HD Remasters no less
The Chinese market has a long history of snubbing video games. For years, it was actually illegal to sell video game consoles, but now that the restriction has been lifted, newer devices have been able to get released overseas. What does this mean for classic games, though? Will China now see a deluge of older hardware in an effort to catch up on gaming history?
Apparently no; Nintendo will just make a deal with Nvidia to release older Wii titles on the Nvidia Shield in HD for Chinese markets. Yeah, let that sink in for a minute. While we’re still waiting on any official word about Virtual Console on the Switch, China is going to get HD versions of classics like Super Mario Galaxy and Punch-Out!!. That just blows my mind.
This started as a rumor earlier in the year. New Super Mario Bros. got approved for release in China and Nintendo had signed some deal with Nvidia that wasn’t being publicized. That deal ended up being a content share agreement which allowed Nvidia to release some unspecified games for their own hardware, but most people assumed it had something to do with the Switch being based off of Nvidia technology. Looks like we were all wrong.
Seeing as how it would be kind of silly to suddenly release the Wii in China, I guess using a partnership with Nvidia makes the most sense for Nintendo. I just wonder if we’ll ever happen to see these HD ports in the West. That doesn’t appear likely, but seeing as how the Switch is basically an Nvidia Shield, there is always hope.
Daniel Ahmad [Twitter]
