Background
The Wii U eShop will only be open for a limited time so it is worth looking at the games there while there is still time to buy them. In the past few months we looked at all the available eShop games, but we omitted the Virtual Console releases, until now! Nintendo introduced the Virtual Console (VC) with Wii as a way to sell games from previous systems a la carte. That same service continued with Wii U and 3DS before being replaced with a Netflix style service bundled with the Nintendo Switch's Online membership.
The Game Boy Advance Virtual Console
The Game Boy Advance (GBA) sold about 81.5 million units and had quite a few exclusive games from well known franchises. However there have not been many attempts to re-release those games. There was no GBA virtual console for Wii and with 3DS it was limited to the ten titles included with the Ambassador Program (Link to NWR article (https://www.nintendoworldreport.com/forums/index.php?topic=35189.msg688201#msg688201)). There are a few games that managed to get re-released on other systems, but by and large most seem locked on either the original hardware or the Wii U eShop. The Wii U eShop has 74 titles ranging in cost from $6.99 to $7.99 (USD) and we will deal with them in three parts, sorted alphabetically. I mean, what better way to increase views and comments on this fledgling series of posts than to stretch it out even more :D.
In this first third we see the following 24 titles with information in the following order
Game Title (Release year, developer/publisher, current cartridge cost*, @ indicates part of the 3DS Ambassador Program)
* Loose cartridge only, USD, source: https://www.pricecharting.com/ (https://www.pricecharting.com/)
- Advance Wars (2001, Intelligent Systems/Nintendo, $35)
- Advance Wars 2: Black Hole Rising (2003, Intelligent Systems/Nintendo, $25)
- Car Battler Joe (2002, Ancient/Natsume, $94)
- Castlevania: Aria of Sorrow (2003, Konami, $82)
- Castlevania: Circle of the Moon (2001, Konami, $18)
- Castlevania: Harmony of Dissonance (2002, Konami, $55)
- Contra Advance (2002, Konami, $28)
- DK: King of Swing (2005, Nintendo, $9)
- Drill Dozer (2006, Game Freak/Nintendo, $66)
- F-Zero: GP Legend (2004, Suzak/Nintendo, $17)
- F-Zero: Maximum Velocity (2001, Nintendo, $17, @)
- Final Fantasy Tactics Advance (2003, Square Enix, $17.5)
- Final Fight One (2001, Capcom, $21)
- Fire Emblem (2003, Intelligent Systems/Nintendo, $48)
- Fire Emblem: The Sacred Stones (2005, Intelligent Systems/Nintendo, $34, @)
- Game & Watch Gallery 4 (2002, Nintendo, $12)
- Golden Sun (2001, Camelot/Nintendo, $22)
- Golden Sun: The Lost Age (2003, Camelot/Nintendo, $23)
- Harvest Moon: Friends of Mineral Town (2003, Natsume, $21)
- Harvest Moon: More Friends of Mineral Town (2005, Natsume, $16)
- Kirby & The Amazing Mirror (2004, HAL Laboratory/Nintendo, $28, @)
- Kirby: Nightmare in Dream Land (2002, HAL Laboratory/Nintendo, $21)
- Klonoa: Empire of Dreams (2001, Bandai Namco, $27)
- Klonoa 2: Dream Champ Tournament (2005, Bandai Namco, $33)
The Highlights
There are three Ambassador games in this first third. The Nintendo developed F-Zero game, Fire Emblem (AKA Fire Emblem: The Blazing Blade), and the good GBA Kirby game.
(https://www.nintendoworldreport.com/media/37424/1/5.jpg)
As you can see, the cost of loose carts varies quite a bit but most are more than the $7 US cost of the eShop download. The most valuable title in this lot is Car Battler Joe, which goes for about $240 new!
(https://www.nintendoworldreport.com/media/41171/1/1.jpg)
It is also worth noting that Final Fantasy Tactics Advance is the only game from Square Enix on the GBA VC.
(https://www.nintendoworldreport.com/media/41855/1/7.jpg)
Comments
I welcome any corrections to the information I found when compiling the list. The price information here is for the US so let me know about differences in other regions. Not sure what to comment, consider questions like:
- Were you in the 3DS Ambassador program?
- Will Konami release another Castlevania collection including these GBA titles?
- Should Camelot make another Golden Sun game?
- Is there a lazier sequel title than Harvest Moon: More Friends of Mineral Town?
Next Round
Join me next week as we tackle the second third of the GBA VC in our exhaustive review of the Wii U Virtual Console.
Here are the Metacritic ratings and NWR Reviews for the games listed above. The Wii U VC review was used when available.
Game Title (Metacritic score, NWR review score/Link to review)
- Advance Wars (92, 9 from NWR (https://www.nintendoworldreport.com/reviewmini/37073))
- Advance Wars 2: Black Hole Rising (89, 9 from NWR (https://www.nintendoworldreport.com/review/4130))
- Car Battler Joe (77)
- Castlevania: Aria of Sorrow (91, 9 from NWR (https://www.nintendoworldreport.com/reviewmini/38902))
- Castlevania: Circle of the Moon (91, 8 from NWR (https://www.nintendoworldreport.com/reviewmini/38742))
- Castlevania: Harmony of Dissonance (87, 7 from NWR (https://www.nintendoworldreport.com/reviewmini/38803))
- Contra Advance (70)
- DK: King of Swing (70, 9.5 from NWR (https://www.nintendoworldreport.com/review/4355))
- Drill Dozer (81, 9 from NWR (https://www.nintendoworldreport.com/review/4493))
- F-Zero: GP Legend (77, 9 from NWR (http://))
- F-Zero: Maximum Velocity (86, 4.5 from NWR (https://www.nintendoworldreport.com/review/39352), 9 from NWR (https://www.nintendoworldreport.com/review/4270))
- Final Fantasy Tactics Advance (87, 9 from NWR (https://www.nintendoworldreport.com/review/41902))
- Final Fight One (82, 9 from NWR (https://www.nintendoworldreport.com/review/4117))
- Fire Emblem (88, 9.5 from NWR (https://www.nintendoworldreport.com/review/39195))
- Fire Emblem: The Sacred Stones (85, 8.5 from NWR (https://www.nintendoworldreport.com/review/4367))
- Game & Watch Gallery 4 (71, 8 from NWR (https://www.nintendoworldreport.com/review/3993))
- Golden Sun (91, 7.5 from NWR (https://www.nintendoworldreport.com/reviewmini/37189))
- Golden Sun: The Lost Age (86, 9 from NWR (https://www.nintendoworldreport.com/review/4119))
- Harvest Moon: Friends of Mineral Town (81, 8 from NWR (https://www.nintendoworldreport.com/review/40637))
- Harvest Moon: More Friends of Mineral Town (82)
- Kirby & The Amazing Mirror (80, 8 from NWR (https://www.nintendoworldreport.com/reviewmini/37140))
- Kirby: Nightmare in Dream Land (81, 9 from NWR (https://www.nintendoworldreport.com/reviewmini/38992))
- Klonoa: Empire of Dreams (9 from NWR (https://www.nintendoworldreport.com/review/3811))
- Klonoa 2: Dream Champ Tournament (78, 8 from NWR (https://www.nintendoworldreport.com/review/4338))
The Highlights
The average review scores on these games speak for themselves. Out of the 24 games, 10 of them scores 9 or higher with NWR and four have a Metacritic rating higher than 90! The two best reviewed games on NWR are DK: King of Swing (as recommended by Insanolord) and Fire Emblem (as recommended by Discord.RSS), both of which scored a 9.5.
(https://www.nintendoworldreport.com/media/39053/1/8.jpg)
The game with the best Metacritic score is Advance Wars with a 92, making it the #3 best game on GBA.
(https://www.nintendoworldreport.com/media/36955/1/8.jpg)
It is interesting to note the discrepancy between review scores on F-Zero: GP Legend. One reviewer thought it was worthy of a 9 while another felt it was a 4.5. Check those reviews out to unravel the mystery.
(https://www.nintendoworldreport.com/media/38626/1/8.jpg)