I love the Virtual Console. It may not have a perfect selection, and I have to wonder why Castlevania II: Simon's Quest, and Milon's Secret Castle are available for download on all current Nintendo devices, despite the AVGN ripping into them both, but it's still a great service for enabling a new generation of gamers to play the classics.
Nintendo even has a handheld Virtual Console now, which is perfect for playing Gameboy Advance and DS games on...the Wii U?! Ok, Nintendo, I appreciate that you're trying to entice more people to buy Wii Us, and re-releasing the classics is a good start, but what about the 3DS? You know, that handheld system you have, that is outselling your console by a large margin, and is actually built for handheld gaming? Heck, the system is a continuation of the DS line, and plays physical DS games, so what do you have against bringing DS downloads to the system?
Of course, the lack of GBA games on the 3DS is nothing new. Nintendo somehow released 10 games for Ambassadors, who were early adopters of the system, at its initial price point of $250, but for some reason has refused to release those games to everyone else. I was furious when the Wii U received GBA games last year, and the 3DS didn't, despite 3DS owners waiting forever for those Ambassador games to be available for everyone.
I get that the Wii U's tablet is somehow more ideal for handheld games than a regular tv screen, but I still find it odd that the console is getting all the handheld games, and the handheld isn't. I mean, sure, the 3DS eShop has Gameboy, Gameboy Color and Gamegear games, as well as DSi games, but it has proven to be compatible with both GBA and DS games too. I'm not really sure if I would want to play handheld games on a huge tablet either, even if I owned a Wii U. I think more SNES games, like Earthbound are a far better fit for the system.
My latest theory about this odd development is that Nintendo figures they don't need to give the 3DS the same support, because it will sell anyways. I think that's a backwards way of thinking though. If something's earning them money, and something isn't, it kind of makes more sense to put more eggs into the former basket. Maybe once the ill fated console finally fizzles out, 3DS owners will get better VC support. Until then, Nintendo's only encouraging the homebrew and emulator crowds. That's little consolation for paying customers, who like to buy things legally.
What do you think? Is Nintendo making the right choice by putting these games on the Wii U? Do you wish the 3DS had better VC support? Leave your comments below.
Microsoft announced its financial results for Q3 of fiscal year 2026, including an update on its gaming Xbox business and more.
Not looking good. Hopefully Asha Sharma is able to turn Phil’s disaster around.
To me it's still quite remarkable how they can cash-in 5.3bn in revenue in a single quarter, since their hardware is basically dead.
The stock mark is what makes Microsoft remarkable, They have convinced every institutional and retail investor to just keep piling money into them. Like many big tech giants they are just a big growing pyramid scheme. As long as people keep dropping money into ETF's that cover the market Microsoft will always be liquid. At the same time it is completely stifling innovation and competition. People need to start being more discreet in how they invest their money as it's killing the system.
Riiiiight because people will just flock back to them for one or two games per year.
15+ years of bad performance is what they call irreparable in business. It is time for them to sell off the assets and get out of entertainment.
These declines are on the back of extra revenue received from releasing games like Forza horizon 5 on PlayStation. So I’m being sarcastic here when I said they should go back to exclusives. Killing off a revenue stream from Ps5 sales will only make things worse
The charity event will be streamed live from Gamescom in August.
Thanks to the slip-up of an artist working on the title, we now have more evidence that a new Injustice game is in the works.
Virtual Console is definitely lacking, particularly in the United States. Europe seems to get a decent amount of updates and Japan gets the bulk of the good stuff. I'm not as bothered about the Ambassador games on 3DS as I was lucky enough to get a used unit that had them and then transferred it into a new XL later on. Having DS games on Wii U and not 3DS is definitely an odd choice, made all the more strange by the fact that Nintendo has no cross-buy system in place. It's seems wrong to ask the consumers to buy the game twice over when many Wii U accounts are linked to 3DS ones. Putting these games on the Wii U before 3DS is important however, as the Wii U is indeed in need of more games right now.
The 3DS is backwards compatible. It makes more sense to give people who preferred consoles a chance to play the games they missed. Same goes with GBA, but since the 3DS can't do GBA games, it makes more sense to have it on there as well.
And please stop whining. 3DS owners get luxury.
Well, as much as I enjoy playing certain classic handheld games on my 3DS, I believe the way Nintendo are handling the 3DS Virtual Console goes beyond the problem of putting the portables on Wii u (but seriously Nintendo, are you that desperate?).
1. The pricing is just heinous. Who in their right mind would spend... what is it, 4? 5? 6 SODDING DOLLARS on virtual console games? There's just no reason, especially since most of these games are either already owned (because they've been re-released so many times) or can be played with an emulator on PC. This isn't the first time Ninty pulled this stunt either, remember the Classic NES Series on Game Boy Advance? Yeah those were twenty flipping dollars a pop so this doesn't surprise me.
2. Nintendo should've really pushed the 3D classics library. Sure, you may have already played the game, but you haven't played it in 3D. I'm not even talking about that cute "select + start" Easter egg either: any classic game that's going to be on the 3DS needs to be in 3D. Yes, that will mean more work and less games, but that will also mean less shovel-ware. It'll mean Nintendo will think about what classics people will actually buy before they make another one.
Again, I know it means more man hours, but if you expect me to get excited at seeing Super Mario Bros. for like the billionth time, Nintendo, find someone to make it 3D and then I'll gladly fork over five bloody dollars for something I already own on Game Boy Advance and can play for free on PC (that, and the kajillion free fan-made versions of it).
Let's not pretend it's impossible either. There are people who are dedicating years of their lives making fan versions of these games for absolutely nothing but the sheer passion of it. Hire an Indie studio, start a KickStarter, I don't care. Make it happen.