Dear Nintendo

We need to talk.

I did it. I gave in, and I got a Wii U. Maybe it was the Smash Bros. hype, or maybe it was the fact I wanted to play Windwaker again. Either way, I got a Wii U.

Great! Fanastic. I’ve picked up Mario Kart 8, and I’ve even managed to get a copy of the Metroid Prime Trilogy to play through (thank you backwards compatibility). But Nintendo, where are the Virtual Console games?

Yes, you’ve got some NES, SNES, and GBA games. But…why these games? There’s obvious inclusions such as Zelda, F-Zero, and Mega Man. Admittedly, these are all fine and deserve to be there. But, Vegas Stakes? Three golf games?

Even worse, you’re planning on releasing Street Fighter 2010, the oh so-not Street Fighter spin-off? Couldn’t we get, say…Super Mario RPG? Chrono Trigger? Bomberman?

There are those of you who will say that Bomberman is available on the Wii Virtual Console, but I want it on my Wii U. And the whole idea that the Wii Virtual Console exists outside of the the Wii U is ridiculous. There needs to be one unified virtual console, and it’s entirely technically feasible as these games are being emulated. But that’s for another article.

Where are my N64 games? You keep saying they’ll come eventually, but you have yet to release one. I would love to play a four-player match of Gauntlet Legends or Goldeneye when my friends are over. Hell, I would love to have a four-player game of any type available via the Virtual Console. Hell, throw some Gamecube games up there, and I would buy them in a heartbeat.

If people programming emulators in their basements can bring these games to my computer, surely you can bring these games to my Wii U. You have the resources and talent, and I want to give you money for them. I truly do. But the more time these games spend being unavailable to me, the more likely I am to emulate them. And once I emulate and play them, I probably wont want to play them again for a long while.

It’s not hard, just let me buy your games.

Next up107 – Hitting Someone in the Face with a Rubber Chicken

Jason Lamb

Jason is a PC Gaming aficionado from the Great White North. You can follow him on Twitter @jasonlamb.

See all posts by Jason Lamb

7 comments

Newest | Oldest

thedancinpanda

I think Goldeneye has something to do with the Microsoft/Rare deal. God, I do want some Gauntlet Legends, though. That game was brilliant.

Aggro Sky

I've been saying this since the Wii-U was released. And I'm also pretty sure I've ranted about it before here in the comments section of 1MC. But yeah, the simple fact that I can't play games like Metroid Prime (other than through the Wii collection which is around $100 on eBay and adds horrible motion controls) is just silly. I can understand that a lot of the older games have licencing issues to get sorted out in order to release them but your first party titles should ALL be available to purchase in the eShop. There is no excuse. Like Jason says, guys in their basements were able to create these fantastic emulators so we can enjoy these games. Why don't you hire these guys and make it happen!

Frankly, if Nintendo won't or is too lazy to release their back catalogs on their current-gen system, why the hell would I not emulate them? I don't have room for 6 Nintendo consoles all hooked up to my TV in the living room. Especially in this day and age when digital is so easy. Nintendo, YOU are the problem here. If you want piracy to stop, and people to buy these older games, then YOU need to release them so I can give you my money. I would LOVE to have these games on the Wii-U (especially N64 and Gamecube). I have been waiting for over 10 years for a version of Dr. Mario 64 (the only version of the game with 4 player simultaneous play) on one of your "modern" consoles. What gives?

Sadly, I think Nintendo will exit the console business before they realize these things. They are still stuck in the 20th century. All the complaints about Smash 3DS having lag issues online is just another example of a company that doesn't know what the hell they are doing when it comes to anything related to the internet. It's time Nintendo, get it together or pack up and go home. In the meantime, I'll enjoy Metroid Prime in HD on my PC with an Xbox 360 controller....

rizzardcore

This is your only gripe with Nintendo? ;)

Bigjoe91

Jason, I don't understand most of these points. Don't you have an N64 and a SNES? I thought everybody kept these physical media lying around.

MetalFRO

@Aggro Sky I would agree with Jason's base statement that Nintendo needs to get on the ball and give us more than a tiny trickle of new titles via the Wii U virtual console. Most of what's already on the Wii VC should be easily ported to Wii U with the additional functionality so we can play them on the gamepad. HOWEVER, one thing that is likely stopping Nintendo from releasing some of the games people might want to play is licensing. For example, we'll likely never see a VC or compilation re-release of either the Sega Genesis or Sega CD Spiderman games, because Sega lost their Spidey license eons ago. Yes, there are TurboGrafx games on the Wii, but did the license agreement that allowed for that extend to future iterations of the VC for future consoles? Maybe not, which is why anything that isn't first or second party where Nintendo owns sole licensing rights, might still be something they'd have to jump through multiple hoops to re-up the licensing. The question is, how many of the non-Nintendo titles on the Wii VC have sold well enough for them to feel it's worth the money and time to invest in "upgrading" those releases so they're Wii U and/or 3DS compliant? If you look at it purely from a business perspective, the costs may not justify the end result.

I don't want to be a downer, and I would agree that they need to SERIOUSLY step up the VC output on the eShop to much higher levels, but there are hurdles that they'll have to overcome before some of that becomes reality. Why a large percentage of NES, SNES, and N64 first-party stuff isn't on the system already is a big question that they should answer, and specifically, one that they need to remedy post-haste. But 3rd party stuff is likely something they'll have to put forth more money & effort to tackle, unfortunately.

Bigjoe91

@Aggro Sky On a serious note, as much as I agree that Nintendo is behind on all of these concepts (no GBA on the 3DS, really?). There's a serious lack of logic on all consoles about the digital content available. Nintendo's case is the worse, but PSN also has some sequels as stand-alones and other weird choices. Then there's the question of remakes and keeping their options open. I agree wholeheartedly that Nintendo is the worse at managing its virtual content, but virtual content in general should be easier to get to avoir piracy. Same thing goes with prices, in my opinion. If you can get the Assassin's Creed trilogy for 15$, there's no reason why I have to pay 10 bucks for an N64 game I already bought 5 times.

Bigjoe91

@Aggro Sky I'd have to add that Sega has the right idea on this. Those Steam collections are all someone with a lack of space for physical media needs.