Of the 30 titles announced as the first wave of Virtual Console games for the Nintendo Wii, four of them are NES sports games. Five bucks seems about right for these games, and though I'm expecting that the novelty will wear off real quick on a good number of the games on the list (sports or otherwise), there is one exception: Ice Hockey. The classic strategic possibilities of skinny guy/normal guy/fat guy are timeless and make a suprisingly playable game, even almost 20 years after its release.

I have a fond place in my heart for another Nintendo hockey title, Wayne Gretzky's 3D Hockey, which was the first game I owned after buying a Nintendo 64. Months before I ever got hip to (or could afford to buy) Mario 64 and Wave Race 64 (my all-time favorite N64 game), I was obsessed with the ridiculously fast-paced on-ice action of Gretzky 3D. I'll gladly shell out ten bucks to download Gretz for the Virtual Console if they ever bring it out.

Perhaps the biggest NES exclusion from the VC list (at least from a sports point of view) is the original Golf. Despite only having one course, there was practically limitless replay value to be found there, and it's another game that should be well worth the five dollar price tag.