“No plans” for Virtual Console on Nintendo Switch

The dream of a Gamecube virtual console is over, at least for now.

In an email to Kotaku, a Nintendo spokesperson claimed "There are currently no plans to bring classic games together under the Virtual Console banner as has been done on other Nintendo systems."

The news comes on the back of the announcement of Nintendo Switch’s online subscription service, which is including a collection of classic NES games, and the option of backing up your saves to the cloud.

The Virtual Console has been a large part of Nintendo’s previous offerings, with the Wii, 3DS and Wii U all having their own selection of Virtual Console titles, classics from the NES, SNES, Nintendo 64 and even a couple of other platforms. However, it appears it won’t be happening at any point soon for the Nintendo Switch.

The reasoning for this is unclear currently, but considering Nintendo’s current business plan seems to be to polish up and re-release all of their previous games for both the Nintendo Switch and their own range of mini consoles, perhaps it’s indicating a change in strategy for Nintendo.

A long-running rumour had suggested that the Switch Virtual Console would include GameCube games.

To editorialise, this feels like a branding exercise. I think we’ll see GameCube titles and other Nintendo classics continue to pop up on the Switch, only as standalone digital re-releases, remastered boxed copies or even bundled up collections. Virtual console may be dead, for now, but this doesn’t mean playing that players seeking to accumulate Nintendo’s greatest hits on one console is completely finished.