Nintendo announced the Wii U Virtual Console launch lineup this afternoon via the Wii U Facebook page. No date has been given for the launch, but it's speculated that it will drop Thursday or Friday.
If the trickle of games being released is fast, this is a good start. We're at the point where there's a drought in the Wii U's library, so they should be cranking out at least three games a week consistently (if not more than that).
Really, how long does it take to add in Wii U functionality to the old games? I can't imagine it takes a long time, but I know Nintendo will want to space "new" VC releases out (which they shouldn't do at this point).
I'm sure brighter minds than me will point out there is some sort of economic reason for not just mass dropping the titles on the service, but as a dull-witted gamer I do not listen to those people. I dreamed of an "iTunes" of old school games. Not a service where every few months they throw out some NES game I'd never heard of.
What games could they possibly add? This is assuming Nintendo ones. There's what, Star Fox and Yoshi's Island? Earthbound would've made an exciting launch but with them saying that it's coming out this year, it would've been crazy to expect it to launch the service.
back in January this says Iwata announced GBA games for Wii U as well?? Well that'd be new. That actually points to that rumor of VC swapping between the 3DS and Wii U. Super Metroid in May. Yoshi and Donkey Kong also coming as 30 cent games
Maybe we were wrong to expect the Virtual Console to be a long-term value proposition strategy through future Nintendo system lines. Maybe it was always meant to just be another bullet point on the Wii packaging, to be discarded once Nintendo moved on from Wii. They've certainly been half-assing it since the Wii started losing steam a couple years in. The VC drought has already lasted longer than the original VC boom where we saw 3-4 games a week and like 20 at launch. The 3DS VC is an utter joke, and I have no reason to believe Wii U will be any better, other than the fact that it has the Wii's VC library tucked away in a corner somewhere.
I just bought it last year on VC... but I haven't transferred my Wii to my Wii U... maybe I'll convert it once I actually transfer my Wii to my Wii U... if ever.
meh. The only one of these that I haven't recently got for free or incredibly cheap is SMW, which i can get for $1.50 if I feel inclined. Which is cool, I suppose.
I hope N64 games aren't too far off, and it gets some better support this time around. There's only...what, 22 N64 titles on the Wii VC?
