Nintendo announced last week that they were planning to hold a limited time 30 cent sale on several Wii U Virtual Console titles to celebrate the 30th anniversary of the launch of the Famicom in Japan (better known as the Nintendo Entertainment System in the West). At the time of the announcement Nintendo detailed which games would be included over the course of the sale, however, they did not provide any specific dates as to when each title would get discounted. The Big N has now laid out the entire schedule for the promotion (posted below) which is already underway with Balloon Fight for the NES.
- Balloon Fight (NES): Wed, 1/23 to Thu, 2/21
- F-Zero (SNES): Wed, 2/20 to Thu, 3/21
- Punch-Out!! Featuring Mr. Dream (NES): Wed, 3/20 to Thu, 4/18
- Kirby’s Adventure (NES): Wed, 4/17 to Thu, 5/16
- Super Metroid (SNES): Wed, 5/15 to Thu, 6/13
- Yoshi (NES): Wed, 6/12 to Thu, 7/11
- Donkey Kong (NES): Mon, 7/15 to Tue, 8/13
Each Wii U Virtual Console game includes GamePad remote play support and the ability to customize the control settings, making their 30 cent sale price a real steal. In fact, since it only costs a whopping $2.10 to buy all seven titles there really is no reason not to hop on the Wii U eShop and grab the whole lot. At a minimum, I would say that it is a priority for all Wii U owners to make sure they get a digital version of Super Metroid for $0.30.
Hopefully the 30th anniversary sale on the Wii U Virtual Console is the first sign that Nintendo is planning to correct a lot of the mistakes that they made with the Wii’s Virtual Console. Lack of marketing and the store’s poor layout eventually killed what should have been the top destination for retro gamers. Nobody has a stronger back catalog than Nintendo, and it was a shame that they failed to create an environment that could exploit that advantage to its fullest.
At the very least, here is hoping that Nintendo will be able to correct the Wii’s biggest Virtual Console oversight and offer a Wii U Virtual Console version of Pro Wrestling. Winner Is You!
