Nintendo’s Virtual Console is a clever little service that was launched with their 2006 introduction of the original Wii. Allowing you to purchase digital copies of older titles that are out of print or otherwise difficult to track down, it’s a wonderful concept and something that definitely fits in with consumer needs. Given Nintendo has the oldest back catalog of beloved games of the current platforms it was a major selling point for the Wii when it hit shelves.
However, nearly a decade after first being made available, the Virtual Console comes under criticism for the slow trickle of games that become available for Wii U and 3DS, especially in comparison to their predecessor, with many titles that were released on the first Wii being absent from the VC currently. Couple this with the fact that your purchases are console specific and not tied to user accounts, rendering players tethered to the system in which a given title was purchased, the frustrations are easy to grow.
While Nintendo has always been vague, though optimistic, about the individual sales for their Virtual Console title sales, the recent 75th general meeting of shareholders addressed those same concerns mentioned, namely why do certain titles (especially first party) go out of service and whether a system could be feasible where all titles are available at any time. President and CEO of Nintendo, Satoru Iwata, responded, “regarding the possibility of making all titles available on Virtual Console, I can say that it is possible for Nintendo titles with a few exceptions, since we generally have the intellectual property rights for such titles.” though he cautioned, "with regards to third party titles, we may not be able to easily use the same title for the system that exists now because we do not have a license from the copyright holder at the time.”
That’s a logical non-answer, but doesn’t help you get a digital copy of Mother 3, though, as of last month the first one is finally available in the form of Earthbound Beginnings.
