Game Boy Advance Virtual Console Springs Onto Wii U eShop This April

Nintendo has announced that Game Boy Advance games will begin coming to the Wii U Virtual Console service this April. Many fans are a bit confused about this move when you consider the 3DS would be the natural choice for GBA games. This is likely an effort to expand the Wii U eShop which is one area where the system has had quite a bit of success despite its low install base. While no pricing or specific release date (outside of the month) were given, Nintendo has revealed 3 games set to hit the service and they are some of the best games on the system.

• Metroid Fusion
• Mario & Luigi: Superstar Saga
• Super Mario Advance 3: Yoshi's Island

These titles are a great start to a service that could potentially bring us an official English language release of Mother 3 given the massive success of EarthBound when it was released last year on the Wii U. Nintendo was also quiet on any additional features but you can likely expect restore points (save states), customizable controls and crisper graphics similar to the SNES Virtual Console. There is also a high chance that this will lead to an announcement of a GBA Virtual Console for 3DS at a later date after it's had time to establish itself on Wii U. On a personal note, I feel there is a chance that we may see a cross system feature between 3DS & Wii U in the near future that would allow games to be purchased once and transferred between the 2 systems similar to Sony's system for classic PS1 games. Just a thought.