Rumor: Wii U to offer downloadable GameCube games?

A very small collection of people were probably let down to find out that Wii U, while backwards compatible with the original Wii, won%26rsquo;t play GameCube games. While we bet the majority of Wii owners didn%26rsquo;t even know they could play games from the purple lunch box%26rsquo;s mini discs, but it%26rsquo;s always sad to hear a system losing features. Though don%26rsquo;t consider the Cube dead yet, as a recent interview suggests that you%26rsquo;ll be able to download GC games to the Wii U%26hellip; for a price.

Above: May we suggest a game to launch the service?

In an interview with NintendoGal, Nintendo exec Amber McCollum was asked to comment on Wii U%26rsquo;s GC snub. Amber had this choice quote:

%26ldquo;%26hellip; Nintendo%26rsquo;s history usually goes back one system. The Wii was compatible with GameCube and Wii U will be compatible with Wii and that%26rsquo;s pretty traditional in launches from Nintendo%26hellip; Actually the GameCube discs will not be compatible with Wii U, but a number of the games that were playable on GameCube can be downloaded from WiiWare.%26rdquo;

Above: May we suggest another?

It seems very natural for Nintendo to expand its successful Virtual Console business on its next console, though this possibility, which Nintendo has yet to confirm, asks several questions. Will the controls transfer well to the Wii U%26rsquo;s innovative tablet, or will we need to keep our Classic Controller Pros handy? And what about size limits? GameCube games take up a good deal more space than your standard Nintendo download of a WiiWare or N64 game, are Wii U%26rsquo;s storage options up to the task? Will Nintendo milk the releases like it did on Wii%26rsquo;s VC or give us a healthy smattering of quality titles like Mario Sunshine, Resident Evil 4, and F-Zero GX right off the bat? Most importantly, which GC games do you want to see downloadable first?

Jul 20, 2011