Before Nintendo Switch Online, there was Virtual Console. Available on the Wii, 3DS, and Wii U, the Virtual Console was effectively a line of purchasable retro games available via the Wii Shop Channel and eShop.
Unlike Nintendo Switch Online, which offers up a range of playable games for an annual or monthly cost, Virtual Console allowed you pay for games ad-hoc, enabling you to download whichever title you wanted and keep it indefinitely. While we certainly love what Nintendo has been doing with Switch Online over the years, it’s no secret that lots of fans would rather the firm revert back to the Virtual Console model.
One such individual who seemingly misses the Virtual Console is none other than Hideki Kamiya, creator of Okami and Bayonetta, who expressed his desire for Nintendo to ‘reboot’ the service when asked about the upcoming Switch 2 by IGN.
Also present was Capcom producer Yoshiaki Hirabayashi, who remained predictably coy with regards to the Switch 2:
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Well, speaking of new technologies, do any of you have any opinions on the Nintendo Switch 2?
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Hirabayashi: This is something that we really can’t comment on from Capcom side at all, because yeah, it’s about the Nintendo Switch 2. Anything that comes out would come out from Nintendo.
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Kamiya: As a personal comment, I personally would love to see the Virtual Console rebooted. That’s something that I would really want to ask Nintendo for.*
Of course, it seems highly unlikely that Nintendo is going to revisit Virtual Console anytime soon, but it would be nice if it offered up a way to purchase retro games individually alongside its NSO membership tiers.
Sony allows users to either subscribe to PlayStation+ or purchase classic PS1 games separately on the PS5, so if Sony can do it, when why not Nintendo…? Y’know what, don’t answer that.
Ya, I’m sure they calculated the ROI for a monthly/yearly subscription vs the Virtual Console purchases and projected that the subscription would be not just larger source of income but also more consistent which “investors” (aka stockholders) will prefer so Nintendo’s stock goes up and to the right.
While I agree with that math, I feel like if they add the virtual console, they could capitalize on the purchase of third party developer games that they can’t license for subscriptions for the current model. Maybe they’ll go with a blended approach, where some games are based on the sub and there are others that are up charges or purchases as well where they take a bit off the top when selling older games for the virtual console.
While I agree with that math, I feel like if they add the virtual console, they could capitalize on the purchase of third party developer games that they can’t license for subscriptions for the current model. Maybe they’ll go with a blended approach, where some games are based on the sub and there are others that are up charges or purchases as well where they take a bit off the top when selling older games for the virtual console.
The ideal thing would be something akin to GamePass. Bring back the Virtual Console with as many games as they can get on as many systems as the Switch 2 can emulate. Let people buy games as they wish, but people who subscribe to NSO get regular free retro games.
Nintendo won’t do this, but it would be the best of both worlds.