The Virtual Console is a service by Nintendo featuring games for consoles of previous generations, with games and systems by Nintendo and third parties. It was launched on November 19, 2006 along with the Wii, the first console to support this service.
History[]
Nintendo released multiple emulators and remakes of Nintendo Entertainment System (NES) games since 1993. This began with Super Mario All-Stars an enhanced remake of four Mario NES games playable on the Super Nintendo Entertainment System (SNES).
With the release of Excitebike 64 in 2000, the Nintendo 64 could not only emulate the Excitebike NES game, but also the Famicom Disk System to save one custom NES track. The GameCube and Game Boy Advance (GBA) also saw numerous NES games emulated: 19 on the GameCube with Animal Crossing, and 42 on the GBA with the e-Reader and Classic NES Series. The GBA also saw several enhanced remakes of NES and SNES games, like Mario Kart: Super Circuit, featuring both new tracks and all Super Mario Kart tracks.
The Wii was the first system to provide one common official platform for purchasing emulated games.
Games[]
Mario Kart[]
| Released Year | Title | Platform | Virtual Console | ||||
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| Wii | Wii U | 3DS | New 3DS | ||||
| 1992 | Super Mario Kart | SNES |  |
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| 1996/1997 | Mario Kart 64 | Nintendo 64 | |
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| 2001 | Mario Kart: Super Circuit | Game Boy Advance | |
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2011 | 2011 | |
| 2003 | Mario Kart: Double Dash!! | Gamecube |  |
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| 2005 | Mario Kart DS | Nintendo DS | |
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| 2008 | Mario Kart Wii | Wii | N/A | |
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This game runs on the newer system by using backward compatibility instead of the Virtual Console. For the Wii, later models omit backward compatibility.- 2011 Mario Kart: Super Circuit is only available on the Nintendo 3DS family for customers who purchased their systems before July 28, 2011.