Software library
Retail copies of games are supplied on proprietary, DVD-like Wii Optical Discs packaged in a keep case along with instruction information. On European releases, these retail boxes have a triangle printed at the bottom corner of the paper insert sleeve side. The hue of the triangle can be used to identify which region the particular title is intended for and which manual languages are included. The console supports regional lockout.
New games representing Nintendo’s flagship franchises, including The Legend of Zelda, Metroid, Mario (and spin-offs), Animal Crossing, Pokémon, Super Smash Bros., and Fire Emblem, have been released, or are in development for the Wii. Likewise, there are original titles for it as well as expected third party games.[90] Ubisoft announced eight titles for release over the launch period and have stated that they have a further six currently in development while Midway Games has announced six titles.EA has declared their ‘100%’ support for the system and has since gone on to purchase long-time partner Headgate Studios, which now develops exclusively for Nintendo’s console. Namco Bandai also announced that they are developing 37 games for the Wii for their fiscal year ending March 2008. On April 27, 2007, Satoru Iwata stated that 45 out of Nintendo’s 124 first-party games are being developed for the console; the other 79 titles are being developed for the Nintendo DS. As of July 25, 2007 the Wii has more exclusive games in development than the Xbox 360 or PlayStation 3.The Virtual Console service allows Wii owners to play games originally released for the Nintendo Entertainment System, Super Nintendo Entertainment System and Nintendo 64, as well as Sega’s Mega Drive/Genesis, NEC’s TurboGrafx-16/PC Engine,and the SNK Neo Geo console.Virtual Console games are distributed over broadband Internet via the Wii Shop Channel, and are saved to the Wii internal flash memory or to a removable SD card. Once downloaded, Virtual Console games can be accessed from the Wii Menu as individual channels.