Virtual Console hits 4.7 million downloads

Wii News | Almost 100 games available, top games listed inside.

Nintendo has announced in the US that 4.7 million Virtual Console games have been downloaded since the launch of the Wii. It was also announced that the service, at the six-month mark, will have its 100th game released in the US next Monday - which for them will be Zelda II, a game PAL gamers have had access to since February 9. PAL gamers currently have 96 games to choose from (although to access the 22 Turbografix games, Australians must have their system set to Europe), so it's possible that the 100 game mark will be hit by next Friday in PAL regions.

Nintendo's George Harrison said, "With an Internet connection rate reaching 40 per cent, Wii owners have more options than ever to find the kinds of games they love to play. Beyond the Wii Shop Channel, all types of people are getting connected and checking out the information and entertainment options available on the Wii Menu. Whether voting, creating a Mii or just checking the weather, everyone has a favorite channel."

No specific Numbers were mentioned, but Nintendo has released the top five selling games on the service:

1) Super Mario Bros (NES)
2) Super Mario 64 (N64)
3) Mario Kart 64 (N64)
4) Super Mario World (SNES)
5) The Legend of Zelda (NES)

It seems that between the 10 million-selling New Super Mario Bros and these figures, Mario is back in fashion.

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34 Comments

TheAnswer

4 years ago

I'm sure 2gb is the biggest SD Card you can get atm

ugh the boot

4 years ago

2gb it is then. I'm gonna go across the road and ask cameras for one.

Edit: Haha I got a 2gig one for free aswell!! Man that's awesome! I'm gonna copy all my VC games onto that and just use that as my VC gamecard and leave my Wii memory free except for the 1 or 2 VC titles I play most.

David

4 years ago

ugh the boot wrote

Also am I the only one worrying about whether or not the space on the Wii will be sufficient much longer? In any case I just need to buy an extra big SD card and just leave it in my Wii, that might fix the problem cuz I can always just copy/delete/rearrange the games

There's a strong rumour of a USB hard drive coming out soon, so I'd hold off until you actually need the extra space. You can always re-download any games you delete.

But yeah, the lack of space is certainly a major problem IMO. Some people have already filled the space (after only 6 months!) and when later Neo Geo games come out they'll each fill the memory by themselves. And while a hard drive would be good, it would spoil the 'all in one' look of the system.

realitybites

4 years ago

Hard for me to comment as I don't own a Wii (and never likely too).

But judging by the content announced it seems to me that mostly Nintando is benefiting as the top 5 games are their franchises. How does this leave 3rd party suppliers feeling?

4.7 million downloads would also suggest with over 6.5 million Wiis that the majority of VC downloaders are probably Nintendo diehards.

Issues I see for casual gamers is most VC games don't take advantage of the Wii remote, most if not all are not online multiplayer and some games need the classic controller (a wired product) to be truly useful.

I'm sure Nintendo is making good profits and as an organisation that is always a good thing.

doofus

4 years ago

realitybites wrote

4.7 million downloads would also suggest with over 6.5 million Wiis that the majority of VC downloaders are probably Nintendo diehards.

How do you come to that conclusion?

realitybites wrote

Issues I see for casual gamers is most VC games don't take advantage of the Wii remote

None - the whole point of Virtual Console (at this stage) is to emulate older consoles.

realitybites wrote

most if not all are not online multiplayer

Again, none for the above reasons.

realitybites wrote

some games need the classic controller (a wired product) to be truly useful.

It's only wired in that it plugs into the remote, not the console itself. So you can sit back on the lounge and place the remote by your side.

ObsoletE

4 years ago

TheAnswer wrote

I'm sure 2gb is the biggest SD Card you can get atm

4GB cards are fairly readily available here now, and i -think- there are 8GB cards available overseas.

there's also the SDHC format, which goes up to 64GB, but i don't know if these are compatible with the Wii. SD and SDHC are physically the same (so it'll fit in the slot), but the header coding is non-SD-compliant, like CD-Extra isn't Red-book compliant, meaning depending on the strictness of the Wii's coding, they mightn't work.

---
anyone else confused as to why they're celebrating such a random number? why not wait 300,000 downloads and celebrate 5 million DLs?

admeister

4 years ago

ObsoletE wrote

TheAnswer wrote

I'm sure 2gb is the biggest SD Card you can get atm

4GB cards are fairly readily available here now, and i -think- there are 8GB cards available overseas.

You speak the truth, the capacity is always increasing, and SDHC could be the next step forward (if people start buying it in large quantities). They're acheiving quite an impressive capacity, 64GB beats a dual layer Blu-Ray disc (50GB)!

ObsoletE wrote

anyone else confused as to why they're celebrating such a random number? why not wait 300,000 downloads and celebrate 5 million DLs?

Good point there, I hadn't really paid attention to that fact, but it does seem strange. I guess they were just bored, and figured they'd show off a little.

Would be more impressive at 5 million though.

Crestfallen

4 years ago

I think the only reason they chose to announce 4.7 million sales is because they needed the current number to announce at the conference.

If they could have waited then they probably would have.

ObsoletE

4 years ago

admeister wrote

ObsoletE wrote

TheAnswer wrote

I'm sure 2gb is the biggest SD Card you can get atm

4GB cards are fairly readily available here now, and i -think- there are 8GB cards available overseas.

well, MMC, Memory Stick and Compact Flash cards all have a theoretical capacity of 128GB+, so i wouldn't rule those out of the memory card race just yet. (SDHC is probably also in this bunch, i'd guess.)

whether any of them will actually achieve this while remaining stable/reliable anytime soon, is another matter entirely.

with SDHC though, the problem is it isn't a compliant format, whereas the others are, so not all devices that accept SD will accept the full capacity of SDHC, despite being physically the same. i couldn't find any conclusive statement that SDHC is, or isn't compatible with the Wii, though most seem to state it'll only support 4GB cards maximum too. (which i think is the compliancy maximum for standard SD cards anyway.)

(not just Wii either, i couldn't find anywhere that said conclusively whether the PS3 would or wouldn't support SDHC)

LeonJ

4 years ago

David wrote

Huh? I'd agree some of the other games are overpriced (Mega Drive in particular), but the N64 games ARE enhanced - better framerates, resolution, image filtering and component colour. Those games in particular are the absolute cheapest way you can get them, as they all usually go for $20+ on ebay.

If you don't like the price for any game, don't buy it. I haven't bought many.

I disagree. It's hardly enhanced. Last time I checked apart from emulation, they are copy->paste ROM jobs. The OoT VC for PAL is terrible. I, like many, expected VC games to run better, smoother and overall be the BEST of version. I guess they might be cutting corners ie 'Hey Nintendo this is the same game you classified 10 years ago, so all cool hey, we can release it?' and hence why we aren't getting the superior NTSC games. I am highly cautious on downloading any N64 game now, as I do not want to blow $15 on a shoddy port, PAL carbon copy or not. This the 'next gen', no excuses IMO. At least on the 360 and PSN we get 'arcade code' for games. Why would anybody buy SFII or Turtles arcade on the VC?

I agree with Luke that these ports are overpriced, but to say PSN games are cheaper is hardly justified. The content is non existent and paying $8 for lemmings or Q*bert? I don't think so. Tekken is the only thing on that store which is worth considering.

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