Some of these titles could well end up being downloadable again on Nintendo’s latest console. We still don’t know Nintendo’s plans (if any) for bringing the Virtual Console to the Switch. You can buy games from the Wii Shop Channel Virtual Console on the Wii U, but bear in mind that you’ll almost certainly need an original Wii Classic Controller or Classic Controller Pro to play most of them – they can’t be played with the Wii U Pro Controller or Wii Remote.

But ActRaiser is just one of the games that can only be officially purchased on the Wii Shop Channel Virtual Console – unless you own the original SNES cartridge and a console to play it on, of course.

Notable titles set to vanish include ActRaiser, Chrono Trigger, Earthworm Jim, Earthworm Jim 2, Super Smash Bros., A Boy and His Blob: Trouble on Blobolonia, Castlevania: Rondo of Blood, DoReMi Fantasy: Milon’s DokiDoki Adventure, Gradius III, Landstalker: The Treasures of King Nole and Super Star Wars.Ī few of these can be bought elsewhere – for example, Super Star Wars can be downloaded for PS4 and Vita, and Chrono Trigger was released on cartridge for the Nintendo DS (although it’s quite hard to get hold of these days). Notably, there are more than 200 titles currently available on the Wii Shop Channel Virtual Console that can’t be downloaded on Wii U or 3DS – and many aren’t available to download anywhere else, unless you want to step into the murky world of unofficial emulation. The Virtual Console has also appeared on the Wii U and 3DS, but the selection on games on each system is quite different. The Wii Shop Channel launched in 2006 and there are now around 300 games available through its Virtual Console storefront. Classic SNES games including ActRaiser, Chrono Trigger and Earthworm Jim are going to disappear from sale when the Wii Shop Channel finally shuts down in January 2019.

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