$4-$9 in Japan for VC games. I bet it will be cheaper in the US

It better be cheaper in the US. People aren't going to pay $4 for an NES game. I certainly don't want to, especially when you can get similiar games for only $1 or even free nowadays. Plus many have the roms already and $4 is something they will not pay, but at $1-2 they might be willing to buy.

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$4-$9 in Japan for VC games. I bet it will be cheaper in the US

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Considering prices are usually a little higher in Japan, I'm gonna guess that VC games in the U.S. will be somewhere in the neighborhood of $2-$5, which is pretty reasonable, I think.

Have you guys seen the shot of Pokemon Wii? I'm no Pokemon fan, but the graphics look really smooth.

Gamasutra also reports on this event, and reported Nintendo giving some hints to how little the Wii would earn them initially. I have a thread about it here: Wii Forum Thread.

Now, back to what PGC reported...

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. Nintendo plans to ship 4 million systems by the end of the calendar year.

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Originally posted by: Louieturkey
It better be cheaper in the US. People aren't going to pay $4 for an NES game. I certainly don't want to, especially when you can get similiar games for only $1 or even free nowadays. Plus many have the roms already and $4 is something they will not pay, but at $1-2 they might be willing to buy.

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But that's a portable version.

In my eyes, the original Mario is worth $20 if it's portable. However, we are talking about the Wii -- a console within someone's home. Plus, I don't think people in the US are as nostalgic as Japan.

Hopefully Reggie will step in and tell them what's up.

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Originally posted by: Requiem
But that's a portable version.

In my eyes, the original Mario is worth $20 if it's portable. However, we are talking about the Wii -- a console within someone's home. Plus, I don't think people in the US are as nostalgic as Japan.

Hopefully Reggie will step in and tell them what's up.

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If NES games were $1, I'd consider spending approximately $700 for every NES game even if I never play them all. Seriously. But that's assuming that the structure is download-friendly, of course.

But at $4...well, I suppose I could spend as much on just the GOOD games. Naming 200 good NES games might be kind of tough, actually, but I could probably name at least a few dozen for sure.

Nice to kinda-almost-know that if N64 games fall into this range, we won't have to break the bank for them. Too bad about Rareware, though, that kinda hurts the N64 library.

http://www.irwebcasting.com/060607/03/74d18b0400/main/index_hi.htm
Go to slide 70 and then press the third button under the slide to see Pokemon in action.

Well we're still getting Pokemon Stadium games instead of a real Pokemon console game. I guess I should stop hoping for one. At least they still make good portable Pokemon games. Still there's such potential and it bothers me that they've had the ultimate killer app right in front of their face for like ten years now. I swear that such a game released on the Cube could have totally changed the outcome of the last gen.

$4 is okay for SOME NES games. Something like Zelda or Super Mario Bros 3 or Final Fantasy is worth $4. Dragon Warrior IV is a bargain at even $9. Translated Japan-only games would be worth that price range too. But there are a lot of NES games that are decent and worth a play but aren't worth $4. They're not classics but they're not duds either and for $1 are worth downloading and goofing around in. With a price of $4 people are going to consider their purchases more carefully. I think for only a buck people would download any old game just to try it out.

However for SNES and N64 games $4 to $9 is perfectly acceptable. For N64 games that a great price.

whoa, the pokemon game really does look sweet....

unless it's prerendered, but that's not nintendo's style, so I doubt it

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Originally posted by: Ian Sane
Well we're still getting Pokemon Stadium games instead of a real Pokemon console game. I guess I should stop hoping for one. At least they still make good portable Pokemon games. Still there's such potential and it bothers me that they've had the ultimate killer app right in front of their face for like ten years now. I swear that such a game released on the Cube could have totally changed the outcome of the last gen.

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Athrun Zala, the video looked like real time play

I think some of you pointed out why $4 dollars is a good price point. Actually let me start by saying that $9 top end. Rock On! I was expecting the rare and must haves to still be like $20. So that's great. It's bargain bin great. Now to the $4. As mentioned before if they were just a dollar everyone here would download till there paychecks were gone. At $4 you'll have to think about it. Nintendo will probably only make slightly less. Plus there is going to be a lot of debugging that will need to be done initially. Last thing any programmer wants is really heavy usage while trying to smash bugs. Nothing is stopping them from lowering the prices later when things have calmed down. Next I'm going to check this pokemon footage out.


Also I still think that $9 dollars is a wonderfully low top end.

If the max is $9 dollars for some games then this is a great deal. If things go right then this means we could all be downloading Dracula X: Rondo of Blood for only $9. Considering in order to play it now, your required to spend hundreds of dollars just do import a PC-Engine with all the attachments just to play the game, then you'll have to spend another hundred to buy the game itself.

So getting Rondo of Blood for only $9 has got to be one of the greatest deals ever. And since Konami owns Hudson now, there's a very good chance this game will be on the Virtual Console sometime in the future. Hopefully soon.

Just saw the footage for the Pokemon game. I'm underwhelmed. Yet again the pokemon themselves get gyped. When is Pikachu going to actually have hair? They all look like there made out of plastic, again.

Pikachu with hair?!?!? SACRILEGE! GET 'IM!

On a more serious note, the Pokemon art style is clean and simple and pure and child-accessible (like most of the anime style). Giving Pikachu hair and more realism would be opposite of what Pokemon benefits from.

~Carmine M. Red
Kairon@aol.com

I don't see the problem if Pikachu were to be slightly fuzzy...

I think even on the show, when someone pets Pikachu, or especially that other one, Sparky, it becomes more clear that they have yellow fur/hair as opposed to being yellow-skinned naked mole rats.

Unless you invest money in a bunch of equipment to connect controllers to your pc and your pc to your tv, the Wii will have an advantage over typical emulation, and that's assuming that pc emulators work well (they often don't). 5 bucks seems a bit steep for an old nes game, but they may be doing software testing on each game they release to ensure full compatibility (it is a retail product after all, can't have it crash the emulator during the last boss fight).

Pikachu with wha??

I think this price range is fine...in my own personal opinion, pretty much any game is worth $4, except for a total load like Superman 64...heck even that might be worth it purely for the novelty.

And as others have said, $9 is a bargain for a lot of classics. I'd gladly pay $9 for any good game you care to mention, but I'll buy 3 copies if it's something like Chrono Trigger. There aren't a lot of used game stores left in Calgary, and the only one I've visited recently charges at least $20 for pretty much any game you can mention. This is a great alternative.

the prices are fine. $4 is slightly much for an old NES game like Urban Champion. But $9 is a steal for Snes classics like A Link To The Past or Shadowrun, not to mention N64 classics. It ends up being a bargain in my eyes.

Besides, who feels like f'ing with the NES, and that hideous blinking screen?I'd sooner pay $4 even if I owned the game then drag all my wires and rubbing alcohol out just to play Tag Team Wrestling.

Well considering that people were expecting $20 for the N64 games the price range doesn't seem too bad for me. It also hints that Nintendo is going to publish smaller orginal content for the Wii on the download service.

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Originally posted by: ShyGuy
Athrun Zala, the video looked like real time play

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007-373-5963
Yes, that is worth $4.

$4-$9 is perfectly reasonable, I'm glad it's in that range. I was honestly expecting more than that.
A little pricey for some NES games, but I don't intend to buy any NES games (having every one ever made as roms burned onto one CD). I might get the original Zelda, but that'd probably be it.

Hahaha, complaining about lack of Pikachu body hair...It almost feels like I stepped into a 360/PS3 topic!

I'd rather put rubbing alcohol in my eyes than play Tag Team Wrestling.

On the other hand Tecmo World Wrestling...

CONNECTIVITY FTW

Definately a great deal, heck even on ebay once you pay shipping you are up to 4 or 5 dollars for the "cheaper" games, so this is a very good deal. 9$ for N64 and SNES games is also a steal, and if Nintendo does clear them up a bit for emulation (specifically the NES games) I don't see any downside. Heck it is still possible that NIntendo may offer download cards at stores for a cheaper price if you buy them in bulk.

does that mean N64 games are going to be $9 max? I would think that in the US, NES games are going to be $3 min, and $5 max (compare SMB1 to Kirby's Adventure) and then SNES games are going to be $5-10, (compare SMW to Yoshi's Island) and then N64 games are going to be $10-15 (Mario 64 to Zelda). But then again - if ALL games are going to be in the price range of $3-10, encompassing all systems, then that's great news.

You guys can't forget to take 1 major thing into consideration: Just like the NES games released on GBA, Nintendo likes to ramp up the prices as an unwritten "convenience fee."

I'll say it before, and I'll say it again: I'm not paying for games I already own. (AND STILL PLAY!)

Yikes. The new Pokemon looks pretty damn good. They finally actually make contact with each other, and it looked like the arena can suffer damage as well. I just hope they finally give these creatures the anime voices, and not the same Gameboy cries we've been subjected to for years.

On a side note, is anybody else kind of surprised they haven't bothered to make a cel-shaded Pokemon game? I mean, it's just BEGGING for that kind of style.

I have some bad news, apparently that article is a bit mistranslated, and that the price range applies to NEW games developed for the VC.

From IGN-Wii
"June 7, 2006 - Nintendo president Satoru Iwata outlined a price range for some games on Wii's Virtual Console download service during a marketing conference held in Japan on Wednesday. The company leader said that some Virtual Console games would cost between ¥500 and ¥1,000 yen, or $4.50 and $8.99 USD.

"We'd like people to play new, low-scale games for ¥500 yen or ¥1000 yen," Iwata stated.

These prices apparently encapsulate only titles newly created for the Virtual Console. It is not yet clear if classic NES, S-NES and N64 games will fall under the same price range umbrella."

I'm not willing to pay more than $15CAD for VC games. As for prices for indy games, well that depends if I have a great impression of the demo of the game, and I do hope indies will have demos.

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On a side note, is anybody else kind of surprised they haven't bothered to make a cel-shaded Pokemon game? I mean, it's just BEGGING for that kind of style.

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There is one thing I really like about this video. Previous stadium games had used generic animations for each attack, so it didn't seem like your Ursaring was actually using Mud Slap against your Gligar.

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Originally posted by: The Omen
the prices are fine. $4 is slightly much for an old NES game like Urban Champion. But $9 is a steal for Snes classics like A Link To The Past or Shadowrun, not to mention N64 classics. It ends up being a bargain in my eyes.

Besides, who feels like f'ing with the NES, and that hideous blinking screen?I'd sooner pay $4 even if I owned the game then drag all my wires and rubbing alcohol out just to play Tag Team Wrestling.

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"On a side note, is anybody else kind of surprised they haven't bothered to make a cel-shaded Pokemon game? I mean, it's just BEGGING for that kind of style."

I'm dissapointed in the lack of cel-shaded Nintendo games period.
I love the style and it's the perfect way to bring that classic sprite-based look into full 3D.
Not to mention how it would cover for the Wii's technical limitations. Attempting to compete with the 360 and PS3 with realistic textured graphics is not a good move IMO when perfectly crisp, bold cell-shaded graphics are an alternative.

I love cell shaded graphics, in fact I am one of those individuals that loved Wind Waker's graphical style. Prefering it over any of the previous Zelda's and even the new one!

I personally think this price is very fair...and compared to Xbox live's arcade it is fairly priced. Actually...sometimes priced better.

If you aren't will to pay the price of of a cup of coffee for a classic game, then don't...someone else will enjoy the game.

But like I stated in a previous post, it appears there was a mistranslation if you read IGN's story, these prices are for games MADE for the virtual console. Not the classic games (which may or may not be this price).

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Originally posted by: Rize

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Originally posted by: The Omen
the prices are fine. $4 is slightly much for an old NES game like Urban Champion. But $9 is a steal for Snes classics like A Link To The Past or Shadowrun, not to mention N64 classics. It ends up being a bargain in my eyes.

Besides, who feels like f'ing with the NES, and that hideous blinking screen?I'd sooner pay $4 even if I owned the game then drag all my wires and rubbing alcohol out just to play Tag Team Wrestling.

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haha, everyone has their own ritual to make those old NES's work

My trick was to blow the dust off the contacts, then blow humid air onto contacts (make a slow breath from the back of your throat). The humidity helps initial electrical conductivity. Then I put the game in just a little more than I have to (don't push it all the way back). Finally, I push the game down and take another game (a crappy one) and insert it into the nes on top of the other game holding it down (rather than the normal method where the game pops back up a little bit). Using this trick I can get all but the most nasty or broken game to work on two or three tries. If not one.

And I'd much rather play the original if I have it than any emulated version, including Wii's. Metroid Prime's copy of Metroid 1 for example is just a little weird looking compared to the original NES. The screen dimensions are slightly different and the colors or just a tad off. Things are a slight bit blurry even. I hope they do a better job with the Wii emulators.

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I don't want to disect my console, but I've heard of the replacement connectors. Is a soldering iron required? If so, then honestly my little "ritual" isn't that bad. It literally takes me maybe 5 seconds on average.

Replacing the 72-pin connector is a breeze. You unscrew your NES, pull the old 72-pin connector off the main board (much in a similar fashion to pulling out a cartridge) and push the new 72-pin connector on. No talent required.

By the way, I am in no way responsible if someone tries this and screw up their NES (or themselves). I'm just sayin'...

UPDATE: better quality Pokemon video & translation of speech