Talkin' about the Wii U Virtual Console

[noiseredux]

hello. Niche talking in this thread...

So I kind of love the Wii U Virtual Console. Anyone else? If an old game I want to play is on there, it's generally the version I'll get. While it was lovely replaying things like A Link To The Past on my 3DS, the Wii U allows me to buy the game once and play it on TV or in handheld mode on the Gamepad. That's huge. And I mean, there's GBA and DS games... on TV!

Even more interesting, while I subscribe to Switch Online, I've actually bought NES games on the Wii VC that are on Switch Online just because I'd rather play them on the U. Why you ask? BUTTON REMAPPING! Yup. For some reason this was implemented on VC, but not on the Switch Online service NES games.

The other thing is that obviously Switch Online is a service. You can go into the whole thing about 'renting' the games versus 'owning' them or whatever. But whatever. It's such a cheap service. And really the NES games are just a perk on top of the online play. But more in my mind, there's nothing stopping Nintendo from removing any of those NES games from the lineup. I suppose VC games could get delisted, but at least as long as I have them installed on my Wii U, I have them.

Which brings me to a question of discussion... how long do you think the Wii U Virtual Console will remain up? Is the original Wii Virtual Console still in existence? I can't remember. I know at least those Wiiware games are no more. But I have to think that the Wii U VC is still bringing in some money? Maybe? Do you think it's costing Nintendo more or less to keep the VC going than they're bringing in?

An interesting aside; did you know that Konami was still releasing TG16 games on the Wii U VC as late as 2018? Some of which may have been the first official US releases. Don't quote me on that. My knowledge of the TG16 begins and ends at the dozen or so games I owned as a kid. I'll have to defer to marurun or someone who knows more on the subject.

But that reminds me! There were some pretty big surprises released on there. The localization of Mother as Earthbound Beginnings comes to mind. Also, the actual NES version of The Lost Levels.

Anyway, according to Wikipedia, there's 341 games on the VC spread out over NES, SNES, N64, GBA, DS, Wii and TG16. How many are in your Wii U virtual collection?

[marurun]

I don't have a WiiU, but I do notice that the WiiU, despite having fewer TG16/PCE titles compared to the Wii, has a rather different selection in places.

Darn it, Noise! Are you going to make me want to track down a WiiU now? *sigh*

[prfsnl_gmr]

I also dig the Wii U VC. I have (or plan to get) most of the TG16 and N64 games available for it. There are also some good import titles available for a few of the systems, like Kuru Kuru Kururin, Sin & Punishment, Ufouria, and Pac Land (button remapping is critical for that one).

You definitely should not miss:

The NES light gun games...it’s awesome being able to play those on a HDTV with a Wii Remote

Super Mario Advance 4: Super Mario Bros. 3...it has all of the e-Reader levels!

[noiseredux]

Darn it, Noise! Are you going to make me want to track down a WiiU now? *sigh*

The Wii U is cheap and awesome. You should get one.

Super Mario Advance 4: Super Mario Bros. 3...it has all of the e-Reader levels!

I had no idea those levels were included! That's awesome.

[Ziggy]

This reminds me, I have an in-box refurbished Wii U that I should really bust out and install updates before Nintendo takes down the service!

I think I have a couple of GBA games on the Wii U VC, it definitely feels natural. I didn't realize (or I just forgot) that DS games were on there! I should grab a few before the service eventually goes down!

Here's a list of Wii U games on the North American Virtual Console: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/List_of_V ... th_America)

[prfsnl_gmr]

Here are the VC games I have on my Wii U:

Pac-Land
Ufouria
Duck Hunt
Earthbound Beginnings
Vs. Excitebike
Hogan’s Alley
Wild Gunman
Earthbound
Super Mario Kart
Super Mario 64
Donkey Kong 64
Sin & Punishment
1080
Excitebike 64
Mario Kart 64
F Zero X
Star Fox 64
Super Mario Advance 4: Super Mario Bros. 3
Kuru Kuru Kururin
Bonk’s Adventure
New Adventure Island
Dungeon Explorer
Neutopia
Super Star Soldier
Bonk’s Revenge
Blazing Lazers
Alien Crush
Neutopia II
Bonk’s 3
Devil’s Crush
Ninja Spirit
Detana! Twinbee
Vigilante
Lords of Thunder

They are a strange mix of N64 games I don’t already own multiple times over, games given away (or steeply discounted) through Club Nintendo, official localizations of Famicom games, light gun games, and a lot of TG16 games. I also have a fair number of Wii VC releases on the same machine, and ultimately, I’d like to get 12 more TG16 games and 2 more N64 games.

[PartridgeSenpai]

It's so interesting you post this because I bought a Japanese Wii U (keep in mind I do live in Japan) basically JUST to play games on the VC . I mean it really helped my decision in that I was able to buy a Wii U for a whopping 3800 yen (so factoring in the exchange rate, that's less than $38 USD for the console, hook-ups, and game pad with no stylus). But it's quickly become a really big favorite of mine. No need to worry about a game not booting up or a save battery going faulty, just boot up the Wii U and have a go~. The games on there cost just about as much or a fair bit less than the physical copies would, and now I can play them with a wireless controller with a save state (very helpful considering I mostly play RPGs on the thing. NO SAVE POINT SYSTEM SHALL CONFINE ME).

I really appreciated it less back in America when my TV screen was my computer monitor, so I really had very little use for a second screen to play a game with, but now that my computer and TV are perpendicular to each other, it's really nice to just be able to sit at my desk with the game pad and grind through a dungeon in an RPG while I watch a Twitch stream or something. It is a purchase I appreciate more every day ^w^. The Japanese Wii U store doesn't have EVERYTHING I'd want on it, but it has way more than enough to make me appreciate its selection (and that's just the Super Famicom stuff so far for the most part. I only just started looking into their GBA stuff).

As far as games I have on it, it's mostly just the games I've been posting in the beaten thread lately

FFIV
FFV
Mother 2
Mother 3

And then I'm currently playing through Mother 2, and Mother 3 is next~ (and then I have a bunch of marked stuff to look at on my watch list on that store for after THAT )

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The Wii Shop Channel, both WiiWare and Virtual Console are entirely shut down, which is a shame mostly because it seems like there were some games on that service that just never made the jump over to the Wii U, which is a shame. I honestly couldn't guess how long the Wii U store will be up. I mean there's at least ME spending money on this thing from time to time, so that's Nintendo making SOME money . Perhaps it's stayed up this long because it shares a purchasing ecosystem with the 3DS and Switch (like, your wallet and Nintendo Account share between all stores)? I would imagine that if and when it does get shut down, we'll get at least a year's notice like we did with the Wii's store.

If the Switch ever gets a genuine replacement for the kind of service that the VC offers, THEN I would start saying that the Wii U store's days are numbered, but given that that store not only sells VC stuff but also full Wii U games and DLC for those games, I think the Wii U isn't in much danger of being shut down anytime soon. Like you say, the Switch's retro game feature is woefully lacking in library compared to the Wii U's VC, and even though the services between them aren't really that comparable, I'd still rather have the Wii U's VC over the Switch's NES channel thing any day of the week.

[noiseredux]

They are a strange mix of N64 games I don’t already own multiple times over, games given away (or steeply discounted) through Club Nintendo, official localizations of Famicom games, light gun games, and a lot of TG16 games. I also have a fair number of Wii VC releases on the same machine, and ultimately, I’d like to get 12 more TG16 games and 2 more N64 games.

very cool. I should note that in the US, Wii games are under the banner of Virtual Console, though in other territories they are not. To me, the major selling point of buying these Wii games on VC is that any Wii game that supports the Pro/Classic controller can be played on the Wii U Gamepad using its built in controls which you cannot do with the disc version of that Wii game since the disc version will put the console into "Wii mode," whereas the VC version of the game is running natively on the Wii U.

The Wii Shop Channel, both WiiWare and Virtual Console are entirely shut down, which is a shame mostly because it seems like there were some games on that service that just never made the jump over to the Wii U, which is a shame. I honestly couldn't guess how long the Wii U store will be up. I mean there's at least ME spending money on this thing from time to time, so that's Nintendo making SOME money . Perhaps it's stayed up this long because it shares a purchasing ecosystem with the 3DS and Switch (like, your wallet and Nintendo Account share between all stores)? I would imagine that if and when it does get shut down, we'll get at least a year's notice like we did with the Wii's store.

You make a good point. Your wallet is shared between the Wii U and Switch, so I guess in a sense it's the "same store," so yeah, maybe they'll just keep it going for a while.

[PartridgeSenpai]

They are a strange mix of N64 games I don’t already own multiple times over, games given away (or steeply discounted) through Club Nintendo, official localizations of Famicom games, light gun games, and a lot of TG16 games. I also have a fair number of Wii VC releases on the same machine, and ultimately, I’d like to get 12 more TG16 games and 2 more N64 games.

very cool. I should note that in the US, Wii games are under the banner of Virtual Console, though in other territories they are not. To me, the major selling point of buying these Wii games on VC is that any Wii game that supports the Pro/Classic controller can be played on the Wii U Gamepad using its built in controls which you cannot do with the disc version of that Wii game since the disc version will put the console into "Wii mode," whereas the VC version of the game is running natively on the Wii U.

Oooo! I had no idea you could play Wii games with the pro controller like that! I may have to look at what Wii games they have on there now XD

And it's not the Wii U VC, but on the topic of TG16 games, the PSN store has a really weirdly large amount of PCE games on it on the Japanese store. It's a really weird but cool surprise every time I look at the retro section of the Japanese store ^w^

[prfsnl_gmr]

Cool! I did not know that either. I have one Wii game as well...LOZ: Skyward Sword. I also plan on picking up Xenoblade Chronicles. I own physical copies of both, but I think that digital versions will be easier to load on my Wii U and reduce strain on its optical disc drive. (Those are both really long games!)