Joystiq Video: Buying Zelda (NES) on the Wii's Virtual Console service
by Christopher Grant 
{ Nov 18th 2006 at 7:25PM }
After finally getting our Wii connected to the internet (after myriad failed attempts), we immediately jumped into the Wii Shop to download one of the thirty or so games promised around launch. First in the virtual shopping cart: The Legend of Zelda. After a brief download (with Mario waiting screen), we fired up our new Zelda channel and played what appeared to be a pixel perfect replica of the 1986 NES classic. Nice touches: hot pluggable GameCube pad support (we popped in a Wavebird and it just worked) and an embedded instruction manual (just hit the Home button).Available games and prices (remember, 100 Wii points = 100¢ in US currency and ¥100 in Japanese currency, but the conversion isn't so neat for other currencies) :
- Altered Beast (800 Wii points)
- Donkey Kong (500 Wii points)
- F-Zero (800 Wii points)
- Mario Bros. (500 Wii points)
- Pinball (500 Wii points)
- SimCity (800 Wii points)
- Soccer (500 Wii points)
- Solomon's Key (500 Wii points)
- Sonic the Hedgehog (800 Wii points)
- Super Mario 64 (1000 Wii points)
- The Legend of Zelda (500 points)
- Wario's Woods (500 points)
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Reader Comments (Page 1 of 1)
trecca @ Nov 18th 2006 7:39PM
well, iunno if those are games are worth that much....
JK!!!!!!!!!
but seriously, I want Wii now!
Flash Masta @ Nov 18th 2006 7:33PM
"Available games and prices (remember, 100 Wii points = 100¢ in US currency"? Sure?
JodyAnthony @ Nov 18th 2006 7:35PM
haha, am i blind or did that say 'county', not 'country'
GXXXC @ Nov 18th 2006 7:41PM
WE WANT WII!!!!!!
mywhitenoise @ Nov 18th 2006 7:44PM
%5 for a SNES game is ridiculous. $8 for a Genesis game!? And $10 for an N64...that's not right. I'd rather buy the games used.
nick @ Nov 18th 2006 7:44PM
Is that the same version of Altered Beast that was just on the 10 worst games of all time?
I loved that game on the Genesis.
Avatar @ Nov 21st 2006 6:40PM
I've been hearing rumors that Sonic requires a retro controller to play, instead of being able to use a GCN controller. Can you confirm this now?
Lanturn @ Nov 18th 2006 7:45PM
I think it taxed because you guys are in Pennsylvania. I am too, and whenever I purchase from the Nitendo online store it lists PA as one of the states that requires sales tax. Same thing might apply to the Wii store.
Josh @ Nov 18th 2006 7:49PM
Your shield would have deflected that Octorok's rock, so you didn't have to evade it. :P
Also, you should add Zelda and Wario's Woods to your list up there, since they were on page 2.
Anyway, looks to work pretty nicely. I'm looking forward to using it!
JodyAnthony @ Nov 18th 2006 7:50PM
question: did you say that (although it was sucky) you were able to control zelda with the analog stick on the gamecube controller?
don't know if i heard that right.
oh and mywhitenoise, those prices were announced quite a while ago.
Leto @ Nov 18th 2006 7:52PM
It said 'county' but the guy thought it said 'country' so he put 'USA'.
revo4life @ Nov 18th 2006 8:02PM
Yep! its county. unfortunately Joystiq writers are illiterate, they even need us to correct their spelling mistakes.
VanGuardian1 @ Nov 18th 2006 8:01PM
It was my understanding that the original companies for those games were the ones who controlled their virtual console prices, so if that IS the case, take the $8 genesis complaint to Sega, not Nintendo, in this case.
AssemblyLineHuman @ Nov 18th 2006 8:10PM
revo4life: But Joystiq writers don't use comma splices. Come on, Joystiq saw the thing come up, and they were putting it up as fast as they could. It's not like they had a blaring typo that a spell check should have picked up, either. County is, in fact, a real word.
Ritz @ Nov 18th 2006 8:20PM
Suspension! YES.
Great news for games that only have password support for saves. So excellent.
comradetrotskii @ Nov 18th 2006 8:25PM
I like how you are playing on some ancient TV.
What I want to know is how all those retro games are going to display on a widescreen high def TV. Black bars at the sides, a pretty pattern instead of black bars, or will we have the option to stretch (and distort) to widescreen?
Nicholas Sulikowski @ Nov 18th 2006 8:29PM
mywhitenoise, you're not gonna find them cheaper used, least not at Game Stop. They sell N64 games as high as $17.99. As for other methods of obtaining them like Ebay, I'd rather make a safer purchase on the Wii Shop than trust what these Ebay sellers claim to have, and in working condition.
earl g @ Nov 18th 2006 8:33PM
I don't think people that have a hard time playing NES Zelda should review games.
peter7898m @ Nov 18th 2006 8:45PM
That download service seems very expensive for dated games, when i get the wii im not sure i would buy those kind of games at the price. My Sega mega drive2 still works, and my N64 works, so no need to buy games i already paid for. I hope those prices are not fixed, they need to go down.
The problem here is as they are relselling classic games 'now', they are in competition with many websites that enabled users to download such games for free for years.
Random Insanity @ Nov 18th 2006 8:49PM
Just curious, why is this video through Netscape Video, and the other one on YouTube?
Alfarif @ Nov 18th 2006 8:54PM
For the love of god, tell me you can power down with that suspend feature. If you can, Nintendo just answered the reason why old school avid and hardcore gamers simply CAN NOT play new 40+ hour games (life and jobs)... we can't suspend play at anytime we like and resume from where we left off. If at ANYTIME, with ANY GAME I can stop the action (like closing up the DS and putting it in sleep mode), I will begin buying the long RPGs that I love so dearly again.
Those complaining about the price of games, I don't know where you folks live, but used games for all systems go for varying ammounts and Nintendo's are actually FAIR.
Case in point, three of the used game stores I frequent sell Sega Master System and Genesis games anywhere from 5$ to 22$... and most of them sit nicely at the 8-10$ mark. NES games are anywhere from 2-10$, SNES 5-15$, N64 are almost always 8$+, with the highest being 30$ for Super Smash Bros. In fact, RPGs for all of these systems fetch the highest prices by far (depending who they are made from... Squaresoft fetches an exobriant price at 50$+ for any of their SNES games), with sports games being the lowest common demoninator. You will almost always find the must own games being 2 to 10$ more than what Nintendo has provided with their shop prices. I call this a bargain, considering games like SimCity, Zelda 1 and 2, FZero, and all the GOOD N64 games are overpriced at the stores, overpriced on EBay, and harder than hell to find.
Michael @ Nov 18th 2006 10:43PM
Hey, whoever posted this video? I can't seem to connect to the internet. Any chance I could get your help?
ill trooper @ Nov 18th 2006 9:03PM
Their interface looks terrible and inconsistant. Bummer. That "store page," where you pick what games you want to buy, looks terrible.
Memo to Nintendo: Please brush up on Swiss Grid Systems for a layout that doesn't hurt my eyes!
lordroba @ Nov 18th 2006 9:05PM
My younger brother will probably get the wii to play Twilight Princess, but screw the virtual console thing. With PS3's secondary operating system support, you can run emulators on it and play any game you want for free. (assumming you own the original copy):P
Jon @ Nov 18th 2006 9:09PM
Lol, elevator music.
Brandon @ Nov 18th 2006 10:55PM
Did you guys ever figure out if you can transfer saves from the internal memory onto other SD cards? You had a problem a few days ago and was wondering if the system updates enabled anything?
Teh Destroyer @ Nov 18th 2006 9:29PM
I don't understand this fascination with playing old games. I understand you have fond memories of playing these games as kids, but most of those are better left in the past. Of the games being released only a select few hold up and/or are worth the money. This is especially true with NES games. In short Nintendo can only cash in on the nostalgia of old time games for so long before people get bored.
otakucode @ Nov 18th 2006 9:47PM
Do the VC games offer instant game saves in any location in the game?
Tavius @ Nov 18th 2006 9:58PM
Teh Destroyer, old games are a lot like new ones. The good ones, like Legend of Zelda, have great story lines. Old games also seem to present more of challenge to todays typical game. What you said is also like saying I don't understand this fascination with old movies? Do you still watch movies that came out years ago? I still do. Just because something is old does not mean it does not still interest people. Just some things for you to think about.
Michael @ Nov 18th 2006 10:44PM
Chris Grant, is there a chance you could help me with my online setup? I just want to make sure I have it set up properly . . . and yes I got the Wii early.
Burnt Meatloaf @ Nov 18th 2006 11:46PM
The interface isn't that robust, but the responsiveness is what kills it.
Izeas GT @ Nov 19th 2006 9:31PM
I still say they should've just set up a program to automatically adjust prices for maximum revenue. Maybe dropping a game's price from $5 to $4 yields a 50% increase in sales - the program keeps it there, or finds an even better point.
Plus they need to be putting games on there about ten times faster. As in, one hundred per month.
C. Grant @ Nov 19th 2006 2:21AM
Random Insanity: Because YouTube is often grumpy and takes forever to process videos.
Brandon: Yup, the update fixed that. We'll post on it tomorrow hopefully.
Jody: Analog worked OK actually. It translated it to 8-way digital of course. It was acting funky since James was screwing with the Wiimote.
And, huh, yeah. It says County not Country. Who ever heard of being asked for your County instead of Country when filling out your address for credit card information?!
C. Grant @ Nov 19th 2006 2:27AM
1. "Available games and prices (remember, 100 Wii points = 100¢ in US currency"? Sure?
Uh ... yeah. That is a "cents" symbol. 100¢ = $1. $1 = 100 Wii points, therefore 100 Wii points = 100¢.
Snigle @ Nov 19th 2006 2:33AM
pwned! I registered your Wii.
"Thank You!
Thank you for registering your Nintendo product! If you registered a game, then you've unlocked bonus content connected to that game. Be sure to check it out on the game page on Nintendo.com. "
learn to blur that stuff out, I got HardOCP with their DS light too.
Sidepocket @ Nov 19th 2006 6:07AM
Whoa! Slick interface. I love the Mario/Luigi running collecting coins and hittin blocks, its a very creative solution to a download bar.
Oh, and OMFG they brought back the Windows 95/98 BING Sound back! :)
syco @ Nov 19th 2006 6:48AM
If you use NoScript you'll need to (temporarily I suggest) allow Netscap.com to see the video...
Henry Jose @ Nov 19th 2006 12:38PM
DUDE!!!!!!!!!!! I'M FROM PHILADELPHIA!! WITH THE SAME ZIP CODE!!! 19123!! NORTHAN LIBERTIES?!?!?!?!?! HOLLA AT ME WHO EVER MADE THIS VIDEO
Admodieus @ Nov 19th 2006 12:34PM
You guys are from Philadelphia? Where in the city? I go to Drexel University.
Ramza24 @ Nov 19th 2006 1:45PM
I am not paying 8 bucks for Altered Beast.
dvddesign @ Nov 19th 2006 1:55PM
Yeah, it kinda blew getting hit with taxes for buying Wii Points, but whatever... (shrug)
What I was psyched about is that you DO NOT NEED a Classic Controller. If you've got a Wavebird, you're good to go for EVERYTHING. Nintendo's stuff just wasn't clear with the SEGA games if they supported the GC controllers or not. Both of the Sega games also appear to use the Wiimote as well, although this may change when older 6 button SEGA games appear.
Also, if games used a D-Pad to control back in the day, they only use the Dpad here as well, whether it's Sonic, Link or Mario.
Ross @ Nov 19th 2006 5:41PM
When you download a game, does it save on your Memory Card? I don't think I follow this.
hippie pieces @ Nov 19th 2006 11:19PM
For games like Zelda they could have charged more than 500 points but for games like Donkey Kong and Pinball they should have charged less. 200 points would have been fair for lesser NES games. Altered Beast is worth maybe 300. Of course selling Mario 64 for 1000 points (roughly 10 bucks) is a heck of a deal.
Also in the shopping channel info Nintendo lets you know any games with problems will have updates available free of charge.
Game worh getting so far:
Zelda, Mario 64, Sim City, Sonic the Hedgehog, Wario's Woods
Corocotta @ Nov 20th 2006 8:39AM
The music from the video is ripped from Leisure Suit Larry??? :S
The Ultimate Fan, DUN DUN.... oh forget it @ Nov 26th 2006 10:04PM
I hope they have Oot on the market soon, that would soooo rule(:>