Donkey Kong Country Trilogy To Be Pulled From Wii Virtual Console

NO!

Was going to buy them for my SNES anyway. Still, this is a bit strange. DOes it have something to do with the fact that Rare made these?

...o.0
Well I have all 3 so whatever...(and I'm in NA, lol)

Buying DKC2 and DKC3 at some point, then. Not missing out on these.

.....what?
This makes no sense!

What the hell?
While there's no confirmation for North America, I should download these this year.

It isn't copyright disputes probably. Rare made them, but they are using Nintendo's assets.

This is likely a royalties issue. Rare (Microsoft) is probably asking for more profits from these games when sold digitally on Nintendo devices. Always a smart move. Push for more money so Nintendo can be like, "fine nobody gets anything".

I would totally cough up the money if they wanted to release an HD collection of all three on the Wii U. I probably wouldn't even think twice. and I still own the SNES carts of the trilogy.

Maybe it's because of Wii U?

So please confirm for me: will this happen to NA or just Europe!?

I'm just thinking.... if you buy such games, will they be transfered to Wii U as well?

@MrWalkieTalkie There has been no word on Europe, it would have been in the article otherwise!

However, IF it did happen, we'd surely let you all know.

I would imagine North america is next. I would not be surprised if the Star Wars games are also at risk with the changes withing Lucas arts and Disney.

I wonder what will happen if i would need to Re-Download a dkc game again... Would that still be possible?

This is a rather peculiar incident, isn't it?

They could be preparing an anthology for retail maybe?

So if I was to buy this before the 25th and transferred it over to the Wii U on the 30th will it be on my Wii U or will I have wasted £14 ?? Can anyone tell me this ?

The original DKC along with F-Zero where my day 1 shop purchases. The end of an era... I wonder if it's being pulled because of something RARE related...?

What would be so awesome is if they remade the Trilogy and made them look like DKC Returns. EPIC!

What if Nintendo is planning some DKC collection for the Wii U eShop or something to take its place? I mean, I doubt that, trying to be positive. I need to redownload one of these (I purchased all three already) just in case it gets the plug pulled here too.

@dudey3000: It sure says "Europe" in the article.

A sad day. Some of the best games ever.

I think it's most likely as was said above a royalties issue. Or perhaps there was a limited term to whatever royalties contract or agreement that existed, and one or other (or both) of the sides decided not to re-up the contract, or one or other (or both) of the sides wanted to change the terms.

Or maybe they are going to feature the games on the WiiU eShop, but the agreement that they had with Rare only allows digital distribution through one forum (similar to the way a tv show may have the rights to air music while on broadcast tv, but not on the dvd or in reruns).
_Lawyered.

Or it could be something completely different. I tend not to think it would have anything to do with an HD collection or anything, but i suppose it is possible.

I hated the SNES versions of DKC anyway, except for 3 which looked nice and played fun. The graphics just looked too ugly on the SNES, and looks way better on GBC and GBA.

Didn't they do this with one or all of the DKC games a year or two ago? And then they were back a few weeks later?

Why the hell would you even mention Rare? They got nothing to do with DKC anymore.

Any word on us North Americans?

@TheDreamingHawk
You don't know what good platforming is if you hate the SNES DKC games! They did not look better on GBC at all what so ever.....& GBA was about the same. Besides you shouldn't go by visuals when judging video games.

Oh noes! Not Donkey Kong. I'll need to check to see whether I already have these games, D'oh!

I hope these games can be transferred to Wii-U even if they get pulled from the shop.

That's weird... I can't help but wonder if this is in preparation for something related to the Wii U... I was already worried that Nintendo wouldn't make the Wii VC games (and WiiWare) accessible to buy on Wii U. As far as I know, we only have confirmation that we can transfer them. No one said anything about buying them on the new console. I really hope I'm worrying for nothing here, because there are still dozens of games I want for Wiiware and the VC.

I have DKC 1. Isn't my favorite game but it is fun every once in a while. SNES games just do not look good on my television. I don't care much about graphics, but they just look bad, especially games like DKC which already haven't aged perfectly graphics wise...

@Jogurt - Nobody knows, because Nintendo hasn't said anything about that. I guess we will all find out if games removed from the Wii shop transfer to Wii U or not in 2 days. Lol, see what I mean about Nintendo being too secretive on Wii U details?

Well that sucks. Donkey Kong Country is my favorite game on SNES
It's problebly contract issues concidering all were released on November 21st (DKC 1 and 2) and November 22nd (DKC 3) making it their 16th 17th and 18th Birthday and have decided not to renew the contract.

@truewiimaster - from the Japanese screenshots, it looks like the Wii shop is accessible from the "wii mode" on Wii U. But whether or not VC games downloaded from the Wii U are only playable in "Wii mode" is anyones guess. Nintendo, do you have an answer?

I hope this isn't the case for North America as well. If it is, I need to hurry up and download at least the original Donkey Kong Country before it's taken down. I wonder why, very strange.

So that means that there wont be DKC gb for the 3ds virtual console!? D:

Let me guess next thry going to take away our birthday....

I really find it hard to believe that Nintendo wouldn't be the sole copyright holders on these. No, I find it much more likely that this is because they're going to rerelease them in some other form on the Wii U.

I actually predicted this months ago. I believe 2014 will see a 20 year Trilogy compilation release on WiiU.

Also hoping they're preparing an anthology of some sort.

Nintendo IS the sole copyright holder of the DKC trilogy. That was part of the agreement when MS took over Rareware

@ people who think the reason behind this is a DKC disc... They didn't take down the Kirby games or Mario games when releasing dream collection or all-stars

WHY?

You've only had 18 years to buy and play the trilogy so if you have, for some peculiar reason, never played it yet, you'd best get it now.

Laaaaaame.

I'm going to look at this in the best possible light and hope that Nintendo is planning to sell a trilogy collection w/ extra bells and whistles for the Wii U. Pleeeeeeease Nintendo??

To those asking for confirmation, you're probably not going to get it. If you want these, you had best go download them. I got all 3 earlier this year, so I'm hopefully set.

@TheDreamingHawk "Better graphics on the GBA?" Surely, you jest. The GBA had no backlight, so one had to suffer the horribly washed-out colors and high contrast levels (this was done to compensate for the dark screen). No thank you. How the music was ported on the GBA was an insult to the Snes version.

But the fact they're removing from the VC just added another strike against Nintendo's crappy handling of the Virtual Console. They own the rights to the DKC series (and all the characters, assets, etc are also owned by Nintendo), so,it can't be a copyright issue. Nintendo also owns the characters (original and old) in Star Fox Adventures, but that's another story.

Whaaat? I guess I have to buy DKC 3 soon, then, since I've never even played it.

Huge blow to a service that's already got 1 foot in the grave. VC is losing nearly as many games as it gains these days. At least this hasn't happened to NA yet. Though I'm afraid I'll jinx it just mentioning that. Luckily I have all 3 games on my SD card anyway.

I wish I had a couple of grand to purchase every title I still wish to download for fear that any one of them could be removed in the near future...

Picking up on what TrueWiiMaster wrote; has anyone been able to confirm if you can purchase and download all the current Wii VC games on the Wii U? I was hoping there would now be some video on YouTube of the Wii U's Virtual Console service, but alas, I cannot find anything yet,

If not, that's going to be a huge blow to the Wii U and yet more incentive to keep our Wii's, assuming Nintendo doesn't shut the service down entirely for the original Wii! shudder

This reminds me of a puzzle.

The answer: Microsoft sucks!

I don't understand why.

Oh god no. Thankfully it's Europe so far but it may hit NA and I've had my eye on these games. I'll try to get a points card just for this trilogy alone considering I'v never played it.

i was going to go darth vader style here but then i realize i have all 3 on the vc and that im in canada but NOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOO for the sake of it lol

Afaik Nintendo wholly own the DKC games & owe Rare nothing. Nintendo even owns DK64. Hence Nintendo must be rereleasing a HD version, makeing a "DKC Trilogy" game for Wii U or releasing some sort of special version on the Wii U, thus forcing anyone interested in these games to buy the Wii U. That's my theory anyway.

This may just be a temporary thing for some reason or other as it says "will become unavailable to purchase ON 25/11/12" not FROM.With that wording it implies it will only be unavailable for 1 day.As Burning_Spear says above,didn't they do this a few years ago and then they became available again a few weeks later?

I still own all 3 original cartridges anyway.

Well that sucks. If it applies to Australia I'm going to have to get DKC2 and DKC3 asap. Loved Rare, but not enough to follow them to XBOX.
If they make a compilation though , day 1 buy.

@Taceus That Rare has nothing to do with today's Rare, not even the staff.

About the thread it cannot be because of a copyright issue because Nintendo own this one. I am sure we will know the reason any time soon.

http://nooooooooooooooo.com

All three games are gone from the Wii Shop Channel in North America

I noticed they were gone from NA as well. I went to download 2 & 3 and was highly disappointed. Thanks a lot Nintendo! You could have at least given us some notice.

yeah clearly nintendo is doing something maybe a 3DS retail with dk64 and the trilogy?

I still don't see a point in removing it from the Virtual Console. They can still release it on 3DS or physical copy and make MORE money from it.

wow wtf O: why take them off hope they dont do that in NA i been wanting to download these =[

That really stinks. I mean, I'm in North America, but that really does stink for Europe. I know what it feels like to be screwed by the Virtual Console service (COUGH... 3DS... COUGH). Well, good thing I secured the trilogy, since we could be very well next.

US, we may be getting the boot also some time in the future.

I checked my Club Nintendo account. Well, at least I downloaded DKC1 a long time ago and should still be able to keep it. If Nintendo don't let me transfer it to Wii-U, I'll be PO'ed...

@DarkNinja9

As some others reported, they already did.

Strange. I'm assuming it does in fact have to do with copyright claims.

I'd like to see the morons responsible for its removal. Genius move, Nintendo of Europe, genius move. Lousy pillocks.

@TanookiMike Nintendo can't release the games it has the rights to? Makes sense to people, right?

They own all DKC assets, so....

That's weird--But whatever. I just as well'd rather have the original carts.

I already own them, so I'm good. Still, it's a pretty dumb move on Nintendo's part.

@Mike1 Pretty dumb move indeed. I'm sure they had absolutely no reason to remove it

What could this possibly mean?! Nintendo lost the rights to the original DK Country's?! Or is Nintendo just planning to release a 3D enhanced version of the trilogy on the 3DS?

Whatever it may be, pretty sad to see those amazing games getting pulled from the Wii shop! If you never played them before, download them quickly! Especially 2 and 3 rank among the best sidescrolling platformers ever!!! Fantastic stuff!!

My guess only would be is that they plan to have it on the eShop soon after Wii U. In its new form it would be playable on the Gamepad, whereas current VC can't be played on the Gamepad.

DAMN IT! i have to spend my points on dkc3 as quick as possible then

Looks like the games have gone from the NA virtual console. I just tried to download. Can someone confirm?

There was a time when a company was even better than Nintendo. That time was Super NES and Nintendo 64 era. Everybody, download these three!

Yes!!! That means a trilogy in 3d on 3DS!

@KeeperBvK D'oh! I was meant to say North America!! #fail

Why bother buying 50hz cut down slow running small screen rubbish anyway, was a BIG letdown that Nintendo did this to the European WII Vc can just hope they change it for the WiiU.

I've only downloaded DKC so I'll make sure to download DKC2 and DKC3 before they get taken down. Btw, you've got the subtitle for DKC3 wrong, its Dixie Kong's double trouble, not Dixie Kong's quest.

I can't find them anymore in the NA shop!

They've been removed without notice from the NA shop.

Lame! That was quick for NA removal. No warning? It seems like these removals had affected Europe more until now, and involved 3rd party games. Nintendo had no issue releasing these games, so this is very strange.

Wow. Soon the majority of my VC collection will be titles that have been removed from the service. I sure hope Nintendo keep them hosted online forever as don't want to lose the ability to play them should my Wii decide to pack in.

This is why I hate digital distribution. Things disappear and then there's no way to legally buy them. If they just gave us the right to transfer them freely once we downloaded them then it'd be fine, but as it stands we're constantly getting screwed over.

@madgear And Nintendo wonders why piracy is such an issue. If they're constantly removing games due to "licensing" issues, it makes them look like morons.

I use to be a big vc fan but after takin games back and releasing nothin they wont sucker me in again.... Now i just hope my dkc games trasfer over to wii u...

@madgear I agree with you.
@Zach I am European but I feel sorry for you Americans about this.
@Everybody This is weird though, Nintendo owns the copyright for the whole DK series.

NOOOO!!!! The Wii's Virtual Console will be ruined!!!!

NoA removed them without giving any warning? That's awful! I feel sorry for any Americans that missed their chance to get these games. I'm glad that NoE gave us a warning.

I just checked, it has been already pulled in NA. I wasn't able to get DKC II.

"They've been removed without notice from the NA shop"

Without warning? I thought they never did that anymore!!

I didn't get any of these games . You know, a warning would've been nice!

Nntendo NA you really p1sh me off. You would have had my cash. Now i gotta get all the square title before they disappear.

Boy I'm glad I got DKC1 to week ago. Already had the sequels.

Why no proper warning for NA? :/

Wow gone from NA, good thing I have all 3.

Wow... Seriously, Nintendo? LOL, I feel so sorry for all of those who're stuck with a Wii or Wii U for whatever reason. EarthBound's not even on the VC and never will be, and now they go and remove the SNES's best trilogy. Absolutely laughable. The VC is nothing but one big scam.

An utterly pointless decision Nintendo's made. I'm American, but I feel so horrible for those in Europe that it's far from imaginable. Is it because of Rare? Clearly, they have the rights to the Donkey Kong character. As well as Diddy Kong and the rest.

it's not royalites--Rare doesn't care what Nintendo does with DKC--DK is Nintendo's property, why they took them off the Wii Shop is stupid--don't remove 3 of the best SNES games while there's 9 Commodore 64 games still available, and 42 flippin Neo Geo games that have no real place on the VC(which bugs the crap out of me)--atleast we didn't lose any of the FEW N64 games we have...

what
the
f...
Why. Would. They. Do. That? I don´t understand. IIs there going to be a DKC HD Trilogy Collection? That would be great!

They better not be pulling games from the Wii Shop Channel to make room for Wii U content. That would be a huge middle finger.

Odd.

Well maybe it's a good sign for me xbox player. Does it mean that Rare wants it to be released as xbox live arcade gtames? Lets hope so. Nintendo you lost your rights. so nuff said!

I heard what happened to the Europe so I was finally able to put money together to buy it today (Nov. 19,) and iall the DKC games are GONE! What happened? There was no warning what so ever!

This never happened to me on Xbox Live. An now Nintendo wants me to buy a new system with more digital content? If this is how they are going to treat their customers, no way!

oh well i have and i have return im fine with it

@Boy8319 You are wrong, Nintendo owns DKC rights.

I wish they announce the trilogy will available only one this week. I hurry to download them.

I've already downloaded all 3 of these months ago, so no biggie

Didn't think Nintendo needed any kind of permission or agreement with Rare to host these games anyway, considering Donkey Kong is an original Nintendo IP, plus the series has since been rebooted with Donkey Kong Country Returns on Wii. I can understand Rare retaining rights to games like Banjo Kazooie and Conker, even Diddy Kong Racing to an extent (as it featured Banjo and Conker) but when Rare went to Microsoft, they should've forfeited any rights they had over the Donkey Kong Country games.

Weird... Thanks for the heads-up, Orla. I still need to download DKC3, so I''ll do that before it (and any trace of Rare's glory days) vanish completely.

I just bought a new wii. My old one was stolen. First thing I tried to do was download DKC. Is this title seriously gone for good? It's my favorite childhood game and my original wii was stolen (which I had purchased it 2 years ago with).
FRUSTRATED

Wow. This is absurd. You know I just loaded up my points specifically to buy DK Country because I have a nostalgic feeling for DKC this time of year, as it was originally released around the holidays. It brings back the warm fuzzy feelings. Now in exchange I'm watching Nintendo and Microsoft in the sandbox arguing about who can use the rake. What they don't know is that the cat used it as a litterbox.

snapped up DKC 2 and 3 on the 24th and ironically all 3 was in the "Top Downloads" section of the the virtual console.

@MrWalkieTalkie It's already happened in both Europe and America.

Funny how they pulled it off the Wii Virtual Console right before the Wii U was released here in the U.S (11/18/12). I was actually planning on buying the trilogy for the Wii U. So I hope they're bringing it back in some form or another. An HD/3D makover and/or GamePad support would be nice.

@motang: You have my sympathy. DKC2 is one of the better titles.

You know what? Everyone on this page has my sympathy if they missed out on getting this awesome trilogy.

Is it possible to redownload them if you already bought it? I only ave the first one. I'm planning on doing a massive VC transfer to my Wii-U deluxe come Christmas time...

Oh, only in Europe. Whew. Sorry for you guys, though.

It's not only in Europe. They're gone in North America too.

I was pretty pissed off when I found out that the DKC trilogy was de-listed from VC. There could be a number of reasons why the trilogy was de-listed: licencing issues, lack of popularity (which I doubt) or Nintendo could be planning to transfer the trilogy to the Wii U's VC (nothing confirmed). I also heard that there's a Donkey Kong game coming out for the Wii U. How cool would it be if Nintendo remade the DKC trilogy for the Wii U?

This must be temporary only. I had plans to purchase Donkey Kong Country 2 as soon as possible, but I can't now. I have DKC already downloaded, so no worry there, but this is still perplexing because I'm sure this series is a big seller! I hope DKC transfers over to Wii U no problem though. I really enjoy Donkey Kong.

Man, I'm glad I bought these 3 DKC (SNES) VC games earlier in 2008 when I bought my Wii.

I know that Rare developed DKC, DKCII:DKQ, DKCIII:DDT, and DKC64, and Nintendo Published them. If DKC64 (assuming it was already on VC) was removed, then something is going on between Nintendo and Rare. Nintendo DOES own all rights to DK, but Rare did make the games, so it can't be forgotten. And for the removal from NOA's VC, WHY!? I DON'T HAVE EM, AND PLANED TO GET EM! WTF NOA?! Oh well, I still can get em for my SNES. (+ I have the GBA re release of DKC! have not beaten it {FLIPING HARD}, but it is still fun)

I purchased all 3 when they debuted on the vc which was a long while ago,however even though they were pulled from the vc they still transferred to my wii u

Nintendo released a Wii version of Super Mario Bros All-Stars. Nintendo released the Legend of Zelda Collector's Edition. Nintendo released the Mega Man Anniversary and the Mega Man X Collection. But, they cannot do this? Nintendo, once again, you disappointed me. First you wouldn't release Mega Man 9 and 10 on actual cartridges, I need to download them on Wii internet, which will take long, and now this. Listen to your fans. (Chanting) DKC Trilogy!

@ernielew1984 First off, Nintendo don't develop or publish the Mega Man games, that's all down to Capcom what happens with them, and secondly there hasn't been a main console that's used cartridges since the N64, unless you're including handhelds. Mega Man 9 and 10 honestly don't take very long to download (a few minutes at most) unless your internet is really. really, really, really slow.

As for the Donkey Kong Country games, I still don't understand why they were removed....seems to be no reason for it whatsoever. Rare developed the games but they're completely owned by Nintendo, unlike, say, Diddy Kong Racing which had Banjo and Conker in as characters (owned by Rare) and Donkey Kong 64 which contained 'Jetpac' as a playable minigame (another IP owned by Rare)...although in the case of Donkey Kong 64 I can't see why that one thing completely restricts Nintendo from re-releasing their own game and maybe can't be removed. It really is dumb, as the Donkey Kong Country series is one of the most popular franchises Nintendo has.

Soft mod your vwii mode and look into how to install channels

@Rawk_Hawk Yeah idk what is going on. I'm so confused.