Nvidia releases Shield set-top box in China with Nintendo games

Nvidia has released its Shield TV in China with several Nintendo games, which originally came out for the Wii and GameCube. The company says it plans to release more Nintendo games on the Chinese version of its set-top box in the future.

In a statement published by Engadget, Nvidia writes: “Continuing the business relationship that brought Nvidia technology to Nintendo Switch, Nintendo games for Wii and GameCube are now officially released in China for the first time.” With the technology, Nvidia is most likely referring to the Tegra soc in the Switch console. The games available now are New Super Mario Bros. Wii, The Legend of Zelda: Twilight Princess and Punch Out. More titles should be available in the future, including Super Mario Galaxy.

These are remasters that can be played in full HD resolution. The rights to the games have been transferred by Nintendo to Nvidia through a license, the company said. Analyst Daniel Ahmad, writing about the release, reports on Twitter that Nvidia and Nintendo are unlikely to make a similar deal outside of China, as it targets that country specifically.

Nvidia says in its statement that the Chinese version of the Shield is a fully localized device with its own store and content. In addition, Baidu’s voice assistant DuerOS runs on the set-top box as part of a collaboration between the two companies. According to Ahmad the device costs 1499 yuan in China, which is about 190 euros.