Virtual Console

[EdenMaster]

So has anyone else tried out the Virtual Console? If not, it's pretty slick. I bought a 2000 point card a few days ago and I picked out Sonic the Hedgehog and Super Mario 64 (the only worthwile downloads among the disappointing launch. Really, who is going to download Soccer or Pinball?).

The process couldn't be more smooth. I entered the code on my card and 2000 Wii Points added to my total immediately. I chose Sonic first, and I had it in about a minute and a half, Mario 64 didn't take too much longer. The games are picture-perfect ports, changed only to accept the functionality of new controls (I use the Wii-Mote in Sonic, and WaveBird for M64). I have yet to get a classic controller, though most games will accept a GC controller. There was a warning before M64 that the controls may have been "optimized" for the Classic Controller, but the GC controller handles it perfectly. It controls much like Sunshine.

It's a really cool system, and will definitely give the console a big edge during the summer droughts. No games being released, yank a game off the Virtual Console for 5-10 bucks while you're waiting for something bigger. Or, if you don't have the money for a new Wii game (as was my scenario), spend the chicken scratch on a classic you may have missed, or an old favorite.

All in all, this may be the best idea Nintendo ever came up with.

[Great Rumbler]

I got Mario 64 off the VC, but I haven't played it much yet.

[A Black Falcon]

So has anyone else tried out the Virtual Console? If not, it's pretty slick. I bought a 2000 point card a few days ago and I picked out Sonic the Hedgehog and Super Mario 64 (the only worthwile downloads among the disappointing launch. Really, who is going to download Soccer or Pinball?).

Wrong, F-Zero is one of the best racing games ever made. If I was going to get one launch VC game, it'd be that one, no question. And I have it for SNES.

Sonic the Hedgehog is probably worth it too, though...

[The Former DMiller]

I bought Sonic a few days ago, and I just bought Bomberman today. Bomberman is incredible. I never got the chance to play it on TG16, but I can't wait to get 5 people together to play some true multiplayer. Just playing against one other person was fun, but I can only imagine how much fun it is with 5 players.

[EdenMaster]

Wrong, F-Zero is one of the best racing games ever made. If I was going to get one launch VC game, it'd be that one, no question. And I have it for SNES.

Well, if I want to play F-Zero I'll play the far-superior F-Zero GX I have for Cube.

25 Racers > 4 Racers
Good Graphics > Dated Graphics
3D Courses with loops, twists, and jumps > Flat, flat, flat.

Sorry, I liked the original FZ too, and it is one of the better racing games out there...of it's gen. I'll take GX any day.

[Dark Jaguar]

And you can ALSO play that on the Wii, probably (a few games have some problems, like the PS3, but unlike the 360's much grander issues).

Pinball? I prefer Pinball Quest, another NES game that made an adventure/RPG/pinball hybrid game of epic proportions.

[A Black Falcon]

Well, if I want to play F-Zero I'll play the far-superior F-Zero GX I have for Cube.

25 Racers > 4 Racers
Good Graphics > Dated Graphics
3D Courses with loops, twists, and jumps > Flat, flat, flat.

Sorry, I liked the original FZ too, and it is one of the better racing games out there...of it's gen. I'll take GX any day.

25? Doesn't GX have 40 racers, just like the N64 version? As for F-Zero though, it does have more racers, you just can only choose to race as four of them... and they cover the essentials.

Graphics? F-Zero looks great for a SNES game. Sure, GX looks better, but that doesn't mean F-Zero looks any worse... it's still a very nice looking game with some great music and style... X too, on all counts. All three are incredibly good. (Course designs? Sure, X/GX's looping courses are cool, but F-Zero's tracks are quite well designed too... I know that as games age in some ways they do look worse in comparison to newer ones, it's not fair to penalize a game for doing something that was common when it came out... that's just not fair. And anyway, F-Zero still plays great. This isn't a case of a game made unplayable with age, that's for sure... the main "new games wouldn't do this and it's a bit annoying" thing is the way that you have to be above a certain place on each lap to continue, but you get used to it.

.. but I love futuristic racing games. My second favorite 16-bit racing game? Outrun 2019, on the Genesis. :)

I bought Sonic a few days ago, and I just bought Bomberman today. Bomberman is incredible. I never got the chance to play it on TG16, but I can't wait to get 5 people together to play some true multiplayer. Just playing against one other person was fun, but I can only imagine how much fun it is with 5 players.

... but can't the Wii only support four controllers?

[EdenMaster]

Yes, and theoretically up to 8 (4 Wii-motes and 4 GC controllers). I know for Bomberman players can use GC and Wii-motes together in the same game.

I'm not "penalizing" F-Zero for being old. I said that it was one of the better racing games of it's gen, and perhaps it isn't fair to compare it to GX, but what can I say? I never said it was unplayable, I simply said GX was superior, which it is. It's like buying the original PC Civilization once you've already got Civ2, 3, and/or 4. Why bother?

[A Black Falcon]

I'm not "penalizing" F-Zero for being old. I said that it was one of the better racing games of it's gen, and perhaps it isn't fair to compare it to GX, but what can I say? I never said it was unplayable, I simply said GX was superior, which it is. It's like buying the original PC Civilization once you've already got Civ2, 3, and/or 4. Why bother?

Civ II came out in 1996 and I liked it a lot more than 2001's Civ III...

Is GX better? Maybe, but at least F-Zero is consistently fun. GX gets so ridiculously hard that there's a point where it stops being fun... I know a lot of SNES games go well past that line, but F-Zero mostly doesn't (Master is certainly hard, but not as hard as Master in GX, and with saving the frusteration is lower than in many SNES games...)... that's one reason why I've said for a long time that while GX is probably the best racing game on the GC, the most enjoyable (most purely fun) one is XGRA.

Yes, and theoretically up to 8 (4 Wii-motes and 4 GC controllers). I know for Bomberman players can use GC and Wii-motes together in the same game.

Huh, it can see both CCs and GC as separate controllers? Interesting, if true...

... wait, Bomberman '93 is out? Which other games have been added to VC, since no TG-16 games were there on launch day...

[EdenMaster]

A couple days ago they added Bomberman 93 and Bonk's Adventure.

[The Former DMiller]

Bomberman definitely uses the GameCube controllers if you need 5 players. It says in the instructions that a GameCube controller must be used for 5-player games.

[A Black Falcon]

It's great that they left in the option, I was wondering how they were going to do it...

Oh, do the TG-16 games let you use the sideways Wiimote like NES games do?

[The Former DMiller]

It depends on the game. Not every game supports using the Wiimote sideways, but they tell you what the games support before you buy them. Bomberman supports the remote, and I believe Bonk does as well.

[Great Rumbler]

Super Mario 64 on the VC with the Gamecube controller is a near-perfect translation of the original. And, although I'm not entirely sure this is the case, it seems that the graphics are a bit crisper than they were on the N64.

It almost makes me wish that Zelda wasn't a launch titles so that I could devote more time to it...

[EdenMaster]

Super Mario 64 on the VC with the Gamecube controller is a near-perfect translation of the original. And, although I'm not entirely sure this is the case, it seems that the graphics are a bit crisper than they were on the N64.

It almost makes me wish that Zelda wasn't a launch titles so that I could devote more time to it...

SM64 has definitely been my Wii's most-used next to Wii Sports. I never did play it on N64 and the controls for the DS version weren't to great, so I'm enjoying it this way.

I second the opinion of crisper graphics. Even Cube games look a bit better, IMO.

[A Black Falcon]

It depends on the game. Not every game supports using the Wiimote sideways, but they tell you what the games support before you buy them. Bomberman supports the remote, and I believe Bonk does as well.

I would expect all Turbografx-16 (or PC Engine, for the Japanese name) games would support the sideways Wiimote because the system's controller, like the NES, has just two buttons (I and II) and two option buttons (like start and select)...

Super Mario 64 on the VC with the Gamecube controller is a near-perfect translation of the original. And, although I'm not entirely sure this is the case, it seems that the graphics are a bit crisper than they were on the N64.

That's because Mario 64 doesn't use the N64 controller in ways that are really hard to translate to the Wiimote, but yeah, it would work... though is it worth $10 just to not have to drag out your Mario 64 cart?

... yeah, probably. :D

[EdenMaster]

That's because Mario 64 doesn't use the N64 controller in ways that are really hard to translate to the Wiimote, but yeah, it would work... though is it worth $10 just to not have to drag out your Mario 64 cart?

... yeah, probably. :D

It is for me, when said cart (and indeed, N64) are not in my possession.

[Dark Jaguar]

Ah yes, it seems that Nintendo has this point thing down. How annoying... Well, as it stands it appears that every single game that would normally cost less than $10 now, effectively, costs $10. All I want is Bonk's Adventure really (as I don't have it), but I'm not about to be essentially forced to pay more than it's listed at. If there was something else that evened it out that I also wanted which used the exact amount I'd have left over, yeah no problem, but as it stands? No way.

Then there's MS's Zune which also uses Disney fun bucks to make stuff effectively more expensive than it is.

Oh yeah, I've heard that apparently this system is getting popular because it avoids credit card charges. Don't ask me how, as you still have to use that card each time you buy points. Further, I use a debit card anyway that doesn't even have a cost to use, so it doesn't affect me. Really it just ends up annoying. I wish these companies would stop this nonsense and just give us an actual price. I mean the point cost does directly translate into American dollery doos, so I don't see how that would be a problem. If they don't want to dispense with the stupid point thing, at least let us do a direct buy and you can do a cute little conversion of money directly into exactly the point cost of the item before our eyes, like a little show or something, if that's what makes you feel good. Just don't do this. It's stupid. MS had it right with the original XBox Live price listings. Apple's got it right with their iPod store. Why did everyone have to screw it up after that?

[The Former DMiller]

Oh yeah, I've heard that apparently this system is getting popular because it avoids credit card charges. Don't ask me how, as you still have to use that card each time you buy points. Further, I use a debit card anyway that doesn't even have a cost to use, so it doesn't affect me.

It's the charges the credit card companies charge Nintendo, MS, etc. that they are trying to avoid. Having a person pay one $10 charge instead of 10 individual $1 charges saves MS a lot of money. I hate the practice too, but it's not as bad buying VC games as it would be buying music for the Zune. I bought $20 worth of Wii points, and I have just enough left to buy Bonk when I get time to devote to it.