Prices are too high and they need to just unload them all at once. People will keep coming back to the well regardless. No one is going to buy a Wii U based on these releases so doing it over time doesn't make sense. They can't replace the need for an actual, new game release.. they're supplements. Put up 20-50 games at once. People will buy them and/or play them on their own time.
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NA : Virtual Console line-up for April (GBA games + SMB3 finally coming)
- Thread starter L~A
- Start date
Prices are too high and they need to just unload them all at once. People will keep coming back to the well regardless. No one is going to buy a Wii U based on these releases so doing it over time doesn't make sense. They can't replace the need for an actual, new game release.. they're supplements. Put up 20-50 games at once. People will buy them and/or play them on their own time.
I haven't had a chance to play many of these due to only having a GBA SP for a short time before it "vanished" so looking forward to it.
As for pricing, I don't find it bad, but I do think folks should ask more for flex pricing. That does seem a bit more reasonable especially since time and distance has shown some of these games don't hold up and pretty sure which ones Nintendo knows
As for pricing, I don't find it bad, but I do think folks should ask more for flex pricing. That does seem a bit more reasonable especially since time and distance has shown some of these games don't hold up and pretty sure which ones Nintendo knows
Why wouldn't you want the superior game?
Why not have both
TheFLYINGManga_Ka
Member
I think prices are fair. I expected a lot more, like $10-14 range, seeing how GB/GBC games are $5-7.
LegendofLex
Member
Probably not.
But the fact of the matter is that the return of 2D Mario was scoffed at by many game journalists for being too outdated (see: retro) to compete as a AAA title, and accepted (or at least seen) by consumers as a return to form (see: return to retro roots).
"Retro/classic gaming" is the Mario brand - at least the 2D Mario brand that sells gangbusters. NSMB sells today for the same reason that the old SMB games still sell today. This probably explains why people who bought Wii - a system whose main controllers were specifically designed around NES/SNES aesthetics - also often bought a bunch of VC games and a bunch of NES/SNES sequels (while not buying the N64/GC type games).
That's not quite true. Every Wii VC game is fully transferrable and playable on Wii U free of charge. You can update to the native Wii U version if you want for only $1 to $1.50 and that adds a bunch of new options (Off TV play, button config, save states, Miiverse, browser suspend) but you can play all your Wii VC games on Wii U without paying anything.
I think the lack of cross-buy or even a cross-discount on 3DS is problematic though since they're starting to share VC platforms like NES and TG16. It's something Nintendo really needs to address imo.
It's worth noting not all PSN retro games have cross-buy either though, like NeoGeo for example.
Seriously. Complaining about Nintendo's VC pricing strategy overall is fine, but I don't know how anyone expected GBA to be less than the $7-8 range we got.
Zen_Arcade
Banned
They sell because they're good games and have a reputation. The game play and graphics were both updated. If NSMB is a retro game then pretty much any game released from a game series that started in the 80s is a retro game.
Just because some ass clown game journalists didn't think people would buy a new 2D Mario doesn't mean the NSMB games are retro games.
Early on I would say Virtual Console was definitely a selling point for Wii. There was a ton of releases and really nothing else like it at the time on consoles.
The Famicom Mini (NES Classics) line also moved a surprising amount of GBA hardware and software. I believe it was even highlighted as doing so way back in Nintendo's financial results and it's pretty easy to see the interest here is what led to NSMB's development. Classic console ports and remakes have always been a big driver for Nintendo handhelds though.
Why shouldn't you pay? It takes additional investment to add these features and retest emulation to meet Nintendo's higher standards for VC. Plus $1 is like nothing.
What option upgrades do PS Classics offer between systems? I wasn't aware of any besides the inherent system wide stuff like resolution bumps?
m.i.s.
Banned
I wasn't referring to you but a certain contingent of fans that seem to come across as Nintendo apologists. ie they appear to defend Nintendo no matter what.
In responding to Chill Penguin, I was simply making the point that Nintendo are releasing these games on Wii U [and not 3DS] to shore up the sparse Wii U library because they know they'll get a much better response from game starved fans.
I personally wouldn't buy any of these games. But then, I've got an AGS-101 GBA SP with all the games I want. It's just a personal thing. I give the Nintendo game designers a certain kind of patronage by buying and circulating games in the second hand market, and Nintendo "the corporation" doesn't get anything.
Zen_Arcade
Banned
The portable ones I can understand. They're taking your favorite games and adding the fact that you can take them anywhere. I can see how that moves systems.sörine;105883634 said:
I don't buy the fact that people bought a Wii because of the VC. I believe that a lot of people bought VC games, but I dont believe that people saw Donkey Kong was coming on VC and will say that it was a deciding factor on their console purchase. There was a Zelda game, Wii Sports pack in, and a reasonable price that lured people into getting a Wii.
sörine;105884126 said:
Because, I expect the ability to run games I've already purchased to be part of the cost of a console. I don't expect to have to pay to "run them slightly better".
I can't speak for the PS1 or PSP much, but for the Vita it offers button remapping and several different screen options.
Maybe the other systems included the cost in their $50 a year online fees.
Where the hell are you even coming from with that? That's not needed on the Vita nor the PS4, and Xbone doesn't have backwards compatibility.
Well that explains why there's no upgrade fee then.
You're making a statement on both the quality of something vs. something else, which is completely and utterly relative.
It's not that baffling: some people actually value certain games more than others and a direct comparison is invalid.
On Wii U, perhaps. They sold more than sufficiently on Wii.
The miserable amount of sales issue won't go away until Wii U is in more homes. As a service, its sales are in direct proportion to hardware sales and are no longer system-selling features; that ship set sail with Wii.
I haven't even brought up the Xbone, I've been referring to PS4 and Steam mostly. But alrighty.
I would too. My DSLite was basically an Advance Wars machine for long periods of time. I'd much rather have them on 3DS than WiiU.
LegendofLex
Member
By that logic, are Super Mario 64 and/or Super Mario Galaxy worse games with worse reputations?
In that case, 2014 would have been a great time to start releasing GBA VC games on 3DS.
And Jan 2013 (long before development dried up) wasn't really the best time to announce the GBA VC for Wii U.
Just saying.
Zen_Arcade
Banned
He wasn't referring to quality. He was referring to the fact that these companies are obviously pricing out their products based on what console they came out on and that SNES games cost more then PS1 games, and are almost equal to PS2 games.
Q
qizah
Unconfirmed Member
I don't get having GBA games for Wii U but not 3DS but ok.
And GBA is a handheld, so making comparative statements from console game pricing is also relative and a flawed argument point, leading a reader to think handheld games are somehow of less value to the individual making the statement.
LegendofLex
Member
It's going to suck a lot less once people realize Nintendo will have to do basically no redevelopment work to get these games to work on their future consoles and handhelds. (Whereas pretty much anything built for 3DS will have to be re-engineered all over again.)
Zen_Arcade
Banned
No? Just because a game doesn't sell as well doesn't mean it has a bad reputation. It just means people don't have as much of an interest in them.
My point was that people played 2D Mario games, enjoyed them and liked the idea of an updated version of them. But like every other example I've given you a game isn't retro just because you can compare it to a retro game. That doesn't make any sense. A lot of people bought SFIV because they know the Street Fighter name is usually quality and they remember playing old Street Fighter games. None of that means SFIV is a retro game.
Even if you don't compare it to the handheld prices Nintendo still has a worse pricing structure then Sony.
As far as your handheld point., I think the industry does that well enough by lowering the prices of handheld games comparatively to console games at the time of release.
Zen_Arcade
Banned
DP. My bad.
LegendofLex
Member
Why don't people have as much of an interest in 3D Mario vs. 2D Mario? Or, to put it another way, why do they buy the games that resemble games from 20-30 years ago, and not the more "modern"-styled 3D platformers?
It's not like Street Fighter, where they're just buying the name because the name means quality. (Otherwise, why the clear divide between 2D & 3D?)
What is it about the 2D Mario "brand" that distinguishes it from the 3D Mario "brand"? Is it that it is more familiar? Is it that it is more accessible (i.e. less complex)? In either of these cases, you'd basically be admitting that it's because 2D Mario adheres to retro design standards, which are definitely distinct from modern design standards. There's still a very obvious gap between NSMB and Super Mario 3D World, despite the latter's desperate attempts at being like the former.
outunderthestars
Banned
So your argument is that we should trust Nintendo to create a solution that their competitors have had for almost seven years?
I personally don't have that kind of faith in the company.
LegendofLex
Member
None of Nintendo's competitors have ever had a single hardware/software architecture that's shared between dedicated video game console and handheld devices. Nor have they announced any such thing.
Zen_Arcade
Banned
Nostalgia? They find the 3D game play to be too confusing? It could be a number of things, either way none of those things makes NSMB a retro game.
And 2D game play is not adhering to retro design standards. Retro doesn't even have a standard.
And there were also a ton of NES, SNES, Genesis, TG16 games and even a N64 title around launch. Core gamers were psyched about downloading Alien Crush, Castlevania IV or Gunstar Heroes and lots of casuals were interested picking up SMB1, Zelda 1 or Sonic 1. You should take a look at the archived gaf threads, there was palpable excitement and even people buying a Wii specifically for VC. Even if not the main selling point it was still a selling point for many too, myself included.
Well you're in luck, you can already run all your Wii VC free of charge on your Wii U. And they arguably run better in Wii mode sadly.
Button config and screen options are inherent features in Vita for PSP backwards compatibility afaik, I don't believe they're PS Classics specific though and if PSP had similar options they wouldn't be upgrades either really.
LegendofLex
Member
Retro - adjective
1.
imitative of a style, fashion, or design from the recent past.
"retro 60s fashions"
NSMB is the very textbook definition of retro.
sörine;105888806 said:
Man, those were happy, exciting days. Nintendo was just killing it back then - firing on all cylinders, everything they touched turning to gold. And yeah, I can remember people saying they were buying the system just for VC. VC came out with guns blazing, and we had every reason to believe Nintendo had made a huge commitment to making the Wii the ultimate repository of video gaming. Judging by the amount of games that were released, and continued to be released (like, every Bonk game?), people were making money - lots of money, considering how little investment was required.
At some point, Nintendo decided it just wasn't worth it to them. Maybe some suit decided too much money was being spent on old games instead of new games. Who knows.
graywolf323
Member
I'd be tempted if $8 got the games on both Wii U and 3DS (also if there was a proper account system)
akidnamededdy
Banned
Complaining about eight bucks...if the age of these games is the sticking point for you people, PSOne Classics go for between 6 and 10 bucks on PSN and those games are even older. But whatever, I'm in for Superstar Saga day one
LegendofLex
Member
I suspect the problem is that they were struggling to get games out on Wii U (and even 3DS) and had to put the VC on the back burner.
Not Spaceghost
Spaceghost
8 bucks for metroid fusion?
Considering most second hand carts go for 20+ I'm down.
Considering most second hand carts go for 20+ I'm down.
C.Olimar788
Member
I'll probably grab Advance Wars and Golden Sun at some point, never got to play those games on the GBA when they came out.
Why are people surprised at the prices? Yes they are steep, but how could you expect less? SNES games are $8 on the VC, why would GBA games be any cheaper?
Why are people surprised at the prices? Yes they are steep, but how could you expect less? SNES games are $8 on the VC, why would GBA games be any cheaper?
fredrancour
Member
people don't like snes game prices either and this thread gave people an outlet for their frustrations with the vc service.
Miles Quaritch
Member
Sigh...where in the hell are the N64 games?