I'm not sure if this has been discussed anywhere before, sorry if it has.

I reckon a virtual console for the DS 2 (or whatever they call it) is pretty much a given, but which handhelds/consoles do you think it'll be able to emulate?

I think it'll be backwards compatible with DS cards and will emulate the Game Boy, Game Boy Color, Game Boy Advance, Sega Game Gear and Nomad, perhaps the Atari Lynx, the NES, SNES, N64, probably Gamecube, Master System, Mega Drive, Saturn, Dreamcast and maybe a few more. That'll be quite some back catalogue

You my friend aim for the stars! Dreamcast? Say no more. That quite possibly would never happen.

Why not? It's the same generation as the Gamecube. The current gen of handhelds can run N64 level stuff so the next gen should be able to run Gamecube/PS2/Dreamcast.

Ferret, remember this is downloadable, not on disk. It is even doubtful that it would make N64 standards

And, consoles after PsX won't work too well on handhelds.

I mean, if the DS 2 still has two screens, and no analog sticks, this probably won't work out too well. I mean, the PSP can barely pull off PS1 games, unless they are RPGs.

Hopefully the PSP2 will add that second analog stick, as I believe Sony has learned their lesson, but the DS 2 adding two analog sticks, on top of having the touch screen would be the exact opposite of the use of the touch screen in games, as many developers would just opt to use the two analog sticks as controls in FPS and third-person action adventure games.

I think the PSP2 will be able to pull off PS2 emulation well, but Dreamcast and Gamecube on the DS? no.

Gamecube no because of the GBA slot on the Wii, and I just went over why no dreamcast.

Great idea! Hopefully the smaller size will come with a smaller pricetag too. Here's my suggestion per download:

1DS point = 1 Wii point

- GB, Lynx, Gamegear ==> 100 DS points
- GBC, NES, SMS, Wonderswan, TURBOGRAFX-16, Atari 7800==> 150 DS points
- GBA, Wonderswan Color, SNES, Genesis, Amiga ==> 250 DS points
- Sega 32X, Sega CD, Neo Geo, Neo Geo CD Swan Crystal ==> 250 DS points
- Jaguar, N64, N64 DD, 3DO, Amiga CD-32, Saturn, Neo Geo Pocket ==> 300 DS points
- Dreamcast, Gamecube, DS ==> 500 DS points

@ Joeron

Wow, that is extremly wishful thinking. (I mean your pricing scheme)

Joeron, are you joking?

When DS2 comes out, Wii will still be out. You think they will make N64 games cost more than 3 times as much on the console? It would be more like

- GB, Lynx, Gamegear ==> 300DS points
- GBC, NES, SMS, Wonderswan, TURBOGRAFX-16, Atari 7800==> 500DS points
- GBA, Wonderswan Color, SNES, Genesis, Amiga ==> 800DS points
- Sega 32X, Sega CD, Neo Geo, Neo Geo CD Swan Crystal ==> 900DS points
- Jaguar, N64, N64 DD, 3DO, Amiga CD-32, Saturn, Neo Geo Pocket ==> 1000 DS points
- Dreamcast, Gamecube, DS ==> 2000 DS points

@DMeisterJ: Do not underestimate technology! The only issue to make handhelds powerfull enough is price. They could make a DS with Wii power right now, but at what price!!! It would be the price of a powerfull notebook no doubt.

Over 2, 3 years and another 2 generations of nano-chips they should be able to make PS3 "pocketsize" considering they leave out all the unnecessary stuff like a Blu-ray Player etc..