Nintendo to release first-party titles such as Super Mario Galaxy on Nvidia Shield

While Nintendo Switch owners patiently wait for signs that the company will bring its traditional Virtual Console to the platform, Nvidia Shield users will be getting treated to a selection of Wii titles. Each game will be remastered to Full HD, but unfortunately will only be available in China.

This information comes from Niko Partner's ZhugeX, an industry insider with a long history of bringing Eastern news to the West. The games in question include Super Mario Galaxy, New Super Mario Bros. Wii, The Legend of Zelda: Twilight Princess and Punch-out!!!.

Currently, the price of an Nvidia Shield over in China is ¥1,499, which is roughly £168.50 according to Google's conversion. Nvidia has already tapped a number of developers to work on titles for its Shield, but none have the extensive repertoire and reputation that Nintendo carries with it.

The deal has reportedly been in the works for quite some time for Chinese distribution company iQiyi, Nvidia and Nintendo. The latter two companies previously worked together in bringing the Nintendo Switch to life using the Nvidia Tegra processing chip to handle the device.

Here is the official trailer and store page for Nvidia Shield in Chinahttps://t.co/E5GHQgkazGhttps://t.co/Sn1gwScjsp pic.twitter.com/WAn9otELoD

— Daniel Ahmad (@ZhugeEX) December 5, 2017

Nintendo has been making an effort to place its first-party titles on platforms other than its own, as shown by Pokemon, Fire Emblem and more recently, Animal Crossing make their way to smartphones.

This, however, doesn’t make this any less of a strange move for the company. In fact, Android being an open-source platform could mean that these titles might eventually make their way to other territories, but nothing has been announced outside of its Chinese release.

Despite the unorthodox treatment of its titles, Nintendo’s latest plan does fall in line with how complex Chinese releases usually are. Developers and publishers often struggle to release properties under its strict guidelines, as seen with PlayerUnknown’s Battlegrounds, but that doesn’t make it an impossible task.

KitGuru Says: While I am a little disappointed at the lack of official word on the Switch’s inevitable Virtual Console, let alone Gamecube support, I am happy that Nintendo is willing to push the boundaries on its usual distribution model. This seems like a more unpredictable Nintendo that we’ve seen before, meaning we could be in for some more surprises down the line.

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