Virtual Console

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Revision as of 17:29, 6 December 2017 by Jpx (talk | contribs) (Added GG to 3DS)
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3ds vc logo.png
Current version: n/a
Active: Yes
OS: Wii, 3DS, Wii U
Authors: Nintendo
Official website: eShop
Source code: Nintendo OSS (Partial)

Virtual Console is a service created by Nintendo that allows users to purchase and emulate games.


Overview

Games played through Virtual Console are usually free of accuracy issues.

In terms of functionality, the Virtual Console emulator is very bare-bones compared to unofficial emulators, but the 3DS version has restore points (save states) and screenshot saving. The Wii U version has both plus controller customization (Game Gear on 3DS also has it), Off-TV Play, Pixel smoothing and scaling changing. Despite this, usually only the bare functionality is emulated: there is no way to save ghost data in Mario Kart 64 due to a lack of a Memory Pak emulated.

The different regions of Virtual Console (Japan, North America, Europe/Australia, and South Korea) have different games and update them to different schedules. At times, North America gets games that were exclusive to Japan while Europe/Australia gets games that were exclusive to the previous two regions. These imported games are priced a little higher than normal and tend to be straight ports with no translation. (Exceptions include Monster World IV and Sin & Punishment.) Other games that can be priced higher than normal are games based on externally-licensed properties, one example being the Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles games.

Virtual Console games can be retired from the shop, though purchased games can be redownloaded.

Some GameBoy Advance games from the 3DS Virtual Console were available to Ambassadors only, that is, buyers of the Nintendo 3DS before Nintendo announced a price drop.

Pricing of Virtual Console games can be ludicrous. If you don't want to pay for VC ROMs on your Wii, you can just install them as .wad files through WAD Manager. You can even install .wads from other regions, though you need to watch the PAL/NTSC divide.

Supported Systems

Console Wii Wii U 3DS
Nintendo Entertainment System (Famicom)
Super Nintendo Entertainment System (Super Famicom) ✓*
Nintendo 64
Sega Master System
Sega Mega Drive / Genesis
PC Engine
Neo Geo
Commodore 64
MSX
Game Boy
Game Boy Color
Game Boy Advance ✓**
Nintendo DS
Game Gear
Arcade

*A *New* 3DS is necessary if you want to play SNES games through the 3DS Virtual Console. Technically, some have managed to get it to boot in normal 3DS mode, but its emulation suffers from huge slowdowns.

**Ten GBA games were released exclusively to 3DS "ambassadors", who bought the system before its price was dropped. They are unavailable to those who did not purchase the system before its price drop.

Game Injection

VC releases consist of the emulator and the included ROM image, but it's possible to replace that ROM image with another one and load it using various homebrew tools out there. Of course, compatibility isn't that high, especially for games with custom hardware, but it's a start.

Wii

  • ShowMiiWads

Wii U

  • DS VC: The roms are stored in regular DS ROM format, in a zip folder. There's a config file with a brightness setting, and an option to change internal 3D resolution that Nintendo didn't use for some reason. Just change the line "RenderScale": 1 to have the value 2 instead.

Compatibility List

Related article: Compatibility List (Virtual Console)

Input Key

Virtual Console games come from many different systems and have to be mapped to those on the supported console, sometimes having to be mapped to different controllers. Even then, at times (notably emulated Nintendo 64 games), mappings may not be consistent.

Wii games in the Virtual Console support the Classic Controllers (which were made with the purpose of the Virtual Console) and GameCube controllers. Some games also support the lone Wii Remote. PC Engine/TurboGrafx-16 games that support 5-player mode require that the users connect a combination of GameCube controllers and Wii Remotes (with or without Classic Controllers attached to the Wii Remotes).

List of Wii Virtual Console button mappings

List of Wii U Virtual Console button mappings

List of 3DS Virtual Console button mappings