And that’s just for starters! But 31 games to download through the Wii’s Virtual Console in December is more than enough to be going on with, especially considering the bewildering choice of regular Wii titles launching at the same time.

The 31 classic games on offer comprise five PC Engine titles, ten from the Megadrive and 16 from Nintendo’s own back catalogue. Without further ado, here’s how it all breaks down:

NES
• Baseball
• Donkey Kong
• Donkey Kong Jr.
• Ice Hockey
• Mario Bros.
• Pinball
• Soccer
• Solomon’s Key
• Tennis
• The Legend of Zelda
• Urban Champion
• Wario’s Woods

Super NES
• Donkey Kong Country
• F-Zero
• Sim City

Nintendo 64
• Super Mario 64

Mega Drive
• Sonic the Hedgehog
• Altered Beast
• Golden Axe
• Columns
• Gunstar Heroes
• Ecco the Dolphin
• Space Harrier
• Toe Jam & earl
• Ristar
• Dr. Robotnik’s Mean Bean Machine

PC Engine
• Bonk’s Adventure
• Super Star Soldier
• Victory Run
• Bomberman 93
• Dungeon Explorer

Downloads are priced, annoyingly, in ‘Wii Points’ thus:

• NES games 500 Wii Points (approx 5 Euros, or roughly £3.30)
• The PC Engine’s finest will be available for 600 points (£4)
• Super NES games 800 Wii Points (£5.35-ish)
• Mega Drive games will retail at 800 points (as above)
• Nintendo 64 titles will be 1000 points (around £6.68)

Wii Points Cards will be available at the usual game-friendly retail outlets in blocks of 2000, which equates to £13.36 or thereabouts. The above pricing structure is not unreasonable as it stands, but Nintendo neatly includes the caveat that pricing may alter in 2007 – on a downward trajectory, with any luck. This whole points system is a bit of a pain, though.

Nintendo is keen to point out that there’s much more to come in 2007 and beyond. We should hope so too. We’d have to say that the Mega Drive is better represented than any of Nintendo's systems at the moment too, which is an odd state of affairs given Nintendo’s stellar back-catalogue. Still, at least we can be sure that the very best is yet to come from all parties concerned. Much more on this in the weeks to come...