While Switch owners around the world wait anxiously for news about the Virtual Console, gamers in China received a pleasant surprise from Nintendo this week. In addition to launching its Shield TV streaming box in China today, Nvidia has teamed up with Nintendo to bring HD ports of popular Wii and GameCube games to the device.
Details regarding the partnership are still hazy, but at least three Nintendo games are currently available on the Nvidia Shield TV, including New Super Mario Bros. Wii, The Legend of Zelda: Twilight Princess and Punch-Out!!, all of which appear to be running in HD. The games cost RMB 68, which translates to around $10 a piece.
Unfortunately, all signs point to this being a permanent exclusive for China, as Nintendo has never even begun to hint at its games being made available on other platforms in the West. But the most fascinating part of this deal is seeing footage of official Nintendo ports running on an Android device, which Daniel Ahmad shared on Twitter:
This is gameplay of New Super Mario Bros Wii running at 1080p on Nvidia Shield.
It is said that Metroid Prime for Wii will also come to the system in the future. pic.twitter.com/FKYFFoPB2R
— Daniel Ahmad (@ZhugeEX) December 5, 2017
Nintendo has yet to launch the Switch in China, so this may simply be a stopgap until it can get its new hybrid console on the market. Either way, it’s an encouraging sign to see Nintendo break from tradition and allow its games to legally and officially appear on a console that it didn’t make and release itself.
If you happen to live in China, you can pick up an Nvidia Shield TV starting today for RMB 1499 ($227). The rest of us will sit around waiting for YouTube videos of Twilight Princess in HD to show up in the coming days.
