Virtual Console
The Virtual Console (バーチャルコンソール, Virtual Console), sometimes abbreviated as VC, is a feature of the Wii, Nintendo 3DS, and Wii U that allows players to officially emulate games from older video game consoles. Supported by the Wii Shop Channel on the Wii and the Nintendo eShop on the Wii U and Nintendo 3DS, the different consoles have differing coverage as to what games they feature.
List of consoles on Virtual Console
| Platform | Wii[1] | Wii U | Nintendo 3DS |
|---|---|---|---|
| Arcade |  |
 |
|
| NES / Famicom | |
|
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| SNES / Super Famicom | |
|
[2]
|
| Nintendo 64 | |
|
|
| Sega Master System | |
|
|
| Sega Genesis | |
|
|
| Turbografx-16 | |
|
[3]
|
| Neo Geo | |
|
|
| Game Boy | |
|
|
| Game Boy Color | |
|
|
| Game Boy Advance | |
|
[4]
|
| Nintendo DS | |
|
|
| Sega Game Gear | |
|
|
| MSX[5] | |
|
|
| Commodore 64[6] | |
|
|
Notes
- ^ Wii U can play them in Wii Mode
- ^ Only available on New Nintendo 3DS
- ^ Only available on Japanese 3DS systems
- ^ 10 Game Boy Advance games were released for members of the Nintendo 3DS Ambassador program. They were not released otherwise.
- ^ Only available in Japan.
- ^ Only available in North America and PAL regions. All games were removed from the Wii Shop Channel in August 2013.
In the Super Smash Bros. series
Masterpieces
A majority of the Masterpieces featured in Brawl and Super Smash Bros. for Wii U work via the Wii's Virtual Console engine. In addition, all Masterpieces are timed, and when the timer runs out, the player is told about how the full version can be purchased for the Virtual Console.
Unusually, Smash 4 features Masterpieces of Game Boy titles, which are not supported by the Wii U's Virtual Console. As a result, players are told about how they can download the two Game Boy titles, Kirby's Dream Land and Dr. Mario, on the Nintendo 3DS's Virtual Console.
Re-release of Super Smash Bros.
Super Smash Bros. was released onto the Wii Virtual Console for Japan on January 20, 2009, as to celebrate the ten years since the game's first release in Japan on January 21, 1999. It was later released to Europe and Australia on June 12, 2009, and later still, to North America on December 21, 2009. While not officially available for the Wii U's Virtual Console, the Virtual Console re-release of Smash 64 could still be purchased and played when the Wii U was running in Wii Mode. However, the game is no longer legitimately available for purchase since the discontinuation of the Wii Shop Channel as of January 30, 2019.
While the Virtual Console version of Smash 64 can be used in tournaments, its use is generally discouraged compared to using emulators such as Project 64k, or using the actual Nintendo 64 console. This is due to the limited support of controllers for the Virtual Console compared to either of the two previous options; furthermore, the Virtual Console port can suffer from frame-skipping, which can potentially disrupt players' inputs.
External links
- Virtual Console - Official Virtual Console site
