Nintendo of America president Reggie Fils-Aime likes the idea of downloading Gamecube games on the Wii U.In an interview with Kotaku, he was quoted as saying, “Personally I would love for that to happen, but we have nothing to announce right now.”
The fact that he did not outright reject the notion could be a sign that it is very much on the table over at Nintendo. It almost seems inevitable, with the presence of downloadable PS1 and PS2 games on the PS3, and downloadable Xbox games on the Xbox 360.
The Wii was of course the pioneer of this idea, offering a back-catalog of more than a decade for users to download NES, SNES, Genesis, Neo Geo, Master System, and Nintendo 64 titles long before downloadable PS2 and Xbox titles showed up.
The 3DS also has a vintage digital distribution strategy, allowing users to download classic Game Boy titles. So this is clearly a part of Nintendo’s strategy these days, and it would almost be surprising if downloadable Gamecube games didn’t enter into the equation somehow.
The Wii U is set to launch on November 18 and the details of its online connectivity are still somewhat murky. To fully understand how it will compete with Xbox Live and the Playstation Network will require taking it for a test drive once the console actually launches.
