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superchunk on 17 February 2017
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Slarvax said:
superchunk said:

1. With Wii U you were able to bring your Nintendo console based Wii VC games over with a very small cost. Wii U only has Nintendo console VC content.

2. Nintendo now ties 100% of content to your account and that has been done with the launch of My Nintendo and that includes digital content purchased on Wii U and 3DS.

3. When Nintendo stated Switch does not have backwards compatability, it specifically only called out physical games.

4. Reggie also highlighted VC as an option in an interview with Wired. 

What I would say first is, we recognize that some of our most passionate fans have spent quite a bit, whether it's with Virtual Console on Wii or Wii U, and we recognize that consumers are rightly concerned about moving to Nintendo Switch without backward compatibility. My comment is: Stay tuned, we understand the concern, more information to come.

~ https://www.wired.com/2017/01/reggie-fils-aime-nintendo-interview/

I think that all highly suggests that Nintendo WILL have a digital form of backwards compatability, if only for VC titles. We do know that VC titles (some) will be getting enhanced with online play and maybe they will, once again, make us pay $1~$2 to upgrade the titles to Switch from either our WiiU or 3DS .. or free if we owned the title on both systems.

That last part would make no sense. We have to pay $20~$25 to play online already.

I didn't mean to imply that the only enhancement would be online play. In fact, I would bet that would only be on a few VC titles comparatively speaking. I also don't see Nintendo tying WiiU to NS migration of VC content to an optional service you can turn off at any time.

I think we'll see one of two outcomes.

1. [unlikely - preferred] Free transfer as all the Wii U titles launch at same time on NS (maybe not 3/3, but all at same time). This would imply they only had to upgrade a core component and not each ROM, thus lower dev costs and worth allowing everyone to just copy over.

2. [my guess] Same transfer fee as before when each title releases it is $1~$2 or free if you own on WiiU and 3DS. This would imply they had to touch every game on top of the core components. For WiiU they added better UX and save states which is also available on 3DS versions. Maybe NS will add improved (true to original) emulation (graphic, brightness, etc) plus the option to play select titles online once they've been enhanced via the monthly subscription.

3. [unlikely] A separate pay service that focuses solely on VC content. 100% access to enture VC catalog for $x/mo. If you sign up to this, then you get to move all content you already own for free (after say 3 mos of service) plus you get to play all other titles and can choose to fully own any other title for a discounted price. "own" in this case means you keep access to the title if you turn this service off. 

Either way, it is annoying that they have not talked about VC yet at all. Its become a great value and feature of Nintendo consoles and to not even confirm it will exist is just annoying.