It’s quite likely to be illegal, so chances a new virtual gaming system, featuring 1980s Nintendo games, will be taken off the Internet quite soon. But it’s one way of experiencing what retro games from the original NES (Nintendo Entertainement System) from the 80s will be like to play on the Nintendo Wii – without needing to actually buy one yet (as they’re not available!), buying an actual old console with all the cartridges, or fiddling around with emulation software and downloading roms and games. What is it? The Virtual Nintendo Entertainment System with 395 games!
You’ll find all kinds of classic games here – Galaga, Mario Bros, Donkey Kong, Prince of Persia, Double Dragon and many, many others. I tried a few games out, and they all worked – the only requirement is that your computer has Java Version 1.5 or higher. Mine did, and it all worked! I’m running Vista RC1, and it worked there too. Occasionally there was some crackliness in the sound, but I don’t know if that was because of Vista or not.
Of course, the graphics are quite basic by today’s standards. There’s no HD quality content here, just the basic old 8-bit computer graphics we once considered ‘state-of-the-art’. But the few quick games I played brought back some memories, the gameplay ‘playability factor’ was definitely there and the keyboard controls were easy to master. Indeed keyboard control is the only way to play the games.
It will also be interesting to see whether the Wii’s motion sensing controls can be used with any of the older titles with the Wii’s ability to play all the older Nintendo games from an online store. My guess is that it won’t be, and you’ll have to use the buttons on the Wiimote controller (the one that looks like a remote control) to play older games in the traditional style.
The only thing is that Nintendo is likely to frown upon this site, as it seems to be a clear case of copyright infringement. Most likely ever extra bit of publicity is one step closer to Nintendo deciding to take action. So, it’s there to have a look at if you want to, but the best legal course of action would be to stay away from the site altogether.
When the Wii is released, and you decide to buy one, you can choose to legally relive games from all the past Nintendo consoles through an online virtual arcade. I doubt the games will be free, but at least you’ll be playing legally. Let’s hope the cost of purchasing older games is not expensive.
Can’t wait to discover what other online functions the Wii has, with web browsing one I’d like to try to see how it compares with everyday browsing on a PC. If this site is still around by the time the Wii launches, and if the Wii has Java built-in, it’d be interesting to see if this site loaded, and how well it worked, if at all! 
