Nintendo sets "Don't Buy It" Precedent; Here's How to Oblige

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Nintendo sets “Don’t Buy It” Precedent; Here’s How to Oblige

Submitted by Stephen Munn on June 25, 2007 – 5:45 pm15 Comments

So now that Nintendo’s made it clear where they stand on using strategic releases of games on the Wii Shop Channel to confuse their customers, I thought I’d cover the games on the Virtual Console that we shouldn’t be buying because later, superior releases of the same game will also appear.

1. STREET FIGHTER II: THE WORLD WARRIOR (SNES). The title that started this whole mess. Those who bought World Warrior were bummed today to discover that the later Street Fighter II’ Turbo: Hyper Fighting appeared right alongside it on the Wii Shop Channel for the same price. Rather than offering the new game as an upgrade to those who already bought the old one, it seems we’re expected to buy it as a completely separate game. I was not burned myself because I fully expect the arcade version of World Warrior to appear on there when arcade games start showing up (this is not official but I expect it anyway), but now I have to wonder where this will end. Will every version of Street Fighter II for every platform on the Virtual Console eventually show up, including TG-16? Will all the arcade versions show up too?

2. FINAL FIGHT (SNES). Expect Final Fight Guy at some point, which is pretty much the same game. You see, when the first game appeared on the SNES, Guy had been removed from the game as a playable character. Capcom later released Final Fight Guy, swapping out one of the other characters for Guy, producing a game that was almost as useless as arcade ports go. In fact, don’t buy either version, because you can bet we’ll eventually see the arcade game, and you can get a far better arcade port on the GBA. And you know what? If GBA games show up on Virtual Console, we would probably see that one as well.

3. NINJA GAIDEN (NES). Oops, they got me. Ninja Gaiden was also released as part of Ninja Gaiden Trilogy on the SNES, along with Ninja Gaiden II and Ninja Gaiden III (both are coming to Virtual Console). Make sure you don’t pick any of these games up, because at some point we could easily see the trilogy hit at 800 points, a much more reasonable price than 1500 for the three separate games.

4. SUPER MARIO BROS (NES). Here’s the most popular title on the Wii Shop Channel. I have it. What happens when Super Mario All-Stars with Super Mario World comes out? By then, all five games will probably be on the Virtual Console at prices spanning 500 to 800 points. 500 points each for Super Mario 1 through 3 and the US version of 2, plus 800 points for Super Mario World is 2800 points instead of 800. Talk about sticker shock. I had planned to pick up Super Mario 3 when it comes out, but now I won’t be.

5. SUPER MARIO WORLD (SNES). Ouch, I’ve got this one too. See 4.

6. TECMO BOWL (NES). Remember Tecmo Super Bowl? Would you want to play Tecmo Bowl if the better version were available as well? Keep in mind that there are two versions of Tecmo Super Bowl as well, one on NES and one on SNES. Expect the NES version to appear on the VC first, and the other a few months later.

7. WARIO’S WOODS (NES). This neat little puzzle game, which was the last NES game Nintendo ever released, also came out on SNES, so we’d better wait for that version, which has better graphics, music, and a more robust feature set.

Tags: final fight, ninja gaiden, street fighter ii, super mario bros, super mario world, tecmo bowl, wario's woods

http://www.fourhman.com Joe

Caveat emptor, dude.

So your method of avoiding the “confusion” that Nintendo is creating is to either offer a discount on later versions of the same game, drop the price of the older game once the new one is released, or expect people to just know what games received updated rereleases and not buy the original ones.

Sure. That won’t confuse anybody.
http://www.aeropause.com Stephen

Naturally, you’re absolutely right. My solution is to adjust my shopping habits and not buy anything they offer unless it’s the best version. This list is intended to help others do the same.
http://www.cyhwuhx.com/ Cyhwuhx

.::: Am I the only one who finds this whining childish? Of course they are going to release Turbo if they released the original. I’d be offended if they didn’t, that would mean they’d be cherry-picking the catalogue excluding ‘obsolete versions’ (whith the originals sometimes still being best). Being offended by this is like being offended by Apple when they release a new model iPod when you bought one months ago. Didn’t you buy it for the functionality offered at that moment in time?

Only this version of the story is even more insane because we know upfront what games can be released. People buy the first version and are somehow still offended that the other versions are being released as well.

Customer confusion? I think someone else is acting slightly confused instead…
http://www.farbot.com/ Paul

Cyw- Cyhaw- Cyhwha? Copy and paste to the rescue: Cyhwuhx:
I think folks are right to complain because I think this is new behavior in the console digital store market.

The upcoming “Add-On” and re-release for Tekken 5 DR on the PS3 is a good example. If you bought the game already, you can buy the extra features for it in an Add-On. If you didn’t, buying the game now gives you those features. Will the game price go up? I wouldn’t be surprised. Will the patch be reasonably priced? Most folks think so. The difference with Nintendo’s releases is that they’re offering a patch instead of a full priced game only to existing owners (oops I mean license holders) of the game.

Then again some of these titles aren’t Nintendo’s alone, right? So perhaps some of these things aren’t Nintendo’s fault at all.
Bill

MS is doing almost the same thing with multiple versions of Street Fighter coming out and Pac Man, Ms Pac Man, and now Pac Man CE.
http://www.routermall.com used cisco

Call me a whiner all you want, I’ll be checking back here before I buy a VC title that may have been released later in a better/upgraded form.

Sure, Caveat Emptor, may translate to “let the buyer beware”, but more realistically, we all use it to mean, “if you get fucked, it’s your own fault”. Well, this column is a good thing and it’s what I’ll use to “Beware” in the future thank you very much.
Squashua

How about, instead of focusing on just games with superior sequels or prequels, warning us away from games that are complete crap like China Warrior and Dungeon Explorers. Heck, it seems like the whole Turbografix library is crap. And make sure to sway the noobs away from Altered Beast, etc.
http://www.aeropause.com Stephen

Squashua, I have to disagree about the TG-16 library. Much of it is of very respectable quality. Indeed, Altered Beast on Genesis was pretty poor though.

As to TG-16 games, I would recommend Bomberman ’93 (which I enjoy) and Ninja Spirit (which I don’t have but many enjoy) or any one of the large number of scrolling shooters like Blazing Lazers which are supposed to be very good.
virtualboy

Jesus Christ man, it’s like eight bucks. The VC (for me) is for waking up on Sat morning and downloading some stupid (or maybe cool) game for that Sat. morning cartoon feeling. I often never play it again unless it’s a super cool game. You really sound like a whining kiddie and a tool.

do you smoke? pick up coffee? eat lunch out? who cares about a few bucks? i’ll pay $5-$10 for an afternoon diversion anyday.
stumped

I’m confused
Guymontag

Compilations aren’t going to be on the VC, anyone with any sense will tell you that. So no SM:All-Stars (especially not the version that includes SMW), no Ninja Gaiden Trilogy, and no other compilations. Even if they release them after they release the games individually, it would still make them less money in the long run then leaving the stand alonge titles on the VC shop.

And I also doubt arcade titles will ever be brought to VC, but that’s a lot more plausible.

And the only version of Street Fighter that needs released is Street Fighter 2 Turbo: Championship Edition for Genesis.
sandman

I already bought punch out and if they re-released it as mike tyson’s punch out, I’d buy it too.

Mike
Nick

okay – I’m with you for some of these things, and I can see the purpose with say Street Fighter and things like Lode Runner (which you for some reason didn’t mention) – but dude, you REALLY think Nintendo is going to shoot themselves in the foot and release combo games like Super Mario All-Stars? Why would they, it makes no fiscal sense, they’d be releaseing something would not get them near as much money as releasing the original games on their own.

If you want to hold out for SMAS, go for it. I won’t hold my breath and I’ll eat my hat if they actually release it, it just again, makes no sense.
XAQ

You spelled “seperate” wrong.

Really, though. The closest thing to Arcade games the VC will prolly ever get will be the NeoGeo… when are they supposed to release that systems games? I forget.

And compilations? Psh. Doubtful.
http://www.aeropause.com Stephen

No, XAQ, I didn’t spell separate wrong. The correct spelling is with an A, as I spelled it.

NeoGeo games are allegedly coming this summer.

Arcade games, aside from the NeoGeo ones, would most likely have to appear as WiiWare, not on Virtual Console. I’m confident we’ll see things like Street Fighter II and Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles, even perhaps Symphony of the Night on there.