The Virtual Console promised so much when it launched alongside the original Wii all those years ago. Indeed, on that particular console it became something of a goldmine of amazing retro titles, and when Nintendo announced that the service would carry over to the Wii U, many assumed that the good times were here to stay.
Sadly, that hasn't exactly been the case. While Nintendo has released many of its most famous NES, SNES, Game Boy Advance and Wii games on the service, there are still a great many Wii Virtual Console titles that haven't made the jump to the new generation, and the general pace of releases has been rather sluggish.
During Nintendo's 75th AGM, this issue was raised by a concerned shareholder, who not only wanted to know the size of the Virtual Console business, but also if Nintendo could release the entirety of its back catalogue on the service.
Nintendo's boss first addressed the question of how big the Virtual Console is in terms of revenue by stating that download sales have grown - but crucially didn't reveal what slice of that pie was down to retro games:
Regarding your question on the scale of Virtual Console title sales, the download sales as a whole for this (75th) fiscal year are 31.3 billion yen, and I have shared publicly that this is a 30 percent increase from the last fiscal year, but we have not disclosed the individual sales of Virtual Console titles only.
He than broke a few hearts by explaining that Virtual Console releases take time to develop, and if Nintendo were to speed up the rate of releases, it would impact the production of new software:
Virtual Console itself is a service that began when we developed Wii so that consumers can play past titles on new platforms, and we continue to distribute various titles now. However, back when we started this service, there were some points that we could not sufficiently foresee about how big this business would grow to be and how the business would expand. For example, Virtual Console titles are generally developed based on the original game software, but this does not mean that we can develop numerous Virtual Console titles simply if we have the original game software. Development of Virtual Console titles require detailed manual work, such as testing if the software runs smoothly on each platform, or making sure the content is appropriate under the various standards currently in place. Thus, we occasionally receive opinions that our pace of releasing new Virtual Console titles is slow, but if we use much of our human resources on such detailed manual work, we would not be able to develop new titles, so we are currently researching how we can efficiently develop Virtual Console titles with limited human resources. One of the big issues for our system development is how to resolve the situation in which we can only release a few Virtual Console titles at a time when we release new platforms.
He then explained that it's not possible for Nintendo to release every single game that has ever been due to various licencing issues:
In addition, regarding the possibility of making all titles available on Virtual Console, I can say that it is possible for Nintendo titles with a few exceptions, since we generally have the intellectual property rights for such titles. However, as to third-party software publishers' titles, if they are producing the software based on a license from another copyright holder, for example, we may not be able to easily use the same title for the system that exists now because we do not have a license from the copyright holder at the time. This often becomes a problem with reruns of TV shows or Internet broadcasting. Therefore, since we can only release Virtual Console titles of third-party software publishers if they come to an agreement with the copyrights holders upon negotiating terms and conditions that were not included in their original contract, please understand that there are some titles that we cannot easily release despite many requests. We will make our best efforts to satisfy our consumers with our Virtual Console title lineup.
What are your thoughts regarding Iwata's comments, and the state of the Virtual Console in general? You know what to do - post a comment below and share your feelings with the wider world.
[source nintendo.co.jp]
Comments 152
All it takes is a ROM they already own packaged with the emulator they've already developed... Apart from toning down seizure inducing effects from games like DKC2 and EarthBound, how much work can it actually be?
Then open up Mario's coin vault and hire some more people. It isn't an extremely hard job. Just hire a vc department.
translation: it's successful enough to keep releasing a few titles every week but not important enough to put more of a monetary/personnel investment into.
Pretty much what we already knew.
If this generation has taught game companies anything, it's that people don't want new games. They want remakes and rehashes. The biggest pop at E3 this year outside of Fallout 4 was for FF VII remake.
So Nintendo, clearly the answer is ONLY do VC production, and stop making new games. E3 reaction says all Nintendo fans want you to never make new games because you might not make something that agrees 100% of their own personal vision.
@BinaryFragger they did it for the Wii U remember?
But this still doesn't answer one question, WHY GBA ON WII U?
@BinaryFragger M2 actually handled the GBA games on the service. No idea if they handled any other consoles like N64 or DS though....
So wait you'd think that if VC was in demand and profitable Nintendo would create a VC only team.
What a disappointment the WiiU virtual console has been. Remember those enticing mentions of Gamecube being on there? The fact that they have an enormous library of great games from the past is really the only thing that makes Nintendo better than the competition. But by only releasing a miniscule fraction of these games they've hurt themselves. We get Ocarina today, which is awesome, but going on this rate, we'll have maybe three or four more N64 games before the next console. They've dug their own grave. You broke my heart Nintendo. But thanx again for Ocarina, been waiting a long time for this!
Just one small favor Iwata, DON'T restart the VC on the NX. Carry over the eshop's contents like you did with DSiWare on the 3DS eShop.
Otherwise we'll never get round to those Gamecube games.... @_@
I still wonder why there is no Pokemon VC games.
Seems reasonable. Although I have to admit it would be nice if they could put more resources behind it, especially to ease the wait time between big releases.
M2 says hi. Outsource the development. Problem solved.
OK! So lets halt production on Metroid Prime Federation Force and lets get some VC games in the pipeline!!!
Iwata just reaffirms the sense that Nintendo is on a prolonged lunch break, except Microsoft, Sony, and Valve took all their lunch money.
But hasn't Nintendo bought Sunsoft? Why can't they emulate VC games instead?
My hope is that the eShop is a thing that continues forward and day 1 of the NX life will have all VC currently available to the Wii U so we dont have to go through this all over again
Ugh, fed up with these excuses. The fact that hobbyist coders are doing a better job than the people that have access to the source code and all the hardware specs is unforgivable.
Obviously licensing is an issue, I don't think we'll ever see the old Star Wars games on VC.
@Artwark I feel you man. WHY GAMBE BOY advance game on wii u. GAME BOY. 1 more time. GAME BOY. I have already 10 GBAs on my 3ds 'cause of ambassador and I see no problem there. WHY. JUST WHY.
I just feel like they are stupid OR I really am a first class dumb in marketing stuff.
Obviously more releases = more money. Obviously the company likes making money.
They're telling us point blank they can't make them any faster.
And they actually have released a crapload now. It's not like it's 2013 with 6 games to choose from. Once Shadow Dragon hits US, and Metroid Zero Mission, I'm good. Anything past that is bonus.
Now that's not counting GC/Wii of course. GC seems unlikely at this point, but Fire Emblem radiant Dawn, DKC returns and Sin and Punishment 2 would set me nice and proper...
@BinaryFragger Pretty much explains why they had extras like screen smoothing, scanned manuals, and whatnot.... XD
Still, perhaps they can be put to work to get Mother 3 to us...
Fortunately, we have PC emulator and all the roms we want !
Some "dump team" was right saying they must dump roms to make old game something everybody could access.
@RCMADIAX Exactly.
The Japanese Virtual Console seems to have no problem releasing TONS of games.
Still...."Please undahstand..."
Literally the only VC game I want at this point is Zero Mission, and the work has already been done.
@RCMADIAX Spot on
At least Capcom and Natsume do a good job keeping up with VC consumer demand, for the most part.
Excuses are like @ssholes, everybody has one. You suck, Iwata.
I don't care that much about Wii U 's VC since Wii's already has the games I really wanted and I don't need to buy them again.The only one missing is F-Zero GX,hopefully it will get the Wind Waker HD treatment.
You only have to look at the charts on shop resent and overall to see vc games make money. Third party I can understand but there are lots of Nintendo titles still missing. Sometimes you have to employ more people to make more money.
Nintendo should just hire a bunch of fans who make emulators and roms and have them do the dirty work if they're too lazy.
wtf? nintendo cant even figure out how to release their OLD games. the games that are already 100% developed. ONE emulator for every old console and you are ready to go and take the money of millions of gamers. is that so hard???
Gotta get those candy crush and farmville apps ready for the NX!
@XCWarrior
Well also Shenmue 3
@Boxmonkey
Stop talking bout yourself
@Koz Not all emulators run all ROMS effectively. I always wanted to play Ikaruga on my Wii (cough cough) but that never effectively happened.
Gotta say I'm starting to think the pacing is ok. With the release of indies & 1st party games I want, I've been broke lately. Not to mention my household games & I pay for all of it.
@6ch6ris6 If it was that easy they would've done it already.
If it takes significant time to make Virtual Console games, it seems they could have saved themselves some time and resources by not releasing Urban Champion and Donkey Kong Jr. Math.
This is why I feel mostly guiltless about PC emulation of old Nintendo games. That and the fact that I bought or rented most I play and payed much more to purchase them the first time while renting is close to their VC prices. Think of how many games are totally lost legally due to defunct hardware that plays the software, i.e. bad chips, dead battery packs, supply & demand inflation, etc. It is amazing my PC can emulate almost flawlessly but the architecture on my Wii U somehow needs it reproduced.
@Mona-Reggie Shenmue 3 was a big deal to a small % of people. It has 47k backers... which is probably a very high % of the people who would have bought the game at full price. I'll be interested to see how many people buy it when it comes out in 2019.
Also, my comment has just a HINT of sarcasm. Just a hint.
so, why does it take so long to get VC games from one region to another? is each branch of nintendo redoing the same job for their region?
@mrchills "Remember those enticing mentions of Gamecube being on there?"
I have no idea where you heard that from?
@XCWarrior
really depends on hype. any game hyped a bit, and the fish bite.
Honestly, I'd be happy enough if they made the old Square games available on the Wii U / 3DS VC,
@KirbyKirbyKirby
here you go
http://www.destructoid.com/reggie-teases-possible-gamecube-games-on-the-wii-u-235451.phtml
http://techforums.nintendo.com/thread/19172
The entire VC library needs to be available on NX day one.
@khaosklub For most Xboner/PS4 fans, you could show them a CGI trailer of Barney & Friends, and as long as its CGI, there's a gun somewhere in the trailor, a little profanity and has preorder bonus, they'll slap whatever you ask them to preorder it.
@TomKnows well, obviously. The Wii U's NES emulator being one of them. NES games on Wii U are an abomination.
@RCMADIAX Thank you for pointing out that Nintendo can't pull these games out of a hat.
Well Iwata basically confirms what I have been saying all along: It's not as easy (read: effortless) to make a VC title as everyone thinks and releasing more of them would take ressources away from new games.
I never had a problem with the pace of the VC releases at all. They're just VC releases! If someone is dying to play a specific game, they can always buy the old console or use an emulator.
Meanwhile, an external company promises to release a Japan-only licensed game on the 3DS as the first SNES game on the handheld.
https://www.nintendolife.com/news/2015/07/bandai_namco_confirms_european_new_3ds_bundle_and_pre-order_bonuses_for_dragon_ball_z_extreme_butoden
Just sayin'.
@XCWarrior Isn't that what Capcom does now days?
so in a nutshell you're under-resourced? just hire more people and have a dedicated team!!!
@XCWarrior
Nintendo fans aren't too different. just replace CGI with Link, guns with faeries, and profanity with an ocarina. don't even have to show gameplay, just Link in better graphics than the last time.
we just live in a weird gaming culture where people just want to get excited over something. people complain about game droughts while they have at least 10 games for any given console they basically turned on and played once.
people get excited for the next release and trade in all previous games. it's not even about the games anymore, it's just for the hype train. gaming is now about hypetrains. fans are just mad about having nothing to be excited for.
people complain about store updates having nothing the very next week after a major release of a game they were hyped for and now own. it's madness!
Everyone here either has more games than they know what to do with, or can't afford games and make what they have last anyway.
most people are mad about e3 because of the lack of new games that weren't introduced before, thus no real new hype.
@khaosklub For some reason I think you'd have a different tune regarding hype if Nintendo actually had a good presentation this year...
Well, what else Wii U software is Nintendo working on right now? I guess Star Fox, Zelda, but then what? It's not like they're telling us!
There seems to be more than enough manpower to port some classic VC games to Wii U!
I guess this means us Americans who only have a 3ds and no Wii u are going to have to emulate the new earthbound😢 this makes me sad as I would have rather paid for it instead.
I mean nes not new
Even if their resources were unlimited, I could imagine they like to time their VC releases. As exciting as it would be to get classic after classic, week after week, that would do more damage that good for Nintendo.
People argue, "Just release now and let people buy when they feel like it." But that's not a way to maximize "launch" sales. And there's only so many classics in the catalog. The very week the gems stop coming is the very week folks revert back to, "Ugh, there's nothing good this week!"
And that makes me pretty sad when I hear it NOW. There's usually a decent flow of games every week (whether or not they're your cup of tea is another thing). But if it's not a major Nintendo release or a beloved VC classic, people will act like NOTHING else exists.
Somebody should have thrown 1 of those Rare 30 for $30 discs at him.
30 Rare games on 1 disc all running on X1 all for $30.
But Nintendo can't emulate their own games on their own hardware.
You know what I just realized, Nintendo can't go third party, if they did The Last Guardian would look like it had a fast release in comparison.
Nintendo's practices and mindset are enraging me so much. Emulations of old titles require focus away from new ones? How about using some of your tens of billions of dollars to create a large VC department?
Oh, "please understand".
@XCWarrior - "So Nintendo, clearly the answer is ONLY do VC production, and stop making new games."
That nicely sums up everything I said in the NX thread, NX = retro VC machine.
I know you were just joking, sadly I'm not.
@rjejr I love old games, but the great games today are way better than the great games of yesteryear. I own a few VC titles, 1 or 2 remasters, but I want new experiences.
Based on your pictures, I'm guessing your 50 and you are not their target demo, lol.
I find this incredible.
Roms work perfectly well elsewhere. I think they are concerned about flooding the VC.
VC should be an easy and awesome way to top up the weekly games lists.
@andremario
Or you can acquire a Wii U and play it there, or simply pass on it if you don't want to buy one. No reason to use a emulator and be a pirate.
@Nintendo_Ninja well said, just hire more staff Nintendo!
Even if the answers are the same old excuses, it's good to see that the shareholders are asking these kind of questions.
Just looking at the image above and wondering what they paid to have their egos stroked by the Henson Muppet makers?
I sometimes get the impression that fans only want VC games and nothing else.
Nintendo fans really are the hardest fans to please and I include myself in that too!!
Its always we want new IP, new gameplay, not the same old Super Rehashio Brothers this, Zelda that...
Get with the 21st century and do some online...
Nintendo offers this and people kick off because the new metroid game is not like the last one, i dont want online metroid, there's no new f-zero and wtf is that starfox game all about!? (These comments are presented in the first person but are not necessarily my views!)
Then people moan they don't release enough vc...
You also have people begging that NX is just like the competition...
Do people want something different from Nintendo or do they want an arse load more of the same!?
Nobody seems to be happy when they get a mixture of the two...
@Luna_110
unless you own a legit copy of the game and like the perks of using an emulator.. that's a a good reason to use an emulator...
What new development? And how many people does it take to do these? Seriously, E3 they showed like 3 new games.... that's all. What new development could they be talking about? What makes it even worse is a lot of these VC games should be basically done with some tweeking.
@SmithJurd
"Do people want something different from Nintendo or do they want an arse load more of the same!?"
why can't we have both? series giving us more of the same. splatoon 2 should not be an art game. pikmin should not be a fighting game, star fox should not be a brawler.
And also give us something new in new IPs. I don't see many people complaining about splatoon aside from nintendo locking things away... like pants. but overall, the reception for the game seems pretty good. new idea, with a new IP.
when they dig up our favorite franchises and put new ideas, or make a new IP with the same old, that's when people have problems.
I understand Mr. Iwata's points concerning the VC, but one thing that I find to be really annoying is how long it takes for some VC games to reach other shores (Europe to NA, and vice versa). Sometimes the releases are simultaneous, while other times (Donkey Kong Country series, for example) takes months!
@Lizuka
Exactly! Other than getting the age rating from the appropriate rating board, there is no excuse for it to take so long to get VC games that other countries have had for months!
@ikki5
"And how many people does it take to do these? "
the end credits usually details this. I mean, we went from a lot of games coming out yearly in the early 90s, to games taking at least like 3 years of development. they're still working on that there smash DLC too.
games are taking more and more people, more and more time, and more and more money to develop. while I do think it's bull that they can't dedicate more resources to Virtual Console, the few games we do know about, not mentioning the ones we don't, do take a lot of resources to make. There are probably plenty of games in development to be revealed for next E3, and in the meantime anyway.
@allav866
Since according to Mr. Iwata it takes a long time to get a game to the VC, why doesn't Nintendo form stronger partnership with third-party companies to bring their games over. Capcom and Natsume have supported the VC, but SquareEnix hasn't made available a single VC game on the Wii U!!!
Soooooo many great games could be made available (Final Fantasy, Dragon Quest, Chrono Trigger, etc).
Okay, we get that. But surely a game being released in Europe means the game is ready to be released in America, and vice versa. But releases have been largely been unique to each region with the other waiting months to catch up, if at all.
Figure it the f**k out! Is what I say.
You basically promised us before the original Wii came out, ten years ago at E3 2005, that we'd be able to play virtually all of Nintendo's games from its past consoles and we still aren't there yet.
I can frikin play virtually even single past Nintendo game from all of it's consoles, from Wii backwards, on my PC—and the tend to run pretty much flawlessly for the most part in my experience, certainly almost anything from the NES to N64 catalogs, even with additional options and various enhancements and stuff in most cases.
I mean come on already!
@mrchills Just get the Wii Shop Channel versions if you're so desperate for them then update them if/when they receive a Wii U release. Is it really worth passing them up just because you don't get a restore point, full GamePad functionality, and easier access from the Wii U menu?
@MikeW Most of those games are already available on the Wii Shop.
@BulbasaurusRex
Exactly! It should be even easier to send them to the Wii U eshop!
All I want are gamecube titles specifically the sega titles like, sonic adventure 2 battle and stair fax temperatures and my life will be complete.
@MikeW Well, the European ratings do take quite a while to get, plus they have to do a lot of things separately due to the differing screen formats (NTSC vs. PAL).
@MikeW Another release means a new licensing agreement. It's possible they're having a tough time getting Square Enix on board with the Wii U version of the Virtual Console.
I kind of figured the second part since whenever it comes to licenses, contracts, international ratings and all that bureaucracy mumbo jumbo, things can get long and messy when more parties are involved; the first part, bit surprised. Well if I had to pick between more old games or more new, then send me the new. There is so many ways to play old games but only one for new.
I guess Nintendo want to be the type of restaurant (figuratively) to make their food fresh instead of have it pre-made somewhere else and just reheat it, even if it doesn't matter to most customers (at the moment).
I can understand that. Just would like more titles that weren't already available before on the Wii Shop is all.... Excitebike 64 plz.
@RCMADIAX Yes. Thank you!
I wish they would let M2 do more of the emulations. Sound is off in Game and Watch Gallery 3 and they STILL haven't added multi to the GB emulations, despite PC emulators supporting it. M2's Game Gear emulations support multiplayer. M2's recent console emulations have more screen options too.
Basement coders made emulators for pretty much every console from Atari to 16-bit that work almost perfectly on my Wii, yet Nintendo still pretends it is some painstaking process getting these games up and working.
@XCWarrior - "your 50 and you are not their target demo"
Gawd I hope not. If I'm their target demo they're in a lot more trouble than we think. All I want from them is Starfox Adventures 2 (but I'm hoping Zelda U will suffice).
My concern is them not knowing who their target demo is anymore. They launched Wii w/ Sports and sold 100m consoles with Just Dance and Wii Fit and Wii Music. But they knew they lost the "gamers". They launched Wii U marketing ME3, Batman:AKE, AC, Darksiders 2, COD Ghosts and sold 10m Wii U.
So what do they do in 2015? Go after the gamers hard w/ Zelda U, or go after their fanbase w/ Super Mario Maker? (That's a trick question.)
What do they do next? Build a $350 system w/ 500GB HDD and 8GB DDR5 RAM hoping to get COD and Destiny, or a $200 system hoping to get Mario fans and people who want 1 save point for playing Pokemon Shuffle on their tablet like controller and their tv?
Nintendo isn't going 3rd party, their going Jakks Pacific.
http://jakksstore.mybigcommerce.com/nintendo/
@SmithJurd
Nintendo have millions of fans. They aren't one hive mind speaking with a single voice. Many want different things.
If it's something that will make you more money, then hire more people to do it. Porting games is a purely technical matter than needs none of Nintendo's core creative team to do, and could be outsourced to basically anyone.
@rjejr LOL, FWIW I liked Star Fox Adventures as well. But I prefer what it looks like we are getting with Zero.
Nintendo's market is Japan and the 3DS. They've got that down well enough. They don't seem to care what happens in America. They act like they do, but they don't. America wants amiibo, so just load them up on that.
Europe wants PS4. They should almost stop selling consoles there, just stick with 3DS. And in theory, if NX's OS is really compatible with both the console and handheld, then that should be a doable thing and Europe will still get all the games in small form.
@sevignator I COMPLETELY agree!!! How I miss playing the Final Fantasy Legends series, as well as either of the Final Fantasy Advance games...
You're all naughty children and deserve none anyway.
I think the reason that VC is on the virtual console, is because the Original Wii VC has a LOT of these games. Another reason that I am glad that the OW VC shop is still open. Last month, I bought Super Mario RPG and been having a blast.
@LztheQuack We want access to their catalogue of classics, either because they're tough to find used or just out of convenience. What's wrong with that? Nothing, especially during the frequent release droughts.
I could just emulate these games for free, but I want to buy them legally. It's easy money for Nintendo!
@XCWarrior - Well I suppose as long as Microsoft keeps selling - I mean having for sale - X1 in Japan anything is possible.
Pseudo on topic - you think Sony comes out w/ a Vita 2 or PSP3? (PSPgo was PSP2) If NX is basically a 3DS w/ HDMI out or a Wii U w/ a portable Gamepad would it make sense for Sony to even bother?
No way. They're fancy emulators. Even the manuals are damn generic for most part of VC titles. I don't see where the "manual work" is hitting the development of other titles. There's no such thing.
Just a bunch of excuses like always.
Translation: We only have 5 guys on our development team.
@CrimSkies97 5? Wow, somebody is being Mr. optimistic today! I'd put the number at 1 or 2 tops.
@rjejr No way. Sony is done with the handhelds. It's officially Nintendo vs Nintendo on cell phones by the end of the year. Will be interseting to see how the how long the snake can successfully eat its own tail.
If people think that they can deliver a quality product in a faster time they should go to Nintendo and offer them their services. I mean how hard could it be, testing, tweaking, scanning manuals? It seems like any idiot could do it judging by the comments.
@XCWarrior - "No way. Sony is done with the handhelds"
Well I was going to chastise you for the boring conversation ending comment, but this more than made up for it:
"Will be interseting to see how the how long the snake can successfully eat its own tail."
@rjejr
Happy birthday! But you're still a young'un: I'm old enuff to be your babysitter!
Back on topic: for a company that has been in business for many decades, ninty seems to have a piss poor way of measuring how popular products are going to be. They are surprised when vc, amiibos are popular yet gobsmacked when the Wii u isn't. A tad out of touch, perhaps? Not wanting to accept the idea they might have gotten the market wrong? Just being bullheadly nintendo because we all blindly trust they are different from the other companies and think of the consumer like long lost nephews/nieces and do what's best for us?
I need a glass of wine.
Nintendo probably has troubles in creating emultion software. For some reason, the emulators on PC somehow runs smoother than the one on Wii U. There are noticeable slowdown in Super Mario World on Wii u but not at PC, probably due to Nintendo having to develop a new set of emulators for each console.
@electrolite77 That is exactly the point I'm trying to make, Nintendo can never please everyone but too many believe it is their needs which need to be met and theirs only...
@k8sMum - Thanks mum
"ninty seems to have a piss poor way of measuring how popular products are going to be. "
And E3 ND. When it was over all I could think was - what focus group OKd that 51 minutes for use at E3? I admit, my kids liked it, but it wasn't E3 worthy. Too much yarn, not enough Zelda U. And Starfox should have closed, not opened. I can't even remember what closed, and that's not good.
@Mr_Zurkon you could probably make that argument if the Star Wars games were delisted but they're still up in the wii shop...so logically they should come to wii u along with a ton of other stuff that's MIA
Only Nintendo would moan about the amount of work they need to do to get all the old games on the e-shop. Nintendo is also the only company who moans about HD games being hard to make. Other company's don't moan, they just do!
Nintendo lives in a whole other dimension....
@joey302 Hmm, well so much for that.
Yeah, I call BS on this. 311 Virtual Console games available on Wii U in Japan to the 175 Virtual Console games available in the US. Someone is dropping the ball over here because the text swap can't be that difficult.
@RCMADIAX I agree with most of this but japan wii u has 300+ vc titles while North America stands at 174. And while I'm not doubting the labor involved, 1 vc game a week for the better part of a year & a half to me is unacceptable! How was it then that the wii vc was a nice pace of 4-5 vc titles a week spread over several systems?? Only thing I can conclude to the Iwata explanation is to simply hire more staff to expedite and achieve a better release pace especially if the concern is the project could interfere with new development! Thanks and I'm still waiting on a follow up to shut the box!😃👍
@Mr_Zurkon lol point noted though
It's like outsourcing or simply hiring a VC department don't exist as options... it's amazing how full of **** this company can be sometimes.
Yeah... No. I don't believe this. Not entirely, anyway. I can understand it takes some time to make sure the controllers work properly through the emulation, and it might take time to get proper clear scans of original manuals, but I really don't think it would slow down production significantly.
At this rate, I'll consider myself lucky if I can upgrade all my imported SNES and N64 games (barring Indiana Jones). I don't even think Genesis or Master System will even have a snuff of a chance this time around.
So Microsoft can flip a switch and give people access to their purchases from the previous generation but Nintendo - the company that has been making games longest – can’t manage more than a show trickle even among the VC games that have already been emulated on the original Wii?
“Please understand, this thing we’ve been doing forever is suddenly just too difficult”.
Also, WHAT “new development”? We’re over half way into the year with only Splatoon to show for it. New development is so slow that most of the titles shown at this year’s E3 were revealed LAST year…and they probable won’t show up until next year.
"slow trickle"... really wish we could edit these.
Just hire me! I've never had a job before, but I'll work really hard to make VC games! Nintendo won't even have to pay me! Just a nice discount, since the only thing I ever actually buy is Nintendo games.
Ok it is logical we can´t see licenced games but they can simply fuse Wii shop with Wii U eshop like they did on DSiware/3DS eshop so we won´t wait years to play Neo Geo or another games in gamepad.
@mrchills
Thanks, I just read the links,
"That is a great question," he said, smiling. "And personally I would love for that to happen, but we have nothing to announce right now."
The links just say it's something he would like, personally. It didn't really sound like it was confirmed ?
I've got loads of games for the NGC and I really liked it.
What a load of complete TOSH this article just shows how he views Nintendo gamers.
Emulators use hacks to get games to run as they would on the console they are emulating and it shows. The few emulators that try to make a true hardware equivalent take a lot of PC Power, even recommending users have Intel only PC with i5 or i7. Sound has been particularly hard to get right. There has also never been a reliable N64 emulator. Yes, some of the simpler games run but most don't work as they should. And to top it off, some games had special chips in the cartridge to process code that the system could not. That means that every game cannot be emulated like every other game 100%. Yes, Nintendo has the inside scoop on how to emulate these conditions but it still requires coding. If I buy a VC game, I want it to run as it would, 100% on the system it ran on.
And yes, license issues are a factor as well. It is pretty much a done deal that Rare games won't make it to the VC.
I call BS on that Iwata. Especially on the Wii titles FFS.
Understandable, but may I suggest using all that hard-earned money to expand on human resources? Hire some more people, people specific to a certian task. I mean, how hard is it to spend some of that extra cash (I know you have it ) to get more people working on the VC? It's not like there's a shortage of programmers and game designers today.
I more or less don't care for the obscure and lesser known titles, but give us all those big-hitters from back in the day. The popular games, the ones sporting the mascots. Those should be high up on the list as the main priority to release before everything else. There are still a bunch of Mario games missing. After all this time, it's still undoubtedly a pretty weak list, imo..
What happened to the N64 VC? And no mention of GameCube games, yet Wii games can be downloaded -.-
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/List_of_Virtual_Console_games_for_Wii_U_%28North_America%29
I don't believe any of this article. There are, without a doubt, some licensing issues with some titles, but there is no excuse for why the Virtual Console - especially on 3DS - has dried up to barely a trickle. We are lucky to get one release a month on Wii U, but the 3DS hasn't had a VC release in months. I refuse to believe that porting NES games or Game Boy games to the 3DS is such an ordeal that it would pull so many resources from other game development.
Here's some of what vc is missing and could be: operation wolf- ninja warriors- bubble bobble- space invaders- rainbow islands- outrun- pitfall- pitfall II- river raid- kaboom- megamania- freeway- asteroids- tempest- Qbert- popeye- cobra triangle- centipede - millipede - Missle command- yars revenge- nights into dreams- jet set radio- Daytona USA- sega rally champ.- zoo keeper- zaxxon- Congo bongo- jungle hunt- star castle- dragons lair I&II- space ace- frogger- scramble- time pilot- super cobra- pooyan- spy hunter- marble madness- defender- joust- robotron 2084- crazy taxi- Ecco the dolphin- house of the dead 1,2,3,4- gauntlet I&II- virtua cop 1&2- virtua racing- virtua fighter 2- virtua tennis- World Series baseball- arkanoid- hydro thunder- San Francisco Rush 2049- paperboy- Raiden- carnival- 1942,1943,1945-gunstar heroes- afterburner - power drift- toe jam & earl- UN Squadron - side arms- black tiger- super breakout- warlords- Seaquest- air/sea battle- Qix- Rtype- galaga 88- rolling thunder 1-3- root beer tapper- phelios- galaxian - rad racer- xybots- primal rage- HERO- NARCS- splatterhouse 1-3, xenephobe- wizard of war- gorf- caveman ninja- secret agent- burgertime - sunset riders- final fantasy series- phantasy star 1-4, shining force series- crusiin USA, crusiin the world, alien crush- devils crush- congo's capers- steel empire- klax- Tetris- plant vs zombies- thunder force series, minecraft- castle of illusion Mickey Mouse- Alex Kidd- Darius twin - super hang on- cadash - sagaia- roadblasters - Road rash- strider - mercs- commando- insector X- musha- columns- battle zone- moon patrol- silent scope- sega GT- Mars matrix- giga wing 1&2-
this people, is just a sample of what the virtual console could be!! To me Nintendo is blowing it big time!!! There are THOUSANDS of classics out there. They just have to look & track them down and then open up their damn checkbook!!!! Contact sega! Contact Atari! Contact Warner bros/Midway etc etc!!!
I'm utterly disappointed in the reading comprehension of commenters on this thread. Ah, I'm just kidding, it's clear that very few even read the article at all.
Licenses/copyrights transition and companies that own them go out of business and sit in legal hell. Multiple companies own multiple parts of the game. You don't just throw $ at that, it takes (justice system) time.
Content rules and copyright issues inside the games (Spider-man used to be in Revenge of Shinobi, unlicensed for instance) require detailed play-throughs and reports that won't satisfy every country of origin.
Resources given towards these take away from other projects.
Just put the ROM in an emulator. People playing on their comps with emulators put up with a lot of junk in their ROMs and things not working quite right is the norm and copyright issues are ignored. None of it is acceptable in a paid-for game.
Also, Nintendo needs to develop an emulator for each platform, for each new destination hardware. 3DS is nothing like Wii U for instance. Every emulator is tuned for each game. You are downloading the emulator and the game.
Those who have played with emulators that have been developed over decades for other platforms often with a community of developers that work constantly to get them to work as generally okay as they do but never pay for anything don't seem to appreciate the amount of work that it is and how you can't just copy it and use the code someone else wrote and the Nintendo hardware platforms aren't the same destination as the previously developed emulators.
And by the way Nintendo has to do it in a way that is actually worth it financially. It is a business and if it takes a couple programmers, a couple testers, and a couple license-wranglers a few months on one game that only a small number will play. Well... will it make the $200,000 necessary to break even?
I don't know. It frustrates me how every gamer thinks he/she has better knowledge about it than the people actually doing it themselves and just thinks that Nintendo is out to keep things from them unnecessarily. Where is the logic? If Nintendo could just throw tons of money at it and make a huge return, doesn't that sound like Nintendo would just do it? If not? Why?
Virtual Console is nothing but a nice little extra for Nintendo fans. I view it as a way to get more content onto the consoles. It's completely optional, and if you really want to play the old games, you're WAY better off just buying the original consoles and games.
@joey302 I agree that would be a nice line-up.
Some of those are in legal hell, though. (Minecraft is in there? What?) Why do you think Nintendo hasn't called those companies? I'd guess they have multiple times. The Wii had 100 million owners and the VC was new so it was easier to get license owners excited about some potential extra income. What gets them excited about the Wii U? The plans of license holders don't necessarily align with Nintendo's plans. It's just not simple unfortunately.
It's good to finally hear the reasoning behind the slow VC releases. That's all I wanted from Nintendo regarding the service. It may not be the response I wanted to hear, but at least the company addressed the fans.
theres always my rare download program...
@aaronsullivan allmost all of these titles are easily accessable and shouldn't have license issues and if their is in any way then Nintendo needs to make an effort to secure them. As far as the wii goes vc was available day 1 and we're hitting at the pace of 3-4 a week then and this was way before the wii blasted off to 100 million in sales so I'm sorry I just can't give Iwata nor Nintendo a pass here on this because even though the wii u is a flop(I guess 10 million in sales is for the dogs these days for 3rd parties) there is still no real good excuse for the torturous pace of 1 vc game a week for the better part of the last 2 years!!!. They should really stop being cheap greedy people and add staffing to the vc program to expedite. Lastly what the hell took ANYBODY so long to pose this question to Nintendo anyhow? None of these game sites have asked them for whatever reason and from all places the question came from one of their own investors??
But still Nonetheless Iwatas response is a big heaping pile of crap!! Sometimes I don't know who's more full of it him or Reggie!! Sorry....
@joey302 what do you mean by easily accessible? Pull off the shelf? Let's say I own the Midway games and I have multiple ways to sell my games in bundled Arcade machines, for instance. Maybe I signed an exclusivity deal for an arcade cabinet company in Canada and 3 other countries but a different deal to someone else in the U.S. With a mobile company that sells them as part of an app for iOS. Along comes Nintendo wanting these games for Wii U and 3DS. Okay, but we can't until 2018 and you have to do it and we want 75% of the profits or we'll just rely on the mobile market which has many 100s of millions of users.
That's one company. Does that count as freely accessible?
How about those games where the owners of the rights don't even know they have them. Atari is notoriously switching hands all the time and making deals with hardware makers (those retro consoles). Do they want competition for their own hardware?
This is all hypothetical, but I'm just trying to place some context around what you are asking for. None of this includes the need to play through this stuff to check for Nazi symbolism and other imagery or political statements that cause serious issues around the world.
Sure, you and I can pull up a ROM in the gray market, run an emulator on a tablet, phone or PC and ignore all this, but Nintendo can't.
All of it take time and people which is wages. If the wages are more than the return Nintendo can eat some of that if there are some notable successes, but I don't have the numbers in front of me and neither do you. Nintendo does and a short time ago they were bleeding money like never before post NES.
As you say you don't release that for now is there any solid issue you say that and about console recently i bought a PS4 console from http://bestgamesellers.com/product/used-playstation-3-500-gb-system/
It was more better then others that my personal opinion...
Thanks
@Luna_110 There might be if I am poor. I am unemployed and searching for a job or available spot for career. Trust and believe if I had 299 dollars for one game that I want on Wii u and maybe GBA games I would have paid for one yesterday. I just can't afford 300 to 500 u.s. dollars for a home console. That's why I have a 3ds. Not the new one either. 😁lol
@aaronsullivan accessible meaning not much effort should be required. I understand the contract thing as I deal with contracts as well as exclusive deals that may come along with them. But my educated guess coupled with my following the industry closely all my life is what's behind that list. Atari, now a small company in NYC of merely 12 employees would love to tap open any revenue stream that comes their way. How do I know? I spoke with them on the phone the old fashion way and they are very interested in spreading their classic IPs around. They can't afford to be exclusive with anyone they're looking to grow and not limit their IP to the Flashback consoles! I wish them well! And none of their games or any on my list would be being unearthed from 40 years ago they've all been utilized in recent times. Taito, whose tons of classic IP is owned be Square Enix, has several vc titles in wii u in japan right now! Midway published the MIDWAY ARCADE ORIGINS not too long ago which was a disc of 30+ classics for the 360/PS3. These games were already published on mobile phones. Activision who unlike Atari doesn't need the money, is always publishing their 2600 classics all over the place. Sega is just being the new Sega not the old Sega of the 90s. Namco has only put out limited classics on wii u here and wii shop prior while they sit on the rest of their classics in which a TON of then were published on the Wii shop in japan but for whatever reason never came to the states! 15 Data East classics in disc were published on wii only a few years ago. Konami seems to just be on the fence and just not interested at all yet a few of their classics are just now starting to appear on PS4! . Capcom while thankfully has been behind wii u is STILL leaving a ton of their games in the vault!? Y?? Finally while many are already aware, many of the turbographx 16 games on my list ,30+ vc titles are already on wii u in japan but not here!! Qbert was just posted on Ps4/One. Colecovision flashback has a bunch of arcade classics on it like jungle hunt & frenzy!! Minecraft I mentioned only cause it just baffles me that the game is on everything save Nintendo formats! Yea there may be a few challenges there like Popeye but majority of titles listed here are obtainable and just takes some effort. I myself do not bother nor have the time to bother with roms or emulaters and I like most avid gamers would rather pay for a legit copy of a game digital or what have you.
Sure they're a few gems out there that some joe owns the rights too in say Gary,Indiana but this list was crafted with some thought and realism in mind.
As far as Nintendo eating some loses to get this done, we all know the $$ they have. Sometimes you have to spend to earn. Of course were not seeing the numbers but They clearly need to hire more staff to expedite this to AT LEAST DO BETTER than 1 vc game a week!!! And in case you didn't notice, I'm not the only one ragging here! Lol! Enjoy your 4th of July!!
Excuses like this are why i don't bother with the Virtual console..
It's a shame that they're being so slow with this. As soon as we got Partners in Time (possibly due to Paper Jam's future release) I got high hopes for Bowser's Inside Story, as it's the only M&L I've never been able to finish, but at the rate they work on these it's probably going to be a good while.
I don't really care much for Virtual Console as honestly it's very easy to get them by... other means. The only ones I'd like would be DS games due to performance issues on my computer, but other than that I don't care for VC.
If the games were bundled together by some service or if they were cheaper I would get them, but at their current prices, nahh.
@Koz Legally, quite a lot actually. Video game restrictions in Australia and Europe would ikely require them to get rated or re-rated based on modern standards, many times third party rights-holders (publishers, depending on contractual terms, developers/musicians) are difficult to track down and come to an agreement, and quality assurance teams need to playtest on modern hardware. Some publishers might not want old games to be released - capcom might not want to call attention to Megaman Legends due to PR reasons, Nintendo might not want to release more modern titles like Double Dash if it will cut into Mariokart sales on the Wii-U due to the similarities of the title or arguably higher replayability of the VC title.
TLDR:
Putting a rom in an emulator is easy. Getting the legal rights to sell a rom and QA team to approve it is difficult. And sometimes publishers don't want older versions of their IP released, for good reasons.
Just get snes games on 3ds never ask for anything again .
And this is why I have only ever bought one VC game ever. It was a SNES fire emblem game that I got on the cheap and I still haven't got around to playing it. It's great for NIntendo that people buy VC games and I am happy for them but if I wanna play retro games I'll play them on the original hardware if I can or I'll play em on an emulator. That way I can play any NES or SNES game I want and Nintendo can release as many VC games as their human resources will allow without it impacting too much on development of new games. And with the money I save on VC games I can put that toward buying new games, everyone wins.
I kind of curious, to know why Nintendo can't high more people, to increase their developing force. So they can finally add more virtual console games, far faster.
@BinaryFragger That makes a lot sense.
o nintendo when will you realise that you are the most back ward company in the world
Please understand... that we're going to trickle in VC games wether you like it or not.
Alot of Games need to be put on the Virtual Console for Example Clayfighter series, Pro Wrestling ,Dragon Warrior series, Alpha Mission, Kung Fu, Karate Champ, Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles, Track & Field 1 & 2, Willow, Yo! Noid, Act Raiser, Batman Returns, Battletoads in Battlemaniacs, Chrono Trigger, Final Fantasy series SNES, Illusion Of Gaia, Lufia II, Mario is Missing, Robocop vs Terminator, Rock n Roll Racing, Secret of Evermore, Secret of Mana, Star Fox, Super Battletank, Super Bowling, Super Double Dragon, Super Mario RPG, Super Star Wars series, TMNT IV, ect.....
I don't want to be that guy, buuuuuuuuttttttt...
R.I.P. IWATA
I guess I am not the only one who thinks that Nintendo- should hire more people... I wonder if the cost in wages would be worth the effort, though...
This is bllsht.. there are people out there, with less resources than nintendo that have developed retro consoles and handhelds that play old roms. That easy. Liars! Any smarthphone can run nes or gameboy games with emulators, how is that their own hardware can't?
This is ridiculous. So the end result is to not produce a LOT of games because the old license agreements are unclear. I bought the Wii specifically for these old games and now Nintendo is not following up on their promise. I'm not sure if I buy his answer as the entire truth but the way I'm reading the part about licensing is that they aren't sure if they could release the games without threat of a lawsuit because the old license agreements are unclear and they don't want to take the chance, and so the end result is customers get the shaft. Here's a crazy idea Nintendo: how about you just ask the game creators if you can release them??
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