Nintendo recently released another firmware update to the Wii software that all Wii owners are forced to download if they wish to keep shopping in the Virtual Console, the retro heaven for Nintendo gamers. Lately the internet has been buzzing with excitement revolving around the new DSi and its capabilities. While official confirmation of the DSi's Virtual Console remains behind sealed lips, the Wii software update along with a Japan-only announcement bring about a curious detail that suggests the VC is no longer strictly a Wii-thing.

According to GoNintendo, the Japanese Wii owners have received a message apologizing for the recent downtime of their VC service caused by maintenance. During this break, all mentions of Wii points will be changed to Nintendo points. Some improvements to the purchasing form will also be made by further clarifying which controllers are suitable for which games as well as some cosmetic changes. My European Wii received the controller updates, but Wii points remain Wii points.

As all gamers know, Japan is always first in line for everything Nintendo, which is why so many gamers look to the land of the rising sun to get a glimpse of the future of gaming before it hits our shores. But calling Wii points Nintendo points, doesn't necessarily mean that the points system is becoming a universal Nintendo credit. Even if it did, why would I be raving about the possibility of a portable Virtual Console at this point?

Details about the yet unreleased DSi reveal the surprising absence of a GBA slot. The new handheld is also said to feature much more and far more sophisticated downloadable content than its predecessors. Earlier, VC Reviews speculated that GBA games along with older Gameboy titles may be the first content available for download. We already know there's going to be DSiWare available for purchase, though the details at this time are still vague. As usual, Nintendo is silently savoring the moment as they sit back and watch us squirm in excitement. What ever the case may be, so far signs point to a DS Virtual Console being around the corner.

Bringing the VC to the handheld market naturally allows for any type of handheld games to be ported over. What I'm personally especially looking forward to is seeing the handheld Zelda classics to stop collecting dust and get introduced to new generations. But what's even more interesting, is the possibility of seeing the first ever handheld Zelda re-released in its two-screened glory.

In 1989 Nintendo released Zelda Game & Watch as the final part of their first venture to the handheld world of gaming. The earliest Game & Watch games were released as early as 1980, nine years before the Gameboy, making them the first ever portable video games. Each unit had only one game, which used one or two LCD screens, similarly to the Nintendo DS. The Zelda game was later featured as a hidden bonus game in Game & Watch Gallery 4 for the GBA. The port however suffered from the limitations of the GBA as everything had to be crammed on one screen.

Retro fantasies aside, the new features are also paving way for much more than just re-released classics. The as the DS and DS Lite have already shown, handhelds today are about more than just playing Tetris on the way to school. Wireless multiplayer is no longer science fiction, but instead part of everyday gaming. Even Zelda jumped in with the release of Phantom Hourglass. While the game made a brave attempt to make the most out of the DS's capabilities, in the end the multiplayer turned out to be nothing but a minigame, that was merely a byproduct of the actual game everyone wanted to buy in the first place.

Phantom Hourglass wasn't the first Zelda to try its luck with the portable multiplayer concept. The first ever multiplayer Zelda, The Four Swords, suffered from insane hardware requirements. To play the game, each player needed their own copy of the game, a GBA unit, and a hoard of cables to connect them to one another. While the game received praise for being a fresh experience and bringing the multiplayer aspect to the franchise, it quickly slipped under the radar and was completely ignored by a majority of Zelda fans. Many don't even count it as a legitimate Zelda game. One can only hope that Nintendo sees the potential this game could have as a downloadble game in the DSi's Virtual Console, with the multiplayer turned completely wireless.

The second game, Four Swords Adventures, was a far more approachable concept as you no longer needed four copies of the game. The fallback this time was that the cables you used to connect the GBA's together were useless with FSA. You needed new cables that connect to the GameCube. The few people who actually managed to rake together enough cash and have a couple of friends ready to do the same in order to play Four Swords were forced to buy another set of cables, which just like the other ones, weren't really useful for anything else. One has to wonder just what was Nintendo thinking.