Q&A: The Reality of the Virtual Console

Nintendo’s Virtual Console will bring retro goodies back into the living rooms of old-school gamers everywhere. This writer, for example, intends to defeat the one last nemesis he has never defeated in his NES days: landing that godforsaken F-14 on that blasted carrier in Konami’s Top Gun for the NES (I was seven, okay?). Before we relive the good ol’ days of the NES, SNES, Genesis, N64, and GameCube, though, time to review important VC details which were revealed during Nintendo’s recent Q&A session with the people over at CVG:

• VC games can be downloaded not only to the Wii internal memory (512MB), but also onto SD cards that slot into the Wii from the front. Yay!
• BUT! not only are VC games region-locked, they’re console-locked as well. Even if you save them onto an SD card, you can only play them on the Wii you downloaded them from. Boo!
• But if the console bricks, fret not. Nintendo will offer customer support to bricked Wii owners to help them recover their games. Yay!
• You’ll need GameCube controllers to play with GameCube games. The Classic Controller won’t work. Boo?
• You can also use the Wiimote-on-its-side as a NES Controller. However, a game will only be playable with the control mechanism it was designed for.
• For example, you will play NES games with the D-pad, and obviously not an analog stick or motion-sensors
• When using a mix of Wiimote, GameCube, and Classic controllers, the Wiimote and Classic will take priority.
• Each downloaded VC game will come with a digital manual.
• If, using CVG’s and Nintendo’s example, you’re in Europe, and you import a Japanese or American Wii, the following will happen:
• You can only connect to the American or Japanese service, depending on the console. Region-locked, remember?
  
• You can only use American or Japanese Wii points, not Euro Wii points you purchase at the local corner shop or something.
• You void your warranty. Boo!
  
• 2000 Wii points = £ 14.99. You can purchase points through the Wii shop using all major credit cards, and a total of 10,000 points can be stored in your console at one time.

Nintendo’s Virtual Console will bring retro goodies back into the living rooms of old-school gamers everywhere. This writer, for example, intends to defeat the one last nemesis he has never defeated in his NES days: landing that godforsaken F-14 on that blasted carrier in Konami’s Top Gun for the NES (I was seven, okay?). Before we relive the good ol’ days of the NES, SNES, Genesis, N64, and GameCube, though, time to review important VC details which were revealed during Nintendo’s recent Q&A session with the people over at CVG:

• VC games can be downloaded not only to the Wii internal memory (512MB), but also onto SD cards that slot into the Wii from the front. Yay!
• BUT! not only are VC games region-locked, they’re console-locked as well. Even if you save them onto an SD card, you can only play them on the Wii you downloaded them from. Boo!
• But if the console bricks, fret not. Nintendo will offer customer support to bricked Wii owners to help them recover their games. Yay!
• You’ll need GameCube controllers to play with GameCube games. The Classic Controller won’t work. Boo?
• You can also use the Wiimote-on-its-side as a NES Controller. However, a game will only be playable with the control mechanism it was designed for.
• For example, you will play NES games with the D-pad, and obviously not an analog stick or motion-sensors
• When using a mix of Wiimote, GameCube, and Classic controllers, the Wiimote and Classic will take priority.
• Each downloaded VC game will come with a digital manual.
• If, using CVG’s and Nintendo’s example, you’re in Europe, and you import a Japanese or American Wii, the following will happen:
• You can only connect to the American or Japanese service, depending on the console. Region-locked, remember?
  
• You can only use American or Japanese Wii points, not Euro Wii points you purchase at the local corner shop or something.
• You void your warranty. Boo!
  
• 2000 Wii points = £ 14.99. You can purchase points through the Wii shop using all major credit cards, and a total of 10,000 points can be stored in your console at one time.