Top 20 'popular titles' on the Virtual Console - April 2008 (USA)

It's a shame that more people don't know about this site. As for the list, I guess it just goes to show that gamers are going to purchase the games they are more familiar with and stray away from the ones they've never heard of or aren't sure about.

@ JJ, you're exactly right. People go on the VC and buy the games they know—in many cases the games they already have.

There should be some other titles there .
Well in response to jj i found this site by googling up actraiser reviews & one of the pages i loaded up ended up being from this site hopefully more people will find this site pretty much the same WAY .

Yeah, this place helps a lot. Except for Phantasy Star 2. :>(

Anyway, most of it's a good list, at least people like Punch-Out!!.

Just in case anyone was wondering, here's the system breakdown:
NES--9
N64--8
SNES--3
Surprise, surprise, Nintendo systems dominate.

Cruis'n is mint!

Well I'm doing my best to advertise. What we need is for eberyone to view one of my vids at the same time, so that I hit YT's currently being viewed list. Thousands view those vids because of that list.

Cruis'n USA at #7?

great, this tells Nintendo that they can release bad games on the VC, and yet people will still buy them up.
which could delay the arrivals of Nintendo's bigger titles.

And posting the top 20 all-time from the Norwegian official Nintendo forum:

1) Paper Mario [N64]
2) Mario Kart 64 [N64]
3) Super Mario Bros. [NES] (1 up)
4) Lylat Wars [N64] (1 down)
5) The Legend of Zelda: A Link to the Past [SNES]
6) Donkey Kong Country [SNES]
7) Super Mario World [SNES]
8) Kirby's Adventure [NES] (2 up)
9) Super Mario 64 [N64] (1 down)
10) Super Mario Bros.: The Lost Levels [NES] (1 down)
11) Sonic the Hedgehog [SMD]
12) Super Metroid [SNES] (2 up)
13) The Legend of Zelda [NES] (2 up)
14) The Legend of Zelda: Ocarina of Time [N64] (2 down)
15) Super Mario Bros. 2 [NES] (2 down)
16) Super Mario Bros. 3 [NES] (2 up)
17) Bomberman '93 [TG-16] (1 down)
18) F-Zero X [N64] (2 up)
19) Kid Icarus [NES] (new entry)
20) Metroid [NES] (3 down)

Super Mario, I'd rather have Cruis'n than MK Wii. I cannot stand that drivel. SMK and MK: DS FTW!

Well, I got RCR at least...

DEMON212: LMAO.

The lack of Streets of Rage 2, any Sonic games, and Sin & Punishment is greatly disturbing.

@ konkerdoodle, not too surprising, since the VC is a Nintendo system on a Nintendo console...

I've only downloaded two of these games - but I often prefer the obscure ones anyways...

Shoot! I'm more interested in the 21 through 50 list.

Wow, no Sega or Turbo games.

Maybe this will tell Nintendo to give use more solid Nintendo games because when they do, they sell very well.

I am just shocked none of the Sonic the Hedgehog games are in the Top 20. Maybe he is no longer the icon Sega thinks he is... or everyone owns the Sonic Mega Collection.

It will also be interesting to see how the Wii Ware titles shake things up.

I wish Nintendo would extend it to at least the top 30. It will also be nice if the new channel allows us to see each others' rankings like on this site, but I fear it might only show recommendations.

I haven't downloaded Mega Man titles or Sonic titles due to Mega Collections.

Sonic definitely isn't the icon Sega thinks he is. I know a lot of people who are surprised that they're still even making Sonic games.

Wii Points are expensive. Surely in buying a Mario, Zelda or Kirby game the consumer realises that they're making a solid investment? Why take a chance? I did, and I've ended up with games I'll never play again (i.e. Harvest Moon, Alien Soldier and Baseball Stars 2). It's the games in that very list at the top of the page that I play the most in my VC collection. Surely you're not telling the masses to download something like, say, Fantasy Zone over Punch-Out?

You'd think that the ease of access to these games would mean that people would be a bit more adventurous with their choices. Apparently not...

Kelvin, it's still cash. No matter how easy to use the VC is, it's still cash.

Well, not many people wouldn't want to play as Nintendo icons over Generic Character That They've Never Heard Of. Especially when they know from experience that the Nintendo icons make consistently good games.

I think if Sonic Mega collection was not released then more Sonic games would be on the list

Wow only 4 days after it was release and River City Ransom is #12. I guess people have fond memories of that game for it to be rank in the top twenty.
As for the "woeful" Cruis'n USA, either people must think it's actually fun (reviews be damnned) or people are just downloading it becuase it's a new N64 game; something that we do not get that often.

I already have 12 out of the 20 games you guys mentioned, I'm surprised Cruis'n USA is on that list, I bought the actual N64 cartridge instead of the VC version, and that is an awful game, but it is fun.

Also to the people saying Nintendo will release a bad game and people will buy it, I do hope more people find out about this site, and that way it can possibly eliminate the chances of a bad game coming out in the future, but I doubt it though, people go with games they've played before, even if it is bad.

In regards to the Sonic theory, all 3 Sonic games have been on the VC for quite a while now. That's why it isn't selling as well now. Hey, I bought all 3 Sonic games!

STOP BASHING CRUSIN USA!!!

It makes perfect sense that Nintendo systems would be dominating in the top 20 list, seeing as how the vast majority of people using the VC have been long-time Nintendo fans. That's not to say there aren't people out there trying games from other systems, it's just that they don't show up in the top 20 as they get edged out by the "core games" that people are more used to.

I do hope that Nintendo doesn't look at this list as an indicator that nobody wants games from those other systems, but instead looks at the raw sales figures. I actually wonder how beneficial such a list really is; I don't think it's really an accurate representation of gamers' interests, and simply by having the list you're artificially pumping more interest in the games on it...

Don't blame Damo
I downloaded Fantasy Zone. I've done my part and I enjoy it.

Althought I'll skip Wonderboy I never like the NES verison

1 - Super Mario Bros. 3 - NES (No change)
2 - Super Mario Bros. - NES (No change)
3 - Mario Kart 64 - N64 (No change)
4 - Super Mario World - SNES (+1)
5 - The Legend of Zelda: Ocarina of Time - N64 (+2)
6 - Punch-Out!! Featuring Mr. Dream - NES (No change)

All great games. Everyone should own them. I don´t blame the americans, they seem to have good taste... unless they download the same classics twice!

I don't own any of the top 5 games...but that's only because I already have them in some form or another. You really can't blame anyone for these games being on the list because 90% of them are great games. The only ones that concern me are that people are getting ripped off of games like Donkey Kong and Pac-Man since the NES versions aren't quite up to par with the arcade versions they may be expecting.

I wish we could sort "popular titles" by groups--say, consoles, genres, or whatever. I'd really like to know what the most popular T16 titles are, for instance.

People tend to be right in that people often go for stuff that they have already played. But I took a chance with titles like Shining Force, Mystical Ninja, Kirby 64 and the like and I feel happy to try something new every now and again.
Still, I can understand why the top 5 is as it is, having experienced them in some form or other (and yes, Mario 3 was the first VC download I ever had; probably also counts as something "new" although I did already check out the All-Stars version via emulation). Why Cruisin' USA is in there is beyond me, but it goes to show the general consensus of a hardcore Nintendo gamer.

I wonder if Sega cd games
will ever come to the vc. I wanna play Sonic Cd!

Interesting how this compares to the UK one. Off the top of my head: We have Sonic 1 and 3 on ours (No Sonic 2 though ), Pac-Man is no.5 or so, the C64 games seem to be performing well (California Games second only to SMB3!) and Wonderboy is at 8.

We also lack Punchout, showing what poor taste we have!

Mario kart 64 is a bit high, it should trade places with the legend of zelda ocarina of time.

Well I haven't bought anything on the VC since "Harvest Moon" got released. And I am not suprised about the list at all. When the VC was announced I wanted it to play the games I remembered as a child and also to play on the N64 games I missed. However, those N64 games aren't really coming fast at all. But the thing is that I am hesitant to buy games that I have never played before even if they are said to be good. The reason being is because it can be costly. Maybe if Nintendo would have demos for the games then people would be more willing to purchase the unknown.

But the way I see it is this way. If you are in the middle of nowhere and there is two restaurants. One being McDonalds and the other being some unknown burger joint. Which one do you think people will stray to? The place they know and recognize being McDonalds.

Unfortunately, given my experience with MacDonald's in the past, I'd rather take the other, but you do have a point that there should be a way to test out those games that they're unsure about. I think the only option so far is to emulate them for an hour or two and see what you think; if you like it, then go ahead and buy it

How can Cruis’n USA come to the chart? Shame 3rd party games like Contra 3 and R-Type arent on the list.

As someone who has downloaded Cruis'n USA, I can tell you exactly why it reached #7: NOSTALGIA! When I was a kid, everyone I knew played this game, you couldn't escape it. They had it at the arcades and then it was on everyone's N64. I'm sure there are a lot of other people like me that saw it and immediately downloaded it, no questions asked. I didn't need to go to a web site to see a review (which would have told me how crappy the game is) because I knew I would have fun playing an old game that I enjoyed as a kid. And I'd say it was worth the 10 bucks, except that now I have a bunch of N64 racing games, like Wave Race 64, Mario Kart 64, 1080 Snowboarding and F-Zero X

Cruis'n USA really isn't that good of a game. While we are talking about not very good games, Donkey Kong may be the worst one on there. I mean, I can't be hypocritical because Donkey Kong was one of the first downloads I made. It was a mistake, and I deleted it from my hard drive. Also, look for RCR to go up next time. What a good VC purchase!

@MrPoo6321
Right on man, Crusi'n USA should have a 3-Star rating not a 1-Star, that's pathetic.

You know us Americans, we can't get enough classics in our hands!

Is there a way to know how many downloads a game has on the Wii Shop Channel?

Being the indie gamer that I am, I always aim for the more unusual releases. I must say that I am very grateful to have discovered games like Wonderboy In Monster World, Sin and Punishment, Shinobi 3 and a lot of other games.

Can't say that I ignored Metroid 3, Super Mario Bros. 4 and Castlevania 4, though. See, I'm not stupid^^

Ugh, Cruis'n USA? Really?