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Nintendo has one of video games? most impressive backlogs, but it is missing a lot of golden opportunities with its Virtual Console.


Super Mario 3D World and Super Mario 64


Super Mario 64 was Mario?s first 3D platforming adventure, and set a standard for the genre for years to come, but ahead of the release of Super Mario 3D World, it was not available on the Wii U?s Virtual Console.


 


It is currently available on the Wii?s Virtual Console, but Nintendo really missed an opportunity to pull off some expert cross-promotion by neither making it available to purchase on the Wii U, or as a reserve bonus for Super Mario 3D World. In Nintendo?s recent Super Mario 3D World Iwata Asks questionnaire, the development team stated that multiplayer akin to Super Mario 3D World was a scrapped feature for Super Mario 64, so the games share an important legacy.


 


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The Legend of Zelda: A Link to the Past and The Legend of Zelda: A Link Between Worlds


A Link Between Worlds was announced as a sequel to A Link to the Past, but the game that inspired it is not readily available on the Wii U or the 3DS. Again, it is available on the Wii?s Virtual Console, and Nintendo did offer the game as a freebie to Club Nintendo players before the launch of the game, but I would have loved to play the game on my GamePad, or better yet, my 3DS.


 


Nintendo?s handheld is fully capable of playing Game Boy Advance games, and even released a few as an apology to early-3DS adopters, but that?s it. The Game Boy Advance port of A Link to the Past is great, and I would have loved a chance to play it on the handheld to ramp up for A Link Between Worlds, but Nintendo missed the chance.


 


Some retailers did offer The Legend of Zelda: Oracle of Seasons as a pre-order bonus for reserving A Link Between Worlds, and I thank it for that, but not offering A Link to the Past just seems like an oversight.


 


Perhaps it?s too much of me to ask for previous Nintendo games in exchange for showing commitment to buy future ones, but we know that Nintendo is open to the idea. As a pre-order bonus for The Wind Waker, Nintendo offered debatably the best bonus of all time by giving players a GameCube disc containing Ocarina of Time and the previously unreleased Master Quest.


 


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Pok?mon X & Y and pretty much any other Pok?mon game


No Pok?mon game has released on the 3DS virtual console. Not Red, Blue, Yellow, Gold, Silver, or Crystal. When I see screenshots of old Pok?mon games on popular meme sites like Reddit, it is nearly always from a pirated version played on an emulator on a mobile phone. People don?t revel in pirating Pok?mon games and jail breaking their phones to play them ? there is just no other way to get them. The only legal option is to buy a Game Boy Color, track down an old cartridge, and hope that the internal battery necessary for saves hasn?t passed away (a common problem for old Pok?mon cartridges).


 


Players have a lot of nostalgia for the original Pok?mon games, but Nintendo appears to have little interest in bringing those games to the Virtual Console, and I can?t figure out why.


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The Successes


To Nintendo?s credit, it has brought some great games to the Virtual Console quickly. Earthbound was a game many were requesting for years. Nintendo took its sweet time re-releasing the game, but it was widely embraced, and Nintendo supported the game well, making it easy to access the original strategy guide that was included with the game when it released in 1995 online.


 


Super Metroid was available early in the Wii U?s life, and for only $0.30 if you purchased it at the right time. There?s no reason to complain about that (although it would have been cool to have the game?s map on the GamePad while you played on the large screen). In fact the whole $0.30 Virtual Console games promotion was a pretty fantastic deal. Also, Mega Man X is available, and I will never tire of that game.


 


My main complaint about the Virtual Console, is that Nintendo is slowly trickling out releases and seems reticent to offer consumers the chance to buy its old game. There might be a master plan that I am simply unaware of with Nintendo offering many of its games all at once, but for now, I just really want to play Link to the Past on the GamePad while my family watches TV and I am surprised that the option doesn't exist.


 


http://www.gameinformer.com/b/features/archive/2013/12/15/nintendo-s-missed-virtual-console-opportunities.aspx


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not being able to use previously purchased VC titles purchased on the Wii and holding out VC titles for the Wii U, since all a VC game is a rom file along with some html files in a zip folder makes you wonder how they screwed users over or were just really slow at using a PC.

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Totally agree. They have really missed out on a trick here. Dont see why/how marketing classic games to a new audience hasn`t been done. Its mental especially with our fondness for HD remakes recently.

Theres a whole education in classic games that people are missing out on here. Atleast pre-load 20 of the greatest VC games onto the Wii-U so people have a taste and incentive to buy more!

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Nintendo are determined to hurt themselves.. If they look outside of their office walls and they'll see the huge demand for the original Pokemon games (and many, many others..) as they are being pirated to ###### on platforms like Android or iPhone, well anything can that hold the emulator. I'm playing it on my iPhone and it almost feels native, it's great and it hasn't cost me a penny, i would happily pay for it and if it was officially released i'd delete the rom and buy it.. people want to give you money Nintendo!

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While I agree that expanding the Virtual Console offerings would be a win-win for Nintendo and consumers, I still find their prices for VC games to be way too high overall. Sorry but I'm not paying up to $10 for games that are 20+ years old that I can't resell, it's just not going to happen. Obviously Nintendo's VC pricing structure works for many consumers but it doesn't work for me.

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  • 1 month later...

Actually, I think they should also use this service to release more Japan Only or "Unreleased" games. 

 

seiken densetsu 3

mother 64

I don't think Nintendo can be bothered translating Japan only games as it would cost more than they would make from it.

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