Every Tuesday, Mike Sylvester brings you REVOLUTIONARY, a look at the wide world of Wii possibilities.
Today marks the long-awaited release of Metroid Prime 3: Corruption, and no doubt many of you have been refreshing yourself on the precursors in anticipation. If you've been visiting Wii Fanboy or perusing the Wii Shop (as you should be!) lately, you've surely noticed Nintendo's been running with the "Metroid Month" thing, and has released the cartridge-based console predecessors of today's big Wii release. With the Wii featuring being backward compatibility with Gamecube software, the sudden realization that I can have entire series of Nintendo's long-running franchises on one system has put me in a euphoric daze.
Another one of the many ways Nintendo has chosen to distance themselves from the competition is in putting a marketable focus on support of their back catalog. More than that, they've given up virtual shelf space to the catalogs of their former rivals. It's remarkable when you consider that some of these games are twenty or more years old, and you've got them in the same box that you run the latest and greatest stuff.
As with Metroid Prime 3's preview channel, we hope and expect to see other famed series which are lined up for Wii sequels getting a retro refresh on the Virtual Console. It's too late to serve Super Mario Bros., SMB2, and Super Mario World on the Virtual Console as appetizers to Super Mario Galaxy's main course, but Super Mario Bros. 3 and Super Mario All-Stars have yet to grace the Wii Shop. There's a few other Mario platformers that haven't made it to the VC, either (but I'll come back to that later). You can imagine the same treatment for upcoming titles like Smash Bros. and Mario Kart, though it's painful to think we may have to wait until next year to play the original Super Mario Kart on the VC.
Getting back to the subject of the week, it's extraordinary that we can play so many Metroid games on the Wii, but Nintendo's had a history of overlooking the IP. We didn't get a Nintendo 64 update to the series because they didn't realize there was any interest in one. The clamoring of fans around the world went amongst the deafening silence of the Japanese audience, which didn't receive it as warmly as other territories. And while five games spanning four generations may seem like a lot for our Wiis to support, the Gameboy and Gameboy Advance sequels are nowhere to be found while browsing the Wii Shop.
The late Gunpei Yokoi, creator of both the Metroid franchise and the Gameboy line of hardware had a design philosophy that 
is very much alive in the Wii. By utilizing inexpensive, mature and developed hardware components, devices could be mass produced easily and sold at affordable prices, thanks to economies of scale. Also, the inherent familiarity with the hardware softens the boundaries when developing content for it. His most celebrated creations deserve a place on the console that so strongly honors his creative legacy. Gunpei Yokoi's Super Mario Land would also continue to add to its already astronomical sales figures if introduced to the Virtual Console lineup.
That's just the tip of the iceberg. Hundreds more NES, SNES, Genesis, and TG-16 games are on track to be brought to the VC. The Neo Geo is still due to drop its catalog on it, and it's all but inevitable that we'll see the Gameboys represented at some point. Without a doubt, the Wii will have the largest game library this side of the PC platform by the end of this generation.
What games are you waiting to grace the VC and complete your one-console collection? Leave us a comment to share your musings.
Reader Comments (Page 1 of 1)
8-28-2007 @ 1:00PM
Nushio said...
Having never owned a GBA, I really am looking forward to Metroid Zero and Fusion to release on the Virtual Console, along with the Zelda Gameboy games..
For some reason, I never liked playing GBA games on the DS.
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8-28-2007 @ 1:12PM
Dan said...
I'm really anxious for the final fantasy series to grace the Virtual Console. Even just the major north american releases would be nice, but Final Fantasy 1-6 would be even nicer... any more than that would be gravy.
I think I'm a sucker for those classic RPGs.
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8-28-2007 @ 1:15PM
troy said...
I wrote a blog entry regarding the continuation of Gunpei Yokoi's ideals for the Gameboy in the design of the Wii, an idea which you mention in your article. Cool article, by the way! I love reading 'Revolutionary.'
http://nintendoblogcartridge.blogspot.com/2007/07/yokois-vision-what-can-we-learn-from.html
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8-28-2007 @ 1:23PM
Porkins said...
I would love to see some classic Gameboy titles come to VC. Since NES games go for $5 each, GB games would most likely sell for only $3. That's quite a bargain! But I doubt they would just drop the old gold and green ROMs...they would want to update the palettes and add some real color to make them more pleasing to the eye. It wouldn't take too much to update them, and it would add a lot of value.
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8-28-2007 @ 1:31PM
UpIrons said...
"Without a doubt, the Wii will have the largest game library this side of the PC platform by the end of this generation"
...And then the next version of the Wii will come out and we'll likely have to start all over again.
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8-28-2007 @ 1:33PM
James Lipton said...
They could use the Super Game Boy interface for all the classic Game Boy games. That way we could use whatever colors we wanted to and it would require no additional programming by Nintendo.
I'm holding out for Tetris on Game Boy, most addicting video game experience I've ever had.
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8-28-2007 @ 1:38PM
3cubed minus 3squared plus1 said...
They should have released SuperMario RPG when Paper Mario came out.
And I hope they come out with all stars, thats the only way I'm buying Super Mario Bros. 3 again.
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8-28-2007 @ 1:56PM
Jonathan Tran said...
They should up the game catalog to 4 a week.
Also, they could make "packages" where let's say, you buy Sonic 1,2,3,and knuckles for $25 instead of for $32.
Also please release General Chaos for the Genesis, and Strike Gunners for SNES, and Earthworm Jim, and uh... also Mutant League football, and um Battletoads. And Hyperstone Heist. And Two Crude Dudes
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8-28-2007 @ 2:20PM
SpinachConvention said...
I would buy The Legend of Zelda: Links Awakening as soon as it came out on the VC. I remember it being the first game I lost serious quantities of time to... ahhh happy days!
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8-28-2007 @ 3:09PM
Abscissa said...
@#1: Fusion sucks (too linear, WAY too much hand-holding), stick with Zero Mision.
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8-28-2007 @ 3:48PM
hvnlysoldr said...
Go with Metroid Month and go for Metroid II. With that I will have played every Metroid title. Oh and also Zelda Oracles Ages.
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8-28-2007 @ 5:05PM
SuperDave said...
Whatever, I just use my Game Boy Player for my GameCube and I can play GB, GBC and GBA games with my Wavebird. :) Btw, it they are not "green and gold" for the GB games. It uses the default color palettes that the GBA uses for old GB games. I'm sure that's how they'd do it on the Wii also. After I complete Super Metroid on VC I'm going to go back and play Zero Mission and Fusion on the Game Boy player again. I'm thinking I might go back and continue Metroid Prime: Hunters next and maybe give Prime (the first one) another chance again. Metroid month indeed. :)
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8-28-2007 @ 5:22PM
Mike Sylvester said...
@troy
Thanks. Yours was a good read as well. It's a pity Yokoi-san is most often brought up in discussions of the failure that led to his leaving Nintendo. Virtual Boy wasn't quite bad enough that it should overshadow his massive successes.
@Porkins
$3 for some GB titles sounds fitting. I'd be willing to pay as much as $10 for a few GBA ones. I'd kinda expect them to have varying rates for a platform that lasted as long as Gameboy did.
@Jonathan Tran
While we're doing TMNT, why not Turtles in Time? I was greatly disappointed that Nintendo couldn't counter with that when TMNT: Arcade came out on the Xbox Live Arcade. But not so disappointed that I won't buy it the minute they finally release it for the VC.
@SuperDave
When I got my Wii, I decided to share my Nintendo love with someone else and gave my Gamecube away. I never had the Gameboy Player peripheral, and historically, add-ons like that just don't sell well, relative to the console's install base. Besides, the Wii is already well on track to overtaking the Gamecube in sales, so there's a far greater market to sell to if they bring those GB and GBA games to the VC. And by selling the older games like Super Mario Land, Nintendo will be printing more of that money for themselves that the game shops would otherwise get by selling old used carts. GB/GBA support on the Virtual Console is a win-win.
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8-28-2007 @ 6:21PM
banksh0t said...
I am waiting for Sunset Riders for SNES. Man, the day that gets released i'll be ditching work and school so i can play all day long.
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8-29-2007 @ 9:23AM
Smoke said...
@Abscissa: While Fusion does hold your hand during the main game, there's still a ton of stuff to explore once you deviate from the given path. And you can even sequence break(Resulting in an amusing easter egg in one case)
I personally prefer a bit of direction over just searching without a clue. Although Super Metroid is amazing, that's my one annoyance with it. If you don't know/figure out some things, you can get stuck pretty badly.
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