Summary
- Leaked documents revealed Nintendo Switch was to include Virtual Console, which was eventually replaced by Nintendo Switch Online.
- Nintendo aimed to streamline its game release process and long-term maintenance by opting for Switch Online over Virtual Console.
- Developers wanted to avoid forcing consumers to repurchase games on new systems, a common issue with Virtual Console.
Leaked documents from developer iQue reveal that the Nintendo Switch was originally planned to feature the classic Virtual Console emulator. Nintendo fans often mention missing Virtual Console when discussing the Switch‘s offerings, but the company hasn’t seemed to budge on the idea since canceling the service and any support for it. The developer iQue worked with Nintendo on creating its Virtual Console emulators, and the company was completely bought by Nintendo in 2013. Leaks from 2023 suggest that iQue developed the Nintendo 64 emulator used within Nintendo Switch Online.
Virtual Console is a sorely missed aspect of Nintendo platforms from previous generations. The service was present on the Wii, Wii U, and Nintendo 3DS systems, allowing users to play through a rich selection of Nintendo’s retro library via emulation. Eventually, Virtual Console was discontinued in 2019 for the Wii and in 2023 for the Wii U and 3DS. Since then, retro games offered on the Switch have abandoned the Virtual Console branding.
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A gaming preservation and emulation hobbyist known online as LuigiBlood shares findings from leaked iQue emails that there were plans in store for a Nintendo Switch Virtual Console. Through reviewing the company’s documents, LuigiBlood has ascertained that a Switch Virtual Console that was codenamed “Clipper” was in development, beginning in 2015 as a possible collaboration between iQue and M2, another developer popular for emulation. Instead of Clipper, gamers were given a project that Nintendo codenamed “L-Classics” and eventually revealed as Nintendo Switch Online. The Nintendo Switch Virtual Console aimed to expand what was previously possible, with features like Netplay for up to four that could shuffle the controller to a different person every 30 seconds, shareable emojis, and premade messages like “thx, sry, plz,” and “cya.” Additionally, there was a thoroughly detailed CRT TV mode that included aspects like the buzzing of the retro television.
Virtual Console Was The Switch’s Retro Gaming Plan
It appears that the key reason that factored into using Nintendo Switch Online in place of a Switch Virtual Console was that the company wanted to target goals to ship various titles on a short schedule, ensure long-term maintenance for the Nintendo Switch emulation library, and be able to do this smoothly between hardware platforms moving forward. This was not possible previously, since developers needed to test extensively for each retro system emulator (NES, SNES, Nintendo 64) on each platform Virtual Console released on.
LuigiBlood shared that in addition to avoiding a situation that could use too much time and resources for each release, developers expressed that they wanted to avoid a common customer frustration about having to purchase the same virtual console release on new systems. It appears that Nintendo Switch Online was able to avoid the pitfalls of Virtual Console, but there are still plenty of gamers who miss the older Nintendo platform.
Nintendo Switch
The Nintendo Switch is a hybrid console launched in 2017, capable of being played in handheld mode or docked to a television. The Switch Lite, a handheld-only model, followed in 2019, with an OLED refresh coming in 2021.