DSi Getting Its Own Virtual Console?

[Keane Ng]

DSi Getting Its Own Virtual Console?

Nintendo may be planning a Virtual Console-esque service for the Nintendo DSi that will sell classic Game Boy and Game Boy Advance titles.

If you weren't sold on the DSi before, you might be now. According to a Kombo.com [http://ds.kombo.com/article.php?artid=7007] reporter who attended a Club Nintendo event this last weekend, Nintendo will be creating a Virtual Console of sorts for the DSi that will digitally sell classic Game Boy and Game Boy Advance titles to be played on the DSi.

This would certainly go some way to alleviate the hardware's lack of a GBA cartridge slot, though obviously it would entail buying the GBA games you want to play but already own all over again. You won't exactly be getting tons of selection, either, at least not to begin with. Nintendo will launch the service with only a handful of first-party classics. Not too bad, I guess: Link's Awakening, Super Mario Land, the old Pokemon games, there should be plenty of good stuff for the buying.

Kombo claims that the Nintendo representative at the event says that you'll be able to save and run these games off an SD Card, but another Nintendo rep denied this.

The company officially confirmed that downloadable Game Boy games would be available in Japan, but has yet to say anything for Europe and North America. Nintendo chief dude Satoru Iwata is giving his keynote tomorrow at GDC, however, so expect some kind of official news soon.

It is nice to hear about a DSi feature that has something to do with actual games as opposed to the thing having ten million cameras on it, but I'm still a bit on the fence. Do I really need another DS?

[Via CVG [http://www.computerandvideogames.com/article.php?id=211561]]


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[KDR_11k]

If you already have a DS you aren't the primary audience for the DSi so don't worry about the appeal of the features to you. The idea was to create a system that would sell to those who didn't want a DS yet and to make the DS a personal belonging rather than a family system, something that you want to have your own of instead of sharing it.

 

[Nexus424]

Super Mario Land + Final Fantasy Tactics Advance = WIN

EDIT: My bad. More on topic that seems like a very great idea if it pulls through which when talking about Nintendo. Hmmm I'm not sure. I can think of a good number of GB + GBA games I would love to play now but can't find but its would be up to what they choose not what I want so that could put some off. I'm sure there are way too many games in both categories to make them all.

 

[meatloaf231]

So they remove the capability to play all your old GB/GBA games, and then sell them back to you. Grand.

 

[Aardvark Soup]

Damn you Nintendo! I've promised myself never to give in to this and buy a DS redesign, but that's getting tougher and tougher...

 

[Onyx Oblivion]

This needs to have Gunstar Heroes...

I'm praying it has Gunstar Heroes.

And Earthbound.

 

[Erana]

I need a new DS, the hinge on mine is failing.

Still, what happens if the hardware dies?

 

[Signa]

Aside from Link's Awakening, and maybe 5 other titles, I don't miss the original gameboy at all. It was excellent at the time, but so many games tried to be better than they were. There is only so much you could do with 2 buttons. I think Zelda passed it off well. Metriod wasn't bad, Mario Land 2 and 3 (Wario) were well done. In the end, the majority of games on the GB didn't support any kind of save feature, and were quick cash-ins on current main titles (Perfect dark anyone?)

Hell, a lot of GBA games are already feeling their age. Even super awesome Advanced Wars is obsolete with newer, prettier versions being out on the DS. After playing Days of Ruin, I find it hard to go back.

It's sad, because I usually advocate older games. I think the problem is that portable games are still developing as a medium, and former "excellent" games are being well outdone with newer versions. By being able to iron out the kinks with 2-4 extra buttons and a touch screen, portable games still seem "fresh and new."

 

[scotth266]

Pffft. Why bother? You could just grab a GBA instead of buying all your games AGAIN.

Seems rather pointless, though it is a good idea.

 

[justblues]

i like the idea but when you look at how the virutal console for the wii updates its classic games, i can only wonder how long it take the dsi to give us those good old gba games