass and Spotpass, which are also heavily marketed features of many 3DS games. While I think the occasional cross platform title is possible (such as Monster Hunter), 3DS VC games seem quite unlikely. DS games... I think they have a small chance of appearing but not for several years.