What a horrible start to a new year for the VC...

[War Lord]

Base Ball and Urban Champion.

They keep releasing sub-par titles more ofen than good.
They make more money, the better games they release.

Japan has DKC, Mario World, and Zelda II among other games either out or coming out very soon. Why are we left waiting?

[Orion]

Got me. I can understand the whole saving the best VC games for when there is a release drought on the Wii, but at the moment, we seem to be in a bit of one of those droughts.

I fear we wont see as many titles a week as we did before though, I remember hearing that after the new year, Nintendo was only going to release 10 games a month. And since Nintendo has already released two games it published, I'd say it's a safe bet that next weeks the games will be from Sega and Hudson.

[Solair Wright]

Why did they release "Base Ball" on the Virtual Console? Everyone knows that RBI Baseball is better than "Base Ball." Problem is, it has a player's license, meaning that you may never see it on VC. IF it's released, it will have some bugs, like Rich Gedman (Bo) and George Brett (AM) batting Right-handed. I hope that when I get the Wii later this month or in February (I'm saving my money), it has decent games avaliable.

[Grasshopper]

Well, once they get their generic penny arcade type games out of the way, they'll eventually make their way to the good stuff. Yo Noid!, Castelian, Adventures of Tom Saywer. Woo!

[Warlock]

The thing I don't get is that Nintendo has a huge-ass library of NES titles. I'm not even talking about big names like Mario, Zelda, etc. So why in god's name are they releasing their horrible 1st generation sports games when the friggin' system comes packaged with Wii Sports? I mean, if this was like, Tempo Super Bowl or some popular NES sports game, I could see that. But these are the shit games from before Nintendo could do anything really meaningful with the system (other than Super Mario - I still don't quite understand how that could be a launch title, at least here, and yet there are all these crappy-quality games around the same time that aren't even arcade ports like DK was.. it's like Nintendo had one good development team which did SMB, Zelda, etc while the crap team did all these ugly stupid games)

[Mak-X]

http://nindb.classicgaming.gamespy.com/nes/index.shtml

The Famicom was already 2 years old when the NES came out here in 1985. SMB came out in Japan and the US in 1985 so it was really a 2nd or 3rd generation game. Those older games should be $2-3 :P

1up.com has been running a weekly feature on VC and reviewing what's worth buying and what's not.
http://www.1up.com/do/newsStory?cId=3156110

Nintendo still needs to release arcade perfect versions of Donkey Kong and Donkey Kong Jr, though I found the NES versions easier to play.

[Grasshopper]

Thats the one thing I was fearing from the start about the VC. All those in its library of games, these things are the games they choose to put up. Games that were rare or non popular game will never get put up.

I want to play Maniac Mansion, Uniracers, or Mohawk and Headphone Jack. What about Lost Vikings, Equinox, or Shadowrun. How are they going to get games from developers or publishing houses that don't exist anymore. (And no I'm not referring to the above games, any game in general)

[MottZilla]

Quite simply they can't. Many games great games for NES, SNES, Genesis, and Tg16 will never hit VC because the publisher is not interested or cannot be reached. I think it seems fairly obvious that VC will never be the shining jewel people wanted. But eventually it'll be pretty decent.

[Warlock]

Actually it depends. In some cases, there are other companies that bought the licence or company, so that company should be able to ok inclusion.

P.S. - Maniac Mansion is Lucasarts ;) Maybe we'll see it once we start seeing Star Wars Wii games from them :D I still own that too, great game.

Edit: I figured it out. The reason Nintendo is releasing their shit sports titles is because they want to make all of what little money they can off them while the VC is lacking games. So with "Soccer" being the only Soccer game there, they figure a few suckers will get it and they'll at least cash in a little that way. If say, they had these titles at the same time as Super Mario Bros, Link to the Past, Super Metroid, etc etc, who in the world is going to actually buy them over these great games?

So yeah, release the shit games now while there is no selection and maximize revenues :P You are so evil Nintendo :P

And yeah, I figured that might be the case with SMB - I didn't really check that closely. I have also been following the 1up feature - it's really good. They were the only reason I downloaded Military Madness and that game was extremely good (it's basically exactly like Advance Wars).

[MottZilla]

They were the only reason I downloaded Military Madness and that game was extremely good (it's basically exactly like Advance Wars).

The sad thing is japanese got a update/sequel to Military Madness on the PC-Engine CDROM system called Neo Nectaris (the original was called Nectaris). It was certainly superior. Sadly we'll likely never see it or any other PCE CD games on VC because of size constraints.

[Warlock]

The sad thing is japanese got a update/sequel to Military Madness on the PC-Engine CDROM system called Neo Nectaris (the original was called Nectaris). It was certainly superior. Sadly we'll likely never see it or any other PCE CD games on VC because of size constraints.

How big was it? o_O I mean, VC can do N64 titles.. unless it was several hundred MBs I don't see a huge problem there..

Edit: About Uniracers, I don't know how reliable this is (wiki sucks, yada yada) but it's listed as a future release here:
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/List_of_Virtual_Console_titles_%28North_America%29

Also, personally I want to see some SNK support. They've already done Metal Slug Anthology for Wii, so it's not like they are not developing for or don't care about that console. I actually miss Ikari Warriors :P

[MottZilla]

I did say PCE CD-ROM system, that means games would be CDROM size. ;p In otherwords like 300MB atleast. Though if you let the music be compressed badly, you might get maybe 128mb. N64 titles are at most 64MB, but more commonly 32MB.

[Warlock]

I did say PCE CD-ROM system, that means games would be CDROM size. ;p In otherwords like 300MB atleast. Though if you let the music be compressed badly, you might get maybe 128mb. N64 titles are at most 64MB, but more commonly 32MB.

They *could* do that, the only issue would be space. Nintendo needs to patch the damn system to allow VC games to be stored on SD cards (and this makes no sense to me, because you *can* transfer them to there, you just can't play them off there.. so there is no copy protection issue or anything)

[DarkFlameWolf]

I'm patiently awaiting Mario World 2: Yoshi's Island, Chrono Trigger, Earthbound, Secret of Mana, Jet Force Gemini, Paper Mario, and many other classics.

[Warlock]

I'm patiently awaiting Mario World 2: Yoshi's Island, Chrono Trigger, Earthbound, Secret of Mana, Jet Force Gemini, Paper Mario, and many other classics.

JFG = Rare.. so no...

[DarkFlameWolf]

really? Well DKC is also rare too, explain that. :P

[Warlock]

really? Well DKC is also rare too, explain that. :P

Donkey Kong = Nintendo franchise. Nintendo owns all rights to DKC. Rare owns all rights to Banjo, JFG, Conker, Perfect Dark, etc.

[MottZilla]

Warlock's correct. And some other games made by RARE also will nor likely appear on VC ever, including Killer Insinct, Snake Rattle n' Roll, and Battletoads. There are undoubtably more I can't think of. Ofcourse there's the obvious ones such as Goldeneye for N64 and Perfect Dark.

[DarkFlameWolf]

that's really sad, did Rare totally shun Nintendo?

[Warlock]

Warlock's correct. And some other games made by RARE also will nor likely appear on VC ever, including Killer Insinct, Snake Rattle n' Roll, and Battletoads. There are undoubtably more I can't think of. Ofcourse there's the obvious ones such as Goldeneye for N64 and Perfect Dark.

Right, I think moreso than them working for Microsoft as the reason (as they *are* still making GBA titles and stuff) it's going to be because Xbox360 has Live Arcade which will probably have those games and Microsoft's going to want those exclusive.

Supposively Nintendo is trying like hell to get Goldeneye, but who knows if they will succeed. I'm sure they could possibly buy-out Rare/Microsoft on it, but the big problem is actually MGM which is real stupid about the Bond franchise like that.


Also, regarding DKC, I'm not positive on this but I seem to recall hearing that all original Rare characters (i.e. Diddy Kong, Cranky Kong, etc) are still owned by Rare, at least in the sense that Nintendo can not do anything with them (i.e. make new games with them). But I'm not positive on that. I *do* know there is a new version of Diddy Kong Racing coming, which I can't recall if that's actually by Rare or not. I could be wrong on this one, I honestly don't remember.

Edit: Yes, Rare is making it:
http://ds.ign.com/articles/708/708136p1.html

[MottZilla]

Rare isn't shunning Nintendo, they were bought by Microsoft and thus they decide what Rare does. Now actually it is possible we will see those games on Virtual Console if they can work out a deal. It is possible, just not that likely really. But M$ seems to always be pretty friendly with Nintendo. I think they have a respect for them and certainly for their big name Intellectual Properties.

[Warlock]

Rare isn't shunning Nintendo, they were bought by Microsoft and thus they decide what Rare does. Now actually it is possible we will see those games on Virtual Console if they can work out a deal. It is possible, just not that likely really. But M$ seems to always be pretty friendly with Nintendo. I think they have a respect for them and certainly for their big name Intellectual Properties.

Right.. but like I said, I think Microsoft will try to prevent that as they'd surely want all these games for Live Arcade.

But either way, Nintendo would have to pay them some extra fee I'm sure. The only game I can really see Nintendo biting on is Goldeneye (and DKC but that's a moot point since Nintendo already owns it). *Maybe* they'd try to get Perfect Dark, but that's a bit iffy. I don't think Nintendo would bother with the rest unless Rare/MS decided out of the kindness of their hearts to give them over freely. Which again, with Live Arcade I really don't see happening. Microsoft has been friendly with Nintendo mainly out of mutual interest (i.e. drive Sony out of the market, and the fact that Wii does not directly compete with them this time around). But Live Arcade is essentially competing w/ Virtual Console, so there may be issues there. And of course, Nintendo, being the dorks they are, would not endorse MS's "Buy a 360 AND a Wii" statement and said "No, buy a Wii and a DS" instead -_-

[Mak-X]

Nintendo should own all the rights to characters and series that they own, like Donkey Kong and Starfox. Nintendo should have the rights to Diddy and Cranky Kong for example, that's why they still can use them in Donkey Konga 1-3, Donkey Kong Jungle Beat, DK King of Swing etc

Rare would have rights to their original properties like Killer Instinct, Perfect Dark, Blast Corps, Jet Force Gemini, etc

Nintendo DS and GBA don't directly compete with Xbox or Xbox 360, I think that's why we've seen games from Rare on those portables.

[Warlock]

Nintendo should own all the rights to characters and series that they own, like Donkey Kong and Starfox. Nintendo should have the rights to Diddy and Cranky Kong for example, that's why they still can use them in Donkey Konga 1-3, Donkey Kong Jungle Beat, DK King of Swing etc

Rare would have rights to their original properties like Killer Instinct, Perfect Dark, Blast Corps, Jet Force Gemini, etc

Nintendo DS and GBA don't directly compete with Xbox or Xbox 360, I think that's why we've seen games from Rare on those portables.

Ahh see I've never played those games. I just seem to recall hearing Rare got to keep Diddy, etc back when they split up. But that's why I said I wasn't sure about that one. Obviously it's wrong :P

Actually though, there are some monkey enemies in Mario vs. Donkey Kong 2 that look like little toy versions of Diddy. They don't look *exactly* like him, but more like one of those cymbal monkeys with a red hat on :P

[Mak-X]

That was just what I remember hearing a long while back when Rare was bought anyways.

The new Diddy Kong Racing DS is swapping out Conker (who changed a lot!) and Banjo (who's got a new game coming for Xbox360) for Tiny Kong and Dixie Kong, so there you have characters from Rare owned games appearing on Microsoft's consoles being taken out of a game released on a Nintendo platform.

Check this list on NCL's website that seems to show 3rd parties on board for Virtual console. We probably wouldn't get Batman because of liscensing, but does that mean we'll be seeing something like Blaster Master from Sunsoft?
http://www.nintendo.co.jp/wii/features/virtual_console.html

Donkey Kong Country is out in Japan as War Lord mentioned
http://www.nintendo.co.jp/wii/vc/vc_sdk/index.html

[Warlock]

OMG Sunsoft! I have been wanting to see Blaster Master. I used to love that game (though I only got to play it at a friend's house). And heh, I used to own that Batman game. I sold it at a garage sale a long time ago. Hard as hell (I was 8 :P), but actually pretty fun.

Edit: Bah, why isn't SNK on that list? They are doing Metal Slug Anthology afterall. I wanted to play some Ikari Warriors :( :(

[MottZilla]

Honestly Virtual Console doesn't really compete with Xbox Live Arcade. The Live arcade actually features online play and NEW games. Not just emulated old titles. In otherwords, XBLA is better. ;p I'd rather pay 10$ for Street Fighter 2 HyperFighting on XBLA than 8$ for the damn SNES version on Wii that has no online capability.

[Warlock]

Honestly Virtual Console doesn't really compete with Xbox Live Arcade. The Live arcade actually features online play and NEW games. Not just emulated old titles. In otherwords, XBLA is better. ;p I'd rather pay 10$ for Street Fighter 2 HyperFighting on XBLA than 8$ for the damn SNES version on Wii that has no online capability.

Virtual Console is going to feature new games. They just havn't released any of them yet.

[Matteo]

I'm sorry, but I have to disagree about the XBLA. The XBLA has been out for a year and theres still only a handful of games that are to my liking. Out of those, there are only three that actually keep my interest for more than one day after I downloaded them: Doom, Lumines Live, and Small Arms. Doom is an old game, Lumines is a remake/poor port of a PSP game and Small Arms is a complete knockoff of SSB. How are these games original? Every other game I have played has either been a bad remake of a good classic game (SF2), a crappy new game based on an old concept, (Novadrome, Assault Heroes, Marble Blast, etc, etc, etc), or a terrible classic game ( arcade Contra, New-Rally X... and so on).

Another reason is that the 360 Controllers have absolutely awful control pads, an absolute no-no for the tight control required for many of these games. I am very into the idea of XBLA, but the continued lackluster releases over the course of an entire year plus has gotten me jaded. The VC has been out a month plus and I already play more games of that then on the XBLA. I'm not trying to bash the 360 because its a great system and I am in full favor of independent companies getting a chance to develop and release games to the public, but I feel like the potential of the XBLA is very much untapped. And New Rally-X is just garbage, complete garbage...

[Matteo]

(Sorry for the double post) On another note, speaking of Rare, two of Rare's founders just split from Microsoft, which could bode well for Nintendo in the future, we'll see.

Here's the link:
http://www.infendo.com/2007/01/rare-departure.html

[MottZilla]

I never said the games were original. No games are completely "original" anyway. But I think that XBLA offers something new (though not nessisarily better) compared to VC which is just emulation of games I already have played and can play anytime on my modded Xbox 1 with controller adapters which makes it just as good and even better because of superior emulation.

[Warlock]

Well like I said, they will have original content - it's just not ready yet. From what I've heard this will be stuff running off the Wii hardware, so that basically leaves it open to anything including Wii motion sensing support and online (and I've specifically heard there will be some online stuff). And so who knows, the Wii original stuff could end up being better quality than the XBLA original stuff. We'll have to see.

Also keep in mind, XBLA has been around a whole year already. So give Wii some time - I mean, look at how much crap is available for the VC already in one month's timespan.

P.S. - http://www.1up.com/do/newsStory?cId=3156174
Just felt the need to point that out as well :P

[MottZilla]

First off, what's available for VC is all emulated old games. So how much crap they can shovel out isn't surprising. I agree though, if they offer completely downloadable real Wii games then it'll certainly be very nice. And yes, XBLA isn't exactly booming, but it has some good ones like Doom and such. And atleast you can play it online.