Virtual Console

The Virtual Console is one of the many special features of the Wii, the Nintendo 3DS, and the Wii U. The Virtual Console allows gamers to download games that have been uploaded by their respective companies. Most of its games come from Nintendo's own NES, SNES (Wii and Wii U), and Nintendo 64 (Wii). Nintendo did not upload Nintendo GameCube games to the Wii Virtual Console, due to the fact that GameCube ISOs use 1.35 GB on the hard drive (the internal memory on the Wii is only 512 MB), and the Wii is backwards-compatible with all GameCube discs and most accessories. Sega has provided the Wii and 3DS Virtual Console with Sega Genesis/Mega Drive, Sega Master System, and Sega Game Gear.

Wii Points
Wii Virtual Console games are bought with Wii Points via the Wii Shop Channel. Wii Points Cards, which are sold at most game retailers, each come with 2,000 redeemable Points on them. However, in Japan, cards are worth either 1,000, 3,000, or 5,000 Wii Points. Wii Points can also be purchased directly through the Wii Shop Channel with a credit card in blocks of either 1,000, 2,000, 3,000, or 5,000 Points.

eShop Credit
Nintendo 3DS and Wii U Virtual Console games are bought with eShop credits via the Nintendo eShop. Nintendo eShop cards are sold at most retailers with the following values; $10*, $20, $35, and $50. In Australia and New Zealand, there are $15, $30 and $60 cards.

*Note: $10 eShop cards are only available at Wal-Mart, GameStop, Best Buy, and Target in the United States only.

Wii
While this pricing is true for most games, a few select games have been priced differently. Imported games such as Super Mario RPG: Legend of the Seven Stars and Mario's Super Picross in Europe and Australia and Super Mario Bros.: The Lost Levels outside Japan cost 100 Wii Points more than usual.

In the United States, retailers currently only sell 2,000 points cards for $20 apiece, at a price of one cent per point.

Similarly, in Australia, retailers only sell 1,000 points cards for $20 apiece.

*Note: Games released on the Virtual Console Arcade are automatically set to 500 points. However, most Virtual Console Arcade games are priced higher than 500 points.

Wii U
*Note: Discounted price if originally purchased on the Wii Shop Channel via Wii Mode.

Controllers
Various controllers are needed used to play Virtual Console games.
 * Wii U GamePad - Can play all Virtual Console games in Wii U Mode. Only works in both Wii U and Wii Mode (only displays screen) on the Wii U console.
 * Wii U Pro Controller - Can also play all Virtual Console games in Wii U Mode. Only works in Wii U Mode for the Wii U console.
 * Wii Remote - When turned sideways, it can be used as an NES substitute. It is also compatible with Sega Master System games. Works in both Wii U and Wii as well as the Wii U via Wii Mode. Can be used for Wii U SNES and GBA games if is held while the game boots.
 * Classic Controller - Can play any game. It is made to fit the design of the SNES Controller. Works in both Wii U and Wii as well as the Wii U via Wii Mode.
 * Nintendo GameCube controller - Can also play any game, but it is best compatible with N64 games. It currently only works for the original Wii console.

Wii

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Note: The Donkey Kong Country series has been delisted (except in South Korea), likely due to Microsoft's desire to renegotiate licensing agreements with Nintendo before rereleasing it. Yoshi's Cookie for the NES has been delisted as well (except in South Korea).

Nintendo 3DS
Games on the Virtual Console of the 3DS do not have 3D capabilities, except for 3D Classics. They are sold via Nintendo eShop.

The following Mario games have been released on the Virtual Console of the 3DS:

a. Available for free to participants who purchase Mario Golf: World Tour from the Nintendo eShop from May 2, 2014 to May 29, 2014. b. The European edition of the Nintendo Direct December 18, 2013 reveals a promotion for Nintendo 3DS users, as those who registered their Nintendo Network ID before the end of January 2014 will be eligible to receive a free download code of Super Mario Bros. Deluxe from the Nintendo eShop on February 13, 2014.
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Nintendo 3DS Ambassador Program
All of these games are available as free downloads for consumers who purchased a Nintendo 3DS prior to the August 12, 2011 price drop. The NES titles were first available in Japan on August 31, 2011 for these ambassadors, and available worldwide on September 1, 2011. The Game Boy Advance games were released in Australia on December 15, 2011, and worldwide on December 16, 2011. The Legend of Zelda became available in the Japanese eShop on December 22nd, 2011, making it the first Ambassador game released to the public. Currently, all NES titles offered by the Ambassador Program are available worldwide on the eShop. Nintendo has announced plans to release GBA games on the 3ds eShop later but the release date is currently unknown.

Mario NES games

 * Super Mario Bros.
 * NES Open Tournament Golf
 * Donkey Kong Jr.
 * Yoshi
 * Wrecking Crew

Mario Game Boy Advance games

 * Yoshi's Island: Super Mario Advance 3
 * Mario Kart: Super Circuit
 * WarioWare, Inc.: Mega Microgame$!‎
 * Mario vs. Donkey Kong
 * Wario Land 4

Wii U
Games on the Virtual Console of the Wii U can be played on the Wii U Gamepad controller. As with the Nintendo 3DS, they are also sold via Nintendo eShop.


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* In the celebration of the 30th anniversary of the Famicom, Virtual Console titles were on sale at a reduced price of 30 cents until July 12, 2013 (Yoshi) and August 13, 2013 (Donkey Kong).

Wii

 * Super Mario Bros.: The Lost Levels was only available in Europe and Australia from September 15, 2007 until October 1, 2007. It was then still available to freely re-download for those who purchased it while it was initially available. On August 22, 2008, it was made available again, this time without any time restrictions.
 * This is also the first time that the NES version was made available outside Japan, having been remade for the SNES elsewhere. Thus, its title screen reads "Super Mario Bros. 2", its Japanese name.
 * Super Mario RPG: Legend of the Seven Stars was regarded by Nintendo as the 250th game to be released on the Virtual Console in North America. Its European Virtual Console release was the first official release of that game in the region.
 * Timed demos of several Virtual Console games are included in Super Smash Bros. Brawl, all of which star the game's various fighters. The only default Mario title is Super Mario Bros.; Donkey Kong, Super Mario Bros. 2, and Super Mario World are the others, but they must first be unlocked.
 * Despite the GameCube controller having built-in force feedback, no N64 game supports the vibration feature (originally requiring a separate peripheral). Also, Mario Kart 64 required a Controller Pak to save ghost data, which the VC version does not support.
 * For reasons unknown, the NES version of Yoshi's Cookie and the entire Donkey Kong Country trilogy was de-listed in all regions except South Korea. While the removal of Yoshi's Cookie is unknown, the removal of the Donkey Kong Country trilogy could most likely be due to legal issues with Microsoft, the current owner of Rare, who developed the trilogy before being completely sold over to Microsoft in 2002, although technically Nintendo owns and originally published these games. The games remain available to be re-downloaded by those who had purchased them while available, with exception of Yoshi's Cookie, albeit it had soon since been re-released again on the Wii U and Wii. The Donkey Kong Country trilogy concurrently cannot be transfered to Wii U however.

Nintendo 3DS

 * Only NES titles support multiplayer; ones that have simultaneous multiplayer utilize 3DS Download Play while ones that only have alternating multiplayer are played on a single 3DS. To alternate players simultaneously press and  to display a pair of NES controllers in the lower-right corner of the top screen; press  while they are displayed to switch control between player 1 and 2.
 * This feature can also be used when playing Game Boy titles to change the screen color from gray to the classic green.
 * While loading a Game Boy, Game Boy Color, or Game Boy Advance title from the HOME Menu, by holding or  the game on the top screen will be shrunk to its original resolution.
 * Game Boy and Game Boy Color titles will also display virtual versions of their respective consoles surrounding the screen to give the illusion of playing on the actual console.
 * Many games have been given the ability to create one save file each.
 * GBA games do not rely on hardware emulation; instead, the 3DS boots into the GBA's firmware and plays the games natively, the same way the 3DS handles DS backwards compatibility. This is the reason why GBA games do not support Virtual Console features like Save and Restore Points.
 * This occurs because the 3DS is not powerful enough to emulate the GBA in the same way as it does for other Virtual Console games. Through hacking, it is possible to load GBA games in a regular Virtual Console emulator, but performance is insufficiently slow.

Wii U

 * The player can create save states and remap controller buttons. For GBA games, there are options to change scaling, enable pixel smoothing, and view scans of the original paper manual.
 * The Wii Remote can be used for SNES and GBA games if is held while the game loads.
 * The NES games have some pixel smoothing.

Changes
Although Nintendo has claimed they will keep all Virtual Console releases as true to the originals, they have made several changes to various games for certain reasons:

Wii

 * Super Mario RPG: Legend of the Seven Stars
 * The attacks Flame Wall and Static E! are both recolored to avoid the risk of seizures.
 * For the PAL Virtual Console release, the offensive word "bugger" (used when Croco says "You're a persistent bugger") is replaced with the word "pest".
 * Moleville has a notably darker color scheme.


 * Super Mario 64
 * During gameplay, the drop shadows located at the top and bottom of the screen have been removed and can only return if Mario loses all of his Health Points.
 * Chain Chomp's mouth is purple instead of red, possibly because the game in general is made a bit darker.
 * Vanish Mario appears purely transparent instead of being flickering in dithered colors for unknown reasons.
 * All lag and loading times have been removed, and the game is impossible to crash.
 * The sound is slightly quieter and sounds a bit funky.


 * Mario Kart 64
 * When Lightning item is used, the flash that appears during the use of that item has been adjusted to avoid the risk of seizures.
 * The Kalimari Desert course's train has its wheels recolored from red to black for unknown reasons.
 * In Koopa Troopa Beach, the waterfall at the end of the shortcut is recolored blue from the original grey.
 * Saving ghost data is impossible, due to the lack of Controller Pak functionality.


 * Mario Golf
 * The Transfer Pak feature to transfer characters from the GBC version (Sherry, Joe, Azalea, and Kid) is removed, as are the extra four square boxes used for transferred characters on the Character Select screen. Consequently, said characters cannot be played in the game's re-release for Wii.


 * Mario Tennis
 * The Ring Tournament mode in Special Games is removed and can't be selected, since the service is no longer supported after the official website was replaced with its sequel Mario Power Tennis in 2004.
 * The ability to unlock characters and courts via the Transfer Pak (e.g. Alex, Nina, Harry, Kate, and each characters' personal courts, except for Donkey Kong's) is removed. However they still exist in the game coding. Consequently, however, said characters cannot be played in the game's re-release for Wii during normal gameplay.


 * Paper Mario
 * The brightness of the light from the Super Block has been adjusted to avoid the risk of seizures.
 * The walls in the temple in Dry Dry Desert appear more curved in the Virtual Console version.
 * The Crystal King's clones are more transparent, making it easier to spot the real Crystal King.
 * Monstar has stars surrounding it in the Virtual Console version.

Nintendo 3DS

 * Nintendo Entertainment System, Game Boy and Game Boy Color games
 * NES games include restore points and download play but Game Boy and Game Boy Color games don't support multiplayer. Only NES and Game Gear games do, and TurboGrafx16 games will when they are released. but all of the ten NES games from the ambassador program did not gain these features until they were respectively re-released for public purchase. Original Game Boy games also include two switchable color palettes; black and white and black and green, in which the latter is a nostalgic approach to original "brick" Game Boy players since the first Game Boy model has a green-tinted screen.


 * Super Mario Bros. and Super Mario Bros.: The Lost Levels
 * The color scheme is noticeably lighter than in the Wii and Wii U VC versions.


 * Super Mario Bros. 2
 * The ground, sky, and waterfalls have a darker color scheme than in the Wii and Wii U VC versions.


 * Super Mario Bros. 3
 * The game's pixels appear more filtered and the background border is less dimmer compared to the Wii and Wii U VC versions.


 * Super Mario Bros. Deluxe
 * The game's print and trade features have been disabled due to the lack of a Game Boy Printer accessory and infared port.


 * Mario Golf and Mario Tennis
 * Characters that could be unlocked in the Nintendo 64 version are omitted due to the lack of transfer pack functionality in the Wii VC versions and visa-versa in the 3DS versions.

Wii U

 * NES, SNES and Game Boy Advance and Nintendo DS games
 * NES, SNES, and GBA games include restore points, Wii U GamePad off-tv play, and Miiverse support. GBA games also include their original instruction booklets, but GBA and Nintendo DS games don't support multiplayer due to requiring physical cables, or needing to emulate two consoles at the same time which is close to impossible, or Gamecube connectivity due to the same reasons, or sleep mode due to the Wii U already having a power save mode.