Imagine a game system that allows you to play video games from any console of the past. This is a dream I had since I was a child. My father was a gamer before me, and when I was born he already owned an Atari 2600, Atari 400, Atari 520ST, TI-99/4 (yes, Texas Instruments made a home computer, not just calculators), Bally Astrocade, ColecoVision and Intellivision II. Looking back, I now realize my dad would have been considered a hardcore gamer for owning that many systems. They were pretty expensive, even back then.
When I was old enough to hold a controller, and this is one of the earliest memories I have of my life, my dad brought home a new game system, and I recall the entire family (seven of us) gathering around the TV to check it out. It was a Nintendo Entertainment System, and my first real gaming experience as a 2 or 3 year old was Super Mario Bros. Like many gamer kids born in the 80s, I would go on to own a Game Boy (and all of its successors, including the DS lineup), Super NES, Virtual Boy, N64, GameCube, Sega Genesis, Sega CD, 32X, Saturn, Dreamcast, PSone, PS2, Xbox, Wii, PS3, Xbox 360, and now a Wii U.
The thought of a unified console remained in my head for years, since it was always hard to keep all of my consoles hooked up to one TV. Nintendo had me in for a huge surprise when they announced the Virtual Console for the Wii, sporting NES, Super NES, N64, Neo Geo, Turbo Grafx 16, Sega Master System, Genesis, Commodore 64, MSX and arcade games.
The idea for the Virtual Console was genius. My dream of a home console that gave me access to the hundreds of games I grew up with was finally a reality. With the Virtual Console, Nintendo is clearly sitting on top of a gold mine.
Yet, they don’t know what to do with it.
The Wii Virtual Console’s biggest flaw was its lack of quality releases in a timely manner. Nintendo continuously tested the patience of its fans by making them wait each week for something good, offering one game per week for it, two if we were lucky. Most of the time the games would be something nobody really cares about. It took 300 releases and three years from the VC’s launch for The Legend of Zelda: Majora’s Mask to be released. Part of what takes Nintendo so long is the emulator that they program specifically optimized to play the game 100% accurate to its original console performance, sometimes performing even better as is the case for Majora’s Mask.
Considering how large of a library each of these consoles have, I wish they had just released everything up front. The Virtual Console was Nintendo’s answer to piracy, but the way they handled releases, even expecting users to re-buy their Virtual Console purchases on the 3DS, made piracy an easier option for tons of gamers out there. The 3DS finally got classic Game Boy releases for the Virtual Console, but pirates have been playing Game Boy games on their DS for years thanks to emulation. Hackers even started releasing their own custom Virtual Console games for the many titles that hadn’t been made available to purchase yet. I have been waiting, and I still am waiting, for Nintendo to release Ocarina of Time: Master Quest on the VC. I can still play with the GameCube disc I own, but Wii hackers have already developed their own release of it. I may own the game on GameCube, but for me to install it onto the Wii would be illegal.
My dream of the perfect retro gaming console never came to light the way that I had hoped. Nintendo’s pricing scheme for these 20+ year old games is pretty high. Sega will put 50 of their classics on a disc and sell it for $20 and I will jump on that purchase in a second. Nintendo will put one Super NES compilation of four Mario games on a disc and ask for $50. People pay the price and it sells out, and rather than ship more discs, Nintendo lets other people shoot it up to $80 on eBay.
If Nintendo wants to stop encouraging piracy and testing its fans’ patience, I have the ultimate solution for the Wii U’s Virtual Console. I hope you’re reading this, Nintendo. It will blow your minds.
Two words: subscription service.
Think about it. When Sony announced PlayStation Plus, I thought it was doomed to fail. Unlike Xbox 360 which requires its Xbox Live Gold membership to do pretty much anything fun with the system online, PlayStation Plus is completely optional and offers a ton of content and free games to subscribers for a low annual or monthly cost.
The only way I play the classics on Wii.
The free games are its main draw, along with the killer discounts for digital purchases. Now imagine a Virtual Console that follows this method. $50 a year grants users instant access to the entire library (they could even offer tiered plans). If you want to purchase a game for keeps, you can at a discounted price. It would be like having a PC with emulators for every classic system out there, but this would offer users a chance to legally pay for their content from the comfort of their couch with 100% accurate emulation. They could probably get away with charging an even higher subscription price, because I guarantee fans will flock to a service like this.
Now I know it has been done in the past on the PC with services like GameTap, which currently has an ‘F’ rating according to the Better Business Bureau for bad business practices, but with a power house like Nintendo, it could have millions of subscribers. Nintendo would be able to create more jobs, allowing programmers to pump out new Virtual Console releases at a quicker pace. It also might be what Nintendo needs to keep the Wii U running strong when the next gen console war begins.
I’m just being hopeful, of course, but if someone can convince Nintendo to bring my dream to life, please do. I’ll be the first subscriber.
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