With Nintendo's Virtual Console service expanding to 3DS, maybe it's time to address some problems with the original version on Wii.
http://www.nintendoworldreport.com/editorial/24851
Despite a few notable releases in 2010 (Ogre Battle 64, Castlevania: Rondo of Blood, and Final Fantasy II/IV), Nintendo's Virtual Console service is in its worst dry spell since the Wii launch. It's been a long, slow decline since the days of Nintendo releasing three classic games every Monday, like clockwork. With nine hardware platforms currently supported in North America, it's foolish to assume that Nintendo and third-parties are simply running out of games. There are, in fact, many popular games that fans are still waiting to see and purchase on Virtual Console.
Yes, Wii is probably nearing the end of its active lifespan, but these VC games are catalog releases that could continue to sell for years. Improving things on Wii also sets up a better environment for the Wii successor. Here are five ways that Nintendo could boost sales and encourage continued updates to the service:
When the Wii launched in November 2006, Virtual Console was Nintendo's first and only exploration into digital distribution. Since then, VC releases have been overshadowed and vastly outnumbered by WiiWare and DSiWare games. When a classic game is included in the weekly announcement, it's hard to find amidst a dozen or so cheap, original games for the other services. Nintendo could separate Virtual Console and launch new games for it later in the week, giving fans and the press a better chance to see the updates.
The dearth of N64 games is an old joke that far precedes Virtual Console, but it's just as on-point today. There are only 20 titles available for download in North America, and all were originally published by Nintendo (with the half-exception of Ogre Battle 64, which was a Nintendo title in Japan). Despite conventional wisdom, there are some great third-party N64 games, including Beetle Adventure Racing, Turok 2, Bomberman 64, and more. What these games have in common is a reliance, like most third-party N64 games, on the Controller Pak. That's right, the tiny memory card used for save files is preventing dozens of potential releases, because the Virtual Console emulator doesn't support the device. Fan-written emulators have supported this feature for years, and Nintendo needs to catch up.
Nintendo 3DS will soon feature an “eShop” with built-in game demos, videos, and cash-based purchases that make Nintendo Points unnecessary. With over 300 Virtual Console titles across a dozen platforms, the Wii Shop Channel is long overdue for a similar reorganization, which would also reinforce the eShop brand across multiple systems. Currently, it's not too hard to find a specific title thanks to the basic search filters, but the shop is very poor at helping curious visitors discover classic games. The "Popular Games" button just shows the best-sellers, which are always Mario and Zelda games that we all know and probably already own multiple times. How are customers supposed to find more obscure titles from large libraries like Super NES, TurboGrafx-16, and Genesis? One of the best things about Virtual Console is that we can play great, lesser-known games that we missed back in the 80s and 90s. Currently, the Wii Shop Channel can't even show videos of these games, and you can forget about demos. Nintendo doesn't even showcase specific titles from the archive. Any, or preferably all, of these features would help gamers find and purchase more games from a wider array of systems and publishers. It might also encourage publishers to release more of their games on the service, with increased confidence that consumers will find them.
In the early days of Virtual Console, conventional wisdom was that Square Enix would avoid releasing its most popular titles in favor of more profitable remakes on Nintendo DS, a strategy evidenced by $40 portable versions of Final Fantasy IV, Chrono Trigger, and Dragon Quest 4 and 5. Surprisingly, the famed publisher began to release its Final Fantasy games on Virtual Console in 2009 – at least the ones that were originally localized for Western audiences on NES and Super Nintendo. Still, the company has a trove of great, lesser-known games, especially from the 16-bit era, that have never been re-released and will likely never get the remake treatment. Gamers are missing out on interesting gems like Soul Blazer, Secret of Evermore, Illusion of Gaia, Paladin's Quest, Terranigma, Brain Lord, and many more. Any of these RPGs would be a great value for gamers at just $8, and it's not like Square Enix is doing anything else with the IPs.
There are plenty of other ways to revitalize interest and releases for Virtual Console, but the ones detailed here would have a big impact and really get people's attention. With Nintendo developing a Virtual Console (or is that Virtual Handheld?) service for 3DS, and the possibility of our VC purchases transferring to the Wii successor, it's the perfect time to patch up the existing service and bring some momentum to these new hardware launches. Virtual Console already has a lot to offer, but it has barely scratched the surface of Nintendo's pledge to make Wii a console that is backwards-compatible with the whole history of gaming.
Classic arcade games first hit the service in March 2009, but the Virtual Console Arcade selection has been sparsely updated since then. Some of the arcade titles are redundant with cheaper (and sometimes superior) home versions already available on VC.
QuoteClassic arcade games first hit the service in March 2009, but the Virtual Console Arcade selection has been sparsely updated since then. Some of the arcade titles are redundant with cheaper (and sometimes superior) home versions already available on VC.
And that's not even mentioning the home versions that are getting taken off VC in favour of their arcade counterparts. Not that I'm mentioning any names or anything *coughghostsandgoblinscough*
Another reason why Nintendo might have slowed Virtual Console down is hardware limitations. Some of the games available for download for the consoles on VC are just too big for the Wii's internal memory. So, this presents an obvious issue that has plauged the Wii since day one: Storage. The Wii needs a hard drive of some kind other than flash memory to storethese games. My memory is fuzzy, but I remember reading about a Neo Geo game released in the late 1990s being about 700 MB. If we get a game like that, we will need a hard drive to support it.
Another reason why Nintendo might have slowed Virtual Console down is hardware limitations. Some of the games available for download for the consoles on VC are just too big for the Wii's internal memory. So, this presents an obvious issue that has plauged the Wii since day one: Storage. The Wii needs a hard drive of some kind other than flash memory to storethese games. My memory is fuzzy, but I remember reading about a Neo Geo game released in the late 1990s being about 700 MB. If we get a game like that, we will need a hard drive to support it.
The largest Neo Geo game was 90MB, you may have gotten Megabytes mixed up with Megabits (there were Neo Geo games that were 700 megabits). I couldn't find the largest Neo Geo CD game, but a CD-ROM can only hold up to 600MB.
I don't think there are any games on VC systems that couldn't fit on the Wii's internal memory.
Must be the Neo Geo CD version (the game was on many different systems), they could probably get the regular Neo Geo version.
I suspect part of the problem is that I don't think Nintendo really associates VC and WiiWare as different. In their mind it's all downloadable content so as long as new content for their online store is released every week, it does not matter so much exactly what the downloadable content is. They were much more aggressive with VC support prior to WiiWare debuting.
Nintendo has never been particularly good at getting this demographics stuff. Their release schedule often is spaced out in such a way that it really only works well for someone who buys everything they offer. They'll put a re-release in the middle of gap, as if that's sufficient to fill the space even though some people who already own the original likely don't want to buy it again. Remember the whole hub-bub about Wii Music? The backlash was because Nintendo slotted this into the big Christmas release but it was not a title core gamers were interested in so for that audience it was like Nintendo had nothing in that timeframe at all.
Nintendo does not get that stuff. They don't get that a game for kids might not interest adults or a game for casuals might not interest more experienced gamers or that a re-release might not interest someone who already has the original version of the game. They just see it all as content and figure if content is released in the gap, then that gap is filled. They're all about games for "everyone". They never realized that that means having many games that appeal to different demographics. They think that means EVERY game is for EVERYONE which is why they always had a problem with that "kiddy image" thing because they figured 'M' rated games were excluding familes and children. But adults and teens COULD like a colourful family-friendy game so they went with that. They struggle with casuals and non-gamers now. Got to throw in waggle and the Super Guide and make sure that casuals can be included with every game as well.
They don't get that WiiWare and the VC may attract different audiences. They don't get that someone may care about one and not give a **** about the other, just like how they never got kid-friendly vs. "mature" audiences and struggle with casuals vs. core today. They, quite logically, probably assume that WiiWare, being new content, is of more importance. They've always used re-releases to fill gaps. They don't get the concept of retro games complementing new releases. So they're probably "saving" future VC releases for a potential WiiWare release gap. As for third party VC releases, when has Nintendo given two shits about third party support? They're cool with getting nothing but shovelware on the Wii but care about Square not releasing old Final Fantasy games? The VC exists for one primary reason: for NINTENDO to sell their old titles. Third parties are welcome to be involved as well but Nintendo only truly cares about the ability to sell their own titles with the service. Everything else is just a bonus.
I think how the VC is being treated right now is quite reflective of Nintendo's typical policies and behaviour. Just like pretty much every other problem they have the key is not in solving the one problem but specifically re-assessing the company's attitude and policies outright. Nintendo has to change, not just the VC.
Ian, where do you see the VC service in one year? How about two? What I see is that unless releases pick up then it might flatline before the release of the next home console. Perhaps I am being too pessimistic, but I can not shake this feeling as though it might be finished, or atleast until the Wii 2 arrives on the scenes.
QuoteIan, where do you see the VC service in one year? How about two? What I see is that unless releases pick up then it might flatline before the release of the next home console. Perhaps I am being too pessimistic, but I can not shake this feeling as though it might be finished, or atleast until the Wii 2 arrives on the scenes.
Well they've got a handheld VC for the 3DS so I think the service will continue and will be available on the Wii 2. But Nintendo will use it sparingly, to make up for WiiWare droughts or to tie in with recently released new games (like with they offered SSB when Brawl was released).
