30 Days of Old-School Top 30 / nsidr

In late May 2005, Nintendo President Satoru Iwata announced that the Wii (then still code-named Revolution) would be backwards compatible with all Nintendo games from previous generations including NES, SNES, N64 and GameCube. To play GameCube games, all that would be needed is the game disc, as Wii will be the first console (or indeed, the first consumer electronic of any kind) to have the ability to read two different sizes of disc from the same slot-loading drive. To play the others, Nintendo announced the Virtual Console — an online marketplace that makes downloading easy and affordable. Not only will Nintendo potentially put its entire back catalog online for downloading, but smaller developers may be able to sell their games on the Virtual Console instead of paying the extra costs to get a small-budget game on store shelves.

On March 23rd 2006, Nintendo went a step further, and announced that not only will Nintendo games be available, but SEGA and HUDSON have partnered with them to bring SEGA Genesis and NEC TurboGraphx 16 (also known as PC ENGINE) games to the Virtual Console as well. On September 29th, just a few weeks ago, System 3, the publisher of many great Commodore 64 titles, also committed to bringing some of those C64 games to the Virtual Console! That means the Wii turns into at least eight freaking consoles in one!

Now, I don't know about you, but I can't stop drooling at that thought. Potentially hundreds of games, old and new, available for download, each turning into their own channel on the Wii. Plus, as if Nintendo's games weren't enough, they went and got other companies involved! It almost sounds too good to be true. And if Nintendo has been talking to third parties about Virtual Console, it begs the question: What if there are more third party classics on the way?

And thus, 30 DAYS OF OLD SCHOOL TOP 30 was born.

Starting today (Oct 18th), and moving ahead until the launch of the Wii, I'll be counting down the top 30 games I want to see available for download from Nintendo, as well as the top 30 games I'd like to see available from third parties, including games from HUDSON, SEGA, UBISOFT, SQUARE ENIX, ROCKSTAR, EA, NAMCO and more. Some of these are already all but confirmed, but others have not been mentioned at all. Now, this may not be your top 30, and that's fine! Get on our forums or send us some emails and complain about it all you want! Start some discussion! That's what the Internet is for — anonymous complaining! I'm pretty sure I'll throw some games in here that you haven't heard of, and many popular and critically acclaimed games won't be here either, but you were going to download those ones anyway, right? Here are 60 games that I think you should play if you haven't yet. Find them at some pawnshop, borrow them from a friend's attic, or if they're available on Virtual Console, wait until then, but either way, give them a shot!

That's two games a day, every day. Each game will come with my own arbitrary educated guess about how likely it is that the game will be on Virtual Console. Based on logical assumptions and my own psychic abilities, a Virtual Console Likelihood Rating (VCL Rating) will be assigned. A "5" means that it is basically guaranteed to be there, and a "1" means that Hell might need to freeze over first. With any luck, Nintendo and other companies may even be paying attention, and I could inspire them to include my whole list! Unlikely, sure, but a boy's got to have a dream, right?

Check back here each day for updates, or visit https://www.nsidr.com.