Nintendo releases classic games for the Switch via Nintendo Switch online apps, but it seems the company originally had different plans. In fact, it seems Nintendo originally planned to continue the Virtual Console idea it had for Wii, Wii U and 3DS, according to some leaked e-mails from the gaming emulation company iQue, which were shared by luigiblood via Yakumono’s Blog. The leaks reveal that there was originally some software codenamed ‘Clipper’ which was a planned Virtual Console for Switch which would have worked much like the previous Virtual Console iterations, but with a few key differences:
- Players would get access to one free NES or SNES game each month
- Retro-inspired animations would play before loading games, mimicking the feel of a CRT TV
- There may have been the ability to change the speed of a game (slow, normal, fast)
- Online play would have been included, along with a mode which would randomly shuffle players’ controllers every 30 seconds during gameplay
- Some games mentioned in testing include Final Fantasy, Final Fantasy III, Mega Man 2-6, Ganbare Goemon! Karakuri dōchū, Star Luster, Banjo-Kazooie, Blast Corps, and Ogre Battle 64
As we all know, Nintendo went in a different direction, but the upcoming Switch successor system could always bring it back.
Other news in the leaks include that Gamecube VC was planned for the Wii U but nothing came of it.
