Topic: What is going on with Wii U Virtual Console?

So any ideas or guesses as to why the Virtual Console on the Wii U is seemingly well... asleep? We saw NES, SNES, 64, Genesis, Turbo-Grafx, and Neo Geo games released during the first year of Wii's release. We're now in the second year of Wii U and we only have a handful of NES and SNES games available on the Wii U. Kind of strange...

Is it just not a big priority for Nintendo right now? Or do we think something larger is in the works?

I hope it's something larger, but I wouldn't get my hopes up. It's a shame, because the VC was the deciding factor for me with the Wii, and it was a big selling point for the WiiU and 3DS. Fingers crossed.

The VC could be a selling point for the Wii U, but nobody's going to buy a Wii U so they can get Urban Champion or Clu Clu Land. We still don't even have A Link to the Past or Super Mario Bros. 3 in North America yet.

Getting Earthbound was pretty cool, though.

@Kodeen

I totally forgot about the delay on the Wii U. Yeah, that does suggest it wasn't and most likely still isn't a major priority. What a shame!

@DudeSean

I agree that the titles that are currently available are very spotty in quality. One would think if the VC releases are not a major priority, that the titles they do spend time on converting for the Wii U would at least be high quality games that would make a splash. I'm still scratching my head as to why North America still doesn't have "A Link to the Past" yet...

I believe the question better asked is, "what's going in with Nintendo, period?". The Wii U is a great system, but playing on a great system requires great games, of which there is only one in the foreseeable future: Donkey Kong Country: Tropical Freeze; Everything else has no real released date. There is really no information as to what is coming at all. I'm sure by now everyone knows Nintendo needs to figure it out, but as they take their time doing so inevitably people will look elsewhere, and the PS4 and XBOX One are looking really good (not just graphically) and just starting out while the Wii U is entering the third spring season with literally nothing in the first quarter of the year. Drip, drip, drip (can you not just hear the emptiness of Nintendo's lineup?). Their VC issue is a problem only scratching the surface of even greater problems: they got nothing.

Eh, I'm perfectly happy relying on the Wii VC through Wii Mode. I actually like having a separate mode designated for my horde of VC games. GamePad controls are nice for some VC titles, and while I love using the GamePad for modern games, it feels a little strange when used for most current Wii U VC games to me. (Not that I don't ultimately covet the option, of course.)

I'm only really concerned with whether they will release VC content unavailable through the Wii. I still want more Arcade and Neo Geo releases, Amiga support, and the like--on top of the usual forgotten classics and GCN/GBA support. But I'm not too bothered by the wait. (Don't get me wrong, the VC is basically my favorite online service on any console.)

For what it's worth, I believe they are attempting to prevent the eShop from being drowned out by VC purchases like WiiWare was. They need to keep the eShop as attractive as possible to indies and all. Now if only they could secure more regular eShop releases... (I'm somewhat bothered that Nintendo has made such little effort on that front compared to the 3DS eShop, or even WiiWare.)

Because that's like asking "What's wrong with people these days?" Which will elicit pretty broad statements, and most likely a fairly boring thread.

Keep in mind that although Wii was supported heavily at first, it stopped to almost nothing in 2008.

@gage_wolf

You mean what's always been wrong with people? It's not just 'these days' that people have been doing this stuff. They just have better technology to do it with.

But the Wii U has had worse support as well as only having two platforms available in the west which is just poor.

I don't know, will likely start buying hordes of VC on my Wii at this point. You can just transfer to Wii U later anyway and I am not keeping my hopes up for the Wii U VC getting much better.

If we're talking about the Wii VC, that's certainly not how I remember it.

Many of the best non-Nintendo VC games were released after 2008. Square Enix stuff like Chrono Trigger, FF6, and both Ogre Battles. Neo Geo gems like The Last Blade 1 and 2, KOF98, Metal Slug 3 and X, Magical Drop III, Ironclad, Sengoku 3, and Shock Troopers. Choice import releases like Rondo of Blood, Monster World IV, Detane: Twinbee, and Bomberman '94. Lost Genesis classics like M.U.S.H.A and Strider. Stone-cold SNES classics like Mega Man X, Prince of Persia; as well as hidden gems like Wild Guns and Zombies Ate My Neighbors. Even the entire Arcade catalog. And, not to forget, Sonic & Knuckles.

Even some classic Nintendo releases came after 2008, like Majora's Mask, Super Smash Bros., and Mario Party 2.

I think the reason they haven't released titles for the N64 or gamecube yet is that the big noteable ones like Mario and Zelda are getting remakes to upscale them to HD, and they'd rather not have competition from the cheaper originals. If they think they can sell you Super Mario 64 HD for $40-$60, why would they want to let you play the original for $10? As for A Link to the Past, who knows? Up until now I thought they weren't releasing it because of A Link Between Worlds, but maybe it's because of indie games.

The VC is not a priority. VC will not sell that many systems. Nintendo has probably been focusing on their other projects that will help sell the system.

Before someone else says it, "it isn't that difficult to emulate games on the console." Nintendo doesn't simply emulate the games and hope they work. Nintendo tests every game to make sure it works as close to the original experience as possible. So even if it takes 1 person to do that it would be better to make VC a side project and have that 1 person work on higher priority games currently.

@Kodeen: If my quick head-math serves, that's 261 games by the end of 2008 vs. 142 after.

Nice work. (I mean that both literally and figuratively.)

It must have something to do with Bandwidth Issues.

Though that doesn't fully explain why Nintendo didn't just go all "3DS" on Wii Shopping Channel and eShop.
(when the eShop for the 3DS launched, almost everything from the DSi shop was successfully transferred to the eShop.)

My only idea for the reason behind that is the Wii Shop was a full generation behind the Wii U and probably didn't lend itself to the new eShop very well, where the DSi was only a half generation gap where Nintendo probably had the 3DS eShop in mind when DSi was created... but we may never know the real reason

I think it's most likely due to the lack of GamePad support in Wii software. It would probably be confusing to some to have an inconsistent platform and Nintendo likely wants to institute universal GamePad support among eShop releases. Wii software does not recognize GamePad inputs and Wii hardware does not recognize it as a controller, therefore, it's not as simple as it seems.

In the case of DSiWare, there is no change in input, features, or support. Bandwidth is not a likely issue, as I'm pretty sure most Wii U retail downloads could hold the entirety of the Wii VC and WiiWare catalogs, combined.

Guess it was 2009 then.

I think one game a week is a number I'd be satisfied with. I don't have so much to spend anyway, both money and time, and I don't want to pay more than I can play. I'd like some more systems though..