
In 2017, rumours became real when it was confirmed Nintendo would release select Wii ports running at 1080p HD, 60 FPS on the Nvidia Shield in mainland China.
It began with the release of Super Mario Galaxy and was followed by other titles like Donkey Kong Country Returns, The Legend of Zelda: Twilight Princess, New Super Mario Bros. Wii, Punch-out!! and Mario Kart Wii.
Niko Partners senior analyst Daniel Ahmad - the same source who originally shared this information has now revealed the ability to download these games is currently in the process of being shut down. Although the games are "still accessible" if purchased, it's unclear how much longer server authentication will continue to work.
This was all part of Nintendo's "Tegra deal" with Nvidia and was followed in 2019 with the Japanese video game giant officially launching the Tegra-powered Switch in China with the assistance of Tencent.
As of December last year, Nintendo's hybrid system had sold more than 1.3 million units in China - with the system selling almost double the combined sales of the PlayStation 4 and Xbox One in the same period. Daniel Ahmad also referenced the success of the Switch in a follow up to the original message:
[source twitter.com]
Comments 65
Why did they only release only 7 Wii games in China while everywhere else got hundreds of releases?
I always thought this was a strange move as part of the Tegra deal, to bring Nintendo-published Wii exclusives to a non-Nintendo platform, but also only to a select region. These ports seemed to be decent upscalings and I’m surprised they seem to have fallen flat commercially.
@Don A more thorough answer can be easily found elsewhere on the internet, but iirc it’s essentially because the Chinese government (the CCP) basically have to comb through each and every game themselves to make sure that it’s ‘safe’ to be released to the country’s public, which not only seems to take a ridiculously long time, but also appears to result in the rejection of a significantly hefty volume of games in the process. There’s an incredibly tiny amount of officially released Switch games in mainland China for the same reason.
@Don ask the Communist Party of the People’s Republic of China
I have got to be honest I completely forgot about the Nvidia shield.
Also why can’t we have some of these games on switch.
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Would love to see Donkey Kong Country Returns on Switch. Great game!
@Finntendo64 completely unrelated.
@Don because Mar1o and Dankey K0ng and Zuldi and other rip-offs are easily available in China. For a few bucks each.
@Friendly
The Switch itself and its games are hugely successful in China, so the existence of Chinese knock-off games hasn't hurt Nintendo at all.
It's just that the Nvidia Shield hasn't been all that successful in China (or anywhere for that matter), and most of those Wii games on Nvidia Shield have been overshadowed by sequels and follow-ups.
@westman98 1,3 million for a country with 1 billion inhabitants is not as much as it can be, relatively speaking.
But you’re probably right though about the nvidia shield. That is probably the reason.
@Friendly
4+ million units including imported Switches.
China is not into dedicated game systems as much as other regions due the infamous 2000-2015 game console ban. 4 million units sold in ~4 years is a big success in that context, a figure that is several orders of magnitude greater than what the Nvidia Shield has sold.
This is news, I guess. Don't really care what's going on in China tbh
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@glaemay I tend to emulate games that companies don't give me easy access to purchasing legally. It's all on them really, I'm more than happy to give them money if they'll just sell it to me.
well it was a never a big hit there. It was a matter of time.
I completely forgot about this to be honest. It's such a unique partnership. Shame the Nintendo games on the Shield didn't take off.
While these are just Wii ports, people had to realize these were optimized for the Nvidia Shield so motion controls were opt out which when you think about it would had easily been ported to Switch. The fact that it will be in HD and runs at 60fps makes it even more possible for Switch.
Since it looks like the deal is over, I hope this means more Wii games can come to switch
@Don you might want to ask Tencent.
Maybe they'll release the Wii ports on Switch (at a reasonable price?). It is a shame the partnership hasn't been fully capitalised on. Nintendo have kind of just used the cheap production and refined SDK tools then both companies are hovering in limbo, not prepared to solidify the partnership. Nvidia Now should be on Switch and more Switch games should be added to that service. The option of streamed Breath of the Wild at 1080p , 60fps with RTX would make the service sky rocket in popularity. And make the power of Switch totally mute, as it still runs the games handheld natively (just).
@Markiemania95 It also doesn't help that a game can be rejected just because the review board can go "Nahhhh.... I don't FEEL like it."
@Finntendo64 Without the Shield you wouldn't have the Switch nor would Google have the foothold of Android TV that they now have, here now go buy a vowel..
@TTgowings True. I bought 2 x Shield TV's at launch in 2015, and they are still 4K beasts in 2021.
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@IpwnedU123 “The level of butthurt from some users is off the charts! […] Seriously, if you cannot tolerate different opinions, get off the internet already!“
Have you read that somewhere before? Seems awfully familiar to me 👀
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@Markiemania95 Yes, but the wording is all mine.
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@IpwnedU123 Please try to find the humor in the situation. I was explicitly making a joke, not suggesting we literally harm each other over any differences anyone may have politically. The “socialism sucks,” post is a valid, if not extremely succinct, comment. There’s no harm in speaking of such things. Report away, I’m not here to try to take control of you, but dear lord please try a tiny bit to recognize blatant sarcasm/jokes. I know it’s tough online because you can’t see facial expressions/body language, but it’s fair to say that to automatically think people on this site, of all places, is fairly upbeat and positive. Life’s too short.
@alexybubble Europe is not a single state or government. The UK’s laws are not the same as Belarus’, Greece’s are not the same as Switzerland’s. Regardless, pretty much all countries on the continent, with perhaps only one or two exceptions, are clearly all predominantly Capitalist nations. Just because no European state is an exact replica of the USA’s system, does not mean that they are socialist 😂
@IpwnedU123 Indeed, as I had assumed.
Strange strategy
@FargusPelagius Maybe they will. After all Super Mario Galaxy is already available on the Switch.
I wouldn't mind if they released Punch-Out!! Wii on the Switch. I just realized (and much like Metroid Prime Trilogy), I have it on the Wii but I wouldn't mind getting the Wii U downloadable version either.
@BloodNinja i reread your comment, and there is absolutely no indication that you were making a joke. Even if you were joking (which I seriously doubt), is was in extremely poor taste...
"it’s fair to say that to automatically think people on this site, of all places, is fairly upbeat and positive."
Have you ever read the comment sections on the NintendoLife articles about ROM hacks? Or CFW related lawsuits? Or DMCA takedowns?
Or how about some of the comments on the recent diversity and political correctness articles? Not everyone on NintendoLife is "upbeat and positive" from my experience...
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This sad but is to be expected.
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@IpwnedU123 Depends on what you read, depends on who you talk to, depends on how you choose to interpret. You've got to learn to take the good with the bad. I think most people insert their own negative bias into almost everything they read on the net, without first stopping to think about how ridiculous the comment is, and that it's probably an attempt at humor, or at the very least trolling. If you don't get the joke, that's no problem, I'm not changing what I said for the sake of someone not understanding the joke. Those who get it, will get it, those who don't, won't. I'm not too worried about it.
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@Don Everywhere else got zero, not hundreds. Wii downloads for the Nvidia Shield were exclusive to China and presumably was part of the deal that Nintendo cut with Nvidia during the gestation phase of the Switch.
The closest other regions have seen to this is the underlying emulation technology (Or possibly an equivalent) being repurposed to get Super Mario Galaxy on Super Mario 3D All-Stars up and running on the similar Switch hardware.
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There was Mario Kart Wii on SHIELD but not on Switch ???
UNACEPTABLE
@eaglebob345 Nail on head. I think some people tend to think that European nations are ‘socialist’ simply because some have employed common-sense mixes of capitalist and socialist values.
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@eaglebob345 I disagree that there are only some 'far left crazies' (I've had Twitter, they are 100% of the reason why I deleted it and never looked back - the sheer volume of them on there makes me genuinely despair) and also that the current Government is dead center, but hey - this isn't the time or place to get into all of that. At the end of the day, I agree with you in theory.
@Markiemania95 Just to clarify, I definitely didn't mean there aren't a lot of far left crazies out there, I should've worded it a little better. A lot of them are the online mob that jumps on someone for any little offensive thing on the internet, even if it is unwarranted. I really meant to stress that not many of them, if any at all, are in government. I know there definitely a lot of them out there, though. Also, I'm not necessarily saying that the current government is dead center, but a lot of the Democrats in power are, imo. Regardless, you are correct this is not the time or the place for such a discussion. I definitely don't want to be the reason that the political mob sweeps through and gets another comments section banned. 😬
EDIT: If you haven't seen it already, I recommend watching the documentary "13th" for an example of what I meant by the Democrats course correcting too hard.
Well, we saw it coming from a mile away as soon as the Switch became available in China. No point in having two Nvidia consoles competing against each other.
They got plenty of nice HD remasters. Yeah, we got Twilight Princess HD on Wii U, and we got Super Mario Galaxy as part of Super Mario 3D All-Stars on Switch, but wouldn't it be nice to revisit Donkey Kong Country Returns, Punch-Out!!, Mario Kart Wii, and New Super Mario Bros. Wii in HD! I'm down for a DKCR 1080p version if it includes all the extra content from the 3DS version.
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@IpwnedU123 Respect other people's opinions as you expect them to respect yours.
@BloodNinja I think some you may have some crossed wires there. In the UK it won’t take two years to see a doctor for anything. In fact you can see a doctor the same day - just call at 8.30am and you could be seeing someone within a couple of hours. The maximum wait for this surgery here is 18 weeks, but that’s on the extreme end - I think there were other factors involved that affected your grandmother. Not that it makes it any easier for her, hope she’s feeling better now.
@Mips She is much better after the surgery. Sadly, it was a two year wait at the time due to a high demand of medical treatment. After her wait, she was treated. I know it’s an outlier, but it certainly happened.
@BloodNinja Good to know she’s better. But yes, a 2 year wait would definitely be a very unusual circumstance here.
The only thing I get from the article is that there is a Zelda twilight princess 1080p 60fps that's running on switch hardware....
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Maybe those games will be ported to the Switch... in China hahaha. Nintendo always had a different approach with the chinese market, let's see if those games pop up again someday.
Sigh the discussions about politics and all that are completely off topic and unneeded, let’s please avoid that.
Back on topic, I feel sorry for anyone who spent money on games that they can no longer access. I have experienced that firsthand, and that is exactly why piracy can be morally justified. Why can't they just let people keep those Wii games after buying them?
@Mips indeed, British health care is largely okay, but depending on how rare certain conditions are or general stress of the NHS can be very very long. Mainly organ transplants. Or if you're trans but that's just the gov being transphobic
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@LaytonPuzzle27 I never once thought the creators and mods of this site were here for free speech. They're here for their free speech, but nobody else's. This is just another excuse to control other people's language.
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