Virtual Console

Virtual Console was an service made by Nintendo available during the online shopping eras of Wii (through Wii Shop Channel), Nintendo 3DS and Wii U (through Nintendo eShop). It was released first on Wii and launched on November 19, 2006, and discontinued on January 30, 2019, alongside most content from Wii Shop Channel. On Nintendo 3DS, it was June 6, 2011, and on Wii U, it was launched on January 23, 2013 with a soft launch, with an official launch on April 26, 2013. Both Nintendo 3DS and Wii U versions of the Virtual Console were discontinued on March 27, 2023, alongside most content from Nintendo eShop. The service was an attempt by Nintendo to re-release older games in order to reduce software piracy on the Internet. Third parties also offered licenses for Nintendo to re-release their games released on older Nintendo systems as well. Alongside Nintendo, Sega offered support for games from their systems, Hudson Soft and Konami offered support for TurboGrafx-16 Cards and CD games, D4 Enterprise for Neo Geo, MSX plus several Arcade games and Commodore Gaming for Commodore 64 games.

Sega support[edit]

Sega supported all three variants of the Virtual Console, by either publishing games themselves or licensing games for Nintendo.

For Wii, Sega teamed up with M2 to deliver high-quality emulation of their legacy systems and Arcade boards in Nintendo's service. This was the start of one great alliance since the Sega Ages 2500 series on PlayStation 2, where several compilations in the series had emulation of SG-1000, Sega Master System, Sega Genesis, Sega Game Gear, and Sega Arcade games, varying by the titles themselves.

For Nintendo 3DS, Sega teamed up with M2 once again, this time, by bringing Sega Game Gear games into the service, alongside their own 3D Classics label of Arcade, Sega Genesis, Sega Master System, and SG-1000 games (the latter being available only on compilations).

For Wii U, Sega did choose to not bring games from their legacy systems and Arcade boards. Despite this, they allowed Nintendo to re-release their Game Boy Advance games on Wii U for Japan, as well as keeping most of the previous Wii Virtual Console games until the closure of the Wii Shop Channel in 2019. While not stated why, one can assume the low sales and polishing quality of Sega titles on Wii U (including Sonic Boom: Rise of Lyric) contributed to this decision.

Legacy System	Wii	Nintendo 3DS	Wii U	Notes
Sega Master System	✓	✗	✗	FM Sound Unit and Rapid Fire functions supported Can be played on Wii U through Wii Mode. Select SMS games were re-released inside 3D Classics compilations for 3DS.
Sega Genesis	✓	✗	✗	Can be played on Wii U through Wii Mode. Select Genesis games were re-released as part of 3D Classics for 3DS.
Sega Game Gear	✗	✓	✗	Select SMS games were re-released on Wii, which was originally planned to be Game Gear-only.
Arcade games	✓	✗	✗	Can be played on Wii U through Wii Mode. Select Arcade games were re-released as part of 3D Classics for 3DS.
Super Nintendo Entertainment System	✓	✓	✓	Available only on "New" iterations of 3DS systems No SNES games owned by Sega were re-released on 3DS and Wii U.
Game Boy Advance	✗	✓	✓	Available only for 3DS Ambassador users No Game Boy Advance games from Sega were re-released on 3DS.

Input support[edit]

Wii and Wii U iterations of Virtual Console had support for multiple controllers, depending on the system emulated. While Game Gear games on 3DS can be played only through their own internal button inputs, the Virtual Console menu can be summoned by touching the bottom screen.

Controller	Wii	Wii U	Notes
Nintendo GameCube Controller	✓	✗	GameCube Controller Adapter for Wii U (including the respective Switch variant) does not work for anything besides Super Smash Bros. for Wii U.
Wii Remote	✓	✓	For SNES games on Wii, Classic Controller is required. Controller remapping is required for SNES and GBA games on Wii U.
Wii Remote + Nunchuck	✓	✓	Used for Space Harrier (Arcade) on Wii.
Wii Remote + Classic Controller	✓	✓
Wii U GamePad	✗	✓	Can be used as a Classic Controller for stuff on Wii Mode only through unauthorized methods by Nintendo.
Wii U Pro Controller	✗	✓

Other systems such as TurboGrafx-16 can use a mix of different controllers (Wii Remote + GameCube controllers, Wii Remote + Wii U GamePad, etc.) or just a non-traditional Nintendo controller, such as MSX (generic USB keyboards can be used). Others can be played only with a single controller method, such as SNES and Nintendo 64 games on Wii (Classic Controller only) and Nintendo DS games on Wii U (Wii U GamePad only).

List of games and features (Wii)[edit]

Sega Genesis / Mega Drive[edit]

Sega is the publisher of all games, with emulation handled by M2.
Suspend points are supported.
Most games can be played with the Wii Remote, Wii Remote + Classic Controller (either normal ou Pro), and/or GameCube Controller (the last, not being compatible with Wii U).
- Several Sega Genesis games can only be played with the Classic Controller and/or GameCube Controller, namely the ones with 6 Button Arcade Pad support.
Several games supported online gameplay through Nintendo Wi-Fi Connection.
Sonic & Knuckles has Lock-On Technology support: It can virtually lock on with Sonic the Hedgehog (unlocking Blue Sphere), Sonic the Hedgehog 2 (unlocking Knuckles in Sonic the Hedgehog 2) and Sonic the Hedgehog 3 (unlocking Sonic the Hedgehog 3 & Knuckles), as long they are installed on the Wii's internal storage.
No Sega Genesis games were re-released in South Korea, despite the system being distributed by Samsung back in the 1990s.

Save Banner

Title

Release Date

Original System

Publisher

Ratings

Notes

Alex Kidd in the Enchanted Castle
Alex Kidd: Tenkuu Majou

March 20, 2007

April 9, 2007

May 4, 2007

Virtual Console

Sega support[edit]

Input support[edit]

List of games and features (Wii)[edit]

Sega Genesis / Mega Drive[edit]

Sega Master System[edit]

Arcade games[edit]

Super Nintendo Entertainment System / Super Famicom[edit]

List of games and features (Nintendo 3DS)[edit]

List of games and features (Wii U)[edit]

Wii Save Banner unused names[edit]

Japanese to International[edit]

International to Japanese[edit]

3DS / Wii U regional issues[edit]

See also[edit]

External links[edit]

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