After the addition of the DSi Ware shop service on the DSi, it was pretty much a forgone conclusion that Nintendo's true next generation handheld would likewise feature a download service of some sort. Lo and behold, company prez Satoru Iwata says in a recent interview: "I can’t go into detail on what the plans are today, but of course, with a device like Nintendo 3DS, we do intend to offer some type of digital distribution." What kind of digital distribution? Nintendo fans have long clamored for a handheld virtual console that would offer up classic handheld games from the Game Boy, Game Boy Color, etc. in a way akin to what the Wii virtual console does with old school console games. Well, there may be a virtual console service for the 3DS, but it may not be what you're expecting.
According to IGN's Nintendo Voice Chat podcast, 18 NES and SNES games were demoed on the 3DS at E3 this past week, including Super Mario Bros. and Mega Man 2. Plus, we know that a pair of N64 classics, Star Fox 64 and Ocarina of Time, were also shown at the convention. It sure seems like a lot of "old" games were being shown for this brand new system. Why would Nintendo do that? Did they just want to throw together a bunch of quick demos with games people were already familiar with in order to highlight the 3D effect? Or maybe, and rather likely, Nintendo was showing off some of the titles it will be offering in a new, 3D-updated virtual console for the 3DS. While it may seem like it would be a long and arduous process to go back through entire libraries of games and update them to utilize 3D effects, but Iwata said in the same interview that: "From a development perspective, it actually does not make much of a difference in terms of development costs to create the 3D visual effect." So maybe this is actually a great business decision by Nintendo: jazz up the classics with a 3D effect on the cheap and sell it back to us for a tidy sum. Think about it; how many times has Nintendo repackaged the original Super Mario Bros. to consumers, and how many times have you bought that same game?
So in all likelihood, we're going to see a 3D virtual console for 3DS that enhances classic games with new visual magic. Will Game Boy games be included in there somewhere, even if only in 2D? I'm thinking probably not, and definitely not at launch. What about those unlucky few games that were doomed to appear on Nintendo's first major foray into 3D: the Virtual Boy? Maybe. It makes a lot of sense, so that means Nintendo probably won't do it just so they can cackle callously at the suffering masses while they sip virgin blood from a solid gold goblet. So that just leaves us with the console games. Am I excited by the prospect of playing side-scrolling NES games in 3D? Not really. Am I excited by the prospect of playing Star Fox 64 and Ocarina of Time in 3D? Absolutely. So bring on the 3D virtual console, I say, just try and make sure it gets better support than DSi Ware.
