About time too, Nintendo

It's been a long time coming folks: ever since the DSi launched in April last year Nintendo fans worldwide have been clamouring for the ability to download past handheld titles in a similar fashion to the Wii's Virtual Console feature. Time and again Nintendo denied the existence of the service, but we can exclusively reveal Virtual Handheld will be available in the coming weeks.

This was an April Fool's joke.

Not only will the service let you download and store classic GameBoy titles including Zelda: Link's Awakening, Pokémon Blue and Red and classic plumbing outing Super Mario Land 2: Six Golden Coins, there will be other systems available too. Sega's ill-fated Game Gear machine is set to make its legal emulation debut, presumably with conversions of classic Sonic titles, and Atari is even said to be licensing its famously power-hungry Lynx console back catalogue.

Fancy something even more obscure? How about the promise of support for SNK's beautiful Neo Geo Pocket Colour, famous for its control stick and dazzling list of top-drawer fighting games. Who could resist a portable piece of Samurai Shodown, SNK vs. Capcom or King of Fighters?

This was an April Fool's joke.

Although no pricing has been confirmed, we've been told to expect even the biggest titles to fall well below the standard pricing of DSiWare downloads, with hints of a Hanabi-style festival to celebrate the rarest titles. As soon as Faselei! is on there, certain Nintendo Life staffers may explode in happiness.

This was an April Fool's joke.

[source tinyurl.com]