Nintendo just needs to package their VC stuff into a single app on Switch. All VC games function as basically DLC for the app. Combine that with a subscription service that gives it all to you. It'd also reduce file size. SNES games on Wii U were like 50 MB which is absolutely ridiculous!
@fillertrack Outside piracy, there are some arguments against shipping a global emulator and games as DLC.
As SNES cartridge could contain additionnal processors, the emulators needed for running two games may be slightly different.
On PC, emulators try to recognize the games and adapt their behaviour accordingly, often by changing parameters of the emulation.
In a DLC system, the application would need updates for running new games. Updates that may break the already released games. Checking that there is no regressions in already released games is very expensive.
The care for quality leads to release an adapted emulator with each game.
@fillertrack Static but still quite large, and the games may need several hours to complete 100%. We are not talking about a dozen of small games.
This would only work if you could release everything you plan to support at the same date, and nothing afterward. A company doing this would need an oversized quality team during the development that the company would have to fire at the end.
If a new game need to alter the emulator to work well, you need to check all the other games against those changes.
Many games released nowadays for the Switch weight several GB. In comparison, 50 MB for a game is almost nothing.
@Feufochmar that's still a lot! Plus SEGA has done this multiple times for decades so I don't see why Nintendo can't do the same at least with their own backlog. Especially if they're just gunna jack open source emulators like they did with the NES classic.
@Feufochmar that makes sense to a degree, but the library of games for these platforms is static. With enough planning you can make an emulator that runs all the games you're going to release. Nintendo should think ahead and make an all encompassing emulator. Make it where the only hurdle is the licensing of the games they want to release. That or make an emulator that can be updated easily with different hardware in mind.