Zelda: A Link to the Past teams up with Sega on Wii VC

"Actually... a quick look on ebay shows that the average cart is going for about $15."

ever heard of pawn shops?

I'm a fan of the Virtual Console. I had all Nintendo systems growing up. I kept them in great shape and had my favorite games for all of them (NES, SNES, N64). Then in college I had all three of them stolen. At this point I wasn't playing games much, but I wanted to get the systems again, so I allowed myself to spend a small amount to regain what I had had stolen. I bought on eBay, Craigslist, whatever.

I ended up with a yellowing SNES that didn't work all too well, and a random smattering of bland games that came for "free" with it, and then I picked up a few of my favorites. I got an N64 with 4 controllers, but not the original colors I had and I couldn't find all the games for reasonable prices. I got a NES with the cartridge cover missing and that required me to blow into the games and pray for them to work. And this left me with three systems, hogging all the inputs to my tv, with all the tanglement of cords, etc.

Now, I can get these games for a small fee (a few bucks more, sometimes a few bucks less than eBay, etc), download them in no time, play them in my living room on the couch on a 32" HDTV with 5 speaker surround sound. I don't have a generic third-party corded controller in my cold, isolated spare bedroom on a 15" monitor while sitting on a computer chair (I do have most of the ROMS).

It's all packaged in one neat, small console, with nary a cord to be seen. I don't have to pull a cartridge out of storage, blow in it, hope it works, hope the battery kept my saves, unwind a controller, unhook a DVD player/Wii/VCR/Home Theater to free up an input. I don't have to drag an S-video cord across my living room to hook up my laptop which outputs a very poor signal to my tv anyway and listen to it through my cheap laptop speakers.

The VC is simple, clean, affordable and works. End of story for me.

#46, are you seriously suggesting that searching pawnshop after pawnshop in an effort to luck out and find a working Zelda cartridge for $5 is somehow more convenient than just paying the extra $3 to avoid that hassle, and to have the game easily accessible from your Wii menu? If that's your angle, then this isn't a case of you having a legitimate issue with the pricing system. It's about you having some kind of weird fruitcake vendetta against the concept of the Virtual Console

"ever heard of pawn shops?"

Yeah, but how many would have this game? Pawn shops are always in the seedy part of town, and if you're lucky to find one, it's probably a grungy copy and wouldn't be much cheaper than $8 (if at all) anyways. Why not spend a dollar or two more and play it right now? Why drive all over town to all the pawn shops hoping they have a copy?

"are you seriously suggesting that searching pawnshop after pawnshop in an effort to luck out and find a working Zelda cartridge for $5 is somehow more convenient than just paying the extra $3 to avoid that hassle, and to have the game easily accessible from your Wii menu? If that's your angle, then this isn't a case of you having a legitimate issue with the pricing system. It's about you having some kind of weird fruitcake vendetta against the concept of the Virtual Console"

i don't have a vendetta against anything. we've already been doing it for years: it's called emulation. my point is you're paying 8 dollars for what is essentially "Data". that would be fair for an n64 title at this point. but for snes title, that's pretty high. i could see if it some new features, but there's no real initiative to pay that much for something you could get for free, aside from legality.

"but there's no real initiative to pay that much for something you could get for free, aside from legality."

And aside from the fact that has been pointed out that playing a rom on a computer monitor from a computer chair with a generic third-party controller certainly does not compare to sitting on a couch in front of an HDTV with surround sound, no wires involved.

Plus, his comment was aimed at your pawn shop referral. A pawn shop requires paying for the game and the hassle involved in searching for it in hopes of finding working copy negates any amount of money you may indeed save.

When Nintendo used to have the Famicom Disk Drive, people used to buy data from a download station for 500 Yen onto a 2000 Yen rewritable disk. For a few more bucks you could get a box and a manual to go with it.

Essentially, people paid $5 for data back then too.

People paid $60+ for data on plastic cartridges, and still do it today for CDs and DVDs.

There are also rumors that if Nintendo wanted to change something that updates would be available for free. Other things have come from WC24 for free already.

To all the folks saying "what about pawn shops, ebay, whatever" to couter the cost of 8 dollars for a classic game... Ebay sellers usually have outrageous shipping fees. As for pawn shops, think of all the time you'll spend, running around, or even worse, driving around, looking for that one pawn shop that no one ever goes to that will have the cartridge in stock...

If I didn't still have my original cartridge, and the GBA one, I'd get it, for the convenience, it's worth the price.

VC over ROMS is like Cinema over a video tape; better sound, bigger screen (assuming your TV isn't small or your monitor huge), and comfy sits. Actually it's even better because you can use it at home over and over unlike cinema! I can hear ye "hook up your PC to the TV", but you know that's a hassle for most people, as is getting a shady third party controller or the ROMs/emulators in general. Also save state and frame rate skip is just fucking up the game for yourself, really, it takes away from the game.

What Nintendo SHOULD do is give you the ability to put your VC games on cartridge that fits in the GBA slot, so you could play them on the DS (n64 games aside of course).

@ DrakanII

Ahhh.. but what if you are already playing games like LttP on a modded XBox? With Zsnexbox I can play LttP scaled to 720p on my HDTV with features like fast foward, rewind, save states, IPS patches (for games like the hack posted here a week or two ago), game genie codes, etc... all while sitting in my recliner next to the fireplace.

I bought the game twice legally already. One home version (SNES) and one portable version (GBA). What reason is there for someone like me to buy the Wii version? Seriously, as I stated before, Nintendo needs to add some value to these game like the Live Arcade games.

@Vidikron

Then at that point what you do is play the game on your modded x-box and not worry if other people are paying eight dollars (that they earned themselves) to play it on their Wii virtual console.

The reason it's worth it to pay for these games on the VC rather than just download ROMs is because I get to play these games on my big screen with component cables and use either a wireless remote or a classic controller or a GameCube controller. That's 3 awesome controllers to choose from. On my PC I use a keyboard or a really shitty "gamepad."

I like buying the VC games because I believe these publishers deserve compensation for how good they are. I also like how easy it is to play them from my Wii.

On the other hand, when it comes to music and movies it brings joy to my heart knowing that with piracy I can avoid transfering money to professional entertainers. They can get a real job or starve to death for all I care.

@60 JodyAnthony

Don't take my comments the wrong way, I'm not bashing anyone for paying for the VC games. All I'm saying is I think the price is too much for games this old when they have no added value. Again, the cost more than than the classic games on Live Arcade and the Live Arcade games actually have value added to them compared to their classic console/arcade counterparts. Let's be honest here, thus far the VC is a blatant cash grab by Nintendo. No effort at all has been put into giving the consumer anything extra for the relatively high prices. These games are tiny, so the bandwidth Nintendo uses distributing these games is minimal.

This maybe fine for people who have never played some of these games, but for the fans like myself who have played all these games before... I need something more to justify the price. LttP is a fantastic game, but I paid for that exact same game 15 years ago. I also bought the GBA version, but at least in that case I was paying for the portability. What am I paying for here?

Ahhh, but will they have guitar hero?

Also, the ability to save your game really helps for co-op games like Gunstar Heroes and ToeJam & Earl.

Does anyone else think that owenkun and benjamin are Jeff's alternate identity's?

I think a lot of people here forgot that ROMS on the net are ILLEGAL. It's upsetting when people speak of downloading ROMs as if they're some kind of offcially issued freeware or how "stupid" other people are for not doing so.

Also, some people never got to play these games (for one reason or another) or may have LOST or BROKEN their old copies. I really don't see why some people choose to complain about the VC. Don't like it? don't use it.

Now, can't wait for Super Metroid.

Clearly the hardest part of the Virtual Console is that Nintendo forces you to pay for these games, whether you own a Wii or not. Tough times...

I saw LttP at Microplay used for $100 on the SNES last week, sitting beside a $70 Final Fantasy Mystic Quest.

What surprised me most about this weeks releases is that Zelda was just added to the GBA Players choice collection in October. It's $20 on shelves.

I played through the game for the first time last year. It's my favorite of the series, with Link's Awakening coming in second, scoff away. It's nice to have my own copy. And it cost me something less than if I'd bought my own GBA cart.

This was a bargain buy. I can't buy Comix Zone though. It was one of my fav's on the Genny, and I've got the cart, but I JUST got it with like half of the other Genny VC games on one UMD for $25. So I can't.

There's something special about playing these games on home consoles, rather than on a PC. Control is one thing. Sound is often imperfect. The temptation of the save states... And selection. I had friends who pirated their way through the entire PS1 generation. I guess... It's the same for emulation, when I've got like 3 new games to play, I can enjoy them and stuff, but if I've got 12 new games to play, I don't play them all, or I skip around and never finish anything. Anyone plays with emulation on laptops at school has like video game ADD. It's like playing Wario Ware. 5 second session in Contra. Moving on to Sonic 2. Now for some Moonwalker. And I've passed a minutes time...

Jesus Christ people, nobody is forcing you to buy or like the Virtual Console titles.
If you don't want them, DON'T BUY THEM. But shit the living fuck up and stop trying to ruin it for other people who DO enjoy the service.
I enjoy the service because I get to have these games on my Wii and play them on my TV. Sure, I can play them off my modded Xbox, but then I'd have to hook THAT system up. Ever since I got my 360, I haven't had my regular Xbox hooked up to the big screen.

This arguement is insane. Every week people bitch that they're too expensive and the selection sucks and you can play ROMs for free.
Ya know what? Good for you. Shut up. The service obviously isn't for YOU.
It's for people who don't have modded Xboxes. It's for people who don't download ROMs off the internet. It's for people who have never played Mario 64 or ToeJam & Earl or Link to the Past before and it gives THOSE people a chance to play these classics for the first time. It's for people who love the games and want to have them all in one convenient location.

If you don't like it, wonderful, but stop bitching because NOBODY GIVES A SHIT ABOUT YOUR ROMS OR YOUR MODDED XBOX. Quit annoying other people with your incessant complaining about something YOU CAN NEVER STOP OR CHANGE.
Just shut the hell up and LET IT GO!

Don't complain about controls in ROMs. Use your official Nintendo controllers on your PC with SmartJoy adapters, or whichever SNES/NES/PS2/etc.-to-USB adapters you like to use. Or use an XB360 controller. You can then use these on whatever games you want, not just ROMs.

FSK405K, you are right. The excitement of playing that baby made me think of all the Zelda games I have...

...The overworld theme always brings tears to my eyes...

Um...why didn't anyone update this...you know...because that Zelda game was the ONLY game released today.

Stop going by the Wikipedia list. They're wrong.

Well if paying for VC games is stupid, paying for any game is really stupid. You are saying why pay $8.00 for something you can easily get for free. Well why pay $50-60 for a disc you can get for free with a five finger discount at retail stores.

I will stick to legally obtaining my games though.

And downloaded ROMS are not legal at all.. Even if you own the game. People need to actually research before they spout stuff a ROM site tells them...
ROMS are only legal if you copy them yourself and there are even limitations on that. (ex. piracy protection, propriety formats)... technically the copy is supposed to be made on the same type of format as the original so.... a SNES ROM needs to really be on an SNES cartridge...

and the 24 hour rule is BS too people.

I always find it odd that people can't understand paying above a certain amount for a game that is "X years old". Heck, I wish SNES games and SNES systems were still available and sold in game stores at their original price -- there's no logical reason for the game to depreciate in value over time.

A CD containing music from the 60s costs about the same as a CD containing music produced yesterday. Entertainment doesn't really depreciate in value. If something is enjoyable, it remains enjoyable. Same thing applies to movies too.

It's been well over 10 years since the SNES, and despite advances in graphics, physics, AI, and other things there has yet to a single new game that I find more enjoyable that 3-4 of the SNES's greats. WTF is the point of "next-gen" again?