DS games confirmed for Wii U Virtual Console

[Stuntology]

In addition, wii u is less popular, so they probably won't sell as much as they would on 3ds. It's all very confusing.

That probably is the reason - to create more incentive for people to buy them.

Also, while the 3DS can currently play DS games, many of them are hard to come by now.

Fair point, but I really can't imagine that influencing anybody's decision to buy a wii u (certainly not mine!)

And about 3ds being able to play ds games, I just meant that it'd probably be easier to put them on the 3ds eshop rather than working out how to port them to wii u.

 

[Fairy Ice Ricky]

In addition, wii u is less popular, so they probably won't sell as much as they would on 3ds. It's all very confusing.

That probably is the reason - to create more incentive for people to buy them.

Also, while the 3DS can currently play DS games, many of them are hard to come by now.

Fair point, but I really can't imagine that influencing anybody's decision to buy a wii u (certainly not mine!)

And about 3ds being able to play ds games, I just meant that it'd probably be easier to put them on the 3ds eshop rather than working out how to port them to wii u.

I don't think having a DS VC available will be THE reason for someone to want a Wii U. But I can certainly see a situation where one person in a family would want the Wii U for Super Mario 3D World or Donkey Kong: Tropical Freeze, for example, and someone else would find some value from the system because it allows them to play DS games like Brain Age. (Like how back during the Wii days you could play Super Mario Galaxy and Wii Fit on one system.) Better than trying to play Brain Age on a PS4, lol.

Also--can the 3DS emulate DS games? Like, obviously it can play DS games if you have the DS cartridge, but can it emulate a DS game using its own hardware? (While the DS & DS Lite were able to play GBA games if you had the cartridge, iirc I'm pretty sure it was too weak to emulate a GBA game, at least not without some additional support.)

 

[-Luster Purge-]

I dont get the DS ports to the wii u.. other than they think it will boost sales. And maybe it would confuse consumers to have them on the 3DS.
The idea of playing certain DS titles on the wii u is appealing though seeing as the controller would work as your touch screen and the tv your giant primary screen. But the 3ds would be better and honestly I see the 3DS getting DS VC in the near future. I already own a wii u so it matters not to me. (couldnt pass up the windwaker edition.. or the 25th anni edition Zelda 3DS.. or the A link between worlds edition XL I have a problem.)
Honestly wii u sales will be weak till Super Smash Bros releases.. and down the line the next Zelda title. DS VC wont help matters.
I just want A Link to the Past on either 3DS or Wii U VC Nintendo. D: random thought but if Nintendo released a bundle wii u with super smash bros wii u and a free download of super smash 64 just how quick do you think they would sell?

 

[Bolt Strike]

The problem with making Pokémon Bank compatible with Virtual Console games is that by allowing them access to the Bank boxes, they would have access to boxes where Pokémon from future generations would be - whether that be new species, or older species with newer abilities or moves. The only way to allow communication with VC games and Bank would either be a separate Bank application just for them, or an update to Bank so that it can differentiate (which I'm not sure it would be able to). The inability to communicate between VC games on the same SD card would most likely be a sacrifice we have to make, similar to how some of the GBA Virtual Console Ambassador titles don't have their multiplayer modes enabled.

Game Freak has made it very clear that this is not a sacrifice they'll be willing to make, they consider the communication to be an essential part of the game. So if Bank isn't a feasible solution, then we're no closer to VC main series games than we were before.

I think this is a pretty weird decision for a multitude of reasons. First, along with their announced GBA virtual console, why on the wii u and not the 3ds? The 3ds can already play DS and GBA games, so it seems like it would take more work to port them over too wii u. In addition, wii u is less popular, so they probably won't sell as much as they would on 3ds. It's all very confusing.

Either way, I don't think the pokemon games will go up there, mainly because we've yet to see any of the gameboy pokemon games on the 3ds virtual console.

3DS can't play GBA games, only the DS and DS Lite can.

 

[Stuntology]

Ambassador program shows that it can.

 

[Bolt Strike]

Ambassador program shows that it can.

It's not actually playing GBA games, though, it's emulating them. You can't buy a GBA cartridge and run it on your 3DS, or any handheld for that matter since the DS Lite.

 

[Stuntology]

Ambassador program shows that it can.

It's not actually playing GBA games, though, it's emulating them. You can't buy a GBA cartridge and run it on your 3DS, or any handheld for that matter since the DS Lite.

True (I was counting emulation as 'playing'). As far as I know, though, the wii u doesn't have that capability yet.

 

[DestinyOfDeoxys]

Why can't the 3DS have DS and GBA games for Virtual Console?

 

[randomspot555]

Why can't the 3DS have DS and GBA games for Virtual Console?

In theory, it can.

In practice, some people say the GBA emulator for Ambassador games wasn't all that good.

At least with DS on Wii U, that means people don't necessarily own a 3DS. But if you own a 3DS, you can play DS games anyway. Most of them are still readily available even if traditional major stores no longer stock most of them.

 

[Bolt Strike]

In practice, some people say the GBA emulator for Ambassador games wasn't all that good.

Seemed to work all right for me. I think there was like, slightly lower resolution graphics or something, but that's a relatively minor complaint.

 

[Joshawott]

Game Freak has made it very clear that this is not a sacrifice they'll be willing to make, they consider the communication to be an essential part of the game. So if Bank isn't a feasible solution, then we're no closer to VC main series games than we were before.

It would be no different to Pal Park in Gen IV or the PokéTransfer in Gen V in regards to being a one-way system. If they skip Ruby and Sapphire and go straight to FireRed/LeafGreen, Emerald and onwards, they could most likely trick the games into believing that the local wireless is the wireless adapter, then we could at least have trading between games on different consoles. With Diamond/Pearl and onwards, this wouldn't be as much of a problem due to online play, so you could simply trade them to a friend over Wi-Fi, then trade to a different game. If an update could be made to Pokémon Bank to give Gen III and Gen IV their own boxes, that would be pretty cool though (with the rule that only games from that respective generation can access it).

In addition, wii u is less popular, so they probably won't sell as much as they would on 3ds. It's all very confusing.

That probably is the reason - to create more incentive for people to buy them.

Also, while the 3DS can currently play DS games, many of them are hard to come by now.

Fair point, but I really can't imagine that influencing anybody's decision to buy a wii u (certainly not mine!)

And about 3ds being able to play ds games, I just meant that it'd probably be easier to put them on the 3ds eshop rather than working out how to port them to wii u.

I honestly wish they would just do that (imagine how awful GBA games will look blown up to full home TV size), but I guess Nintendo is trying to throw everything they can onto the Wii U in the hopes that it picks sales up.

 

[Bolt Strike]

It would be no different to Pal Park in Gen IV or the PokéTransfer in Gen V in regards to being a one-way system. If they skip Ruby and Sapphire and go straight to FireRed/LeafGreen, Emerald and onwards, they could most likely trick the games into believing that the local wireless is the wireless adapter, then we could at least have trading between games on different consoles. With Diamond/Pearl and onwards, this wouldn't be as much of a problem due to online play, so you could simply trade them to a friend over Wi-Fi, then trade to a different game. If an update could be made to Pokémon Bank to give Gen III and Gen IV their own boxes, that would be pretty cool though (with the rule that only games from that respective generation can access it).

They're probably not going to force you to buy another 3DS to transfer between your own VC games. And given how past consoles tend to prevent you from moving around Pokemon game files between different storage spaces (and I doubt that either the 3DS or Wii U is any different about this), if you end up downloading two games on the same 3DS, you may end up screwing yourself here and that wouldn't even be an option in the first place.

 

[Joshawott]

It would be no different to Pal Park in Gen IV or the PokéTransfer in Gen V in regards to being a one-way system. If they skip Ruby and Sapphire and go straight to FireRed/LeafGreen, Emerald and onwards, they could most likely trick the games into believing that the local wireless is the wireless adapter, then we could at least have trading between games on different consoles. With Diamond/Pearl and onwards, this wouldn't be as much of a problem due to online play, so you could simply trade them to a friend over Wi-Fi, then trade to a different game. If an update could be made to Pokémon Bank to give Gen III and Gen IV their own boxes, that would be pretty cool though (with the rule that only games from that respective generation can access it).

They're probably not going to force you to buy another 3DS to transfer between your own VC games. And given how past consoles tend to prevent you from moving around Pokemon game files between different storage spaces (and I doubt that either the 3DS or Wii U is any different about this), if you end up downloading two games on the same 3DS, you may end up screwing yourself here and that wouldn't even be an option in the first place.

Except they forced us to buy another console up until Generation VI and Bank, so it would be nothing new to GameFreak and Nintendo. Honestly, it would only be a minor inconvenience that would only affect a few - Nintendo didn't bother putting multiplayer into the GBA VC port of Mario Kart: Super Circuit and the like either.

 

[Zigzag991]

I doubt it would happen, but it'd sure be cool.