Random Thoughts on the Virtual Console

It should come as no surprise to regular readers that I am generally very positive about Nintendo games and services. Those who know me can attest to the fact that I am often a very outspoken advocate for the company and its products. However, Nintendo occasionally makes decisions that don’t immediately make me happy. The Virtual Console is one of those decisions.

Before I mislead anybody, this post is not meant to insult the service. Rather, I am writing this article to do just the opposite. It has taken me some time, but I recently have concluded that the Virtual Console is something that actually excites me about the Wii.

Now, I know most Nintendo fans took to the Virtual Console immediately, but I feel that I was in a slightly different position than most when the service was first announced. At the time, I was an avid video game collector. This aspect of the gaming hobby consumed most of my free time, not to mention my income. After years of dedication - and money spending - I had amassed quite the impressive collection. I had a good amount of the games I wanted to play, which is why the games on the Virtual Console not only were of disinterest to me, but were also somewhat of a threat.

It felt like my years of dedication were for naught. It used to mean a lot to me that my game library contained almost any game that a Nintendo fan would want to play. It bothered me that any Wii owner with an internet connection could simply download Kid Icarus, despite the fact that I had to spend years of searching - not to mention much more money - to find a copy of the classic in good condition.

This is why I did not get nearly as much satisfaction from the Virtual Console as most early adopters of the Wii did. While most of the gaming population sang Nintendo’s praises for re-releasing Super Mario Bros., I wondered why I should care when I already had three different ways of playing the game in my collection.

When other Nintendo fans excitedly rediscovered The Legend of Zelda, I decided not to spend my Wii Points on a game I already owned.

However, as my borderline obsessive need to expand my game collection faded, so too did my distaste for the Virtual Console. Now I truly appreciate the service for its many benefits.
The first of my positive experiences came when I decided to download Super Metroid. I had owned the game for years, but unfortunately the game’s internal battery had prematurely conked out. I had wanted to replay the game for some time, but I was not too fond of the idea of having to play through the game in one sitting to avoid issues with saving.

Thanks to the Virtual Console, I played through the game and was able to re-experience a classic. I began to realize that as my gaming library continues to age, many of the games with internal batteries would become little more than museum pieces. If it weren’t for services like the Virtual Console, some of gaming’s greatest hits may become very difficult for game players to properly experience.

This affirmation of the Virtual Console’s worthwhile nature opened my eyes to its other benefits. Even though most of the games offered in the service already have a place in my collection, it does not mean that they are readily available. There simply is not enough space around my entertainment center to house all of my consoles, let alone their tangle-prone wires, so most of the systems spend the majority of their time packed away.

And what happens if I have ten minutes to kill before heading out and want to play a quick game of Balloon Fight? Well, I could take out my NES, hook it up to the television, insert Balloon Fight, unsuccessfully attempt to start the game, and then remove and blow in the cartridge until it finally works, but by the time I finish all that, I’m already late. The obvious time and clutter saver is the Wii and its Virtual Console. As an added bonus, if I’m on a roll and my game lasts longer than scheduled, the Wii will remember my exact position if I’m forced to leave and come back later.

I know I am telling you readers things you already know, but consider this article an attempt to persuade those of you who may be as stubborn about this situation as I used to be. I have finally found the purpose in the Virtual Console - other than the very, very rare import title - and I know that I will be downloading games for years to come. Now if only the Wii had the memory to hold them all…