The Wii Virtual Console: A Guided Tour
- November 30, 2006 13:50 PM PST
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Here's the low-down on the user experience, with screenshots and a take on the Wii "classic" controller. Find out how the games look and feel.
As one of the hundreds of thousands of people around the world who lassoed a Wii and rode it home, you already know that Nintendo's sleek new machine is drastically different other consoles. Though it's designed with an innovative motion-sensitive future in mind, it still has one foot planted in the past, offering up the classics of yesteryear to young and old alike, via an online shopping channel. Kids just getting their first taste of Link's adventures with The Legend of Zelda: Twilight Princess can bond with parents who grew up playing the brilliantly designed, if comparatively primitive, original that birthed the long-running series. And that's just the beginning.
Plucking the Money Tree
Use the Wiimote to send Mr. Finger to Purchaseville.
Before you can download Golden Axe or Wario's Woods, you'll need to purchase Wii Points for use in the shopping channel. You can grab a 2,000 point gift card in stores for $20 or purchase points online with a credit card in one, two, three, and five thousand point increments. If you don't count sales tax, each Wii Point will set you back a penny, so the conversion rate is certainly more intuitive than Xbox Live Marketplace, even if you are still required to convert cold hard cash into funny money.
Unfortunately, the Wii won't save any of your information, so buying points always requires the tedious entry of textual information that you should really have the option to save. We understand the need for security, and nobody wants their rug-rats running around with a blank check, but there has to be a better way, especially when you have to start the whole process from scratch if you get the dreaded "server busy" message. Every website on the Internet will save your billing information; why not the Wii?
Spending Spree
Once you've got a virtual wallet bulging with points, you're ready to hit the virtual shop -- complete with music that seems deliberately reminiscent of a mall elevator's tunes -- to buy and download the data that used to come packaged in a cartridge. Games can be browsed alphabetically and by platform, and though the responsiveness of the store can sometimes leave you tapping toes, the clean interface is easily read and navigated from the comfort of your couch.
Each title comes with a detailed description.
Prices are tiered based on the console the game originally appeared on, with more recent releases commanding steeper fares. Games for the NES run 500 points, TurboGrafx-16 titles are 600 points, SNES and Genesis carts leech 800 a piece, and Nintendo 64 releases demand a full 1,000 point tribute each. Sure, the prices seem a bit steep, given that you can sometimes buy last-generation games from the bargain bin for less, but there's something to be said for convenience.
