It's true, the games may have to be reclassified or classified for the first time if they weren't originally. Not only ESRB, the german USK or european PEGI, japanese CERO and whatever else exist in the world. But if that is a problem, just release digital, I think many rating agencies only rate physical. Most indies release digital and are fine with low sales, so the hurdle mustn't be that big.

By the looks of it, it is not going to change and TBH I'm ok with it as long as they're keep adding more games and systems to their library. The amount of money I spent last 12 years or so on, mosty the same, VC games across three Nintendo consoles, would probably be enough to pay for another 12 years of Switch online. What I really dislike about this service is their weekly online check-ins. Why? If I bought 12 months option, I expect it to work for 12 months, whether the console is online or not. This 2013 XB1 level of BS.

No one knows what Nintendo thinks. Maybe they don't know it themself? They got rid of the Virtual Console label to get their new one out. It's a unified platform instead of individual "apps" like before, wbich also supports online multiplayer for their classic games. Hiding this behind a monthly, anual fee is not what people won't. They were ready to pay for each game. Probably more than what the cost of it is now.
They will add more games and platforms to it, but I don't like the wait.

I just want ALttP on it, now. 

I just want to use my personal game collection without checking once a week for online subscription.

I don't like what Nintendo is doing, but it's easy to see why...if the VC was available they would lose the main selling point of the online service. I even see why they are trying to go the service route - see Netflix, and all the companies that are trying to follow them into the video streaming space now.

But I would still rather collect than pay forever. Also how come every new online service Nintendo brings out has to slowly "progress" through a catalogue of 9 consoles? Couldn't they at least kick off with NEs/Gameboy/Super NES?

And the last mystery: what is with all these man-children caressing their games on Youtube? Is it possible to be a gamersexual now?

I'm honestly not really interested in any VC earlier than the GC era (I've played NES, SNES and N64 far too much already), but the VC was a better model than the current online. If it expanded to include all their old systems, that would get me to buy, but until then no thanks, they're just throwing money away. Very few people are that in to NES games these days.

I remember reading something earlier in the year that Nintendo are holding off on VC to allow 3rd parties and indies to shine, I can't deny that's working, but in the short-term at least that's less money for them. (Perhaps by winning back trust on the Switch, the next console will get better 3rd party support from the start or something?)

how much money do you think they actually pull in from Virtual Console? sure, the Mario and Zelda titles are guaranteed to sell a good amount of copies, but what about the more obscure games that people say they enjoy but nobody actually buys? well the answer is nobody buys them. people spend a good $20-$30 on the big hit games and never touch VC again, which is why they shifted to a subscription system. so now the people get more games and Nintendo gets more money

Well I spent over 500€ on the Wii's VC (114 games), which is worth at least 25 years of subscription. I still have my Wii and can play those games if I want.

However, I doubt a VC like on the Wii would even be possible nowadays. Back then nobody thought many would play those games, hence why Nintendo had to pay near zero licensing fees at first, which then kept rising with it's success. A VC with hundreds of third party games would probably cost Nintendo billions in licensing fees without guarantees to recoup them.

Plus, Nintendo would certainly get tons of flak for selling their player base the same old games yet again if they had a classic VC. Morton's fork...

Agreed. First time I’ve ever owned a Nintendo console, so one of the reasons I bought a Switch was to be able to play SM Galaxy 1/2 and some other older games. Really frustrating they’re still not available.

Honestly, right now Nintendo could and should set up its own online retro marketplace with literally hundreds of games across several different consoles and they wouldn't even have to get any third parties involved yet. Just putting Nintendo's own NES, SNES and N64 games alone would constitute a massive number of excellent games to choose from, and if they'd add Gamecube and Wii games in there as well it would be one of the best online marketplaces on consoles just based on the strength of Nintendo's own titles.

I doubt third parties would mind putting a lot of their older titles on the markeplace either, which would make it even better as a result. I've never understood Nintendo's weird policy of slowly drip feeding titles to their online marketplaces, and then with each new console they start the process all over again. Switch should already have every single Nintendo game available that they've previously released on the Wii, 3DS and Wii U Virtual Consoles. Or if not instantly, then at least they should be releasing those titles on the system all the time, several titles every single week. That might actually make the Nintendo Switch Online service somewhat interesting.

Netflix-style buffet models are more popular, there's a good reason Nintendo went this route with the Switch. Yes, it sucks its just NES at the moment, but don't doubt we won't get other systems in the future.