Nintendo says SNES Classic Is A Form Of Virtual Console, Still Has Big Plans For Service

What the heck is going on with the Nintendo’s Virtual Console? The company has been somewhat more open about certain aspects of their business recently, like their plans for a Nintendo Switch paid online service, but they’ve kept their mouths tightly sealed about Virtual Console. E3 2017 came and went and we barely got a hint. Could the concept be done for?

Don’t count on it. Nintendo held their annual shareholder Q&A this past Thursday, and one of the question asked was about Virtual Console. The response from Nintendo’s Satoshi Yamato was short and sweet, but it said a lot (thanks to Alex Aniel for translating/transcribing the answer)…

It may not seem like it now, but it sounds like Nintendo has big plans for Virtual Console, and it may be veering off in a new direction. It’s definitely interesting to see Nintendo say the SNES Classic Edition is a form of Virtual Console – could the success of Nintendo’s mini NES and SNES have convinced Nintendo to move away from an all-digital approach, and produce more physical retro products? Could we see the return of something like the Classic NES Series Nintendo released on the Game Boy Advance back in the day? I don’t know about you, but I’d buy a nicely-packaged copy of Mother 3 in a heartbeat.

Also, remember, Nintendo has teased they may be releasing new Nintendo Switch controllers and accessories for Gamecube Virtual Console games. Could we see a whole line of retro controllers released for the Switch, perhaps packaged with some downloadable games?

Of course, some people will complain about this approach. They don’t want to buy any more hardware, they just want to download some classic ROMs. That’s a valid position, but the reality is, Virtual Console has been petering out for a while now. At least doing something different means Nintendo is paying some attention to the service.

You can check out WWG’s latest Nintendo Switch coverage here.