As the initial excitement surrounding the announcement of Metroid Dread has begun to wind down, many fans of the series have been dusting off their Game Boy and DS cartridges to play the other 2D games in the Metroid franchise. While being able to take a trip down memory lane to revisit those games on consoles and handhelds of the past would be great, many people don't have access to the systems that the original entries in the Metroid series were published on.
While there are plenty of great retro games on the Switch's Nintendo Online Service, saying that it has a few gaps in terms of important releases would be a massive understatement. Also, it's important that the Switch doesn't have a virtual console like Nintendo platforms before it, just a subscription service that allows subscribers to play select games.
Unfortunately, fans excited for Metroid Dread are only able to find Super Metroid on the Switch's Online Service and understanding how to play the other 2D Metroid games essentially requires a spreadsheet. It's been said for some time that Nintendo needs to up their virtual console game if the company wants its fans to know that it cares about older games, but Metroid Dread's hype train has made the issue crystal clear: there needs to be a virtual console on the Switch.
Making Nintendo Games Easily Accessible
It would be challenging to name a developer or publisher who has created and published as many classics over the years as Nintendo has. It's for this reason that fans are constantly revisiting old titles with the same excitement and appreciation as they had when the games first released. However, as the hardware required for playing retro games gets harder and harder to find, so does one's ability to actually play those games. Nintendo offers a solution for this problem with the virtual console, but it isn't even available on the Switch.
The 3DS and Wii U were the last two Nintendo systems that featured ways to pay for and play a wide selection of older games in an accessible environment. While not perfect, the virtual console opened the door for nostalgic fans to revisit older titles and for new fans of long-living franchises to explore a series' roots. Putting the virtual console on the Switch would be a major win for Nintendo and its fans, as it wouldn't require the jumping through of so many hoops. This is especially truly for the Metroid classics that are in high demand due to the upcoming release of Metroid Dread.
Keeping the Nintendo Emulators Away
Nintendo has a long history of clashing with emulators, but because of how inaccessible much of their catalog is, plenty of fans have turned to emulation as a last resort. The company could directly combat them by making it easier than ever to purchase and play older titles, but Nintendo doesn't really seem to be interested for one reason or another. It would be worth the company's time to really consider the virtual console as a potential solution in its fight against emulation. By allowing for retro games to be bought legally through the Switch's store, Nintendo might just discover how much money it's missing out on by not offering these games.
While it's easy to say that Nintendo should just put a virtual console on the Switch to solve all of their problems, it's almost certainly not a simple as flicking a switch to turn it on. There may be unforeseen complications unknown outside the company that are stopping it from providing a Switch virtual console. At the end of the day, it's a good idea that, hopefully, Nintendo capitalizes on soon.
Metroid Dread will release on October 8, 2021, exclusively on the Nintendo Switch.