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Hands-On: We get some playtime with the twenty years of gaming, thanks to the Virtual Console.

One of the most highly anticipated releases for the Nintendo Wii when it launches later this year is not, after all, a single game, but thousands. Nintendo’s Virtual Console system, along with its download service, will allow gamers to enjoy some of the great history of the industry, from every Nintendo console as well as the Sega Genesis and Turbografx-16. Nintendo had a tech demo off the system on-hand today at its E3 pavilion. The current system is still a prototype, and only a simple menu and four games were shown, with no particular price point announced and a final interface for the Virtual Console still in the works.

That said, the menu system currently in place is simple and sleek. Showing a picture of the console the game is from in the background, each game entry features its title and a short description. Once gamers select that game, the system shows a screen describing the basic control layout for the title and then jumps immediately into play. Load times were nominal, averaging just a couple seconds. Gamers can quickly and easily leave a current game and return to the menu system by simply pressing the Wii remote’s “Home” button. It is important to point out that doing this will end your game in the same way turning off the emulated systems did; in other words, gamers should not expect the action to freeze in the background infinitely as they search for other games and should be sure to save their progress in games before exiting.

On display today were four titles, Super Mario Bros. for the NES, Super Mario 64 for the Nintendo 64, Sonic the Hedgehog for Sega Genesis and Bonk’s Adventure for the Turbografx-16. Super Mario Bros. was exceptionally clear on the system, which has upconverted these classic titles to 480P video. Sonic the Hedgehog played at a framerate possibly higher than the original Genesis offered; for example, when losing a significant amount of rings, the Wii did not drop its framerate like the Genesis often did. Super Mario 64 looked just fine on the system, once again showing an appreciable difference in picture clarity from the upconvert to 480P.

However, the hardware and software is only half of the story. The new games are controlled via the Wii’s “Classic Controller” peripheral. The peripheral- the Classic actually is connected to the standard Wii remote via the same extension socket that the nunchuck uses- is similar in shape to the Super Nintendo’s controller and features a button layout reminiscent of Sony’s DualShock design. I found the button setup to be friendly and familiar for the most part, with only two potential issues. First, the joysticks are a little too close for someone with relatively large thumbs. I found myself often bashing my knuckles together when using both at the same time. This will be a major issue, because the second joystick replaces the Nintendo 64’s C-buttons, thereby promising a lot of dual-joystick action with games from that platform. Secondly, the Z button has been moved to the same shoulder side as the R-button, similar to the layout of the Gamecube’s controller. This doesn’t matter with NES/SNES/Gensis/Turbografx titles, but may pose an issue with Nintendo 64 titles. While I adapted quickly to the new scheme for Mario 64, games like Ocarina of Time and Goldeneye would be best served with a remapped control scheme, as the Z-button is inconvenient for titles like those that use it often.

Overall, the Virtual Console system results in impressive versatility from the beginning of the gaming industry on to the present. The games all benefit from the extra progressive scan support, and also seem to actually see some minor improvements in areas where the original hardware was not powerful enough to sustain the software. This should remain on every gamer’s list of reasons to own a Wii, as its potential is seemingly unlimited.