Zelda II Marks 100th Title for Wii Virtual Console

When it comes to easy money in this industry you used to think licensed movie tie-in, but I’m pretty sure Virtual Console has ’em all beat. There’s no deals to negotiate with movie studios, no release windows to worry about, and almost no work required to bring a decrepit NES cart back to life for around eight bucks a pop. Keep your console releases as spread out as possible and you’re guaranteed to make some extra bucks from gamers’ shear boredom.

It’s that strategic sleazery that’s brought the Wii’s Virtual Console offerings to 100 titles in just over six months with 4.7 million downloads to date. So what’s the 100th title? None other than Zelda II – The Adventure of Link, available June 4th. Not that the love-it-or-hate-it Zelda II will ever come close to breaking into the Mario-dominated top five global downloads:

1) Super Mario Bros.® (NES®)
2) Super Mario 64® (N64®)

3) Mario Kart 64™ (N64®)
4) Super Mario World® (SNES®)
5) The Legend of Zelda® (NES®)