WiiNintendo

The focus of downloadable content will be realized in the next console race, but at least you can’t play Nintendo first-party games on XBox or PS. 

Some really big news came out recently. Even though it’s not directly related to Nintendo, it could have some serious implications. That news is that Konami’s Castlevania: Symphony of the Night is going to be released on Microsoft’s Xbox Live Arcade.

Who Cares?

Well, you should, because this could be big. In fact, it could be a deciding factor in the console war. Everyone seems to be relying on backwards-compatibility to some degree in this latest crop of game systems, and all of a sudden, things have been shaken up. This shake-up could tilt things in Nintendo’s favor.

Excuse me. I mean it could tilt things even further in Nintendo’s favor. How?

Think about this. If Symphony of the Night, which was a PlayStation title (also on Saturn in Japan), can be downloaded on the Xbox, why not on the Wii’s Virtual Console, too? Konami has confirmed that the downloadable version will be the original PlayStation code, and although it will of course be modified to run in the Xbox 360 environment, I seriously doubt that anything major will have to be changed.

Are you getting it yet? Everyone is going to have downloadable content in the next generation. Both Sony and Nintendo are heavily relying on the nostalgia value of their older titles — from the first PlayStation for Sony, and Nintendo from each of its cartridge-based systems — to help move their new machines. Xbox less so, but it’s still a factor. But if a PlayStation game could be played on the Xbox as a download, then pretty much anything is fair game. Software companies like Capcom, EA, and Square-Enix could port their old classics to every single system willy-nilly, and, theoretically, we could see games from the Super NES, PlayStation, and Turbo Duo on the PS3, Wii, and Xbox 360.

Nintendo has a lot more to gain from this situation than to lose. Third parties could, in theory, put their back catalogs on all three systems and see some potential gain, but in Nintendo’s case, it has a clear advantage: First-party software. Even if you can get Mega Man X2 on every single system (you kind of already can, with the Mega Man X Collection), you can only play Super Mario Bros. 3 on the Wii Virtual Console.

Conversely, Sony could suffer a big blow, with the same hypothetical. Sure, Kaz Hirai and company are banking on the nostalgia value of Riiiidge Raaacer to help sell PlayStation 3s, but if that game were also available on Wii, budget-conscious retro gamers might be more likely to choose that console, rather than shell out six hun-skis on that monstrosity that Sony’s trying to masquerade as a computer. Of course, things could really look rosy if Nintendo could get a hold of some even more beloved titles like Final Fantasy VII. Can you think of a major first-party PlayStation game that you’d want pay to download and play again?

Umm…Cool Boarders?

Right. Anyway, while you think some more, I’ll continue. Third parties offering downloadable content carte blanche across platforms can only help Nintendo. Just do the math. If the best third-party games from every platform from the last few generations are on all the consoles, but Nintendo’s games are only on Wii, which one do you think you’d buy?

That’s a no-brainer. We’ll have to keep an eye on things, but this Symphony of the Night news could be the opening of the floodgates for retro software downloads.

http://www.nintendojo.com/editorials/view_item.php?1155853016