The Virtual Console for Nintendo’s latest console system the Wii U will go live after a “spring system update.” Games will be sold at a discount, and will contain many new gamepad and Miiverse elements.

The consoles confirmed to have downloadable games by Eurogamer.net are NES and SNES. For users who already own a given NES or SNES game, there is a large discount. NES games will see a $6.66 price drop to $1.32, and SNES games will be discounted from $10.66 to $1.99 (per conversion from Euros from Eurogamer’s chart, prices will likely vary in different regions).

Also confirmed for Wii U’s Virtual Console are Game Boy Advance (GBA) Games, for what Nintendo President Satoru Iwata said was the first time. He must have forgotten games like The Legend of Zelda: The Minish Cap and Kirby & the Amazing Mirror that are currently available for the 3DS’ Virtual Console. It is not confirmed whether or not GBA games will have added Wii U functionality.

Already available for the 3DS’ Virtual Console is ‘The Legend of Zelda: The Minish Cap,’ which was originally for the Game Boy Advance.

NES and SNES games will have new integration with the Wii U gamepad, and the Miiverse, which is the Wii U’s in-house social networking hub. This was stated to be the reason that previous owners of any given NES and SNES games would enjoy a discount upon re-purchasing games.

Notably absent from Iwata’s announcement was the inclusion of Gamecube games for the Wii U’s Virtual Console. The Wii U is certainly powerful enough to run Gamecube games, in that the Gamecube is now two console generations behind the Wii U.

The Wii U Virtual Console will contain all of the games of the Wii Virtual Console, but not all at once. It will assumedly take some time to reconfigure the SNES and NES games for the Wii U’s coding, along with the added integrations with the Gamepad and Miiverse.

Will you be re-purchasing games on the Wii U’s Virtual Console?

Featured image credit: destructoid.com (Wii U controller), gamesradar.com (Virtual Console text)

Image credit: GameRant.com