Virtual Console hits 4.7 million downloads

Wii News | Almost 100 games available, top games listed inside.

Nintendo has announced in the US that 4.7 million Virtual Console games have been downloaded since the launch of the Wii. It was also announced that the service, at the six-month mark, will have its 100th game released in the US next Monday - which for them will be Zelda II, a game PAL gamers have had access to since February 9. PAL gamers currently have 96 games to choose from (although to access the 22 Turbografix games, Australians must have their system set to Europe), so it's possible that the 100 game mark will be hit by next Friday in PAL regions.

Nintendo's George Harrison said, "With an Internet connection rate reaching 40 per cent, Wii owners have more options than ever to find the kinds of games they love to play. Beyond the Wii Shop Channel, all types of people are getting connected and checking out the information and entertainment options available on the Wii Menu. Whether voting, creating a Mii or just checking the weather, everyone has a favorite channel."

No specific Numbers were mentioned, but Nintendo has released the top five selling games on the service:

1) Super Mario Bros (NES)
2) Super Mario 64 (N64)
3) Mario Kart 64 (N64)
4) Super Mario World (SNES)
5) The Legend of Zelda (NES)

It seems that between the 10 million-selling New Super Mario Bros and these figures, Mario is back in fashion.

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34 Comments

bluejay

4 years ago

wow ... that's a lot of mario ... hopefully they'll be more careful with porting games now, seeing as how zelda:OoT would be on there if it wasn't badly ported onto VC...

Itachi

4 years ago

Ohh yeah the first virtual console game i bought was mario kart 64 and loving it. It's so much fun with 3 people hehe

Crestfallen

4 years ago

Wow, it takes a special company to be able to exhume the remains of 20 year old 8-64bit images and re-sell them for top dollar.

Even a bigger achievement considering how readily available emulators and roms are. Hell, there are even a ton of sites which let you play through your browser.

I'm looking forward for the Wii to let homebrew flourish.

Timmaaah

4 years ago

the one thing i wish they did do with the VC is release more 64 titles.

admeister

4 years ago

crestfallen wrote

Wow, it takes a special company to be able to exhume the remains of 20 year old 8-64bit images and re-sell them for top dollar.

So true, it's like I was saying in the revenue thread, if anyone was going to be able to sell so many Wiis at a profit, it was Nintendo. They've really been kicking some butt lately, even if they're releases are slow. They really are a company of wonders sometimes, and this also goes to show just how much of an appeal retro games still have today (especially Nintendo ones). Impressive work.

David

4 years ago

crestfallen wrote

Even a bigger achievement considering how readily available emulators and roms are. Hell, there are even a ton of sites which let you play through your browser.

This argument is the lowest of the low. I guess Sony are 'ripping you off' charging $100 for a PS2 game when you could just download it for free?

ROMS ARE STEALING. Just because you can steal something 'for free' doesn't automatically make the official price too expensive. Some people like to pay for their games to give developers the money they earned for creating them.

Spanca

4 years ago

David wrote

Some people like to pay for their games to give developers the money they earned for creating them.

I'd hazard a guess that the developers of these 10-15, even 20 year old games were paid their salaries or wages by Nintendo a long time ago, and aren't seeing a single cent of what's being made on Virtual Console. I don't disagree with your argument and theft, but to say that it's about rewarding developers is a bit far fetched.

David

4 years ago

Spanca wrote

David wrote

Some people like to pay for their games to give developers the money they earned for creating them.

What are you talking about? Nintendo never got paid a cent 'a long time ago' for the Mega Drive and PC Engine games.

And Sega, Hudson, Konami, Capcom, Tecmo etc all receive the majority of the profit from their VC releases, minus a licencing fee - just like retail games. Sure, the original people that developed the games probably don't individually profit from the re-releases, but they never did anyway. The companies that release the VC games get the majority of the profit, just like with XBLA releases. And they deserve it, since they created the games, funded their development, and own them.

I don't even get your argument here - if paying for legitimate releases of older games, instead of stealing them, is not about rewarding the games' developers, then what it for?

Crestfallen

4 years ago

David wrote

crestfallen wrote

Even a bigger achievement considering how readily available emulators and roms are. Hell, there are even a ton of sites which let you play through your browser.

What the hell are you on about??

1. I said they are overpriced because they are, NOT because a free alternative exists. The matter of the fact is that emulators for the NES, SNES and N64 are very simple programs which have been created on NO budget by computer whizzes since the launch of the N64 and even earlier in the case of the NES and SNES.

And how much does it cost for Nintendo to dig up a 2mb Image, which has already been sold before, and throw it on the VC??

That's why its overpriced.

2. I said the sales were impressive because of how available illegal measures ARE, NOT because of its price.

The case of current gen games achieving high sales is different since it is nowhere near as easy to play those games illegally as it is for VC games.
------

I did not promote illegal measures, all I said is that these sales are impressive due to the ease of playing the games for free AND I also added that Nintendo are overcharging (due to other reasons however).

I'd appreciate it if you'd just read my posts and didn't try to create opportunities to rip them apart.

Ta.

Spanca

4 years ago

David wrote

Spanca wrote

David wrote

Some people like to pay for their games to give developers the money they earned for creating them.

I was talking about the developers as people, not faceless corporate entities. Those entities and their shareholders are the only ones making money off the VC. The people who put in the hardwork to make those games aren't getting anything out of this.

ret the roman

4 years ago

Congrats Nintendo you will receive your fat oily guy by wednesday.

David

4 years ago

crestfallen wrote

1. I said they are overpriced because they are, NOT because a free alternative exists. The matter of the fact is that emulators for the NES, SNES and N64 are very simple programs which have been created on NO budget by computer whizzes since the launch of the N64 and even earlier in the case of the NES and SNES.

And how much does it cost for Nintendo to dig up a 2mb Image, which has already been sold before, and throw it on the VC??

That's why its overpriced.

Here you're saying 'they're overpriced because it's easy for them to do'. Which is wrong in two ways.

1. It is not 'easy to do' - they have to provide servers and infrastructure, as well as fit the games with DRM to prevent piracy (whatever you think of that, it's obviously necessary to stop people copying the games over the net for free).

2. 'Costs' do not equal what something is worth. It costs $0.10 to print a DVD, so is it a rip-off to sell them for $30? No, because the company owns the rights to that movie, and the rights to make money from it.

Honestly, I do actually think certain games ARE overpriced on the VC. $15 is pretty reasonable for cleaned up N64 games IMO, but I don't get why SNES, and especially Mega Drive games, cost $12.50 when they were developed on much smaller budgets and had much smaller cart sizes. Also, why does Pac-man cost the same as Kirby's Adventure when they originally had vastly different price tags even in cart form? I really hope a more sliding price scale is introduced at some point. At the moment some games are amazing value (Zelda 3 is worth multiple times it's VC cost on ebay), but many are not.

Quote

2. I said the sales were impressive because of how available illegal measures ARE, NOT because of its price.

The case of current gen games achieving high sales is different since it is nowhere near as easy to play those games illegally as it is for VC games.

Fair enough. Although it's not as easy as you think for Joe schmo - I know people who copied PS1/PS2 games but have no idea what an emulator is - espescially people with a Mac. And it still ignores people who don't steal all their games because it's the right thing to do. I know how to steal Castlevania 4 if I wanted to, but instead I chose to buy it to pay Konami what they deserve.

crestfallen wrote

I did not promote illegal measures, all I said is that these sales are impressive due to the ease of playing the games for free AND I also added that Nintendo are overcharging (due to other reasons however).

You didn't promote illegal measures, but suggested that it was 'crazy' that people would pay for things they can steal. But I apologise for assuming a negative spin in this part fo your post.

Spanca wrote

That's true, but employees probabaly never got a 'cut' of a game's sales in the first place either. Nor would they with a retail re-release.

But individuals don't create games (anymore), companies do. They fund the games, they own the games, and they deserve to get paid when people play their games.

Crestfallen

4 years ago

David wrote

You didn't promote illegal measures, but suggested that it was 'crazy' that people would pay for things they can steal. But I apologise for assuming a negative spin in this part fo your post

Thanks, but you kinda make it sound like I think people should start shoplifting and stealing cars.

I was surprised about this instance because piracy is a "faceless" crime which is very, very prevalent, especially with technologically proficient people who know how to hook a console over Wi-Fi.
------

Enough with piracy.

In regards to overcharging its definately fair enough to think that a game is "worth" the amount they charge, but you must admit that the profit margin on VC games would be extremely high in comparision with recent games.

As for DVDs that cost 10cents to print its a bit different though since the costs of development (games on Wii ~ 5 million, games on PS3~ 20 million according to Forbes) is what the game's price attempts to get back.

Jin66

4 years ago

looks like 3rd parties cant even beat 1st party titles on VC.

The Brett

4 years ago

If we're talking about "rewarding" developers then we'd be referring only to the initial packaged version. Re-releases in this form are clearly designed as cash-ins, disguising the real cost with a friendly points system. If I were to "reward" the developer, I'd buy the SNES version of Super Mario Brothers, not the VC version.

legend166

4 years ago

Good luck with that search for a new copy of Super Mario Bros.

Luke

4 years ago

Can anyone argue the VC isnt overpriced? Sony's PSN is much more affordable and even XBL has something going for it.

Charging $15 for a Nintendo 64 game is outrageous considering they're doing nothing at all to enhance the titles. Absolute rip off.

Spanca

4 years ago

Luke wrote

^ You must have missed David justifying that above.

Luke

4 years ago

No i just think they're all rather overpriced.

NeoSanity

4 years ago

Luke wrote

No i just think they're all rather overpriced.

I'd rather slightly overpriced goods to dozens of micro-transactions, it really **** me especially with lumiuns (sp?) on Xbox Live how you have to buy harder missions which cost $15.

Jin66

4 years ago

Luke wrote

$15 for zelda OOT or $10 for Go puzzle.....go figure.

PSN may be affordable (or NOT), but theres only like 4 games out for PAL atm and they arent that great. I have a wii and ps3 so im not trying to bash the ps3, just saying VC titles are at a resonable price and you shouldnt compare it to PSN. Dont have xbox so cant comment on their prices.

David

4 years ago

Luke wrote

Huh? I'd agree some of the other games are overpriced (Mega Drive in particular), but the N64 games ARE enhanced - better framerates, resolution, image filtering and component colour. Those games in particular are the absolute cheapest way you can get them, as they all usually go for $20+ on ebay.

If you don't like the price for any game, don't buy it. I haven't bought many.

Luke

4 years ago

For $20 you're getting a cartridge, not a download. The Nintendo 64 games aren't enhanced in any completely noticable way, a few minor visual enhancements does not make up for the lack of any form of online play or extra levels etc..

http://cgi.ebay.com.au/N64-NINTENDO-64-SUPER-MARIO-GOOD-CONDITION_W0QQitemZ110134563800QQihZ001QQcategoryZ27193QQrdZ1QQcmdZViewItem

$24 delivered for Mario on 64 or $15 on the Virtual Console?!

ugh the boot

4 years ago

It's awesome so many people are expressing so much love for the retro stuff, but is it me or is the quality/content on the Wii quite lop sided? Like we're getting all this awesome retro content and barely any Wii content. Nintendo just need to balance a bit more.

Also am I the only one worrying about whether or not the space on the Wii will be sufficient much longer? In any case I just need to buy an extra big SD card and just leave it in my Wii, that might fix the problem cuz I can always just copy/delete/rearrange the games.

In saying that what is the biggest SD card you can get? I actually get them real cheap here at work (got given three 512 mb ones for free just for asking last year).
Also don't forget every game on Xbox Live and some games on Ps3 network you can download a demo for free and atleast try out to see if you like it. The least Nintendo can do is offer a service like this seeing as they are charging such inflated prices.

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