It wasn't exactly a surprise revelation, but on Wednesday Nintendo announced it will finally bring the Virtual Console to its new Wii U console this spring.
The Virtual Console is an online service devoted to offering players old games developed for previous Nintendo systems. Classics like "Super Mario World" and "The Legend of Zelda," along with many other titles, will be available for users to download and play on both the Wii U console and separately on the Game Pad controller.
As previously mentioned, the service will launch this Spring after a downloadable system update is made available, but not all the games previously seen on the Wii's service will show up at once. In fact, only games from the original Nintendo and Super Nintendo systems will be available at launch, with more games to be added later from systems like the Game Boy Advance.
That's a far cry from the Virtual Console on the Wii, which also offered games from the Nintendo 64 as well as rival systems like Sega Genesis and Commodore 64. Apparently Nintendo is going through each title individually to ensure playback support on the Wii U's touch-screen controller, meaning you can play the Virtual Console games on the Game Pad without needing to use the TV.
In typical Nintendo fashion, however, the good news is almost always tinged with disappointment: The company will be charging users for Virtual Console games regardless of whether or not they bought the title previously on the Wii. If you already own a game, Nintendo will offer you a special price to repurchase it ($1 for NES games, $1.50 for SNES games), but the news has to sting for anyone expecting their collections to cross over. NES games will retail between $4.99 and $5.99, while SNES games will sell between $7.99 and $8.99.
Additionally, Nintendo is set to experiment with new discount offers to celebrate the 30th anniversary of the original Nintendo Entertainment System. Various NES games will be offered for only $.30, and each sale will last for 30 days.
The Virtual Console wasn't the only announcement made today; Nintendo said it will launch two system updates to fix the sluggish speed of the Wii U. The first update (packed with the Virtual Console in the spring) will make the software load faster, while the summer season will see a second update aimed at getting users back to the main menu more quickly.
