For people who have WiiU game consoles, Nintendo just provided gamers a new option to play Wii games without having to rely on the usual compact disks to install them.

Nintendo announced through the Nintendo Direct Broadcast that Wii games can be purchased through digital from the Nintendo e-Shop starting January 14. All this was made possible after Nintendo was able to find a way to run Wii software through the main operating system. With the new feature, Wii users will now be able to make purchases through the e-Shop, GamePad and Miiverse.

Kicking off the roster games that will can be downloaded will be their flagship Super Mario Galaxy2. The game will be offered at an introductory price of £8.99 / €9.99. However, that offer is only good for a week before the price jacks up to £17.99 / €19.99.

As far as other games that are set for release, such will depend on the region of availability. For example, gamers based in Europe will be able to get their hands on Donkey Kong Country by January 22 and Metroid Trilogy on January 29.

For North America Users, Punch Out!! and Metroid Trilogy will be available on January 22 and 29 respectively. Like the Super Mario Galaxy 2 offer, games will be offered at half the price for the first week before reverting to their regular retail price.

Most of the games will require the use of the Wii Remote plus Nunchuck although games which have support for the Wii Classic Controller can still be used with the aid of the GamePad.