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How the various Smash franchises are doing on VC

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Rew

Smash Journeyman
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So I got bored a few days ago and decided to see how each of the various Nintendo franchises represented in the Smash series are being represented on the Wii's Virtual Console. Now 2011 and more than four years since the Wii's release, most games from the NES, SNES, N64, etc. are now available, but there are still a certain few that have been left out.

First, here are the ones that are out by franchise (with North American release dates).

Super Smash Bros.
Super Smash Bros. (N64) - December 21, 2009

Super Mario Bros.
Pinball (NES) - November 19, 2006
Mario Bros. (NES) - November 19, 2006
Super Mario 64 (N64) - November 19, 2006
Super Mario Bros. (NES) - December 25, 2006
Mario Kart 64 (N64) - January 29, 2007
Super Mario World (SNES) - February 5, 2007
NES Open Tournament Golf (NES) - June 18, 2007
Super Mario Bros. 2 (NES) - July 2, 2007
Paper Mario (N64) - July 16, 2007
Super Mario Bros.: The Lost Levels (NES) - October 1, 2007
Super Mario Bros. 3 (NES) - November 5, 2007
Wrecking Crew (NES) - November 19, 2007
Super Mario RPG: Legend of the Seven Stars (SNES) - September 1, 2008
Mario Golf (N64) - October 6, 2008
Super Mario Kart (SNES) - November 23, 2009
Mario Tennis (N64) - June 28, 2010
Mario Party 2 (N64) - December 20, 2010

Donkey Kong
Donkey Kong (NES) - November 19, 2006
Donkey Kong Jr. (NES) - December 4, 2006
Donkey Kong Country (SNES) - February 19, 2007
Donkey Kong Country 2: Diddy's Kong Quest (SNES) - May 21, 2007
Donkey Kong Jr. Math (NES) - September 3, 2007
Donkey Kong Country 3: Dixie Kong's Double Trouble! (SNES) - December 24, 2007
Donkey Kong 3 (NES) - July 14, 2008

The Legend of Zelda
The Legend of Zelda (NES) - November 19, 2006
The Legend of Zelda: A Link to the Past (SNES) - January 22, 2007
The Legend of Zelda: Ocarina of Time (N64) - February 26, 2007
Zelda II: The Adventure of Link (NES) - June 4, 2007
The Legend of Zelda: Majora's Mask (N64) - May 18, 2009

Metroid
Metroid (NES) - August 13, 2007
Super Metroid (SNES) - August 20, 2007

Yoshi
Yoshi (NES) - July 9, 2007
Yoshi's Story (N64) - September 17, 2007
Yoshi's Cookie (NES) - April 7, 2008

Kirby Super Star
Kirby's Adventure (NES) - February 12, 2007
Kirby's Dream Course (SNES) - July 23, 2007
Kirby's Avalanche (SNES) - September 24, 2007
Kirby 64: The Crystal Shards (N64) - February 25, 2008
Kirby's Dream Land 3 (SNES) - January 5, 2009
Kirby Super Star (SNES) - May 17, 2010

Star Fox
Star Fox 64 (N64) - April 2, 2007

Pokémon
Pokémon Snap (N64) - December 10, 2007
Pokémon Puzzle League (N64) - May 5, 2008

F-Zero
F-Zero (SNES) - November 19, 2006
F-Zero X (N64) - June 25, 2007

Ice Climber
Ice Climber (NES) - February 12, 2007

Kid Icarus
Kid Icarus (NES) - February 12, 2007

Wario
Wario's Woods (NES) - November 19, 2006

Sonic the Hedgehog
Sonic the Hedgehog (Genesis) - November 19, 2006
Dr. Robotnik's Mean Bean Machine (Genesis) - December 11, 2006
Sonic the Hedgehog Spinball (Genesis) - March 12, 2007
Sonic the Hedgehog 2 (Genesis) - June 11, 2007
Sonic the Hedgehog 3 (Genesis) - September 10, 2007
Sonic 3D Blast (Genesis) - November 19, 2007
Sonic the Hedgehog (SMS) - August 4, 2008
Sonic the Hedgehog 2 (SMS) - December 8, 2008
Sonic Chaos (SMS) - February 2, 2009
Sonic & Knuckles (Genesis) - February 15, 2010

And there you have it. That being said, there have been some Japan-only releases on VC (particularly in the Fire Emblem series) that can be noted here.

Japan only
Fire Emblem: Monsho no Nazo (SNES) - December 26, 2006
Fire Emblem: Seisen no Keifu (SNES) - January 30, 2007
Fire Emblem: Thracia 776 (SNES) - July 15, 2008
Fire Emblem: Ankoku Ryu to Hikari no Tsurugi (NES) - October 20, 2009
Fire Emblem Gaiden (NES) - November 4, 2009
Metal Gear (NES) - December 8, 2009
Kirby's Star Stacker (SNES) - January 5, 2010
Metal Gear 2: Solid Snake (NES) - March 30, 2010

The Fire Emblem titles were never released outside of Japan, so it makes sense that the same is true for their VC titles. The same is true of the SNES (or Super Famicom) version of Kirby's Star Stacker, as well as Metal Gear 2. Even the original Metal Gear on the American NES is a heavily modified port of the Japanese original.

Another curious case is that of Mario's Super Picross, released on VC in both Japan and all the PAL regions in 2006 and 2007 respectively, but which never saw a North American release. This is the only game I can recall where this was the case. Meh, I guess no one figured us Americans to like Picross very much. *shrugs*

So finally we come to the titles that have yet to be released on the VC:
Golf (NES)
Famicom Grand Prix: F-1 Race (NES) [Japan]
Famicom Grand Prix II: 3D Hot Rally (NES) [Japan]
Dr. Mario (NES)
*Mario Paint (SNES)
Mario is Missing! (SNES/NES)
Super Mario All-Stars (SNES)
Mario & Wario (SNES) [Japan]
Mario's Time Machine (SNES/NES)
Mario's Early Years: Fun with Numbers (SNES)
Mario's Early Years: Fun with Letters (SNES)
Mario's Early Years: Preschool Fun (SNES)
Tetris & Dr. Mario (SNES)
Wrecking Crew '98 (SNES) [Japan]
Mario Party (N64)
Dr. Mario 64 (N64)
Mario Party 3 (N64)
Diddy Kong Racing (N64)
Donkey Kong 64 (N64)
*Yoshi's Safari (SNES)
Super Mario World 2: Yoshi's Island (SNES)
Tetris Attack (SNES)
Star Fox (SNES)
Pokémon Stadium (N64)
Hey You, Pikachu! (N64)
Pokémon Stadium 2 (N64)
Mother (NES) [Japan]
EarthBound (SNES)
Snake's Revenge (NES)
Wacky Worlds Creativity Studio (Genesis)
Sonic Drift (SMS)
Sonic Drift 2 (SMS)

It looks like a pretty large list, but almost all of them have some reason why we've seen no release yet. The ones with an asterisk (i.e. Mario Paint and Yoshi's Safari) required an extra peripheral (SNES Mouse and Super Scope respectively), making emulation on the VC essentially impossible.

In the Mario series, while all the main games are available, there are tons of spin-offs that are not. Golf (it stars Mario, so I guess it counts) is almost superfluous since we already have NES Open Tournament Golf and other golf games on VC. I'm guessing the Famicom Grand Prix games will end up being Japan only releases anyway--ditto Mario & Wario and Wrecking Crew '98. The complete lack of Dr. Mario on VC is rather baffling, unless you consider the existence of Dr. Mario Online Rx on WiiWare and Dr. Mario Express on DSiWare, which basically function the same as the NES original plus extra features. Super Mario All-Stars is completely unnecessary in light of the recent 25th anniversary release of that exact same game compilation on Wii.

Then we come to the Mario educational games. Just because they're educational doesn't mean they won't ever be released--they did put out Donkey Kong Jr. Math after all. I think we'll see Mario is Missing and Mario's Time Machine eventually, but I think the three Mario's Early Year games will probably never be released. (That Wacky Worlds title is supposedly a Sonic education game, so I guess it hasn't been released yet due to too little demand/interest.) Mario Party is weird in that MP2 came out before MP1 (it's also the most recent Mario VC release, coming out at the end of last year). I guess this means that MP1 and MP3 will be coming out soon as well, but I have no idea why MP1 was passed over for now.

Alas, both Donkey Kong 64 and especially Diddy Kong Racing have run into licensing issues (by including characters and properties from other Rare franchises, now owned by Microsoft), meaning we can kiss these games goodbye. Ditto for any Tetris games because of the license legality. (That and there are Tetris Party games on WiiWare now anyway.) This is also why we'll almost certainly never see Mother or its sequel EarthBound either.

Personally, the most painful non-release on VC for me is Yoshi's Island--it's the only one I'm really, really waiting on. But with it being 2011 now, we can only conclude that the Super FX chip has (at least so far) proven to be too difficult to emulate, hence why we've yet to see games like Yoshi's Island, Star Fox, Doom, Stunt Race FX, etc. Until Nintendo bothers with emulating the chip, those games are out of the running. When/If Nintendo ever does succeed at it, though, I suspect we'll see YI and SF in relatively quick succession.

I don't know a whole lot about the Pokémon series, so I can't really speculate as to why the two Stadium games have been left out to dry while Snap and Puzzle League have made it. I'm guessing Pokémon isn't really much of a VC priority since in that series, it's the portables that are the main events of the series (Red/Blue, Diamond/Pearl, Black/White, etc.).

Snake's Revenge and the Sonic Drift titles are anyone's guess. Probably just Nintendo hasn't really deemed them worth releasing yet. =P

Finally, the good news is that the VC library for the Zelda, Metroid, and F-Zero franchises are complete! (Kirby too if you disregard the sole Japan only release.) Ditto for Super Smash Bros. 64, even though it sure took them a while.

And, just for fun, what follows is a full list of potential titles for the brand new 3DS Virtual Console (for Game Boy, Game Boy Color, and Game Gear games).

Super Mario Bros.
Super Mario Land (GB) - TBA 2011
Alleyway (GB)
Golf (GB)
Dr. Mario (GB)
Super Mario Land 2: 6 Golden Coins (GB)
Mario's Picross (GB)
Picross 2 (GB) [Japan]
Super Mario Bros. Deluxe (GBC)
Mario Golf (GBC)
Mario Tennis (GBC)
*Mobile Golf (GBC)

Donkey Kong
Donkey Kong (GB)
Donkey Kong Land (GB)
Donkey Kong Land 2 (GB)
Donkey Kong Land III (GB)
Donkey Kong Country (GBC)

The Legend of Zelda
The Legend of Zelda: Link's Awakening DX (GBC) - TBA 2011
The Legend of Zelda: Oracle of Seasons (GBC)
The Legend of Zelda: Oracle of Ages (GBC)

Metroid
Metroid II: Return of Samus (GB)

Yoshi
Yoshi (GB)
Yoshi's Cookie (GB)
Tetris Attack (GB)

Kirby Super Star
Kirby's Dream Land (GB)
Kirby's Pinball Land (GB)
Kirby's Dream Land 2 (GB)
Kirby's Block Ball (GB)
Kirby's Star Stacker (GB)
Kirby Tilt 'n' Tumble (GBC)

Pokémon
Pokémon Red Version (GB)
Pokémon Blue Version (GB)
Pokémon Pinball (GBC)
Pokémon Yellow Version: Special Pikachu Edition (GB)
Pokémon Trading Card Game (GBC)
Pokémon Gold Version (GBC)
Pokémon Silver Version (GBC)
Pokémon Puzzle Challenge (GBC)
Pokémon Card GB2: GR-Dan Sanjo! (GBC) [Japan]
Pokémon Crystal Version (GBC)

Kid Icarus
Kid Icarus: Of Myths & Monsters (GB)

Wario Land
Wario Land: Super Mario Land 3 (GB)
Wario Blast: Featuring Bomberman! (GB)
Wario Land II (GB/GBC)
Wario Land 3 (GBC)

Game & Watch
Game & Watch Gallery (GB)
Game & Watch Gallery 2 (GB/GBC)
Game & Watch Gallery 3 (GBC)

Metal Gear Solid
Metal Gear Solid (GBC)

Sonic the Hedgehog
Sonic the Hedgehog (GG)
Sonic the Hedgehog 2 (GG)
Dr. Robotnik’s Mean Bean Machine (GG)
Sonic the Hedgehog Chaos (GG)
Sonic Drift (GG) [Japan]
Sonic the Hedgehog Spinball (GG)
Sonic the Hedgehog: Triple Trouble (GG)
Tails' Skypatrol (GG) [Japan]
Sonic Drift 2 (GG)
Tails Adventure (GG)
Sonic Labyrinth (GG)
Sonic Blast (GG)

So, long story short, this thread is about general VC discussion. (I was, again, bored and just decided to structure mine around the various Nintendo franchises as seen in Brawl and the other Smash Bros. games.)
 

WaffleBlaster

Smash Journeyman
Joined
Jan 7, 2011
Messages
297
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Whiterun, Skyrim
The most needed, by far, is Earthbound. That game is a masterpiece, but it's hell to find a working copy under 100 dollars, and playing roms on a computer (or, in my case, an ipod, which is even worse) is just not the same. Other than that, and possibly english Mother, my console VC list is complete.....other than Perfect Dark, Goldeneye, Conker, Banjo Kazooie, and Banjo Tooie.....friggen Rare *grumblegrumble*Microsoft*grumblegrumble*
 
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