With Nintendo's announcement that we can transfer our VC/Wiiware games over to the Wii U, I'm starting to wonder if there is a catch. Perhaps they will try and sell us the same games we already bought on the VC again by having special editon versions of them. Versions with added online play, added rumble and controller pak support for the N64 games on the VC already, boxart and instruction scans, history or making of videos/text, etc. If they did add these things to the VC games, I highly doubt Nintendo would let you update your games for free. "Oh, you want to play Mario Kart 64 online and have ghost data? Well, simply repurchase the VC game you bought back in 2007!"

I can't see that happening. HD Classics? Yeah, probably. A third tier of VC games that don't get updated over time just to screw over Wii owners? I doubt it.

I have a feeling there will be some new features to the VC games once the Wii U comes around, like save states for example. What I was getting at was when we transfer our VC games onto the Wii U, will we automatically be entitled to the new features, or will we have to buy a new version for the new features? This is all just speculation, obviously nobody here knows the answer.

EDIT: Save states is probably a bad example, since that could be done with the Wii U system's memory and not the emulator contained in the VC game's channel.

I'm pretty sure the game transfer thing will work the same way it did with DSi -> 3DS. It transfers over the games but it also transfers over the rights and such which means that if you delete the game you can download it again. Games that weren't available on the 3DS eShop were not able to be transferred.

What I'm saying is that, if there's a difference, I don't see them maintaining the "Wii versions" of the games on the Wii U eShop. If they did that I'd imagine that we'd end up with an eShop that has duplicates of all VC games. That's why I can't see it happening like that.

One thing they could do is put the pause screen on the gamepad. Like in Zelda 1 you could just touch the item you want to switch to instead of pushing start and having the screen scroll and then moving only left or right to select the item that you want and then press the start button again and have the screen scroll back to the action. This could be applied to many games. Like they did with Ocarina of Time 3D.

If Nintendo does enhance some VC titles (I really doubt they will do much of anything on that front, but if they do), I'd like them to add a map on the gamepad for the original Metroid. Or, for a touch of retro-/Etrian Odyssey-inspired coolness, let you draw your own on it.

Nintendo has added about four games to the VC service all year. Chances of having enhancements to existing VC games? Zilch.

Nintendo will not be releasing special edition VC games, but maybe SEGA will. SEGA usually does things that Nintendo doesn't.

I can see them doing things like putting the manual on the second screen, having save states and letting you play the games on the second screen with the TV off as standard features in all VC games (excluding GC). I wouldn't be that surprised if pretty much every Wii VC and WiiWare title was available to download from the eShop on day one with all of the Wii VC titles will having those small updated features. When you transfer the games you'll almost surely get the updated versions.

but that's about as far as I think they'll go

Wait we can transfer all our Wii VC titles to the Wii U? Is this confirmed 100%? Thanks!

@emiru69
Indeed!
http://www.nintendolife.com/news/2012/06/you_can_transfer_wii...

Thanks! I missed that post!

@Brooks83
I hope they add save states to Wii U VC. Maybe then I'll be able to finish some of the tougher, more limited continue games I have, like Blaster Master, StarTropics and Dragon Spirit. Matter of fact, there are some games I already own in cartridge form that I'd buy again on Wii U VC, just for save states! At last, I could beat such games as Contra III on hard mode!

Honestly, VC games playable on the game pad just has to happen. As long as the purchases are tied to accounts and not consoles, I would spend a fortune on it.

Though, if these games were to add gamepad compaitability, a patch would be needed for every game. Plus what about games that have been removed from the Wii Shop Channel like the TMNT game, would those be able to be transferred?

You wouldn't feel the same amount of glory as I did when I finally beat hard mode without save states or anything.

Also, VC games on the Gamepad would be awesome. That would do away with playing VC games on the 3DS while at home. Can we share our 3DS and Wii U VC games?

I regret using restore points on a couple of my 3DS VC games, I NEVER want to use restore points again, even on games like SMB or games that don't save

It would be nice if they added save states, but I probably wouldn't use them. I was pretty proud when I beat Ghosts N Goblins and Super Ghouls N Ghosts on my own.

.............. why wouldn't they do Wii U versions of the games if they're going to put them on the Wii U eShop?

Probably not

Personally I think they should hire a large team devoted to converting VC games into something acceptable to today's standards.
I mean, there's no point in playing Balloon Fight on a system for any extreme amount of time if you can't compare to friends, and what about online Mario Kart 64 or Smash Bros? Or even using the Miiverse's weird version of achievements as bragging rights?
Leaderboards and online are pretty much essential when re-released on other platforms; if Sonic the Hedgehog released on XBLA as just a straight port it wouldn't have sold anything. By doing these updates, they can advertise them on WiiU shop as competitive reliving of the retro years, and even do special events and sales around it. Heck, I'd pay a small fee to upgrade to these if it came to that.

Save states are a no no in my opinion, if you can't beat the game like it was supposed to back in the good old days, you need to try harder.