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Why is Nintendo suddenly withholding rereleases of their games


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Nintendo lately has been lax on releasing past generation games besides those on the NES. In fact, the only recent release besides NES was the SNES classic, with no plans of an N64 classic or anything past the NES on the online service. What's going on here?

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I have only ever been able to see the lack of Virtual Console on Switch as a misguided attempt to secure more online subscriptions. I've always been a collector of physical games, since when you purchase a digital game you're really only paying for a license- one that in Nintendo's case is tied to your console and not to an account. However, I'm at the point now where some of my old carts are losing their battery charges, so the option to cheaply buy Super Metroid for $8 is now looking like a great alternative to soldering a new battery into my cart.

 

It'd be interesting to know if the sales of VC games are comparable to the revenue Nintendo currently rakes in from subscriptions. 

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3 hours ago, Laclipsey said:

I have only ever been able to see the lack of Virtual Console on Switch as a misguided attempt to secure more online subscriptions. I've always been a collector of physical games, since when you purchase a digital game you're really only paying for a license- one that in Nintendo's case is tied to your console and not to an account. However, I'm at the point now where some of my old carts are losing their battery charges, so the option to cheaply buy Super Metroid for $8 is now looking like a great alternative to soldering a new battery into my cart.

 

It'd be interesting to know if the sales of VC games are comparable to the revenue Nintendo currently rakes in from subscriptions. 

in that sense the classic consoles are a step in the right direction, mostly

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3 hours ago, Pichi said:

in that sense the classic consoles are a step in the right direction, mostly

Totally. Though it's not as big a step as it should have been given the limited release. Last I heard, the paltry supply rivaled the shortages of the early Amiibo days. 

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6 minutes ago, Laclipsey said:

Totally. Though it's not as big a step as it should have been given the limited release. Last I heard, the paltry supply rivaled the shortages of the early Amiibo days. 

don't get your hopes up for that to ever change lmao
that said i was less sympathetic towards people complaining about it in this case since it's still just all the old games you can play 12 other ways

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12 hours ago, Vector said:

Nintendo lately has been lax on releasing past generation games besides those on the NES. In fact, the only recent release besides NES was the SNES classic, with no plans of an N64 classic or anything past the NES on the online service. What's going on here?

 

I honestly think in their mind, to drop the entire NES catalog out there are the outset is too daunting for a gamer not familiar with the games already to comprehend and look at and thus skipping over a lot to what stands out.  The spread out releases allow a person to intake a few at a time.  My beef is though, with how big the NES catalog is, and how many games came out on the Wii VC vs. the WiiU VC then you have to ask WTF is going on.

 

And they haven't even touched SNES and N64.  Then, you also have to ask, is the GC a VC system or not?  With LaboVR is VBVC a thing?  Will GB, GBC, and GBAVC be a thing?

 

Since the NES stuff is tied to SwitchOL what happens with those systems as well because just NES titles feels kind of cheap.

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Ever since the launch of NSO, I feel like even with the delay they still weren't ready to release but I felt they had no choice but release paid online. Now the exclusive offers are marginally better but we are paying online were the simple act of connecting has not changed with some game. I wasn't expecting big improvements when we start paying but there much to be desired with that what other exclusive offers we're going to get.

 

Yeah, we are paying $20 a year but right now it feels like the online with Wii U and 3DS were better only for the fact that you can message ppl on there. (Messy on Wii  U but doable) There's not way to do that in-system.

 

I don't even touch the NES game they release each much either, same goes for NES classic. I play the SNES classic so when they release that on Switch I think this $20 a year will be worth while. Right now it is, what is and I have to believe Nintendo make the online more robust in time.

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Tbh, Nintendo has always been sloppy with classic rereleases. Since the Wii, it's been a constant cycle of releasing new games, having a dripfeed of games, and by the time that console generation is over, the collections feel about half as complete as they should be. Like, there's still an effort to port those games over; and Nintendo seems to struggle a lot of with emulating their old games (which, given how easily emulation is done elsewhere, makes me feel that's a Nintendo thing). There's a bigger calculus going on here than just "do people want these old games"; especially since, to a large extent, I can understand Nintendo not wanting to do the virtual console model again.

 

By the virtual console model, I don't mean the mere act of porting over old games; rather, I mean porting over old game and selling each game digitally for a set price. A netflix style model seems like a logical alternative; at least, it's better for consumers since paying $5 for this NES game is a much harder sell than $20/year for all these NES games. That said, since they're still NES games, $20/year isn't exactly a instant sell, but I digress. I imagine where Nintendo is right now, if they do plan on making older games beyond NES playable, is what monetization model will they take. E.g., do they increase NSO by $5/year if you want SNES games? Etc. And, as much as I hate to say it, they might look at the value of old games and decide it simply isn't worth the cost of porting them over, and while that stinks for consumers, alternatives do exist so ¯\_(ツ)_/¯ .

Edited by Ares
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The whole model for the VC was problematic from the start. The VC service should have been set up with the forethought of having it transfer from console to console. It would have had much more value and worth that way.  I liked the VC on Wii but as soon as they announced you'd have to rebuy them on Wii U the service lost most of its appeal to me. Sure people can just keep the old consoles for using those VC games but having them on every Nintendo device moving forward would have been awesome. So many people looked at steam and were like "we want in on that." They failed to see the reason people like it and the reason it took off so well is not just the large catalog of games, but the reassurance that our libraries would still be there in the future and from computer to computer. 

 

The "streaming" version that they are offering with Switch would maybe be an ok option if it launched with a decent catalog and had any sort of reassurance that it would be a program that lasts beyond just the Switch's life. If I can play a game on Nintendo's "online service" and have confidence that I will still have access to my save files and such when the Switch's time is done I'd be willing to pay for it. Especially if they started including things like N64 and GCN games. Without those kinds of features, it's just an online version of renting a game, and that is not something that appeals to me at all. 

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