This one is less than likely, but hey—this is my wishlist. I can dream!
Game title: Pokémon Stadium 1 and 2
System: Nintendo 64
Developer: Game Freak
Okay. Get your grains of salt ready cause this one's a bit of a stretch. I'm going on a completely hypothetical tangent here, so bear with me.
Pokémon Stadium was a series of battle games for up to four players, in which players could see their captured Poké-critters duke it out in 3D for the first time. The game made use of the exclusive N64 Transfer Pak, a device which plugged into the controller and fitted an original Game Boy cartridge, allowing the N64 games to read your handheld Pokémon games. While it wasn't essential, as there were "rental" packs of Pokémon to use, most of the fun of the game came from using the monsters you'd caught and raised yourself. The two games were fairly similar in style, with the first focusing on the first generation of Red and Blue and the second being compatible with Gold and Silver. Besides the main battle arenas where you could fight to become the champion, there were additional modes such as a battle school that taught advanced tactics, emulators that allowed you to play your plugged-in GB cart on the big screen, a Gym Leader Castle allowing you to challenge beefed-up versions of the Game Boy Gym Leaders, and even a series of Mario Party-esque minigames. These games kicked ass.
Now. Wii has released Nintendo 64 games on Virtual Console before, right?
Also, 3DS has released Game Boy Games on Virtual Console, right?
Not to mention, the Wii is capable of communicating and sending data to/from the DS, right? It was done in other games such as Pokémon Battle Revolution... So, IN THEORY, it should be possible for Nintendo to first release some of the original Game Boy Pokémon games to 3DS Virtual Console, and have the save files communicate with save files from a later-released Pokémon Stadium on Wii. The only problem here is that the games would have to be heavily altered, and the amount of programming to get something like that to work correctly is unfathomable.
There are also several major problems with this series of nonsensical conclusions. Firstly, with the GBA and DS remakes of the original games, the Game Boy versions have been more or less retconned into oblivion. The vastly superior remakes are "the way the games should have been" and included ways to meet Pokémon from other regions. Any younger gamers who never played the originals will wonder why there's no inclusion of, say, Torchic or Oshawott.
Secondly, several features of the games would have to be blocked off, such as the Game Boy emulator sections. It's one thing to send a save file across to the Wii to find Pokémon data, but to constantly stream information across when you decide to play Pokémon Red on the big screen might be a little difficult, especially when the 3DS battery dies while the Wii is still trying to read it.
Sorry Charmander, didn't mean to break your brain.So what's the solution? I would still love the opportunity to play these games again, even if they are crippled versions that did not allow the Game Boy connectivity. It's unlikely, but Nintendo could always release a Pokémon Stadium "special edition" on Virtual Console, with a patch to act as if there is a Game Boy cart always plugged in—allowing you to play Red, Blue, Yellow or whatever games as well. Several games in one, two birds with one stone! Either that, or a new Pokémon Stadium sequel on Wii U, which contains all the old mini-games and features of the first two games alongside the new content. Pokémon Battle Revolution was a nice nod to the old games, but it just didn't have enough going for it.
So there you have it. That's my list. There are plenty more games I'd love to see make an appearance, such as Bomberman 64, Turtles in Time, Bubsy the Bobcat and Chameleon Twist. Sadly there are numerous licensing issues involved with bringing games to Virtual Console, and some of the old developers don't even exist anymore. I went with games that at least should have a reasonable chance of being put onto Wii, and I'll still be keeping my fingers crossed right up until the day Nintendo announces that the Virtual Console service will end. Please add your own wishlists in the comments below, I'd love to see what other games could and should still grace the Wii in its swan song period.
