Topic: 98 Days (and Counting) of No Wii Virtual Console

[NWR_Neal]

The Ignition Factor, released on August 25, 2011, was the last Wii Virtual Console game released in North America. This is a problem.

http://www.nintendoworldreport.com/feature/28151

Sadly, it looks like the Virtual Console on Wii (specifically in North America) is dead. The last release was in August 2011, and before then, releases were few and far between to begin with. To celebrate/mourn, we're going to list a good Virtual Console game for every day since there has been a game on Virtual Console.

So, check in every day to see the next games on our list. Maybe you'll see something that interests you. We'll update this list every Thursday until Nintendo releases a Wii Virtual Console game.

1. The Legend of Zelda (NES - 500 Wii Points)
2. F-Zero (SNES - 800 Wii Points)
3. Solomon’s Key (NES - 500 Wii Points)
4. Super Mario 64 (N64 - 1,000 Wii Points)
5. Wario’s Woods (NES - 500 Wii Points)
6. Bonk’s Adventure (TG16 - 600 Wii Points)
7. Ecco the Dolphin (Genesis - 800 Wii Points)
8. Ristar (Genesis - 800 Wii Points)
9. Alien Crush (TG16 - 600 Wii Points)
10. Gunstar Heroes (Genesis - 800 Wii Points)
    
11. Military Madness (TG16 - 600 Wii Points)
    
12. R-Type (TG16 - 800 Wii Points)
13. Street Fighter II: The World Warrior (SNES - 800 Wii Points)
14. Super Castlevania IV (SNES - 800 Wii Points)
15. Super Mario Bros. (NES - 500 Wii Points)
16. ToeJam & Earl (Genesis - 800 Wii Points)
17. Gradius (NES - 500 Wii Points)
18. Soldier Blade (TG16 - 600m Points)
19. R-Type III: The Third Lightning (SNES - 800 Wii Points)
20. The Legend of Zelda: A Link to the Past (SNES - 800 Wii Points)
21. Comix Zone (Genesis - 800 Wii Points)
22. Contra III: The Alien Wars (SNES - 800 Wii Points)
23. Mario Kart 64 (N64 - 1,000 Wii Points)
24. Super Mario World (SNES - 800 Wii Points)
25. Kid Icarus (NES - 500 Wii Points)
26. Kirby’s Adventure (NES - 500 Wii Points)
27. Ice Climber (NES - 500 Wii Points)
28. Donkey Kong Country (SNES - 800 Wii Points)
29. New Adventure Island (TG16 - 600 Wii Points)
30. Streets of Rage (Genesis - 800 Wii Points)
31. Chew Man Fu (TG16 - 600 Wii Points)
32. The Legend of Zelda: Ocarina of Time (N64 - 1,000 Wii Points)
33. Super Ghouls ‘n Ghosts (SNES - 800 Wii Points)
34. Tecmo Bowl (NES - 500 Wii Points)
35. Sonic Spinball (Genesis - 800 Wii Points)
36. Beyond Oasis (Genesis - 800 Wii Points)
37. Excitebike (NES - 500 Wii Points)
38. Romance of the Three Kingdoms IV (SNES - 800 Wii Points)
39. Dragon’s Curse (TG16 - 600 Wii Points)
40. Star Fox 64 (N64 - 1,000 Wii Points)
41. Galaga (NES - 500 Wii Points)
42. Punch-Out!! (NES - 500 Wii Points)
43. Bonk’s Revenge (TG16 - 600 Wii Points)
44. Gradius III (SNES - 800 Wii Points)
45. Wonder Boy in Monster World (Genesis - 800 Wii Points)
46. Castlevania (NES - 500 Wii Points)
47. Shockman (TG16 - 600 Wii Points)
48. The Legend of the Mystical Ninja (SNES - 800 Wii Points)
49. Ninja Gaiden (NES - 500 Wii Points)
50. Streets of Rage 2 (Genesis - 800 Wii Points)
51. Donkey Kong Country 2: Diddy's Kong Quest (SNES - 800 Wii Points)
52. ActRaiser (SNES - 800 Wii Points)
53. Kid Chameleon (Genesis - 800 Wii Points)
54. Zelda II: The Adventure of Link (NES - 500 Wii Points)
55. Milon's Secret Castle (NES - 500 Wii Points)
56. ToeJam & Earl in Panic on Funkotron (Genesis - 800 Wii Points)
57. Sonic the Hedgehog 2 (Genesis - 800 Wii Points)
58. F-Zero X (N64 - 1,000 Wii Points)
59. Street Fighter II' Turbo: Hyper Fighting (SNES - 800 Wii Points)
60. Super Mario Bros. 2 (NES - 500 Wii Points)
61. Ecco: The Tides of Time (Genesis - 800 Wii Points)
62. Air Zonk (TG16 - 600 Wii Points)
63. Paper Mario (N64 - 1,000 Wii Points)
64. Sonic the Hedgehog (Genesis - 800 Wii Points)
65. Super Star Soldier (TG16 - 600 Wii Points)
66. Sim City (SNES - 800 Wii Points)
67. Balloon Fight (NES - 500 Wii Points)
68. Dynamite Headdy (Genesis - 800 Wii Points)
69. Kirby's Dream Course (SNES - 800 Wii Points)
70. Devil's Crush (TG16 - 600 Wii Points)
71. Bomberman '93 (TG16 - 600 Wii Points)
72. Dr. Robotnik's Mean Bean Machine (Genesis - 800 Wii Points)
73. Shining Force (Genesis - 800 Wii Points)
74. Adventures of Lolo (NES - 500 Wii Points)
75. Galaga '90 (TG16 - 600 Wii Points)
76. Wave Race 64 (N64 - 1,000 Wii Points)
77. Super Metroid (SNES - 800 Wii Points)
78. Shinobi III: Return of the Ninja Master (Genesis - 800 Wii Points)
79. Neutopia (TG16 - 600 Wii Points)
80. Breath of Fire II (SNES - 800 Wii Points)
81. Ghouls 'n Ghosts (Genesis - 800 Wii Points)
82. Super C (NES - 500 Wii Points)
83. Adventure Island (NES - 500 Wii Points)
84. Bonk 3: Bonk's Big Adventure (TG16 - 600 Wii Points)
85. Landstalker (Genesis - 800 Wii Points)
86. Neutopia II (TG16 - 600 Wii Points)
87. Sonic the Hedgehog 3 (Genesis - 800 Wii Points)
88. NES Play Action Football (NES - 500 Wii Points)
89. World Class Baseball (TG16 - 600 Wii Points)
90. Yoshi's Story (N64 - 1,000 Wii Points)
91. Streets of Rage 3 (Genesis - 800 Wii Points)
92. Legend of Hero Tonma (TG16 - 600 Wii Points)
93. Kirby's Avalanche (SNES - 800 Wii Points)
94. Super Mario Bros.: The Lost Levels (NES - 600 Wii Points)
95. Sin & Punishment (N64 - 1,200 Wii Points)
96. Ninja Gaiden II: The Dark Sword of Chaos (NES - 500 Wii Points)
97. Gate of Thunder (TG16CD - 800 Wii Points)
98. Golden Axe III (Genesis - 800 Wii Points)

[Kytim89]

There is still Mischief Makers and DK64 for the N64 that have not been released.

[gbuell]

This is so pathetic. It's not like Wii U launches next month - we've got at least a year.

[broodwars]

This is so pathetic. It's not like Wii U launches next month - we've got at least a year.

I think Nintendo's made it clear that they don't care about the Wii anymore, now that Zelda has gone gold and Kirby's out in stores.  We don't have Wii Virtual Console games anymore because Nintendo's desperate to make the 3DS relevant so it's getting the sole VC slot every week.  Because in Nintendo's warped little world, you can't support two services on different platforms but with similar audiences at the same time.  That would just make too much g-damn sense.

And I don't find the argument that "well, they're just out of VC games for the Wii" valid, not when the SNES is still missing notable titles and the N64 is barely supported at all.  If Nintendo really cared about the service, they'd make the necessary deals with the respective companies to get those missing games on the service.  Instead, they'd rather not support it at all, which pretty much sums up Nintendo of America's approach to the Wii in general lately.

[Kytim89]

The achillie's heel of the Virtual Console was always licensing issues and we all knew that it was going to eventually run into that wall one day. The problem is that there are still a plethora of games that Nintend and third parties could release onto the system, but haven't due to either apathy or, again, licensing issues. I mentioned in the past that if some gaming company went back and bought the rights for Acclaim titles and such that the Virtual Console longevity could be exstended. However, until the Wii U launches and offers Gamecube, Dreamcast and Saturn titles then the Virual Console for Nintendo's home consoles is effectively deceased.
 
Now, if the Gamecube were to appear on Virtual Console then there might not be as many licensing issues because most of the games available are still farely young when compared to what has been available on the service.
 
Overall, I consider the Virtual Console to be one of the best things to ever happen to the gaming industry because it helped nealry three decades of games onto a single system. Perhaps it tried to do too much too fast? I would like to see the serive rise from the ashes like the proverbial phoenix and become much stronger, but until lcensisng issues can be relaxed then that will never happen.

[broodwars]

That's the thing, though: the Virtual Console is in my opinion the Wii's best feature.  It's near-flawless reproduction of classic games exactly as you remember them, but with the benefit of a more ergonomic controller in the Classic Controller Pro.  Nintendo did a fantastic job of supporting it until WiiWare arrived, and then that greatly diminished, and then it went on life support, and then the 3DS released and killed it off outright.

We've been in a huge Wii software drought this last year, and while Zelda will definitely do its part in stemming that, we still have probably another year before the Wii U releases.  Now is the perfect time to use the Virtual Console (and WiiWare, if there are any WiiWare developers left at this point) to fill in the gaps and leave Wii owners with something to play in the interim.  But I guess Nintendo's just decided that since they've done such a spectacularly poor job catering to core gamers, they own one of the competing HD consoles anyway so they don't need to be placated.  It's a huge missed opportunity, though, especially since Square-Enix still hasn't unloaded their entire SNES back catalog on the VC and their titles appeal directly to core gamers.  And Nintendo one of these days could get around to actually trying to emulate the Super FX games, as well as working out the legal issues of releasing Donkey Kong 64.

[Kytim89]

What games have not been released on Virtual Console, but could be released?

[broodwars]

What games have not been released on Virtual Console, but could be released?

Well, off the top of my head...

SNES:

Star Fox
Super Mario World 2: Yoshi's Island
Mega Man X2
Mega Man X3
Illusion of Gaia
Soul Blazer
Secret of Evermore
Terranigma
Lufia and the Fortress of Doom
Lufia 2: Rise of the Sinestrals
The Lost Vikings

And...of course...Earthbound, though for whatever reason (it's largely speculated music copyright legal issues) Nintendo just won't touch that one.

N64:

Donkey Kong 64 (note that there are rights issues with this game because of the Rare arcade game)
Castlevania: Legacy of Darkness (there's no sense having both Castlevania 64 games)
Hybrid Heaven
Star Wars: Rogue Squadron (we've gotten the Super Star Wars games, so why not?)
Star Wars Episode 1: Battle for Naboo (ditto)
Star Wars Episode 1: Racer (ditto)
Space Station Silicon Valley
Turok 2: Seeds of Evil (and the other 2 Turok games as well, but you might as well stick with what IMO was the only good Turok game)
Mystical Ninja 2: Starring Goemon
Gauntlet Legends
Body Harvest

Granted, there are some questionable games in there, but for the most part I don't think there are major multi-company licensing issues with these games.

[Kytim89]

Nintendo Entertainment System:
Mega Man V
Mega Man VI
Skate or Die! (For North Americans, already available on the European and Japanese Virtual Console!)
1942
1943: The Battle Of Midway
Adventure Island II
Dr. Mario
Bomberman
Bomberman II
Adventure Island 2
Adventure of Lolo 3
Arkanoid
A Boy & His Blob: Trouble in Blobononia
Bad News Baseball
Bionic Commando
Bubble Bobble Part 2
Contra
Contra Force
Destiny of an Emperor
Devil World (In North America, Europeans and Japan already have this game on the Virtual Console.)
Double Dragon II: The Revenge
Dragon Warrior
Dragon Warrior II
Dragon Warrior III
Duck Hunt
Genghis Khan
Nintendo World Cup
Pro Wrestling
Mario Is Missing!
Maniac Mansion
Metal Gear
Nobunaga's Ambition II
Pac-Mania
Popeye (Still has licensing issues in North America, however, the Popeye series is under public domain in the rest of the world.)
Prince of Persia
Romance of the Three Kingdom
Snake's Revenge
TMNT 2

TurboGrafx-16:
Ys. III: Wanderers From Ys
Bomberman

Sega Genesis:
TMNT: Tournament Fighters
Mega Man: The Wily Wars
ESWAT: City Under Seige (For North Americans, already on the European and Japanese Virtual Console)
Crackdown (Look above)
Strider
Earthworm Jim 2
Shanghai II: Dragon's Eye
Gynoug (In North America & Europe, already available in Japan.)
Atomic Runner (In North America & Europe, already available in Japan.)
Target Earth (In North America & Europe, already available in Japan.)
Warsong (In North America & Europe, already available in Japan.)
Castlevania: Bloodlines
Kid Chameleon
Out Run
Out Run 2019
OutRunners
Revenge of Shinobi
Rocket Knight Adventure
Sparkster
Splatterhouse 3
Vectorman 2
Virtua Racing

Super Nintendo Entertainment System:
Mega Man VII (My most wanted game to come on the Virtual Console)
Mega Man X2
Mega Man X3
Final Fight 2
Final Fight 3
Romance of the Three Kingdom II
Romance of the Three Kingdom III: Dragon of Destiny
Mario Is Missing!
Wario's Wood
Rival Turf!
Tetris Attack
Mario Super Picross (In North America, Europeans and Japanese already have this on the Virtual Console.)
Pilotwing
Actraiser 2
Breath of Fire
Mega Man Soccer
Captain Commando
Double Dragon IV: The Shadow Falls
Street Fighter Alpha II
Metal Combat: Falcon's Revenge
Nobunaga's Ambition: Lords of Darkness
Prince of Persia
Star Fox
Super Mario World 2: Yoshi's Island
Super Bomberman
Super Bomberman 2
Super Bonk
Super Mario All-Stars
Super Mario All-Stars + Super Mario World
U.N. Squadron
Yoshi's Cookie
Yoshi's Squadron
Ys II: Wanderers from Ys
Zombies Ate My Neighbors
Rocket Knight Adventure
TMNT: Turtles in Time
TMNT: Tournament Fighters

Nintendo 64:
Pilotwing 64
Mario Tennis
Bomberman Hero
Hey You! Pikachu! (Unless Nintendo uses Wii Speak on this game.)
Aerofighter
Beattles Adventure Racing
Bomberman 64 (1997 game)
Bomberman 64 (2001 game)
Bomberman 64: The Second Attack
Command & Conquer
Cruis'n World
Cruis'n Exotica
Dr. Mario 64
Castlevania 64
Castlevania 64: Legacy of Darkness
Mega Man 64
Earthworm Jim 3D
Clayfighter 63 1/3
Clayfighter 63 1/3 Sculptor's Cut
Excitebike 64
Mario Party
Mario Party 2
Mario Party 3
Quake II
Ridge Racer 64
Turok 1 and 2
(Rare games)

Sega Master System:
Phanasty Star (In North America and Europe, Japanese already have this game on the Virtual Console.)
Shinobi (In North America and Europe, already available in Japan.)
Alex Kidd in Shinobi World
Golden Axe Warrior
Ms. Pac-Man
Ninja Gaiden
Out Run 3-D
Space Harrier 3-D
Wonder Boy III: The Dragon's Trap

Neo Geo:
Fatal Fury Special Edition
World Heroes II
World Heroes Jet
World Heroes Perfect
Samurai Showdown III: Blades of Blood
Samurai Showdown IV: Amakusa's Revenge
Samurai Showdown V
Samurai Showdown V Special
The King of Fighter '95
The King of Fighter '96
The King of Fighter '97
The King of Fighter '98
The King of Figher '99: Millennium Battle
The King of Fighter 2000
The King of Fighter 2001
The King of Fighter 2002: Challenge to Ultimate Battle
The King of Fighter 2003
SNK Vs. Capcom: SVC Chaos
Art of Fighting III - The Path of the Warrior
Fatal Fury 3: Road to the Final Victory
Metal Slug 3
Metal Slug X
Metal Slug 4
Metal Slug 5
Neo Bomberman
Panic Bomber

[Kytim89]

Could Nintendo replace th music in Earthbound with chiptunes to avoid any lawsuits?

[broodwars]

Could Nintendo replace th music in Earthbound with chiptunes to avoid any lawsuits?

Nintendo could do any number of things with the music if the music was really the big issue.  Honestly, I don't think it really is considering there are other games with "legally questionable" songs that have been re-released on the VC (like Chrono Trigger and the Mega Man/Mega Man X games).  However, the speculation is that Nintendo won't change the music without the original director's consent, and they presumably don't have it.  I don't know how much stock I put into that, but that's the theory.

[Kytim89]

Megaman X2 was recently rated by the ESRB or something, so there might still be some hope afterall.

[Ceric]

I think everyone is giving to much credit.

I think a lot of the games we have a Dr.Who Scenario.  The original stuff is just lost.  They could get a Rom and probably do have one somewhere but thats different then having the original code.

[MegaByte]

Umm, most Virtual Console games are unmodified ROMs. There are only a few that have been modified in minor ways, like removing Kawasaki from Wave Race 64 (which could be done without needing the original source).

[Ceric]

Umm, most Virtual Console games are unmodified ROMs. There are only a few that have been modified in minor ways, like removing Kawasaki from Wave Race 64 (which could be done without needing the original source).

Probably be a real pain considering how they compressed the assets.

[MegaByte]

Well, Nintendo keeps the source code to their games, so it's not a concern for them. Heck, they even went in and programmed the missing level in NES Donkey Kong, which was only released as a limited edition European Wii pack-in.

[King Bowser Koopa]

Thanks guys, I'm actually writing a feature on games that still could be released on VC and you've just done a whole chunk of my work for me

[famicomplicated]

Maybe Nintendo should consider hiring a second person to work on the Virtual Console?


OK, in all seriousness though, this doesn't bode well for any improvements on the Wii U.
If they can't copy and paste a ROM from one folder to another (which is what they're doiing 95% of the time), we're never going to get updated VC games for the Wii U...


My crazy, never-gonna-happen ridiculous impossible-to-do stupid boneheaded requests for the Wii U service:


*Online second controller, i.e the other controller is being played by an online friend.
*Save states for all games.


I know these are stupid ideas and probably technically not even possible though.


In 1991.

[UncleBob]

Heck, they even went in and programmed the missing level in NES Donkey Kong,

Did they?

[MegaByte]

Did they?

That post has nothing substantiated. In fact, some programmers disassembed the thing to show how the extra level was added in, and the way it was done makes it unlikely that it was ever intended for a cartridge. Here is one of several sources... Dream and Friends even acknowledges they were wrong in a later post.

[broodwars]

Thanks guys, I'm actually writing a feature on games that still could be released on VC and you've just done a whole chunk of my work for me :

Always happy to help.   

[UncleBob]

Ah.  Surprised.  I never read (/saw) any follow-up once the system was actually released.

[Kytim89]

There is Resident Evil2 on the N64 that has not been released.

[NWR_insanolord]

There is Resident Evil2 on the N64 that has not been released.

This is a terrible idea for a lot of reasons, not the least of which being that it wouldn't fit within the file size limit.

[Mop it up]

I don't think the Turok Nintendo 64 games could be released because Acclaim no longer exists, and I doubt the current owner of the Turok licence has the rights to the old games.

*Online second controller, i.e the other controller is being played by an online friend.
*Save states for all games.

Both of these are done on the emulation side, so the actual ROMs don't need to be modified. So it would be easily possible for the Wii U to add these features to its own Virtual Console without making the games unusable on the Wii Virtual Console.

I'd be surprised if we didn't see save states, although the online feature probably won't happen due to the difficulty of getting it to run 100% smoothly, Nintendo's reluctance with online notwithstanding.