Topic: What's the one biggest Virtual Console game you're upset isn't hitting day one?

[NWR_insanolord]

We got the launch lineup for the Wii U Virtual Console yesterday, and it was, to put it mildly, disappointing. Eight games, all but one of them NES titles, and made up in large part by the games we've already been playing from Nintendo's 30 for 30 promotion.


You're upset by this. We all are. But which game's absence is the biggest deal for you? Or maybe it's not a game, and you're upset at the lack of an announcement for GameCube games, or that N64 games aren't coming until later?

[azeke]

Starfox 2.

Just kidding. I'm not that much upset at Wii U VC.

I just want Wii mode ghetto to be gone though.

[Shaymin]

F-Zero was an NES game? HOLY ****!!

I'm disappointed at no Link to the Past, because a) it would sell like gangbusters on the heels of the Link to the Past 2 announcement, and b) it'd be nice to have a "portable" version that doesn't have Link screaming like an idiot for 10-15 hours.

[Adrock]

I'm really not upset by this. I've yet to purchase a single Virtual Console game and I own pretty much every game I conceivably want from the service. I stupidly traded Paper Mario way back when and I kind of want to play it again, but I'm not dying to. I can probably wait years for it to reappear as a Club Nintendo reward and by then, it'll have Wii U support.

If I absolutely had to pick, it'd be Mother 3 only because I have no legal means to play it in English.

[ShyGuy]

Eternal Darkness. Shenmue.

[Ian Sane]

After all the big hype about Earthbound including it to kick off the service would have been ideal.

I think the problem is largely that Nintendo is like some band releasing a new greatest hits every so many years and it always has the same major omissions and questionable inclusions.  No one on Earth is waiting for Balloon Fight or Ice Climber on the Wii U.  Nintendo always goes to this old "black box" NES games that us kids thought were old and lame in 1988!  That isn't the NES that people are nostalgic for.  Most of those games came out in Japan before SMB and their North American releases came across as filler.  They looked very out-of-place in a post-SMB world and in North America that was all we had.  They fit the early Famicom years where getting good home versions of classic arcade games like Donkey Kong and Pac-Man would have been a selling point.  But for us, those sort of "get the high score" games are associated with the pre-crash era.  When we think of the NES we think of Mario, Castlevania, Mega Man, Double Dragon, Ninja Gaiden.  Sidescrolling games with levels and bosses and a clear beginning and end.

As a result the whole thing comes across as pushing the weaker titles first so that they are not overshadowed by the better ones.  It feels like Nintendo is presenting a phony history to give some of their lesser titles more importance.

And why the hell are we even getting the NES version of DK Jr. anyway?  Every other company now provides arcade perfect versions of their classic arcade titles, except Nintendo.  We should be getting the arcade versions of DK, DK Jr. and Mario Bros.  While we're talking arcade games, wouldn't it be cool if Nintendo let us get the Vs. versions of NES games?  The Vs. arcade releases had slight differences from the NES versions and hardcore videogame historians would love to get a legal copy of those.  Capcom will put every slight variation of SFII on the VC so I don't see how that would be any different.  Hey, it might get some people to double-dip and Nintendo LOVES that.

[TJ Spyke]

Actually, those games came out before SMB in North America too. Despite popular misconception, SMB was NOT a launch game in North Amerca (it actually came a few months after launch), so games like Ice Climber came out before SMB. Most people didn't notice thought since the NES launched just in the New York City area. By the time the NES was released nationwide (in August 1986), SMB was out and so most people thought it was a launch game.

[Ceric]

See Everything on the Wii VC.

I want that out of the way so I can get weird games and like.  Though I wouldn't mind the Cruis'n Series

[broodwars]

I never expected it because it would have been way too awesome for Nintendo of America to EVER do, but I would have wanted Earthbound there Day 1. It would have gotten the Wii U VC great publicity and goodwill.

However, like I said, I never expected it.  A more realistic game I would have WANTED to be on the Wii U VC Day 1 would have been Chrono Trigger. What better way to kick off the Wii U VC than with the best title on the Wii VC?  :

[TJ Spyke]

Not to mention Iwata flat-out said EB would come later this year, so that meant no chance of it launching Day 1.

Since I dont have a Wii U yet, im not too bothered. However, I hope they soon add GameCube games (espeically Luigi's Mansion)

[Kytim89]

It would have been nice to have Yoshi's Island 2, Rocket Knight, Star Fox SNES, Contra Hard Corps, and Castlevania Bloodlines, just to name a few.

[TJ Spyke]

Yoshi's Island 2

Um, what game are your referring to? I assume Super Mario World 2: Yoshi's Island there are only two Yoshi's Island games and the other is Yoshi's Island DS.

[Mop it up]

Blaster Master 2.

Not that it ever would have launched with the service, but, the longer it takes for them to re-release existing VC games, the longer it'll take for new stuff to come out. So I guess what I wanted wasn't a game, but rather a larger launch list.

[ShyGuy]

We'll probably never get Wind Waker...

[UncleBob]

Actually, those games came out before SMB in North America too. Despite popular misconception, SMB was NOT a launch game in North Amerca (it actually came a few months after launch)

Source?

Last thing I knew, We Can't Prove When Super Mario Bros. Came Out.

Best guess seems to have it as a launch title or out within a month.

[TJ Spyke]

Almost every piece of evidence out there says that SMB was NOT out when the NES launched in New York City in October 1985, but it arrived sometime in the next few months (maybe even November or December of that year.

[ShyGuy]

I first played Super Mario Bros at the arcade. It was HUGE back in the day.

[BranDonk Kong]

Yoshi's Island 2

Um, what game are your referring to? I assume Super Mario World 2: Yoshi's Island there are only two Yoshi's Island games and the other is Yoshi's Island DS.

Could be referring to Yoshi's Story (N64).

[TJ Spyke]

Maybe, though it's not part of the Yoshi's Island series (Iwata even directly said that YI DS was the 2nd game and that the upcoming 3DS game will be the 3rd).

[Kytim89]

Sorry, I meant Yoshi's Island for the SNES.

[UncleBob]

Almost every piece of evidence out there says that SMB was NOT out when the NES launched in New York City in October 1985, but it arrived sometime in the next few months (maybe even November or December of that year.

Did you read the linked article?  There are SEVERAL sources that list it with the October 1985 date.

[Spak-Spang]

I think Nintendo would have been smart to add one VC game never released on the Wii. 

So I could see: 

Star Fox SNES
FX Racer (or whatever it was called)
Earthbound
or pretty much any game Nintendo had not released.

Also I think Nintendo should of had some 3rd party offerings ready.

[BranDonk Kong]

Yo! Noid

[lolmonade]

At this point, I'm starting to feel like it would just be better to leave the virtual console behind on the Wii mode, and just have nintendo provide digital releases of GameCube and Wii games on the e-shop.

If the Wii U virtual console is going to end up painfully slow to get updated from the back catalog, then we may never get the whole Wii Virtual Console library moved over, much less get any previously unreleased games.

The whole thing is starting to make me a little cynical about how robust Nintendo's digital release strategy will actually be.

[Pixelated Pixies]

Clay Fighter, Super James Pond and Mario is Missing.