Virtual vs Vintage - Red Daze's 1st blog.

[ace_dynamo]

I have emulators on my PSP which do it for me - the ability to save states just makes trying to play a game on the VC frustrating in comparison.

[<mojo>]

The VC was a big selling point for me and if i'm honest i've felt dissapointed at times .

Why ?

First off ... having no real clue about what to expect from the VC before I bought the Wii , I just sort of assumed that all of my favourite old games would be there waiting for me slobber all over (Hence why the big selling point) . So when I opened up the Wii shop to find a lot of games i'd never played nor heard of with a small handfull of fairly decent nostalgia trips thrown in , I wasn't exactly doing kartwheels .

But still , I had this burning urge to purchase games , and did so without haste .

So what i'm left with are a lot of good games that are doing a bad job of tiding me over untill the games I REALLY want land .
In the real world you'd have to put the effort into tracking a game down , but ultimately its in your hands and you're not relying on Nintypants to throw you a freakin bone !

Then there's memory .
Even though my Wii is around 3/4 full of bareley played VC games . I know i'll still go back for more as its so easy and accessible to do so . I know you can save then to SD and redownload etc etc , but its still a ball ache .

Dont get me wrong though . Its a great , convenient service . I just wish its greatness was great enough to warrant its convenience

[red daze]

Totally agree with you mojo.

Many games I enjoyed so much on the megadrive are not yet on the VC and a handful of the ones I have played on friends n64 are only present too.

Like I said in my blog though, we have no idea whats around the corner, Ninty obvioulsy make a air amount of money of us from this.

[cc182]

Wicked blog, loved your opinions on both.

For me, the wii's biggest selling point was,....being a Nintendo console, I'd of prolly of bought it nevertheless even if it wasn't a great console.

I'm a huge retro gaming fan, I think the only advantages the virtual console has is, its convenience (download, play, no swapping, no wires), the fact its a good source of retro gaming and easy access, and of course back to the first point, they're all stored in one box,

however, from playing on these consoles for so long, there's a clear thin line for me between an emulated game, and an original.

All of the games on the VC are emulated, of course. Actually take the time to think what emulated means, an emulation! That can be like watching a shoddy pirate copy of, say Gladiator, then watching either the DVD or Bluray original copy, any dirrerence?

Of course thats an extreme example, but is true to some of the games offered, Lode Runner for example (I own the original on my Atari, one of my fav's ever) on the Turbo Grafix it's so poorly emulated the screen doesnt even tune in centered, and theres no way you can resolve it.

Mario Bros is also quite a poorly emulated release, as many other people might tell you,

But, from saying that, Nintendo have done a great job with the majority of the titles, and even the most experienced player would find it hard to pick faults with (Donkey Kong Country ftw!)

I don't know, maybe its me, but you just cant beat holding and original gamepad, be it a nes or megadrive and playing the game in all its glory on stand-alone hardware thats been specificily made to run the software.

All my consoles are stacked around my room, neatly presented away, with all trailing wires tied neatly at the back away from sight, I use a switch and scart box for connection, so its simply a case of plugging in the right power supply, and picking out the game and pad!,

If you take your time carefully creating a good set-up, then there's really no argument over wires/having to connect the console etc,

of course, for some people, in good reason, this might be out the question,


Overall, I'd say the VC is still a great thing to have, people who might not even be able to have access to old consoles can still play some amazing titles aswell as preserving the retro games and reminding people that without those games, we might not even be close to where we are today in gaming,...

so for that I can't really fault it and would say the virtual console is a great thing to have

[cc182]

Oh I forgot to mention, if your wii develops a fault and isn't sent to Nintendo, but rather exchanged at the place you purchased it from ,then you lose all of your downloaded content, which for some is quite a big price!

[skyman747]

Great Blog Red Daze

I have a friend who owns every nintendo console, yet he still has games from the VC. I think that it is the fact that the games for the retro consoles are so much of a hassle to find is what may lead the VC to superiority.
P.S. There are people who make adapters so that you can use your SNES and N64 controllers on the VC. RetroZone

[Lepruk86]

hmmm Loads of good points already existing now in this thread.

Basically It is the convenience thing but I still get a sour taste at the cost of the products on offer VS the actual stuff available. I am a huge gamer with an overall game collection topping the 600ish mark easily (if not more! I dread to think)...

I like how they are all in the one console but come on!! the price is a joke sometimes compared with the length of said game and quality of emulation available! as well as the sometimes awkward control schemes.

Also another sore point is there will be no rare stuff... no Banjo Kazooie, Conker's bad fur day, 007 etc which is a real kick in the nuts for Ninty and the VC...

I wonder whether any of the sleeper titles will make an appearance - games like Glover (a funny N64 platformer) / Blast Corps (really want this on there).

I only own 2 VC games atm and there are only a couple more tempting me... I have 1500 points sitting in my VC account which there is just nothing I feel is worth them atm aside from a couple.