News Article

Nintendo Responds To US Release Date Queries

Posted by Damien McFerran

Following Monday’s US Virtual Console release debacle, Nintendo has responded to enquiries about how three different publishers were issuing statements claiming that their games would be coming out on the 4th, only for Nintendo to release two entirely different games instead.

Speaking to GoNintendo, the company had this to say:


If this is indeed the case, then why are publishers telling the general public that their games will be released? Surely if Nintendo is adamant that Wii owners should only consult the Wii-kly update for the correct news, they should be telling Capcom, Hudson and SNK Playmore to keep their collective mouths shut?

It doesn’t take a genius to realize that these companies MUST be given some kind of indication from Nintendo regarding potential release dates; otherwise they surely wouldn’t mention it.

Whatever is happening, there are a lot of very annoyed people in Virtual Console land right now and Nintendo seriously needs to address this issue. Either they tell publishers to zip it, or they start being a heck of a lot more open about upcoming releases.

Nintendo of Japan is able to do this, so why not Nintendo of America?

From the web

User Comments (145)



RoninDennis said:

Maybe I missed something, but wasn't it revealed some months back that NoJ pulls the strings concerning VC releases in Europe and the Americas?



Corbs said:

Nintendo is just like Sony and Microsoft in the way that they occasionally have to flex their muscle and let the world know that they ultimately run things. It makes them feel important.



Virus said:

It's simple. Just like the CIA, FBI, and FOX, Nintendo of America has to keep everything secret or the Communists will get them. The only reason Japan is safe is because they have Godzilla whereas Americans only have this monster that goes by the wimpy name, "Cloverfield." I'm sorry, but if I were a Communist, I too would go after the country that has a monster who sounds like a pony.

And if this isn't a sign that I need sleep, I don't know what is.



WoRMaSTeR said:

They sure seem to mess up everything. No matter - if they ever release Super Mario RPG everything will be forgotten and forgiven.



Dazza said:

What a farce! OK so Capcom leaked the date in a blog post (which they have since removed!), and Hudson as a date in a list in their VC site, but SNK Playmore trusted NoA enough to do a full press release:

SAMURAI SHODOWN II Coming to Wii Virtual Console

Live by the Sword...Die by the Blade!



SAMURAI SHODOWN II will be available for Wii Virtual Console for only 900 Wii Points and has been rated “T” for Teen by the ESRB.



What on earth are NoA playing at? This really must be an embarrassment for the good people at SNK!



Starwolf_UK said:

The real questions coming from this is should be why tell anyone when the games are out. Just screw the press who find out less than a whole three days in advance, who cares that their small website won't have time to track down, buy and review the game in three days...

So basically Nintendo dodged the question; nice one



Link79 said:

We already knew this. They aren't telling us anything we didn't already know. Some statement. That's just like saying... Sorry you ain't gettin the games you wanted. We run the show here. So instead they give us yet another week of ho hum games. They are just avoiding the issue.



Diebythesword said:

you live by the die by the sword!

they even did a press release for for samurai showdown 2......i wasnt going to get it anyway, but what a bunch of crap. This week was good to me though, Splatterhouse 2 and Wild West Guns!!!!!!!!!!



DarkLloyd said:

hmmmm as expected i sense the dark side of the force in nintendo. the force is strong with them



aphexbr said:

An even better question would be why do they obscure future release dates to such a degree. We're hardly talking about software that has to be created here - with a few exceptions, they're emulating games that already exist. Testing might take a while, but why can't they publish release schedules for the next month or 2? They must know what their own schedule is, so why not share it?

The reason people are so pissed off is not just that a release date has been broken, but they don't know if there's any other decent games to look forward to...



Airola said:

"I want candy, I want candy! I want it now! No, mom, you bought the wrong kind of candy! I hate you mom!!!!"

They don't necessarily know what their own schedule is as they don't necessarily have a schedule. Maybe that's the reason there isn't going to be a list for the games that are going to be released. You know, the "variables" and all that. Who knows what kind of a bureaucracy there is in the USA in this kind of things. There could be a number of papers to write and a lot to do to get the games ready for releasing. Maybe the business things in the USA are so much tighter than in Japan that they just can't promise anything too soon.



DarkLloyd said:

you know i read on n4g site that someone (cant remember who exactly) that somehow manage to open a classic vc game file there showing it has html or something bassically what we would see in pc stuff. take smrpg for snes example theres aready a emulation for that cuz i found out from a freind who i think became desperate for this game and ended up getting other games he didnt have on his wii so i mention a few titles kool ones for snes like battletoad double dragon. anyways as i was saying if you could copy and apply the files into a new one only changing the game and if your a good programmer you could probably fix the control codes and the way it appears on wii menu then its possible and probably bet everyone will say screw you nintendo we will get all of the best at once. if encryption is what make it work on a specific console then i wonder if all games on specific console has the same if yes then there may be high probability it may work.



David77 said:

Amazing. They don't care about you. They know their fanbase are fanboys, so they not going to change anything. They continue to sell crap on wiiware, on VC and in retail. I know the crap are not from Ninetendo but they choose to sell it. I Never see a company showing so little respect fot its costumers. They want you to buy spogs racing,major league eating and never release what people really want: Super Mario Kart, Super Mario RPG, Ys. It's almost 2 years since the relaese of the Wii. Nothing explain this nonsense.
They're not going to explain anything. We are just costumers, we don't understand. .



worrybomb said:

Before beating this already dead horse, I just find it very strange that these third-party publishers would be promoting a release date without having some kind of confirmation from somebody at Nintendo. They could've been promoting crap games for release and I still would've had cause for concern.

And that statement is not even an apology. It's more like they are cleaning up their own mess. I just hope this is the last time something like this happens because this is a terrible way to establish relationships with third-party publishers.



RoninDennis said:

I would've expected that VC reviews has 'a guy' for this sort of situations. You know, a guy who goes over there to sort things out, makes some heads ring, crack open a few skulls with a crowbar, clip some fingers with a cigar cutter, and punch some o' them suckas in the mouth.

I think Iwata needs to wake up with his daughter's pony's head in his bed to show him we mean business. C'mon, VCR, if you don't stick up for us guys, who will? (echo: who will, who will, who...)



Jon2 said:

This only shows that Nintendo has no respect for third party publishers/developers and no respect at all for their customers. If only Nintendo could get some competition in this area. Sadly MS and Sony only wants you to rent movies on their consoles.



Rawk_Hawk said:

For me it's not really about the games because I thought yesterday was a solid update. It's the misleading press releases and the blame has to be put on Nintendo. It's not a website, it's not publishers, but it is Nintendo who needs to address this. They need to fix their line of communication. Maybe this incident will push them into using a montly release schedule like NOJ.



Terra said:

I reckon that Nintendo should let the 3rd party publishers have more say in the VC releases. Whether that'll happen of course is another thing



Starwolf_UK said:

they even did a press release for for samurai showdown 2
Of course. Nintendo expects publishers to market and promote their games...while they go and change the goalposts so that Wild West Guns doesn't get overlooked...would have been easier to delay Wild West Guns a week

Just to clean up this analogy "Mom" said the child could have the kind of candy the child asked for. On Monday when the wrong candy was introduced we find ourt Dad (Nintendo) buys the Candy and they are the only reliable source as to what candy will be bought...



Johnnytheboy said:

Flexin' power. All there is to it girls and boys. At least Nintendo now knows how much we look forward to certain games. Maybe they have learned that feeding us mediocre games makes us angry.



Objection said:

Wait, its not April?? Uh oh...Anyway, this was not unexpected. It seemed like way too good a week to be true, though the one we got was OK.



Ian_Daemon said:

"Nintendo has no respect for third party publishers/developers and no respect at all for their customers"

@Jon: Saddening, but accurate.

(I should clarify that my comments are strictly concerning Nintendo of America.)



Ginta said:

On a nicer note, let's all spam their email saying "YOU SUCK. GIVE ME YS SAMURAI SHOWDOWN AND MEGA MAN". If that doesn't work, then we'll keep on spamming until they have a press release telling us to stop.



wii-c-kid said:







Rawk_Hawk said:

I really get the impression that there is one person at Nintendo spilling these release dates to publishers when they are not supposed too. That's where Nintendo needs to deal with this internally. Which may be happening too.



MyAnonBox said:

I hate to say it, but this is just one more push for me to go down the dark path of emulation. This muscle flexing from NoA and favoritism from Nintendo in general of their home market over the world is just getting disgusting.



dark_moogle said:


1000 points for that description (and much like Whose Line, my points are meaningless)



Ghouls_n_Ghosts said:

@ 17. worrybomb


I agree. Hell, I wouldn't be surprised if companies stop adding their games to the vc because of this crap, but who knows how much money they make off of each download.



DarkLloyd said:

well if i knew SNK were going to release king of fighters 94 to 98 i think. i would had not gotten 94 on vc. but with all thats been going on i can see why snk wanted to rerelease thier damn good games aready. and there was this neo geo collection for wii thats aready out that had 94 in it meaning id be buying 94 2 more times again know what i mean i know a few of you would agree. the best part about companies rereleasing classics on a disc is that it is actually cheaper then buying on vc. how you ask well 16 neo games for 29.99 plus tax is 33.88 dollars buying separate is 9 dollars each which in total of 16 games added together is holy crap 144 dollars man better rescearch to see if they will rerelease on disc first or you will spend more money on vc then you do with discs games. wat a rip off



Chipmunk777 said:

It's so weird! Why are they so secretive about the release dates??

At any rate, I did download Sonic and Fantasy Zone for the master system yesterday and both are excellent.



Terra said:

Online service isn't exactly Nintendo's strong point, the VC is an example of this. Hopefully,VC stuff like licensing and Rare will be resolved in the future. There is still a long way to go. They also need more support for consoles like the SMS and the N64, as those catalogues are lacking badly. I know why for the SMS and N64 titles will be harder but surely, it can't be that hard to get more games up regularly. SNES support has also been lacking recently, as well as TG16. They need to support these systems more. I know one SNES game that i'd jump for joy over if it was released on here.

@ MyAnonBox
I've been thinking towards that path as well, particularly for SMRPG, Earthbound, the usual stuff. The only time i've ever done emulation was for Star Fox 2 and a private translation my friend did of Radiant Silvergun. Currently, only 4 copies exist of that particular translation and i have one. He's also working on Fire Emblem: Thracia 776 after it was released on the VC in Japan.



Rapadash6 said:

In the case of Hudson, I don't understand why, all of a sudden, they can't meet the release dates posted on thier company site anymore. They consistantly did it through out 2007 with no problems, so why can't Nintendo allow them to do it like that now? What the hell has changed sinse then, exactly?

It seems so unreasonable to me that Nintendo has to have such a tight grip on what's released when. I just don't understand the logic behind all the cloak and dagger. Seriously, we have to go through rubix cube like proportions to get only vague hints as to what's coming out soon. I'm getting a little tired of it myself.

Point is Nintendo should be paying attention to the situation but they are so caught up in thier "mass market" BS that they could care less about what us retro gamers want. We are yesterday's news, sadly.



Cthuloops said:

Why can't Nintendo just say like "So and so games are to be released this week and next week it will be these games." Why do they have to be so secretive about everything? And if a game is delayed for whatever reason, can't they just say it will be and explain why? Why is that so difficult!?



DEMON212 said:

@ Dazza #6.

And the worrying thing is, SNK could now start abandoning the VC because of this embarrasment.

Although I don't think anyone out there blames SNK, Hudson or CAPCOM, I think they're all blaming Ninty.

And with good reaon too.



RoninDennis said:

Because, as some folks pointed out, people will stay away from certain games and save their money for the sequel(s). But in the end, this is Nintendo. If they'd lose money buy the bucketloads they'd still follow their idiosyncratic policies. I'm just like the dog under the table, waiting for the crumbs* to fall.

It would certainly be graceful if pricing was not fixed per console, but per game. I think it wouldn't be unreasonable, and for some publishers not unprofitable, to introduce temporary or permanent VC discounts. But few would buy Art of Fighting 1 when AoF 2 is readily available. However, the group of completists might grow when 'inferior' prequels get knocked down a few regionally bound monetary units.

*In this case not divine blessings, but the occassional NES/SNES/TG-16 game that I like. Well, you coulda interpret them as divine blessings, sorta.



Dazza said:

Even big boys like WIRED have picked up on this. I hope someone at NoA HQ gets a slap around the ear by the Reggienator for this now!



Cocoa_Man5 said:

on a different note the japan virtual console update releases are
Gakkou de atta kowai hanashi
sonic the hedgehog
national highschool baseball championship
Dragon Saber
5 virtual console games and that's not even including wiiware!!
No wonder japan has over 100 more games than North America and Europe.



Ginta said:

Japan is favored by the Japanese company.

Who's up for complaining non-stop to Nintendo?!



wii-c-kid said:






badsmoothie said:

I must have downloaded Y's and Mega Man before they were yanked from the download page. Ha! Just kiddin.



Bahamut_ZERO said:

On April 1st we go on and see SMRPG, SMK, and FFVI, we download all3 of em', but they turn out to be MLEII, SporgsII, andthe channel "LOLZ! WE GOT U!"



FunkMasterRitter said:

I Remember seeing a while back an article explaining why Nintendo doesn't want us to know what gets released. (forget where though). My guess is these companies broke the rules of letting the public know there games were coming, and nintendo retaliated.



classicmike said:

@Cocoa Man5: The only reason Japan has more than 100 games over NoA and NoE is because, just like Ginta said, the company is a Japanese company, so Japan is going to get better games first before us.
Also, I think the people to blame are SNK, Hudson, and Capcom for saying that their games were coming out monday without having Nintendo making it an offical statement. So overall, SNK, Hudson, and Capcom are to blame, not Nintendo.



Rexy said:

Mike got it right on the money. Sure, you guys didn't get what you wanted on Monday. But the fact that you still saw the two released titles as utter bullcrap (which Sonic 1 SMS shouldn't be in the first place), not to mention the blaming on Nintendo for deciding what games to release, still baffles me on the rash posting here.

I do agree however that the situation has become a little bit dire concerning Nintendo's releases. But honestly, do you really think that Sony or Microsoft could do any better? If anything, Sony's losing their developers' support faster as evidenced with E3. And do either of the other two companies get downloadable games on a frequent basis too?

No matter how dire the situation is, I'm still siding with Nintendo. There's still currently nothing provided by the other two competing home consoles to make them worthy to obtain at this moment in time.



Kidpit said:

on this whole abandoning the VC thing, this is how I see it.

SNK: They most likely will and I think Nintendo is pushing for it. I think Nintendo feels that, if SNK is just going put all the games they want to put up on the VC on a disc, then it's pointless for them to be on the service in the first place. From a wii owners stand point it would be better to by these "collection" games in order to save memory and money or if you can never get your Wii to connect online. So if they leave, it shoudn't be a big deal.

Hudson: maybe they leave, maybe they don't. It's kinda up in the air. Hopefully they stay around to release Rondo of Blood, Star Pariodier (is that even close to how it's spelled?) and Ys.

Capcom:HA! the likelyhood of them leaving The VC is the same as Paris Hilton being called a good role model for little girls. Honestly if Nintendo didn't drop Capcom for misleading them (saying Megaman 9 was a Wiiware exclusive, as well Viewtiful Joe and Resident Evil 4 were Gamecube exclusives), I think Capcom could shrug this off and continue to work with them.



Mike1 said:

Plain and simple. Nintendo has no clue how to run an online service. It's just as stupid as not going with CD's for the N64 era.



Airola said:


Did I understood you right? You are telling that Nintendo has no clue how to run an online service just because the games they are releasing several times a week aren't the games you want and because they release different games than what the developers are saying?

Logic at it's finest.

(and although you don't like it how they didn't release Ys and Mega Man I know there are lots and lots of people who are very happy that they got the SMS Sonic and Splatterhouse 2. I doubt those guys and gals are thinking that Nintendo don't know how to run the service.)



Cocoa_Man5 said:

i know the fact of how japan has 100 more games than north america and europe, but i'm also saying that even with wiiware japan still gets 3-5 games a week, where as for north america and europe the inclusion of wiiware hindered VC releases where it hasn't with japan. we should at least be getting 3 or more games a week with or without wiiware.

EDIT: but yeah you guys/girls are right that the difference comes from it being a japanese company releasing all those japanese exclusives and having no translation issues.



sephiroth79 said:

This really sucks, I was looking forward to Ys and SSII. The game gear sonic was ok, and Splatterhouse is nothing exciting. Oh well, hopefully next week.



Rawk_Hawk said:

Well I would not get too worried.( a little worry is OK) Mega Man, SS2 and Y's will end coming out this month for sure. I think companies will stay on board with the VC, but they will stop doing early press releases. Which may be a good thing for the time being.

And to Bahamut Zero- let us never discuss the idea of Spogs racing 2 or MLE 2. Shovelware gives me nightmares or "shovelmares"

Rapadash- good article, I think there are some good theories in there



Surgical_Precision said:

Sephiroth79 it's not the GG version it's the SMS...

BIG difference... The screen to be exact... There's more of it!

And the difficulty is not toned down like it was with the GG port ether... (I think they had to because of the screen size)

So the latter levels (mostly the boss fights) are much more challenging with this one then they where on the GG!



andy836 said:

i'm looking forward to SS2 becuase i dont want to get the anthology pack, if number 2 is the best then i'll just get the best.



CanisWolfred said:


Interesting article, most of it makes sense, too. Although if it is true, and they were trying to "force the release", then I better not get my hopes up for next week.


Same here, I don't see the point of spending $30 if essential only one game is worth playing.



Mike1 said:

They don't know how to run a proper online service dude. The Wii friend codes are BS. Secondly, I didn't say the games that came out are garbage, I think that Nintendo are morons because they don't cater to all genres and systems. We haven't gotten any SNES and N64 games in months. A little variety is all that is needed each week.

Check your holier than thou attitude at the door! Me and many others on this site have every right to complain if we don't like the specific games that you do. The VC has sucked this year. That is my opinion and I have every right to think that even if you don't.



Surgical_Precision said:


Thanks... That was a interesting read... Alot of since making in it...

And also @ andy836 & Mickeymac

Can't argue with that logic... Though that said... There are a few games I'm getting for VC that I know I could easily find elsewhere for less, they are the four/three (depending on how you look at it) main MD Sonic games and that's only because I need them to be in 480p in order to work with my display...

I'm still mad as all hell that none of the Neogeo games have been updated to work in 480p yet...

Yet another reason I should have not bothered to get KoF94... >_<



sephiroth79 said:

@ surgical precision

That's cool. I was really hoping for Ys though...I love the old turn-based role playing/zelda/metroid/action type games, and I really couldn't get into neutopia or neutopia 2. They seem cool, just didn't appeal to me for some reason.

I hope the vc eventually releases (short list)
-secret of mana
-secret of evermore
-chrono trigger
-FF II and III (4 and 6 in japan I think)
-Ogre Battle & Ogre Battle 64
-Super Mario RPG
-Dragon Warrior (nes)
-FF1 (nes)



Rapadash6 said:

Still waiting for:
-Super Mario RPG (Duh!)
-Castlevania III, Bloodlines and Rondo of Blood
-Mega Man 1 through 7, Mega Man X
-Yoshi's Island
-Blaster Master
-Super Smash Bros.
-Majora's Mask

When the hell are ANY of these damn games coming?!



Atlantis1982 said:

Very interesting article about 'forcing Nintendo' into releases, and quite frankly if that were to be true I wouldn't blame the third parties.



Jolted85 said:

This is really starting to anger me, I mean Japan gets their release dates every month, and on the main page of the shop channel they find out what games they can expect, however Nintendo of America's way of doing it is "hey let's give the game an ESRB rating and maybe a release date just to get them excited, and at the last moment, we'll change it and put something out they dont want"; if Japan can get all their releases done for the whole month, why not everyone else?

I'm kinda getting tired of Japan getting all the release dates, whereas to people in the rest of the world we have to wait to see what we get, and now I know not to trust release dates anymore if Nintendo does this stuff.



animagnum said:

I wrote Nintendo yesterday to ask about this myself, and I basically got the same response. I've never e-mailed them before and I was really surprised to get a personal response from one of their employees.



FunkMasterRitter said:




Airola said:

Ok, fair enough.
You have the right to complain and I have the right to complain about you complaining

Anyway, the style people are complaining is not very fair. People are making a way too big deal of it and jumping into conclusions. I just can't understand why there's so much hate for a game company let alone for a certain person in that company.

And what's my opinion on the recent releases? I haven't bought a "new" game since Toki Tori and Impossible Mission were released. There just haven't been anything interesting for me. I've bought some older releases (The fantastic Mario's Super Picross and Comix Zone) that I've thought would be interesting enough for me to buy. There are still many games I could buy if I really really want something but right now there are only two games I'm 99% sure I'm going to buy when they get released: Mega Man 9 and Jumpman. In the meantime I'm checking out what is released in the Europe and in the USA. For me, it's always fun to read about different games and see people's opinions about them and I'm always sure that at least some people in the world are happy that Nintendo released them (even if the games are the crappy ones). I'm enjoying the fact that the amount of available games are growing higher and higher (yeah, quantity over quality )

I do wish that there would be more variety in the platforms and genres of the released games each week. You are right about the need of variety. Still, I don't see that being a big issue (which you of course are entitled to do if you feel like it).

I'll grab my holy coat at the door and get back on my high horse and ride away ahead to the future adventures



Adamant said:

The fact is, there simply aren't an equal amount of games in each respective genre on the supported platforms. It's completely impossible to release as many FPS games as 2D platformers.



Cocoa_Man5 said:

yeah i remember hearing that Nintendo would release the big hit VC titles when there is a drought in wii games.



Rexy said:

@Mike: There's a reason for friend codes, and that is for online protection purposes. Without them, pretty much anyone can stalk your Wii or your gaming habits, and they'd screw up your game records before you know it. It's like welcoming everyone into your village in Animal Crossing with open arms - you wouldn't want to do that to wandering vandals, wouldn't you?



y2josh said:

@ Cocao Man5

I heard that to, and it looks like whoever said that or if it came from the mouths of Nintendo then they were lying



timp29 said:

Nintendo needs to get RARE on board, but what comany would want to sign up with nintendo when they slap other game companies in the face like this?



Surgical_Precision said:


Yah... Me too... I've never played any of the Ys games before, but I've mostly heard wonderful things... Really got my hopes a little to high up there on that one... >_<

Unfortunately we probably really should forget about any possibility at all of ever seeing a classic FF on VC as Squareenix has grown far to comfortable with dishing out the lot of them each console generation with newer features...

All we want is a classic in it's original form but their thinking "Why?... You like FFIV?... We make it better!... See!?..."

Chrono Trigger on the DS isn't a bad Idea though... It might have its pixels a little confused as to where they should be, but overall it promise's us all the goodness the PSone port was supposed to give us without all the load times!... (And the original SNES version thrown in as well! Though it will be missing half it's pixels)



Bahamut_ZERO said:

I gave up on Sqaure releasing FF because they milk 1-6 waaaayyyy too much (and now DQ is going remake), but I want the Mana series, Chrono Trigger, stuff like that.



Ghouls_n_Ghosts said:

@ 56. Rapadash6

Nice article. If it's true that third parties want to put pressure on Nintendo, maybe they should release them on Xbox Live Arcade and PSN. I don't know if Microsoft or Sony will allow straight rom dumps to be put up on their services, though.



ChocoDK said:

I am dissapointed with the Virtual Console this year the only good thing that happend for "me" is Harvest Moon for the SNES was released.



theberrage said:

Nintendo sucks. I sent in my wii for repairs and they sent it back to me without putting it back together. They're a sloppy business and the majority of their games are below mediocre. The Wii is such an innovative system that renewed my interest in gaming. It's a shame to see such innovation go to waste over crummy operations



Mike1 said:

Okay maybe I was a bit harsh with my comment, but I'm just sick of anytime someone states their opinion on this site, people flame them immediately. Truthfully eventhough people are pissed off over yesterdays releases, they are actually pretty good compared to some of the games we have gotten this year. The game I'm most waiting for, Mega Man 9. Bring it on!

I'm not really interested in Animal Crossing. The Gamecube version was good, but I don't really care for the sims genre.



Ricardo91 said:

@Rapadash. Very interesting article you had there. I agree with most of what it says, save for the whole "VC keeps the wii's momentum up" part. The Wii isn't exactly teeming with triple-A games at retail right now (save a few good games.) and if you ask me, Chase H.Q. and Splatterhouse 2 aren't really helping the situation.
as for your wishlist, it sounds a lot like mine, except replace the Mega Man games (since I'll just get them on those collections Capcom released.) and Super Smash Bros. (I played it, and the sequels were way better, and I don't have any nostalgia for it.) With Phantasy Star, Zombies Ate My Neighbors, DK 64, Earthbound (sorry, it had to be said.), Super Mario Kart, Goldeneye and Sonic & Knuckles. And while I'm at it, throw in some Nintendo imports for good measure. There are other games I want, but those are the main ones.

I'm still parplexed as to how Yoshi's Island isn't on there, as it's the only Mario/Yoshi platformer not on the service yet. But I'm not that worried about it, since I got the GBA port.

@Mike. There is a very good reason why the N64 stuck with the cartridge format. When Nintendo signed Sony up to make a CD add-on for SNES, they had Philips join in later on during development without Sony's approval. So, Sony got pissed off, left Nintendo behind, took the CD technology with them, and used it to create the Playstation. Because of that, Nintendo had no choice but to stick to cartridges for the N64. I guess when you think about it though, it was kind of Nintendo's fault.

As for friend codes, I hate 'em too, but they're there for a reason: To protect people's privacy in online gaming. Without them, a lot of ass people who play Animal Crossing: Wild World would have towns with no trees, and there would be a lot more hacked pokemon distributed online in Diamond/Pearl.



iLikeGamesEspecWhenH said:

I think people are overreacting. If you are seriously mad that VC Monday didn't go as expected, maybe you need to re-think your life as a whole.



PHANTOM93 said:

@ Mr. Cheez

Actually Nintendo did make a CD add on for the N64 in 2000 but it only came out in Japan and was pretty much a joke. As for the SNES CD; Nintendo went with Philips because the contract that they had with Sony gave Sony control over the games that came out on it. But Philips released CRAP like Link: The Faces of Evil When the console hit the market



Ricardo91 said:

@Phantom93. Oh ok, I didn't remember the story in it's entirety. As for the N64 add-on, you're probably talking about the N64 DD, which used "magnetic disks", which wasn't the same technology Sony was using. Nintendo abandoned it though, because it flopped commercially in Japan. Also, OoT wasn't gonna be released on it, an expansion to it was gonna be released on it, Master Quest if you must know, but since the DD flopped, it was released on GC.

As for the crap CD-i games, I know that part. While working with philips, Nintendo gave them the rights to use their most famous characters for CD-i games, which led to the spawn of those three wretched Zelda games and Hotel Mario.

Edit: Thanks for the link though. I had a good laugh over that Video.



PHANTOM93 said:

@ Mr.Cheez

Ok after further research I saw that Ocarina wasn't planning on being released for N64 DD and edited my previous comment accordingly. (actually you responded while I was editing it, damn wii browser and it's slow typing )



CanisWolfred said:

@Sepiroth79 & Rapadash6

Here's what's in the back of my mind everytime I check the Wii shop channel:

Ranger X(Genesis)
Power Rangers(Genesis)
Super Dodgeball(NES)
Mega Man 64(N64)
Revenge of Shinobi(Genesis)
Castlevania III(NES)
Famicom Wars(NES)
Samurai Shodown II(Neo Geo)

And since I'm USian, I'll mention: Final Soldier(TG-16) & Jump Man(C64).

Sad to say, I may never see some of those. And as a quick note, I'm surprised I never got into any of the RARE games. I rented both Banjo games and I don't remember having a ton of fun. I liked Donkey Kong 64, but after a while I just gave up on the single player and just played the multiplayer Deathmatch. My friend had Golden Eye, and I wasn't too impressed. I've only seen Perfect Dark, but it looked pretty good. Just felt like mentioning that.

Also got to mention, I always saw Animal Crossing as a singleplayer MMO: I loved helping out and interacting with those little animal things, and once I stopped playing it for a little while, I could boot it up again because I start thinking of all the festivals I missed and friends that left, it was too much to bear. At least, that's how I saw it.

Oh, and I was at the store yesterday, and I heard somebody come in saying that they wanted a Wii, and when the clerk gave him one, he was shocked, since people had been lining up at another store because they heard thay had 8 Wiis, which of course were sold out in minutes. I'd say the Wii's momentum is still going strong, and that's why we aren't seeing so many great games.



Danieru_Lynx said:

If only we all weren't so tempted to check online for news. We couldn't be disappointed if we didn't know what was supposedly coming, =P



CanisWolfred said:

@Danieru Lynx

Oi, tell me about it. I've tried on many occasions to stop going to places like this, but it's too damn hard! After a while I start thinking "when was game X suppose to come out?", so then I check online, thinking it will be a "get in, get out" kind of thing, but then I spot a great article on game Z, and a cool trailer on game D, and before you know it, I'm hooked again. I have tried to limit somewhat, like just going on to make lists of games to check out so I don't have to check those places as frequently, but I'm still pretty much hooked on video game information.



Adamant said:

The CD-i Zelda games aren't bad games, people. Trying playing them, for a change.



Ricardo91 said:

@Mickeymac. I'm with ya there. I'm amazed at how much time I wind up wasting on sites like this, looking at those trailers, reading info on the next game coming out, commenting on said trailer/info, ect. I try to shift my mind to something else, but I almost always wind up coming back.



Will said:

If thursdays European release does not go well, then I quit Nintendo.



theberrage said:

Bahamut ZERO -
I sent my wii into Nintendo because it wouldn't play Smash Bros Brawl (common problem I hear). It was returned all unscrewed. It was returned in worse condition than before I sent it. They're just lazy across the board. Obviously they are lacking any form of a quality control program.



CanisWolfred said:


Yeah, I heard they were pretty good, just had embarrassing cutscenes or box art, or something like that.


Sounds like forgetfulness/common human error to me. It coulda happened no matter where you took it. It's a funny story though, albeit not quite, from your point of view. I'm sure if you send it back, they would correct it the mistake. If the problem you mentioned was common, I'm sure they would have been swamped with repairs, and in situations like that, mistakes are bound to happen.



theberrage said:

It wasn't a big deal or anything and I understand mistakes happen. But a) I shouldn't have had to sent it to repairs in the first place. Why did the game work on some consoles and others not? I see a problem in quality. b) I searched on the internet to see if others had the same problem with N's repair service. The answer was yes but some people had to send their consoles back 3 times! Again, i see a problem in quality. c) The average review score of games released is lower than other consoles. Ahem, quality.



Adamant said:

@Mickeymac: Yeah, they have horrendous voice actors reading awful scripts played to absymal cartoon cutscenes that look like they were made in MS Paint. I'm not going to defend these, but the games themselves are quite good platform-adventures.
The cutscenes have been spread through Youtube and generally used to denounce th entire game, yet most complaints about them come from people who've never played them in the first place. These, of course, have already decided the games are the worst ever, so they thus complain about every other aspect they can think of. Even the graphics, which are pretty damn good for their time, and far better than anything you'd see on the SNES and Mega Drive, get labelled as awful - since they're a part of the worst game ever, and thus can't possibly be good.
The controls are a bit icky, I'll give them that, but they're functional, and the CD-i gamepad only has a D-pad and two buttons anyway, so it's not like the programmers had much choice in the matter. The CD-i controller was never designed for fast-paced adventure games with multiple moves.



alxtlvra said:

At least Nintendo even reacted with those few words telling us we are hopeless to their power disguised as a self-justification that could only satisfy few weak minded casual gamers insulting our intelligence. More than ever they owe us an APOLOGY and ACTIONS to solve the problem, not a vain, defectous and barely reasoned JUSTIFICATION.



StarDust4Ever said:

Awesome - 100th post!

Congratulations Nintendo of America, not only have you proven that your capacity to lie is only trumped by your stock-hoard of un-rereleased games, but you have made fools of your partner companies like Hudson by lying to them as well.

Stop rolling dice, as sooner or later, those dice have landed on "FAIL". Well, at least now sonic fans will be happy with this wonderful little gem, but you didn't deliver what you promised. sure, Sonic can run and chase after you till Kingdom-Come, but Megaman shoots to kill. Nintendo, consider this your warning.......

P.S. - I hope Y's puts a Hex on you




@ rapadash6
great article def makes alot of sense

nt 4 nuttin every1 but this week i thought has been a better week than almost this whole yr im jus very disappointed wit noa nt releasein da games i want 2 play nt 4 nuttin they havent given us a decent game 2 buy 4 wii so y nt put some good games out on vc dat will keep us da consumers happy until we get some good wii games 2 play i was lookin forward 2 mega man cuz it jus meant 2 me dat mega man 9 was coming soon now wats up wit dat does anybody kno?? jus release wat da consumers want instead of toyin wit us
top games im waitin 4 dat r on da list r

castlevania x
eathworm jim 1 & 2
games dat arent on da list 2 come out dat i would download
splatterhouse 3 md
yoshi island 2 snes
super punch-out snes
super mario kart snes
goldeneye n64
castlevania 3 nes
ducktales nes
tmnt 2 & 4 nes snes
duck hunt nes
cool spot snes
friday the 13th nes
lifeforce nes
bionic commando nes
dats all i can think of top of da head



CanisWolfred said:


Yes, it's on their official Site as well.


You said that already! ( Post #167)
Come on, there's no need to double post.


I don't know what you're saying, but considering there's a list of games, I'd dug up an old Christmas list and you wanted to share it with us! 1994 was a good year, wasn't it!



Ricardo91 said:

@ALDAWGZ. You know, mankind made this new thing called "Spell check". I think maybe you should try it sometime. And Yoshi's island 2 was the sequel for DS. I think you meant Super Mario World 2: Yoshi's Island.
Anyway, a lot of those games you mentioned I want too.

@Stardust. Also, in addition to the double-posting thing, you said you were the 100th commenter, but you're actually the 99th. JUST missed it.



WoRMaSTeR said:

@ 96. theberrage: Super Smash Bros. Brawl works on every console, but some older consoles needed the disc reading laser cleaned (usually the older consoles). This is due to the fact that it is the first game that uses both layers of the DVD disc and apparently the laser needs to be in good condition to be able to read the second layer.

This kind of thing happens on other consoles (games don't work before updated or crash on some consoles) all the time. I work in a game store so I know. For one Wii that need to be repaired there are 15 X-Box 360's and something like 10 PlayStation 3's (the 60 gb model particularly is crap). So if anything the Wii's quality as a reliable console is far superior to anything on the market. So you really are barking at the wrong tree this time.



CanisWolfred said:


Wow, you inadvertantly solved a dilemma I was having: do I get the 60 gig or the 80? Now I know to just keep my PS2 and go with the 80. Thanks. The other info was pretty helpful too.



Jogurt_the_Yogurt said:

SNK won't abandon the VC. They need to make money! They'll just stop scooping Nintendo with early game announcements.



Kevin said:

And if all that isn't bad enough top it all of we haven't gotten one single commodore game yet! I wanna give the commodore a try man!



theberrage said:

Wormaster- Lets just hope Nintendo doesn't open it's own medical school, people would be discharged with there guts spilling out!



Rawk_Hawk said:

@ theberrage
The medical school comment is good:) Also I have had to send my Wii in twice for repair of the disc drive. When I called in the second repair order, I don't think the customer service rep. even belived me. I felt like she was trying to get me off the phone intead of offering help. Anyway its been repaired twice and works fine now.

@ Kevin- I don't think its fair that the US does not get C64 games. If Nintendo does not plan to bring it over then give us 32x games.
Here is my VC wishlist
Super Monico GP
California Games
Pro Wrestling
Skate or Die 2
Sky Shark
Capcom's 1942
Contra or HardCorps
Super Mario Kart
Super Mario Allstars
Dracula X or bloodlines



Andrew said:

My Virtual Console wishlist begins and ends with Majora's Mask. If released, I would use the Wii Gift feature of the Shop and personally send the game to everyone here on this site, just so they could experience how outstanding it is.



Rockman_90 said:


The legend of zelda majoras mask was the first zelda game i actually cleared all the way to the end a was so proud over myself but the scared the hell out of me the game is indeed a masterpiece just like all the zelda games but this one is darker an sticks out from the rest. count me in on your contacts so you could send it to me when it gets out on vc.



Bass_X0 said:

I think they should allow 32X games on the VC but they have got to make them 800 points each like the Genesis games are.




1st of all Anyone who has known nintendo through the years knows for fact that they have and still rule with an iron fist but never do they try to make themselves feel important as they already are. 2nd of all do not always believe what you read on the internet as you never know where the news actually comes from.



will1 said:

WOW!! Too bad for Wii' I saw this coming... Nintendo once again is disturbing the force and p'o'ing those developers and gamers they so need right now, also they still have not listened to any consumer requests. Although I hear there will be tru 1:1 for the controller (wow 2years later) that does what it is supposed to. NOA really dropped the ball on most every feature they have boasted about! I know I should not post here anymore (sorry Cheez) but I can't help it... I am addicted to watching how badly NOA handles its VC... which was one of the main reasons I bought a Wii. Ha! I also bought a Wii 2yrs ago with high hopes of seeing two games in particular, Sadness and Day of crisis. I love Ninty's retro years from a gaming standpoint and business as well... But I honestly have more fun taking from NOA then them taking from me! Emulation killed VC before it even started. I work for a Japan owned Corp. and from my experience they ran the company by exploiting the best workers and putting profit before consumer satisfaction.
Okay Cheez I'll try not to post anymore but GL' with VC



Rexy said:

@Bass, #115: 32X could be good, but the only game I'd want to experience through its catalogue would be Knuckles Chaotix. It didn't help that there's too little material there to take interest with on a long term basis.



Gonz said:

I defend Nintendo on a weekly basis, but this is unacceptable. Are they TRYING to get publishers and consumers angry? Horrible.



Shrapnel09 said:

Its a good thing the 6 month long try spell of mediocre games changed my view of how much of a priority VC is with Nintendo, otherwise I might have actually cared whats going on right now.



Rawk_Hawk said:

@ Rexy
You would be missing out on an excellent version of Virtua Fighter, Virtua Racing, and fun little Star Wars game. With such a small library Nintendo would really stretch the releases.



Rockman_90 said:


I am currently playing the legend of zelda ocarina of time and my next temple is the water temple. I am reliving this game of nostalgia so that i will be prepared for majoras mask. is this game prequel or sequel for the majoras mask?



vherub said:

If the future of gaming is download only, not having any release dates is going to be a huge pain.



Rawk_Hawk said:

@ Rockman 90
Check out in the retrospectives section under the legend of Zelda. One one of the broadcasts they lay out the Zelda timeline, but it is only a theory and it may surprise you!



Rockman_90 said:


I just watched the zelda timeline history and i must say that its a very intresting way of see it that it takes place in two split timelines.
I can understand the way the legend of zelda ocarina of time making two timelines one with young link and one with 7 year older link. This timeline theory is hard in overall to understand but i think i got it now. But one thing i do not understand is that when in the ending of ocarina of time in hyrule B is link doesnt exist in that time o do not se how that make any sense i know its just a theory. Hyrule A in the other hand is making a little more sense.



Rexy said:

@Tony, comment #122: I appreciate the recommendations and the variety of genres gone for, though I'm not really that much of an intense beat-em-up or racing fan. But yes, it is a possibility that Nintendo will be able to stretch the releases while keeping them at around the same price as the Genesis titles for sale. Yet, after what we've seen with the stretching of the Neo Geo library out here, will everyone else like this decision? o_O



Andrew said:

@Rockman 90: Majora's Mask is indeed a sequel to Ocarina of Time. I think the game takes place a few months or so after OoT. Most other games in the Zelda franchise aren't considered sequels because they each feature a different Link.



Bass_X0 said:

yeah, i looked through lists of 32X games and there's few actual games i would want to see on VC but i still think it should be supported. just because it existed mainly.



ODOGG618 said:

Yeah yeah yeah, back to the matter at hand (does ANYBODY edit this board---STAY ON POINT!)

As for the "shock" that Nintendo would let consumers down, COME ON!!! We're eventually gonna pay out the nose for a storage problem that was A) inevitable and B) just another BS Nintendo scam. They hardly address the issue at E3. Personally, paying $10 for an old game that I already own the rights to is BS. Why would anybody think Nintendo gives a care about disappointing people in the short term?

NINTENDO MANTRA: Give them one good game early, sell it to consumer with good marketing, make a bunch of add-on upgrades necessary to buy, repackage the classics again and again, and laugh all the way to the bank. Stupid Americans buy it again and again.



RurouniTeeter said:

You people seriously need to just... Chill.
It's just VC games... Not the end of the world now.
Buy some Wii games, download other games, buy something if you have a PS3, Xbox 360, & others, plenty of other things to buy.

I know it sucks they lied to us and all...
Be happy we least get games every Monday.
Wouldn't be good if we got them on random dates now.

All I'm saying is just... Try and look on the brighter side of things and just move on. That's all.



DDR_Paladin356 said:

hehe, I go away for a weekend, and looks what happens? I have not been happy with Nintendo lately, and this just shows how much they care...

To quote the guy from that Super Mario Frustration video:

"You're getting cocky Mario..."
(Mario being Nintendo of course)



MultiPLAYA79 said:

@ Bass XO
Yeah i'd like to see some 32X stuff too ! Virtua Fighter especially...

@ timp29
RARE on VC... the chance of that happening is about as good as Nintendo actually giving us reliable release dates for VC games LOL !!!

That said... i would love to see it though.



Rexy said:

Rare's already on the VC - Donkey Kong Country trilogy. I bet they don't count because it's one of Nintendo's own franchises though.



WoRMaSTeR said:

Rare is under a contract to only develop and release their new console games exclusively for the Xbox. I'm not 100 % sure about this, so correct me if I'm wrong. However this does not include handheld games or older games, so there is a possibility we might see rare games released on VC. However in the case of Goldeneye it is also a lisence issue (as it obviously has bond license that rare does not hold anymore), so it will propably never see a release.



Bass_X0 said:

"You people seriously need to just... Chill.
Buy some Wii games, download other games,"

This is the VC site where people come to discuss VC games and new releases. It doesn't matter what it is, people will naturally be annoyed if they were lead to believe something good would happen only for something completely different and somewhat average to happen instead. Besides, what Wii games? There's no good Wii games on the horizon. And there are games I am two minds about downloading but I can't afford to spend money on something I'm not sure I will play long.

I still want Donkey Kong 64 to appear. Back in the day, the N64 was flooded by similar 3D platformers that I didn't bother playing it that much -- but these days that flood has dried up completely and I find myself wanting to play it again.



Cocoa_Man5 said:

speaking of rare titles i would really like to see killer instinct for the snes to be released but that is highly unlikely, and would be released on XBLA before anything.



Draygone said:

@ 56. Rapadash6
That's a good article. Too bad a lot of angry people who come to this "Nintendo Responds" article aren't going to see it. Lost in all these replies. (I'm looking at a certain response somewhere between #95-100) However, it still doesn't quite explain why Nintendo doesn't give some sort of clue about release dates, here, when they are in Japan.

Unrelated note: Mario Galaxy flopped in Japan? How is that even possible?

Even less related note: I don't like Friend Codes. Not because of their existance, but because, in many games, a lot of the good features are exclusive to Friend Mode. And what if I don't have any friends to play in that game; they either didn't get the game, or they got tired of it, or they aren't able to get on when I am. Then I'm skrewed out of playing those fun modes.



Rawk_Hawk said:

@ Rockman
Yeah it's not easy to understand, I should have said to take notes. I know it can be tricky, but it was good retrospective.

As for this comment "Yeah yeah yeah, back to the matter at hand (does ANYBODY edit this board---STAY ON POINT!)"

All I have to say is we are gamers and we like to discuss games



Mike1 said:

@ 137. Bass X0
I heard that a DS remake of Donkey Kong 64 might be in the works.



Rexy said:

Where did you hear the rumor, Mike? Given the use of the Expansion Pak in the original it sounds like a pipe dream to me, but I could be proven wrong



03bgood said:

I really think that the US VC should receive ZX Spectrum games as US-only games since Europe got exclusive C64 games and Japan got exclusive MSX games.



WolfLink22 said:

Those of us who are mad just because we were promised 3 games that we did not get.If we get a press release for a game then it should come out not get the delayed tag.But if it does get delayed then at least issue a statement as to why it was delayed to begin with.Also if the 3 games were not promised and the 3 companies just tried to make Nintendo to release the games for a special day by adding a press release to their website then we have nothing to complain about.But we don't know so we'll just have to get use to it and move on i guess.



Mike1 said:

@ Rexy
I think it was EGM magazine. That "Q" guy that does the rumors I think said it a few months back.

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