Gaming Respawn investigates why Nintendo's Virtual Console was a "dying service"
Nintendo's mid-noughties revolution feels so distant now, even if its impact hasn't really dimmed. The touch sensation of the DS led in its own way to the iOS revolution, the motion controls of the Wii helped reestablish video games in the living room and push them towards the mainstream, and the reverberations of both are felt to this day. There's another facet of its revolution that sadly never had the same impact, and now is set to finally fizzle away.
yet another part of gaming where the past was better than what we get in the present/future.
Streaming services have become really popular in the last decade. Are subscription and streaming services right for Videogames?
Nintendo Switch Online has replaced the Virtual Console but is the service up to the standard of previous Nintendo offerings? Furthermore, do subscription services like Xbox’s Game Pass and NSO really suit video games? This article explores these issues and looks back at the Virtual Console.
I really miss the VC, I don't want more subscriptions that I have to, I try to keep as few as possible.
VC is better imo. I got games like Super Metroid for like 30 cents. If NSO allowed you to play online with anybody then I would give it the edge.
While that's valid, though, that old social media meme 'why not both?' springs to mind. Why not have subscription options and a Virtual Console eShop? With NSO being multi-faceted in its offering, it seems unlikely that everyone would drop that subscription in a heartbeat in order to buy Super Mario Bros. for $5.
Because a yearly flow of money is better than people buying specifically what they want. If online was also not behind a paywall you'd be surprised just how many people would drop the sub. When you're only given one option there's not much of a choice.
No reason not to have both. Consumers would have the option of buying separately like PS+ and Game Pass owners can or have access to it all with a sub
Of course there's no reason, and Nintendo fans have been very vocal about virtual console being brought back. I think however that those who really have an issue with how Nintendo has handled classic games have stayed with emulation. I know the appeal of being able to buy instead of the free alternative. As I see it, it sends a message that there's still an audience for these games, but for whatever reason it may be it's not been made easy to the consumer.
Just another reason why modding your Switch can fix almost all of the flaws Nintendo purposefully created on their platform. Save file back ups being another reason. Nintendo is the only company that forces you to pay money in order to back up your save files, and it doesn't even work for all games. Talk about anti-consumer B.S.!
Because it was only successful on the Wii. Both the Wii U and 3DS VC offerings were no where as successful. It was time to move on from that service. More and more 3rd parties devs started supplying older games in other ways on the Switch so there's no need. Look at all the Capcom collections for instance. Even Konami got in on it. Same with Neo Geo or Atari collections. I could go on and on.
I feel that this "source" is either dishonest or out of touch with the reality. The Wii VC was not something unique in 2006 like he tries to portrait. Being able to download roms of the internet goes back to the 90s and it was arguable easier at that time as many companies didn't really bother to take those sites down.
I agree that the service as whole lost it's novelty and a big part of it's public. But I feel that it have more to do with how slow Nintendo was to actually make the VC a good service on both the Wii U and 3DS.
Nintendo was just lazy with the Wii U release. A lot of platforms and games were relegated to the "Wii mode". Meaning that they are unplayable unless the user had a Wii Remote and/or a Wii Classic controller. And while they did offer the option to transfer some of those games to the Wii U, the user had to pay a fee for each one of the games that he wanted to transfer. Eventually the service become a little better and even offered new platforms like the DS. But it took years to reach that point and it was still incomplete, lacking Sega's consoles and even the Neo Geo.
The 3DS started better with a good selection of portable platforms. But they took their sweet time to actually put games in those libraries. Pokemon Red and Blue were only released in 2016, almost 5 years after the service debut. And locking the GBA and SNES to the Ambassador program and New 3DS units respectively. Sure didn't help.
I still miss VC. I was part of the apparent minority that actually used it. I like owning my games or at least have unlimited, service-free, access to digital games, and I also like having access to more games. Adding online capabilities for some titles just doesn't excite me when it comes at the expense of not being able to play many other titles period.