Nintendo Wii retro games to be US$4.50 and US$8.99

az_bont · Post by **az_bont** » Wed Jun 07, 2006 7:27 pm

Ars Technica wrote:Nintendo President Saturo Iwata spoke yesterday at a Japanese marketing event (Japanese source), revealing information about "virtual console" pricing and the Wii's relationship with the DS. Iwata revealed that games for Nintendo's "virtual console" that will allow Wii owners to play old titles on their consoles will be priced at ?500 and ?1,000, roughly US$4.50 to US$8.99. For reference, classic retro games for the Nintendo GameBoy sold for upwards of US$35 for some titles, US$19.99 for others. Uptake was understandably low, as gamers were reticent to pay that much for old content.

Source: Ars Technica

Sir Savant · Post by **Sir Savant** » Wed Jun 07, 2006 7:36 pm

They better implement some kind of point system...

DaMadFiddler · Post by **DaMadFiddler** » Wed Jun 07, 2006 7:36 pm

Well, blah.

I was hoping for iTunes-style pricing $.99 - $1.99), at least for the 8- and 16-bit games. Having the low around five bucks considerably cools my enthusiasm, at least for the retro-library aspect. The prices are fine for new indy titles, but too much for stuff that's been floating around for 25 years.

Maybe they'll give you credits for each Wii or DS game you buy? or at least have some sort of scaled price scheme for multiple purchases?

compacho · Post by **compacho** » Wed Jun 07, 2006 7:39 pm

For a perfectly emulated version of Super Metroid, I would pay that in a heart beat.

Ceeg · Post by **Ceeg** » Wed Jun 07, 2006 7:56 pm

Thats awesome

Pyrite · Post by **Pyrite** » Wed Jun 07, 2006 7:59 pm

As long as the 8/16bit games run on proper 15khz then yes it's worth it.

robotecha5 · Post by **robotecha5** » Wed Jun 07, 2006 8:08 pm

I think it should be more like this.

NES-$1-$2
SNES/GENISIS/TURBOGRAFX-$4-$6
N64-$6-$10

Nick · Post by **Nick** » Wed Jun 07, 2006 8:45 pm

Considering I can pick up the majority of those games in their native format for $5 or less...boo. They better be adding some stuff (like graphical smoothing and PERFECT emulation) if they want my money. Of course, with more expensive stuff like Chrono Trigger, I'm definately game to pay $5 or $7 for a downloadable version. But Super Mario Bros. for $5? F*ck no, I'll go and buy it at a yard sale for 25 cents.

DaMadFiddler · Post by **DaMadFiddler** » Wed Jun 07, 2006 9:27 pm

robotecha5 wrote:I think it should be more like this.

NES-$1-$2
SNES/GENISIS/TURBOGRAFX-$4-$6
N64-$6-$10

Post by **Quzar** » Wed Jun 07, 2006 9:40 pm

They should definetly use something like sega direct. (yes, i know same thing others said with points, but yea... i concur?)

DaMadFiddler · Post by **DaMadFiddler** » Wed Jun 07, 2006 10:30 pm

I just cross-referenced this with other gaming sites, and the information's wrong.

This price range refers to *new* Virtual Console games; details about the retro titles haven't been discussed yet.

Luriden · Post by **Luriden** » Wed Jun 07, 2006 10:35 pm

Blah, I was hoping they would be a little cheaper, so you could buy a bunch of games in bulk. Still pretty cool though.

gamedudex2 · Post by **gamedudex2** » Wed Jun 07, 2006 11:09 pm

i want a subscription service
say i dunno 10-12$ a month
and keep the option to purchase individual games for those who dont want everything

u pay a certian amount and u get all the classics plus certian new virtual conole games. and others u get so many free points a month to use towards a purchase of a game. plus nintendo first party games and some third party games you buy if you register the game you get points to use for the virtual console

S. Thompson · Post by **S. Thompson** » Wed Jun 07, 2006 11:35 pm

I think you should somehow be able to earn or win downloads too. The pricing isn't really that bad though, to be honest. Think about how much some of these titles cost whenever they first came out... $50? $60? $70? While the graphics have aged, the content is still there.

We're all getting a bargain.

- Fuzmeister

Smiley · Post by **Smiley** » Wed Jun 07, 2006 11:42 pm

meh..being able to play retro games will be cool, but its not one of my main reasons for wanting to get a wii. And unless the pricing is relatively cheap and they offer some ubber cool snes, nes, tg16 roms that I can't get elsewhere to play on my modded xbox, then I won't even bother with the virtual console.

butters · Post by **butters** » Thu Jun 08, 2006 12:00 am

DaMadFiddler wrote:I just cross-referenced this with other gaming sites, and the information's wrong.

This price range refers to *new* Virtual Console games; details about the retro titles haven't been discussed yet.

I just looked around for around 15 minutes and can't find a source that says any differently. Mind linking?

I'd also like to find a transcript of the source for this (which is in Japanese).

APE · Post by **APE** » Thu Jun 08, 2006 1:48 am

Super Metroid, Mega man x2/3, various SNES rpgs, that's a damn steal and hopefully will drop the price of their cartridge counterparts.

What I'm more concerned about is the sound. The Mega Man X collection on the ps2 sounded damn good. Pretty sure it was emulated though. Never heard an emulation that was anywhere near perfect for snes, but for genny GENS does it damn good.

DaMadFiddler · Post by **DaMadFiddler** » Thu Jun 08, 2006 2:06 am

APE wrote:Super Metroid, Mega man x2/3, various SNES rpgs, that's a damn steal and hopefully will drop the price of their cartridge counterparts.

What I'm more concerned about is the sound. The Mega Man X collection on the ps2 sounded damn good. Pretty sure it was emulated though. Never heard an emulation that was anywhere near perfect for snes, but for genny GENS does it damn good.

1. I really, really hope they set it up so that if you own a release already, such as the GBA port of Castlevania or the Sonic Mega Collection for 'Cube, you can download those games for free. Because it would be nice to not have to use the discs/cartridges, and just have it on there with the rest of the Virtual Console games, rather than having to carry the extra media (when traveling) and go into a separate mode, just because I happened to have that particular game in a different format.

2. The Megaman X collection was actually ported. The games had PC releases, which were actually compiled for Windows, not emulated...I'd presume they used the sourcecode from those. The only significant difference is that they had to just provide a recording of the effects and background music, rather than actually run it through hardware (which would vary by card due to MIDI differences) or run it through software (which would have been taxing for computers of that age). You can hear this the most when a track loops. The recordings of each track go through three or so repetitions. Then you'll notice it loops, because it'll start from the lead-in riff, rather than just infinitely looping the "body" of the musical selection.

3.

June 7, 2006 - Nintendo president Satoru Iwata outlined a price range for some games on Wii's Virtual Console download service during a marketing conference held in Japan on Wednesday. The company leader said that some Virtual Console games would cost between ?500 and ?1,000 yen, or $4.50 and $8.99 USD.

"We'd like people to play new, low-scale games for ?500 yen or ?1000 yen," Iwata stated.

These prices apparently encapsulate only titles newly created for the Virtual Console. It is not yet clear if classic NES, S-NES and N64 games will fall under the same price range umbrella.

"We'd like to put an end to turning games into big titles -- like taking simple game concepts, just adding modes and selling for 5800 yen," Iwata said.

By comparison, Microsoft charges between 400 and 1,200 points ($5 to $12.50 USD) for Xbox Live Arcade games and lacks Nintendo's acclaimed and robust library of classics.

Iwata also stated that load times for these Virtual Console games would be short and sweet. "It probably won't be that this is the case for every game, but we're bugging the development staff to make startup take three seconds," the Nintendo president said.

Nintendo has not yet revealed which games will be available on the Virtual Console, but such classics as Super Mario Bros., Super Mario 64 and Sonic the Hedgehog were demoed at E3 2006.

http://wii.ign.com/articles/711/711629p1.html

Veggita2099 · Post by **Veggita2099** » Thu Jun 08, 2006 6:02 am

DaMadFiddler wrote:
robotecha5 wrote:I think it should be more like this.

NES-$1-$2
SNES/GENISIS/TURBOGRAFX-$4-$6
N64-$6-$10

Welp Im not near as excited about that service now, I knew nintendo would overcharge for it. No way Id pay 4.50 for a freaken NES game. I can by them all day long at local flea markets and ebay for less then that and hav ea hard copy that I can hold, look at etc.

8.50 is reasonable for some n64 titles. Id be happy to pay that for games like Paper Mario, MAybe Star Fox 64 (although I currently own a working copy of this game). Far as SNES games go Id pay those prices for Super Metroid, Chrono Trigger (assumeing it ever becomes available), MArio rpg, and a few others.

All in all though they are asking too much. PErhaps they will offer some discounts or promotions or perhaps the occasional sale. I don't see why old NES games should be more then $2. I had planned on selling my N64, but shoot it would cost me more to download the games I own then I would ever get for saleing it. And despite the awkward N64 controllers layout games was designed for that controller so its easy to say they will play better on there then on the Gamecube or Wii controller. Especially games that made good use of the Z button since its in a completely different area on the Gamecube controller.

Post by **Specially Cork** » Thu Jun 08, 2006 6:13 am

Veggita2099 wrote:
DaMadFiddler wrote:
robotecha5 wrote:I think it should be more like this.

NES-$1-$2
SNES/GENISIS/TURBOGRAFX-$4-$6
N64-$6-$10
Welp Im not near as excited about that service now, I knew nintendo would overcharge for it. No way Id pay 4.50 for a freaken NES game. I can by them all day long at local flea markets and ebay for less then that and hav ea hard copy that I can hold, look at etc.

8.50 is reasonable for some n64 titles. Id be happy to pay that for games like Paper Mario, MAybe Star Fox 64 (although I currently own a working copy of this game). Far as SNES games go Id pay those prices for Super Metroid, Chrono Trigger (assumeing it ever becomes available), MArio rpg, and a few others.

All in all though they are asking too much. PErhaps they will offer some discounts or promotions or perhaps the occasional sale. I don't see why old NES games should be more then $2. I had planned on selling my N64, but shoot it would cost me more to download the games I own then I would ever get for saleing it. And despite the awkward N64 controllers layout games was designed for that controller so its easy to say they will play better on there then on the Gamecube or Wii controller. Especially games that made good use of the Z button since its in a completely different area on the Gamecube controller.

I think your expectations were a little too optimistic. Nintendo released NES games on the GBA 2 years ago for $19.99 and suddenly you expect them to charge <$2 each? There are enough Nintendo fanboys in the world to allow Nintendo to charge whatever they want for 20-year-old games, so I wouldnt expect anything too cheap.