Nintendo teases two new Virtual Console consoles

78 Comments by Christopher Grant Dec 19th 2007 3:30PM
Filed under: Retro, Nintendo Wii

With support for the NES, SNES, N64, Genesis, TurboGrafx, and NeoGeo already built into the Wii's Virtual Console platform, it's easy to forget that there are still classic consoles missing. On Nintendo.co.jp's newly redesigned Virtual Console page, there are two suspiciously empty slots in the grid of compatible consoles.

We're pretty confidant one of those is still reserved for the MSX, but what about that eighth slot? Will Nintendo steer the VC into heretofore portable waters? Or perhaps they'll consider something from the pre-NES era? Or are they going to surprise us all and offer something disc-based, coupled with a hard drive peripheral?

... yeah, we're guessing Sega Master System too.

[Via Go Nintendo]

Tags: MSX, VC, Virtual-Console

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(Page 1) Reader Comments

Trashman: Dec 19th 2007; 3:38PM

Game boy and game boy color is what i want the most. I want to be able to play the zelda games again

gamer1: Dec 19th 2007; 7:09PM

I don't know if they would choose the GB/GBC console on the Zelda series alone, but based on previous software sales, GB/GBC games would seem the most likely, not only because of the Zelda games, but because of the Pokemon and Super Mario Land series. The second most likely console would seem to be GameBoy Advance, again because of the Pokemon series, and maybe the Golden Sun series.

But although the Pokemon series has a large following, the issue with bringing it to VC arises with emulating the handhelds' connectivity online. One of the main features in Pokemon games is the ability to trade monsters with friends, but it would not seem likely that Nintendo would add online support to their legacy Pokemon GB/GBC/GBA games on the VC because of the conversion of system link to online connectivity emulation. Base on the current games available for VC and Wii, it seems more likely that Nintendo would decide to develop a new stand alone downloadable Pokemon game with online support for the Wii, and even more likely, a disc version with online support.

Other than that, the most likely console would seem to be SMS with the Alex Kidd series, and maybe the original Phantasy Star. If none of those get picked, I think a more likely choice in terms of download size and graphic fidelity would probably be Arcade games. But unlike XBLA, Virtual Console Arcade games would probably not support online play, but local 2 player co-op is not too bad. They already have Blue's Journey!

Trashman: Dec 19th 2007; 9:20PM

yeah. i know they wouldnt choose to make game boy and game boy color games based on the zelda series alone. there are lots of other game boy and game boy color games that it would be based on. i just want to be able to play the zelda games again is all

RogueStorm: Dec 19th 2007; 3:38PM

Gameboy Advance? Those games are least as good as SNES games and some better. Makes sense to get us for them on the DS and the Wii from a money standpoint, though I think if I bought the cartridges I should be able to enter a serial number or something one time and download it for free.

jamma: Dec 19th 2007; 5:46PM

Original Gameboy and Gameboy colour games would be easier to play with just the Wii-mote sine there are no L-R buttons, but i would love to be able to play Mario kart advance on my TV, then i would have them all :)

GoldenS1104: Dec 19th 2007; 3:41PM

I wish Dreamcast, but something tells me they're gunna move portables to VC, starting with the classic Gameboy & Gameboy Color. I wouldn't mind that since a couple of my favorite Gameboy game cartridges are missing.

FOXHOUND: Dec 19th 2007; 3:52PM

I also voted for the 'unrealistic', knowing fully that two downloaded games alone would kill the hard drive space.

Hopefully Nintendo will offer some kind of externally accessible drive in 2008... but I'm not holding my breath. ¬_¬"

Crono (NDF - Knight of the Old School): Dec 19th 2007; 4:00PM

Compression now is much better than it was "then" (saturn era, at least).

Textures, CD-audio, SoundFX, all these assets on saturn games can probably be compressed down to between 50-100 meg.

Henry: Dec 20th 2007; 5:51AM

Less than that even.
A typical N64 game is only about 20mb.

ALH: Dec 19th 2007; 3:42PM

game boy/game boy colour plz.

I would gladly pay twice for links awakening.

GBA is too recent to be worth putting up- people are still buying micros and the DS still has a GBA port. Game gear didnt really have that big a following. Pre-nes is possible, though there are a crapload of those 'collection' disks out there with hundreds of games on. Master system is possible. Dreamcast would be AMAZING and is quite probable considering the recent renewal of the copyrite..

Undead Priest: Dec 19th 2007; 3:45PM

Unless there's a hard drive, Dreamcast is not probable, given that most DC titles are as large or larger than Wii's entire internal memory.

Eric H: Dec 19th 2007; 3:46PM

The Wii hardware would not be able to emulate a console like the Dreamcast.

Crono (NDF - Knight of the Old School): Dec 19th 2007; 4:03PM

"The Wii hardware would not be able to emulate a console like the Dreamcast."

Based on what, exactly?

As far as downloads, not enough space. But it would be sweet for dreamcast disc support.

Yeah, its still never gonna happen.

Jhongerkong: Dec 19th 2007; 4:56PM

For those complaining that Dreamcast games are too big...

Ikaruga, a normally 800mb game, is 17mb zipped.

bm: Dec 19th 2007; 7:00PM

"Based on what, exactly?"

Do you know how emulation works?

If (huge if) Dreamcast games were to ever appear on the Virtual Console, they would be more akin to ports than emulated games.

Psaakyrn: Dec 20th 2007; 5:38AM

Not quite as hard as you make it seem. Especially since they have to go through Sega for it, and Sega has all technical specifications and source codes for saturn/dreamcast.

Most emulation is hard because of a) specialized hardware, and b) unknown tech. Since we do not know the exact specifications of saturn/dreamcast, we do not know exactly how hard it is to emulate.

Zertoss: Dec 19th 2007; 3:43PM

Even if they are technically impossible, I'd still love to see Saturn and Dreamcast support.

Mr Khan: Dec 19th 2007; 4:13PM

Saturn is only technically impossible because i don't see them taking the time to build a working Saturn emulator (something that is very tough to do)

As others said, you could compress the hell out of the FMV, and use a sound format that is far more efficient than the Red Book format that was standard for the day, and what remains is no bigger than your standard N64 game (well, except for Panzer)

GoldenS1104: Dec 19th 2007; 3:49PM

Ooooo, I just had a thought. If they did Gameboy games maybe we could have download play so we can play it on the DS. Afterall, Nintendo is releasing this:
http://www.joystiq.com/2007/12/03/ds-gets-downloadable-content-with-dsvision-flash-card-peripheral/

Plus, Joystiq once posted this:
http://www.joystiq.com/2007/10/25/rumor-nintendo-to-offer-flash-cards-for-game-boy-downloads/

fsotiris: Dec 19th 2007; 3:52PM

Wait... Why isn't there a PS3 option?

Geist: Dec 19th 2007; 4:27PM

The Wii is unable to render in 4 dimensional space, or utilize the full power of emotional programming paradigms.

Max Headroom: Dec 19th 2007; 5:21PM

Maybe not PS3, but since Sony has less of a use for it now, PS2 support on Wii would be nice. :)

GCNH87: Dec 19th 2007; 3:53PM

What about Wii demos?
HMMMM..

LeChuck: Dec 19th 2007; 5:19PM

If they start releasing Wii demos they'll be on the Everybody's Nintendo channel along with the DS demos, not on the Virtual Console.

Idontknowanymore: Dec 19th 2007; 3:53PM

How about pc engine for games from sierra or Lucas Arts. Would make sense to bring point and click adventure games to the virtual console.

Crono (NDF - Knight of the Old School): Dec 19th 2007; 4:44PM

scummvm?

Idontknowanymore: Dec 19th 2007; 6:42PM

Only to some extent as Scummvm does seem to have its limitations. It would be like a dos emulator or something along those lines.

FOXHOUND: Dec 19th 2007; 3:53PM

I was about to say the same thing about the 3DO and Atari JAGUAR. Show some love, damnit.

gonk: Dec 19th 2007; 5:01PM

or the ti-99/4a

parsec ruled :)

i am ajle: Dec 19th 2007; 3:57PM

2 quick points:

i believe that at the same time (pre-wii-release) nintendo had hinted that both MSX and C64 were both targeted for VC... so... could be these 2.

also... SMS (sega master system) and GG (sega game gear) are, in architecture, essentially the same machine. an emulator for one can emulate the titles of the other... so... could be a cheap 2-for-1 nintendo is cooking up.

johnny g: Dec 19th 2007; 3:57PM

FOR THE LOVE OF GOD SEGA CD!!!!!!

BEST CONSOLE EVER!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

Dictatorship: Dec 19th 2007; 4:02PM

I highly doubt GBA games will be moved to the VC, as it is still being commercialized by Nintendo, and if you're lucky, you can still find brand-new first gen GBA games.

Although if they add the Game Boy Color to that list of VC console games... that would be sexy. There would be no need for peripherals to play portable games on home consoles, although it would have a downer: You'd spend for each game, like with the other games, but knowing Nintendo, the games would be cheaper. Still, I'd be happy if Nintendo confirmed GBC games for the VC, as I still have memories of how great Link's Awakening was...

Mr Khan: Dec 19th 2007; 4:14PM

Exactly why i feel GBA is unlikely, as it still sells, and either way you can buy the cartridges to run natively on your DS

motang: Dec 19th 2007; 4:03PM

I would love to see GBA games! Metroid games anyone?

WiNG: Dec 19th 2007; 4:19PM

I'm playing Fusion now, but Zero Mission was amazing.

Dopple Boppler: Dec 19th 2007; 4:03PM

How about an English translation of Mother 3 on WiiWare before we talk about adding more Virtual Console systems. Pretty please Nintendo?

Geist: Dec 19th 2007; 4:29PM

By the time they got around to that, fans will have already finished it. I assume you already know about http://mother3.fobby.net/? Progress is apparently going well.

TrueMuse: Dec 19th 2007; 4:04PM

It SHOULD be all Gameboy games. I have one good reason inside my head outside of the fact that the Gameboy handhelds have had so many excellent games to add to the Virtual Console Library:

- Release Mother 3 Stateside

Think about it. Lucas is going to be a playable character in Smash Bros. Brawl. American consumers have absolutely no idea who he is. Given the fact that a lot of Virtual Console releases occur before a Wii game to spur interest (Metroid, for instance) and keep the characters fresh in players minds, I wouldn't be surprised to see the Mother series (particularly Earthbound and Mother 3 - Zero is a possibility but a stretch) come out on the VC before Smash is released. Keep in mind that HAL Laboratories is responsible for the Mother games, so I bet they would push for these games to be out anyway.

I think this is very possible... And I also really, really want it to happen.

Mr Khan: Dec 19th 2007; 4:16PM

They could do that as WiiWare, since it would be uber cheap to distribute, that way they wouldn't have to worry about not turning a profit on a title that is incredibly niche

WiNG: Dec 19th 2007; 4:18PM

It's almost impossible not to turn a profit on VC. I mean, how much could it possibly cost? Keep in mind that more than 80% of the VC revenue is pure profit.

Platy: Dec 19th 2007; 8:50PM

...the translation taking so long might explain the delay in smash ! =O

omfg cospiraçy xD

joeyg: Dec 19th 2007; 4:09PM

how bout some good wii games so i can use this system?
(yes I have SMG)

NATO_Duke: Dec 19th 2007; 4:10PM

I'm thinking Intellivision - damn I played the hell out of that machine back in the day.

(Yeah, I know, its not gonna happen :( )

Rich: Dec 19th 2007; 4:16PM

Demon Attack, FTW!

Colin: Dec 19th 2007; 4:14PM

None of the above... Sega CD! Before you scoff at my desired virtual console, think about some of the classic games only available on that system. Snatcher, Jurassic Park, Sonic CD...

Crono (NDF - Knight of the Old School): Dec 19th 2007; 4:34PM

And Sewer Shark. You can't forget Sewer Shark.

Ethan: Dec 19th 2007; 4:15PM

I want to play original tetris from my game boy on my wii. So That one!

WiNG: Dec 19th 2007; 4:16PM

I voted for Saturn since it asks which I WANT.

I wonder why, though, is SEGA CD not on this list? Many people have been unable to play games like Lunar, Sonic CD, Silpheed, etc.

I really hope it's SegaCD or GBA or Saturn, but I doubt it.

I would love to play Sonic Advance 2 and Metroid Zero Mission on a giant screen without using an emulator.

And Advance Wars.

Also I can has original NiGHTS on VC Saturn?

Mark: Dec 19th 2007; 4:16PM

32X!!!

James: Dec 19th 2007; 4:20PM

Um, no home computer stuff? I vaguely remember rumours of Commodore 64 titles coming to the Wii on the VC.

My vote goes to the Amiga or Commodore, with the other system being Master System/Game Gear.

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