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[UltimateIke]

The ability to wirelessly link the Nintendo DS and Wii greatly excited me when first announced. After unique multiplayer experiences on the GCN/GBA in games like The Legend of Zelda: Four Swords Adventures and Final Fantasy: Crystal Chronicles, I thought for sure we’d see the feature put to good use. I even hoped for quirky extras like the Tingle Tuner in The Wind Waker. With no cables needed, and a backlit screen on the DS (I only ever had the original GBA), I couldn't wait for the multiplayer games to come rolling in.

Instead, little to nothing came of it. What features we did get turned out to be mostly trivial.


-Pokémon Battle Revolution for Wii features the ability to transfer your Diamond or Pearl info to the game. You can also optionally use the DS as a controller in multiplayer.

-The WiiWare game My Pokémon Ranch lets you transfer and store Pokémon from the DS games.

-You can unlock your Animal Crossing: Wild World catalog in City Folk.

-The DS and Wii versions of FFCC: Echoes of Time have compatible multiplayer modes.

-The DS and Wii versions of Geometry Wars can link to unlock another galaxy.

-The DS and Wii versions of Batman: The Brave and the Bold link to let you control the Bat-Mite. (Thanks to McNum for pointing this one out!)

-The latest Guitar and Band Hero games have exclusive modes that use the DS connection. (Thanks to donny2112 and fernoca; I didn't have any idea about that one or what was involved.)

-WarioWare D.I.Y. and Jam with the Band had special Wii channels.

-Personal Trainer: Walking lets you transfer your Mii from the Wii into the DS game. This feature could probably be used for other games, if developers chose to implement it.

-You can download DS game demos from the Wii’s Nintendo Channel. You can also fill out a recommendation for any game cartridge currently in the DS system.


Surely (as huge as DS and Wii sales have been) Nintendo didn’t think getting the proper components together would be too much of a problem again, did they?

As hard as they pushed GCN/GBA connectivity last gen (it was even in games like Madden, NASCAR, and Splinter Cell), why abandon the concept this gen when it was much easier and more feasible? As an extension of this, why didn't we see any games that made use of the DS's touchscreen? Were there really no applications for such input?

Is there any speculation that the 3DS and Wii (or a future home console) will make better use of the feature?

 

[Stumpokapow]

I sort of agree with you in principle, but in practice I can't think of any games that did get made where I'd want to use the feature.

 

[Gilby]

As hard as they pushed GCN/GBA connectivity last-gen (it was even in games like Madden, Nascar, and Splinter Cell), why abandon the concept this gen when it was much easier and more feasible? As an extension of this, why didn't we see any games that made use of the DS touchscreen? Were there really no applications for such input?[/QUOTE]

Now that you mention it, it would have been a cool experiment to make an RTS that used the touch screen.

 

[GrotesqueBeauty]

I wish there was a Four Swords Adventures Wii port that let you play wireless on DS.

 

[zigg]

If you read the 3DS Iwata Asks and noted how down the company was about 3D until a staff member who hadn't lived through the pain of their past 3D efforts got excited about it and led the charge, it's not a stretch to extrapolate that they were probably feeling similarly burned by the reaction to GCN-GBA connectivity and thus haven't really been inspired to create new ideas for the concept.

Too bad; I thought Pac-Man Vs. (which you can actually play on DS now if you get Namco Museum DS) and FSA were some really great games... would have loved to see more where those came from.

 

[Nuclear Muffin]

Such a shame that it never happened on a wider scale. I guess Nintendo were put off by the stigma that connectivity got when they did it with the GCN-GBA (and of course 3rd party devs didn't give a fuck about the Wii anyway, let alone a system that was derided back in the GCN-GBA era)

There was so much potential, especially when the Wii-DS connectivity solved most of the problems that the GCN-GBA connectivity had (need for a cable for each GBA system, lack of RAM for storing game data on the GBA, lack of 3D graphics on GBA etc)

Ahh well, maybe next time with the 3DS (the fact that they have some Wii connectivity right out of the gate gives me a small glimmer of hope at least!)

 

[345triangle]

I sort of agree with you in principle, but in practice I can't think of any games that did get made where I'd want to use the feature.

i think it's just weird that nintendo pushed the feature so hard when it was completely impractical, and didn't follow up on it when a lot of people would actually have been able to do it.

 

[Fritz]

Funny, just posted in the Earth Seeker topic about this. apparently that one has some kind of connectivity feature as can be seen in a new trailer. But I am not too sad about the lack of connectivity this gen, it was quite a mess on the Cube cause it was mostly used for multiplayer stuff. I have a hard time gathering people willing to play videogames already not to mention people that also own a nintendo handheld. Single player is awesome though.

 

[zigg]

i think it's just weird that nintendo pushed the feature so hard when it was completely impractical, and didn't follow up on it when a lot of people would actually have been able to do it.

I know I'm going to get laughed off GAF for this, but as I think about it, they're a little ahead of their time when it comes to a number of things like this... they'll get an idea, build a game, but it won't yet be the right time for it, making it impractical somehow for people to really enjoy. Problem seems to be that then they get discouraged about the idea instead of trying again...

 

[ElFly]

Nintendo was trying to drive up Gamecube sales by making it a GBA accessory.

The Wii and the DS are successful by themselves, so they aren't pushing the connectivity now.

Even where it makes sense to push the connectivity (pokemon) they have largely abandoned it.

 

[UltimateIke]

I'll get laughed off for this, but I would really like a Remote Play mode for the Wii/3DS that allows for Virtual Console games to be played on the go. I doubt such a feature could even be implemented on the Wii, or that Nintendo ever would if they could, but I can dream...

 

[ElFly]

I'll get laughed off for this, but I would really like a Remote Play mode for the Wii/3DS that allows for Virtual Console games to be played on the go. I doubt such a feature could even be implemented on the Wii, or that Nintendo ever would if they could, but I can dream...

That's kind of overkill, when they could just sell VC games on 3DS again (or, hopefully, let you play your Wii VC games on the 3DS) without the need for funky network remote play shenanigans.

 

[ZAK]

It's all wireless now, so they can't sell you a peripheral anymore, which means they don't care.

 

[UltimateIke]

That's kind of overkill, when they could just sell VC games on 3DS again (or, hopefully, let you play your Wii VC games on the 3DS) without the need for funky network remote play shenanigans.

I don't see them doing that, so it's kind of depressing to think about it at all. I suggested Remote Play because there is little chance they'll let you transfer your Wii downloads anywhere else. With Remote Play, they'd still be locked to the Wii. But it's all a pipe dream.

 

[Mejilan]

It's regrettable. They tried so hard to push this last gen in basically the most cumbersome ways possible. With the Wii and the DS -both pushing wireless networking capabilities out of the box without the need for extra cables, peripherals, adapters, etc.- they really had the opportunity to refine the idea this gen, and failed utterly to capitalize on it. Pumping DS demos via the Wii was a decent start, I suppose, but not nearly enough.

Sony actually did a lot more with the PS3 and PSP this gen.
Then again, that did leave a lot to be desired.

 

[donny2112]

Guitar Hero had some features, but, yes, lack of Four Sword Adventures 2 on Wii is very sad.

 

[UltimateIke]

Guitar Hero had some features, but, yes, lack of Four Sword Adventures 2 on Wii is very sad.

I didn't know about the Guitar Hero games. I've added it to the list in the OP.


Since everyone is looking forward to the 3DS now, is there any hope of it getting any connectivity with the Wii or future consoles? Or is this a feature that has already gone as far as we will see? The 3DS won't have much use for the Nintendo Channel DS demo downloads (it should be able to handle that on its own). What are some new uses Nintendo could develop?

For example, why not have a media streaming channel that lets you play your 3DS photos and mp3/AAC files on your (or a friend's) big screen TV? If/When they have movies for download, maybe even stream those to the Wii for display on the TV?

I want to see some kind of synergy between this gen's two most popular gaming systems! Why not use it if you've got it? Heck, somebody make a Four Swords knock-off on WiiWare!

 

[Shiggy]

Wind Waker did it really well! Would love to see it in Skyward Sword.

 

[fernoca]

Yep, Guitar Hero(es) and Band Hero.
It was fun. Let's you create setlists to play in multiplayer, or in multiplayer be a roadie and sabotage the other players' equipment, song.

But yeah, a really underutilized feature.

 

[HYDE]

I just want to be able to play any Nintendo portable or console title from all previous generations on the new device everytime.

Why can't we have wii vc connectivity on ds, the only games they couldn't allow would be n64(analog controls). The concept of being able to play any of the console games you want on a handheld could be one of the most obvious features yet to be implemented.

I hope Sony will allow us to play PSP, PS1, and PS2 games on our PSP2s.

Backwards compatibility is the most important thing to me as I've grown older. I hate owning 100 cartridges, 25 consoles and portables, just to play all the crap I desire to play. I feel like a child with an enormous game room full of old toys. I'd like to just boot up any game (legally), that I want from any generation on my portable or console.

 

[UltimateIke]

In my quest to find (or make) a complete list of DS and Wii games with cross-system connectivity (if Wikipedia has such a list I can't find it), I discovered Personal Trainer: Walking, which lets you transfer a Mii (from the Wii channel) into the DS game. If you push A, B, and 1, and then hold 2 on the Wii remote for a few seconds, it allows the DS to connect to the Mii Channel! It also adds an icon to the Mii Channel to allow for future DS connections.

I know the Mii system is making it onto the 3DS, but if this transfer feature existed, why didn't more DS games allow you to use it? Could this feature be used in the future to transfer your current Miis onto your 3DS?

 

[McNum]

Batman: The Brave and the Bold for Wii let you play as Bat-Mite if you connected the DS version to the Wii. You controlled him with the touch screen and he had some rather unique powers. He's Bat-Mite, after all.

 

[UltimateIke]

Batman: The Brave and the Bold for Wii let you play as Bat-Mite if you connected the DS version to the Wii. You controlled him with the touch screen and he had some rather unique powers. He's Bat-Mite, after all.

Ahhh, thank you! That's another game I didn't know about.

It seems the list of compatible games is about twice as long I originally imagined, but that still doesn't mean Nintendo took advantage of the feature as much as I would have liked.