Top 15 games that still aren’t on the Virtual Console yet

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When Nintendo first announced the Virtual Console, it seemed like a brilliant idea. The company would re-release the greatest games on its 8-, 16-, and 64-bit systems for download, letting us rebuild our childhood gaming libraries on a single memory card and play all of our favorite old-school games on the Wii. Every week would see a handful of classic games released on the Virtual Console, ready for download.

Four years later, the Virtual Console offers over 360 games (in North America) from the Nintendo Entertainment System, Super Nintendo, Nintendo 64, Sega Genesis, Turbografix-16, Neo Geo, and even the Sega Master System and Commodore 64. It sounds like a lot, until you realize the NES and SNES had over 700 games each.

The Virtual Console still has a lot of big holes in its library, and it looks like Nintendo isn't trying very hard to fill them. These days we're lucky to see one game come out on the VC per week, and that game can range from the obscure and uninteresting (this week's Ufouria: THe Saga) to the vaguely fun but pales in comparison to other titles (Aero the Acrobat).

Here are the 15 most notable games missing from the Wii Virtual Console.

15: Strider (Genesis)

Strider Hiryu could kick Joe Musashi's ass and still face down Ryu Hayabusa in a fair fight. He climbs everything, has a glowing sword that's 3 times longer than he is tall, and he spends all his time beating the crap out of robot animals. The Strider arcade game was pure badass, and the Genesis port was a nearly perfect remake of it. The Virtual Console has nearly every other ninja-themed video game from the 8-bit and 16-bit days. Where's the Strider love?

14: Dr. Mario (NES)

Yes, technically Dr. Mario is available to download on the Wii. It's a relatively fun WiiWare game that you should probably pick up if you like block-dropping puzzlers. Unfortunately, it feels a bit, well, sterile. Everything's all white and polished and clean like a hospital, and the music just doesn't seem quite right. Some of us purists would like to play the original Dr. Mario on the NES, with the dark backgrounds and tunes that get stuck in your head like a virus. Dammit, just writing about Dr. Mario has gotten "Fever" bouncing around in my brain. I hope you're happy.

13: Tetris (NES)

It's the same deal as Dr. Mario. Sure, we can play Tetris World Party, but there's something so memorable about the original NES Tetris (or the arguably better Tengen-made Tetris cartridge with a 2-player mode). The NES Tetris was influential. The NES Tetris was classic. And, perhaps most importantly, the NES Tetris didn't have the newer Tetris rules where you can keep spinning pieces indefinitely before placing them.

12: Crystalis (NES)

This is another of those classic NES sleeper games that never got much attention because it was eclipsed by a first-party title. This game was one of the best hack-and-slash adventure titles on the NES, but it wasn't made by Nintendo and it didn't involve a green-loving elf, so it didn't take off. The graphics were great, the music was great, and the storyline was more interesting than the first Zelda and Final Fantasy games combined. Also, the titular sword is basically the Captain Planet of swords, combining the swords of earth, wind, water, and fire to make a weapon that could stab a god in the heart.

11: Battletoads (NES)

Seriously, why hasn't this hit the Virtual Console yet? Is Nintendo afraid of starting a new wave of HDTV attacks caused by gamers throwing their Wiimotes in anger? By the way, you see that screenshot above? That's as far as anyone has ever gotten in the game without a Game Genie, and anyone who tells you different is a liar.

10: Contra Hard Corps (Genesis)

Contra 3 is on the Virtual Console. Gunstar Heroes is on the Virtual Console. Why isn't this game, which is like an insane cross between the two, on the Virtual Console? It has more characters, more weapons, and way more enemies than the original Contra (which, curiously, is also not on the Virtual Console), and next to Gunstar Heroes and Vectorman was one of the best shooters on the Genesis. The impending sequel on XBLA and PSN might have something to do with the lack of a Virtual Console release, but it's still a shame.

9: Duck Tales (NES)

Best Disney game ever. Better than Kingdom Hearts. Better than Aladdin on the Genesis. Probably better than Epic Mickey will be, unless Warren Spector is truly at the top of his game. This was one of the best 8-bit platformers ever made, up there with Super Mario Bros. and Mega Man in terms of control and level design. Disney would probably raise some sort of fuss about a VC release, but that shouldn't stop such an excellent game from getting into nostalgic gamers' hands.

8: Perfect Dark (N64)

Seriously, why isn't this on the Virtual Console yet? It was one of the best FPSes on the N64, and the freaking Xbox 360 has beaten Nintendo to the punch on making it available as a console download. The initial licensing issues with Bond and the upcoming Goldenee 007 retail remake are valid reasons for why Goldeneye hasn't been released on the VC, but Perfect Dark? There's no excuse.

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