(My first thread in a while. Huzzah)

So, in the midst of all the NX rumours and whatnot, people have been ignoring a very flawed system in the WiiU/3DS, the Virtual Console.

When the Virtual Console was first announced back at an E3 event, Nintendo gave off the impression that it's an amazing new service that'll allow you to revisit classic titles at decent prices on your new system, and in reality that was technically the case. People enjoyed a wide range of classics from Nintendo's origins in the NES to some of their greatest triumphs on the N64, as well as a bunch of games that weren't even originally on Nintendo's consoles, and all for a small price for each game.

Recently though, the Virtual Console hasn't really been doing too well, for a variety of reasons:

-First off, the WiiU/3DS Virtual Console catalogue hasn't even come close to the Wii one in variety and amount of games, aside from several titles like EarthBound.

-Nintendo's 8th gen offerings both having seperate Virtual Consoles is a terrible feature, forcing you to repurchase a lot of things if you want to play them on both consoles. People like to joke that they're forced to pay for Super Mario Bros for the 10th time or so.

-The seperate Virtual Consoles on the WiiU/3DS lead to some games, that are perfectly capable to run on both systems (I.e. DS AND GBA GAMES!!!), being mutually exclusive which sucks for people who want to play their favorite games on the go/the big screen. For example, Pokemon Red/Blue/Yellow are exclusive to the 3DS, while Metroid Zero Mission is exclusive to the WiiU.

-The original promise of the Virtual Console seems to have eroded away. Originally, the whole idea of the term "Virtual Console" was the fact that the Wii was "Virtually" capable of running every single Nintendo game ever created, and more. On the WiiU, you have some of the systems, but GC games were never added, and thus the console catalogue was incomplete. Same thing for the 3DS. Of course, you have to consider the fact that the whole idea of Home Console/Handheld exclusive is rather dumb. So dumb that Nintendo only follows it whenever they feel like it.

-Some of the stuff Nintendo does on the thing don't really make a lot of sense. Just to name a few: GBA/DS games on WiiU and not 3DS. SNES games for WiiU/New3DS only.

I want to ge into detail on the fact that SNES games are New3DS exclusive. Nintendo recently came out and claimed that they're exclusive to the New3DS due to its added CPU power, which is of course bullshit. Are we seriously supposed to believe that Nintendo, with all of their resources, couldn't develop a stable emulator for the 3DS considering the fact that a small group of Homebrew hackers made a stable one on the ORIGINAL DS? The sad thing is, you see people defending Nintendo's side of that claim...

So, yeah. TL;DR: The VC sucks. Nintendo needs to unify the platform for the NX and add more titles.

What do you guys think?

The theme of Nintendo's next generation is, based on years worth of speculation, rumors, and things said and done by Nintendo, unification of brand, handheld, console, etc. I can almost guarantee that next gen, you won't have to repurchase all your games for different platforms. Not only that, but most likely, their VC games are probably going to be sticking around between generations from now on.

About the GCN thing: The Wii U GamePad is not suited to play many GameCube games, simply because of the lack of analog triggers. Even a simple title like Mario Sunshine used em.

Then just make the GC controller/adapter mandatory, like how N64 stuff on the Wii required the classic controller.

I agree. I'm still waiting to download Spirit Tracks and Xenoblade Chronicles...

:T

Is there a an accurate (i.e. no slowdown, no lag, perfect audio and color palette) SNES and/or GBA emulator out there for the 3DS?

Until someone shows me one, I'm going to take Nintendo's word for why the 3DS doesn't have those games. However, the thing that I think Nintendo deserves the most backlash on is these mid-generation console revisions that only serve to split the market and make dumbasses like me waste more cash on a miniscule set of extra features and games: RAM pack on N64, Wiimote+, DSi, New 3DS.

I'm tired of it. Just make the damn 3DS strong enough to handle SNES and GBA emulation from the get-go. The original 3DS should have been made with that in mind.

I never expected full free games for already owning VC games, but how greedy does it look on Nintendo's part that it couldn't even offer some sort of discount for those who have the 3DS VC games on Wii U? Don't say a word to me about two different hardware architectures. There are a handful of indie games that have no problem giving you crossbuy on Wii U or 3DS if you own the game on another. If Nintendo asked me to pay a dollar or a buck-fifty like the Wii-to-Wii U upgrade, that's not bad. Somebody had to do the emulation work. But paying the same price the games cost a decade a go for the chance to buy them digitally a third time is just ludicrous. It puts a big damper on my hopes for Nintendo finally embracing crossbuy for the NX, and between that and my complaints about hardware revisions, I doubt I'll be in a hurry to get the next round of consoles soon after launch.

Or just don't include games that require analog triggers, but I think Nintendo could have sold a lot more GC controllers if they made them usuable on something other than Smash.

Here's (Original) DS footage. Do you really believe that the DS could run a SNES emulator but the 3DS couldn't? Also we're comparing a few hackers to Nintendo...

I think "Virtual Console" should be treated like a platform.
You bought a game for the Virtual Console?
Then you can play the game on any system that supports the Virtual Console.

I don't understand why they can't make a virtual console that works in a similar way to emluators on PCs.

Ka-pi96 said: Would definitely be good if Wii U/3DS shared their VC. IIRC Super Mario 64 is on the Wii VC but not the Wii U one too. Don't have a Wii U anymore anyway, but when I did I wanted to play it and after seeing it was on the Wii one assumed it would be on the Wii U one too. Dissapointment followed Not too keen on the prices either. Considered getting one of the Pokemon R/B/Y re-releases but balked at the price. Ok it's like 8 pound which isn't that high but this is a 20 year old game that I already own so even that is more than I'd be willing to pay. Was kinda expecting 2 or 3 pound or something

Mario 64 has been available on the Wii U VC since April of last year.

They definitely need to improve the VC, specially the selection of games and platforms, and make all games available on all regions (XC is on the european e-shop but not on NA)