As we’ve seen in the past couple years, Nintendo absolutely loves to celebrate anniversaries. While The Legend of Zelda is still being celebrated with this past weekend’s release of Hyrule Historia, the most complete collected historical information on the franchise, July 15th marks the 3oth anniversary of when the Famicom (which we know in the U.S. as the NES) first arrived in Japan.
To celebrate, Nintendo has come up with a way to both play off of your sense of nostalgia and kick off the launch of the Wii U’s Virtual Console. Here’s the deal: Starting this month, Wii U owners can visit the eShop (different from the unreleased Virtual Console due to release this Spring) and download select titles at reduced price for a limited time. There will be one deal a month that will last for 30 days, each of them priced at 30 cents. The fun and games started this past Wednesday, but here’s the full rundown of the games. Remember, each of these downloads are for the FULL version of the game, priced at 30 cents.
Balloon Fight (NES): From 1/23 – 2/21
F-Zero (SNES): From 2/20 – 3/21
Punch Out!! Featuring Mr. Dream (NES): From 3/20 – 4/18
Kirby’s Adventure (NES): From 4/17 – 5/16
Super Metroid (SNES): From 5/15 – 6/13
Yoshi (NES): From 6/12 – 7/11
Donkey Kong (NES): From 7/15 – 8/13
For those who previously downloaded these game on the Wii and are looking to transfer over their Virtual Console library to the Wii U, be advised: These deals are actually cheaper than what it would cost you to go through the process of “redownloading” previously owned digital games. As Nintendo announced during last week’s Nintendo Direct stream, those wishing to transfer their games over will actually be required to rebuy their games, albeit at a discounted price. However, that price is $1.00 for NES games and $1.50 for SNES titles, so as I mentioned, if any of the anniversary games are included in your collection, you’re better off just buying them on sale rather than transferring them over.
So, there you have it. I’m a little surprised not a single Mario title is anywhere to be seen, but perhaps these other games deserve some time to shine. I’m glad Super Metroid is a part of the deal, but I feel like Nintendo could have done a lot more with this event. Could be they’re doing something extra special in July, which would probably be announced during E3. Who plans on taking advantage of these offers while they last? Or do many of you already own the majority of these classic games?
