Support NeoGAF

[Bony Manifesto]

You can call Wii Mode lazy, but it's how the DS, 3DS, and Wii do backwards compatibility and they all have far better backwards compatibility than anything since the PS2.

Er, what system doesn't enter a special mode that disables all the next-gen niceties when you play a backwards-compatible game? Even the Xbox 360, which has the patchiest BC support around, does that...

But still, having a special mode for Wii emulation is one thing, but Virtual Console games are already running on software-based emulators on the Wii. They should port those, instead of having an emulation within an emulation.

 

[Dion Blaster]

Wii Mode is probably for security reasons. Totally isolates all of your Wii shit from the main Wuu environment. Otherwise it could be a way to hack the system, to get the insecure wii's junk all up onto dat Wuu. Probably the same reason the 3DS runs DSi/DS games in DS-mode.

It's the compromise of "okay we'll let you play them" but with the understanding that all that old junk is just too insecure to let onto the new system wholesale.

Sucks, but it is what it is.

Wouldn't a logical way around that be to tie the games to an account and have you download the games again once the account is linked with your system? There is no excuse for this.

 

[AzaK]

Shame about the no GamePad only play for Wii stuff. Makes sense given that the machine basically turns into a Wii to do it to maximise compatibility, but a bummer still.

 

[TyRaNtM]

Maybe that feature can be updated with future firmwares.

 

[EmCeeGramr]

Get ready for GamePad Classics™ on the eShop. For a small premium of $3-5+, you can get a classic game tailor-made for Wii U GamePad™ play (it has an border).

 

[TheFightingFish]

Update[/B] - Wii Virtual Console Titles Not Playable on GamePad - http://www.nintendoworldreport.com/news/31715

Heh, now that's just lame. I'm not in on WiiU launch in any case, but I'd rather be interested in one down the line for a cheaper price, especially for having the VC library. And as part of that with a small house with one TV I'd love to be able to play some Super Metroid sitting on the couch while my wife was watching a TV show. Would have been a really good feature for me.

 

[Kai Dracon]

Er, what system doesn't enter a special mode that disables all the next-gen niceties when you play a backwards-compatible game? Even the Xbox 360, which has the patchiest BC support around, does that...

You kind of answered your own question. 360's BC is patchy and glitchy because it's not hardware, running in an exclusive hardware mode.

Nintendo does like things to work, to prevent the average person from getting sad that their experience is uneven and unreliable. This kind of absolutely locked down hardware BC is the kind of thing they'd prefer to use, I'd think.

Hardware BC has always been like this; PS2 is just a PS1 when running PS1 games (can't even save to a PS2 memory card). PS3 loses most functions of the XMB when playing PS2 games.

The reason why overlays like Steam work for old games under Windows is because there are multiple layers of actual emulation going on and higher level API calls, rather than games accessing hardware and locking newer features in the system out.

 

[andthebeatgoeson]

I have 4000 points on my wii. At least they won't go to waste. I can buy something now.

 

[wrowa]

Does that mean that Nintendo is going to start Virtual Console all over again on the Wii U? The horror.

 

[Dion Blaster]

I have 4000 points on my wii. At least they won't go to waste. I can buy something now.

You can buy every good N64 game available!

 

[ScreenSplitter]

. And as part of that with a small house with one TV I'd love to be able to play some Super Metroid sitting on the couch while my wife was watching a TV show. .

It might seem insignificant, but it was a big selling point for me :\

 

[WillyFive]

Looks like having the VC emulator be burnt in with the ROMS instead of being part of the Wii OS ended up making a bigger problem than they wanted.

Each VC game is literally a Wii game, so the Wii U has to play it as a Wii game; that means all N64 games will only be 480p and (including everything else) won't adjust to 16:9, just like in the Wii.

 

[Bony Manifesto]

You kind of answered your own question. 360's BC is patchy and glitchy because it's not hardware, running in an exclusive hardware mode.

It may not have the original Xbox hardware inside, but it is running in a special mode where all the Xbox Guide stuff is disabled.

But like I say, playing native Wii games in such a mode is annoying but understandable, but how can you justify the software-based Virtual Console emulators not running natively on the Wii U?

 

[RedSwirl]

Maybe, just needed for the Wii to WiiU transfer, then stuff gets added to your account???

Probably.

Get ready for GamePad Classics™ on the eShop. For a small premium of $3-5+, you can get a classic game tailor-made for Wii U GamePad™ play (it has an border).

Those "enhanced" classics better also be in HD.

Looks like having the VC emulator be burnt in with the ROMS instead of being part of the Wii OS ended up making a bigger problem than they wanted.

Each VC game is literally a Wii game, so the Wii U has to play it as a Wii game; that means all N64 games will only be 480p and (including everything else) won't adjust to 16:9, just like in the Wii.

Pretty much this, but I wonder what will happen with VC games released henceforth...

 

[superbank]

Oh you can play some VC games on the pad, just not your Wii VC games. That's what I'm guessing. Nintendo would not seriously bar all old games from being played on the gamepad, that's the main feature. In comes the WiiU Virtual Console with new(!) Gamepad Compatible versions of all your old favorites!

I phrased it like a parody but that's what you should expect. The Big N ain't gonna hand out game downloads to freeloaders who bought digital games in 2007!

 

[Roto13]

Er, what system doesn't enter a special mode that disables all the next-gen niceties when you play a backwards-compatible game? Even the Xbox 360, which has the patchiest BC support around, does that...

What would you prefer? Home menu access within Wii games, or full compatibility with every single Wii and VC game with (probably) no bugs or hiccups?

I have 4000 points on my wii. At least they won't go to waste. I can buy something now.

Would you have just let them stagnate otherwise?

 

[tuffy]

It's possible for Nintendo to rebuild VC and WiiWare titles for the Wii U to take advantage of the pad, but they'd have to run them through QA again so I don't think it's very likely.

 

[hatchx]

This is a real shame. What a stupid ass fix of a solution.

Here is what they should do:

Create a downloadable channel for Wii called 'Nintendo Network Channel'.

When you open it, it asks if you want to sign up for a Nintendo gamer account. When you sign in, it then asks if it wants to tie the current wii to your gamer account (notifying you that this is the only Wii with your account, and should you switch to a different Wii, you will need to 'un-tie' your gamer account to the current wii, giving it a system format)

Then on the WiiU, there is a Nintendo Gamer Account login. When you login 'with the same account' it recognizes you as a Wii gamer and asks if you'd like to tie your gamer account with that Wii U. It notifies you that you can only be tied to one Wii U at a time, and to tie your account to a new Wii U would require you to format the current one.


This way, every gamer finally feel safe and their games won't be tied to a box. If your console is stolen or breaks, you can contact customer support and get your gamer account 'un-tied' and able to tie to a new system.

With this setup, Nintendo would have full control over which gamer account is tied to what systems. Then they add new systems!

This way you can have all of your VC and WiiWare games on Wii AND Wii U. So what? This is not going to start rampant game sharing, and at worst it means someone sells/gives their Wii away without every un-tieing their account, and someone gets free VC games.


If I buy a game, is it unconceivable to think that I should be able to play it on each and every Nintendo system I own?

Taking Monster Hunter 3 'on-the-go' from the Wii U version will require you to own the game for 3DS. In the future, it'd be nice to think I can own a game, and I can play it on different systems.


With all that said, I was still very happy with their conference today and the strong lineup.

 

[TheFightingFish]

It might seem insignificant, but it was a big selling point for me :\

I'll forgive 'em a bit if they finally open up the floodgates for 16-bit era VC games on the 3DS (which I honestly doubt at this point). But yeah, I really want to be able to play some SNES games legally some way other than on a TV.

 

[Persona7]

Will your games still be playable on your Wii after you transfer?

Fat chance.

 

[Bony Manifesto]

What would you prefer? Home menu access within Wii games, or full compatibility with every single Wii and VC game with (probably) no bugs or hiccups?

I'll tolerate it for Wii games, but for Virtual Console games, of course I want all the Wii U's in-game functionality accessible. And the option to play Virtual Console games on the GamePad screen is a no-brainer. I don't think that's unreasonable.

 

[PhantomR]

No VC and Wii Ware support on the Gamepad. Wow, great way to foster value towards my purchases and engender confidence in those Nintendo Network accounts there, Nintendo. Pathetic.

What?

 

[PhantomR]

I'll tolerate it for Wii games, but for Virtual Console games, of course I want all the Wii U's in-game functionality accessible. And the option to play Virtual Console games on the GamePad screen is a no-brainer. I don't think that's unreasonable.

I just don't really think it's that big of a deal. So long as my content is able to be transferred over that's all that really matters to me.

 

[Berordn]

I guess post-launch support will be the moment of truth. When VC support kicks off for Wii U, we'll see if we get upgraded to those versions or if we're stick in a 3DSesque "buy games you already own" loop.

 

[M-PG71C]

That's a pisser and I'm sure Nintendo will find a way to make us pay for "upgrades" or some shit. At least there is a way to transfer them over, despite it being cumbersome.

 

[boiled goose]

Looks like having the VC emulator be burnt in with the ROMS instead of being part of the Wii OS ended up making a bigger problem than they wanted.

Each VC game is literally a Wii game, so the Wii U has to play it as a Wii game; that means all N64 games will only be 480p and (including everything else) won't adjust to 16:9, just like in the Wii.

The best solution would be to release new WiiU versions and allow users to transfer licenses to the versions on the new platforms.

So disappointed. :/

 

[Jaded Alyx]

What about....transferring stuff from a EU Wii to a US Wii U?

 

[Kazerei]

In an interview with Nintendo of America, they stated that the Virtual Console transfer process was not confirmed to be available at launch, and would require both systems to be present and an SD card. The transfer process works much in the same way the DSi to 3DS process works today.

Boo!

 

[Why would you do that?]

But it shouldn't be this complicated. It's just an emulator, it's not like it shouldn't be effortless for Nintendo to make emulators native for Wii U. Why can't they just have you download some emulator files and then it just reads the ROM from the old Wii file and plays it natively, rather than this nonsense.

The problem is I bet there's all sorts of stupid bullshit that happens in this "Wii mode". Like Gamecube mode with Wii. You'll almost certainly be offline, you'll probably be restricted in what controllers work or what options are available to you, like the Gamecube mode on Wii. They're just taking the single most shitty, lazy option available.

They really better have updated versions available for download.

I agree that they could have done it better. In a perfect world, they would just update the emulators en masse, perhaps creating one "super" emulator per console (instead of making different ones per game), which they can use to quickly update every single Virtual Console game.

There are a couple problems with that, though.
- Each game needs to be thoroughly tested. Who knows how long that takes.
- I don't think Nintendo makes all of the emulators. For a while, there were complaints about the picture quality of Turbografx games compared to Nintendo/SEGA consoles. Hudson may have made that emulator. If that's the case, the whole "update everything" isn't entirely in Nintendo's hands.
- It would be boring if Nintendo released all of their VC games at once. There's currently a HUGE library of VC games, and people still complain every week that there aren't any good games being released. People like having releases spread out, and it will probably promote more sales.

In another perfect world, Wii games could use the Wii U pad's screen. It probably doesn't support it for security reasons.
- The Wii had Gamecube mode, and even though the Wii was hacked to the point where Nintendo gave up fighting, it took 5 years for hackers to figure out how to access Wii hardware while in Gamecube mode.
- The DSi and 3DS support DS mode. The DS is a system where custom code can be run, and while the DSi was partially hacked thanks to a DS mode exploit, the 3DS hasn't.
- The Wii is pretty much hacked to death. I bet the Wii U will even be hacked to play some Wii homebrew within the first month of its release. I wouldn't be surprised if some homebrew worked day 1. If they expose any Wii U functionality, including the tablet, it could be a security risk.

I should point out that the 3DS does have some background functionality while in DS/DSi mode, like the pedometer and I think StreetPass. It's very limited, though. I wouldn't be surprised if the Wii U has some background functionality as well, but nothing too substantial, or anything that could potentially expose a huge security risk. Of course, that is just speculation on my part.

 

[Goody]

I don't mind at all that it does into Wii mode, but the phrasing sounds like it's a separate app that you have to go into to then go into a Wii, WiiWare, or Virtual Console game. That I don't like the sound of.

 

[Plinko]

The fact that VC games aren't playable on the gamepad is inexcusable. Absolutely inexcusable.

 

[Holy Wars]

It would be boring if Nintendo released all of their VC games at once. There's currently a HUGE library of VC games, and people still complain every week that there aren't any good games being released. People like having releases spread out, and it will probably promote more sales.

Everything you said was reasonable except this statement, which made me suffer a stroke.

 

[Morts]

Sounds fishy. What about Virtual Console games that I buy on the Wii U natively? Will those run in "Wii mode" too?

 

[superchunk]

While I knew this would happen, I am generally surprised that this means its still system locked vs account locked and that VC / WW games will not be gamepad supported. I mean really, that should just be a generic output option.

Seems like they are unnecessarily fragmenting their digital content between Wii and Wii U.

 

[Glass Joe]

I guess post-launch support will be the moment of truth. When VC support kicks off for Wii U, we'll see if we get upgraded to those versions or if we're stick in a 3DSesque "buy games you already own" loop.

Ugh. This really sounds like they're starting the e-shop for Wii U over from scratch. They'll let us move our current stuff over but they'll be stuck in "wii mode" for eternity. I'm betting they won't let us update via patch when certain games we own are re-added to their new shop with streaming capability. And that's because I'm really not sure if Nintendo could tell if a Wii game was legitimately purchased with all the hacking that was going on with Wii... Unless they were smart/motivated enough to actually utilize Club Nintendo and let registered users move their stuff over.

One glimmer of hope is if they really do have to do work to every game for a streaming version, maybe they'll put in bonus features like achievements and miiverse. Sort of glad I didn't splurge on VC too much back in the day due to the high pricing.

Oh well, *maybe* with my ambassador status for 3DS, I won't have to buy Punch-Out a 3rd time if I ever play on the pad. Dammit Nintendo.

 

[tanooki141]

I wish Nintendo elaborated a little more on this.

 

[zroid]

The fact that VC games aren't playable on the gamepad is inexcusable. Absolutely inexcusable.

;_________;

 

[noobasuar]

I think (hope) that vc titles will be compatible with the gamepad. I mean if someone just buys a wii u and then purchase a vc title I would hope that Nintendo would realize that they would piss people off by having people buy a wiimote to play games of their store. I just don't see it happening.

 

[jmizzal]

Its prob something that some VC and Wiiware games will get added on down the line, I heard that to have them running on the pad they would have to redo each game one by one, which will take a long time.

 

[Agent Unknown]

This is a real shame. What a stupid ass fix of a solution.

Here is what they should do:

Create a downloadable channel for Wii called 'Nintendo Network Channel'.

When you open it, it asks if you want to sign up for a Nintendo gamer account. When you sign in, it then asks if it wants to tie the current wii to your gamer account (notifying you that this is the only Wii with your account, and should you switch to a different Wii, you will need to 'un-tie' your gamer account to the current wii, giving it a system format)

Then on the WiiU, there is a Nintendo Gamer Account login. When you login 'with the same account' it recognizes you as a Wii gamer and asks if you'd like to tie your gamer account with that Wii U. It notifies you that you can only be tied to one Wii U at a time, and to tie your account to a new Wii U would require you to format the current one.


This way, every gamer finally feel safe and their games won't be tied to a box. If your console is stolen or breaks, you can contact customer support and get your gamer account 'un-tied' and able to tie to a new system.

With this setup, Nintendo would have full control over which gamer account is tied to what systems. Then they add new systems!

This way you can have all of your VC and WiiWare games on Wii AND Wii U. So what? This is not going to start rampant game sharing, and at worst it means someone sells/gives their Wii away without every un-tieing their account, and someone gets free VC games.


If I buy a game, is it unconceivable to think that I should be able to play it on each and every Nintendo system I own?

Taking Monster Hunter 3 'on-the-go' from the Wii U version will require you to own the game for 3DS. In the future, it'd be nice to think I can own a game, and I can play it on different systems.


With all that said, I was still very happy with their conference today and the strong lineup.

This is exactly what I visualized in my head that they'd do too! It seems so simple and obvious. Just make a simple one time use Nintendo Network "Wii Transfer channel" (maybe with a cute little suitcase logo on it or something) that let's you tie your content to your new user ID, then log onto your Wii U and redownload all your titles at once, or in chunks, ect. But no, that would be too simple, modern and convenient. I seriously can't believe I'm going to have to be ready to hook up TWO home consoles up to my TV AND wifi just to keep my purchases, it's beyond rediculously archaic. And will it even be available at or near launch? How long will I have to keep my old Wii system nearby, ready to go? They better rethink this ASAP because it's terrible customer service for dedicated VC purchasers like myself and is terrible PR for Nintendo Network/the new account system and not being able to play VC games on the pad is also bad PR for the extended value of the Gamepad's off-TV feature set.

 

[Javier]

Sounds fishy. What about Virtual Console games that I buy on the Wii U natively? Will those run in "Wii mode" too?

Probably. DSiWare games bought natively on the 3DS eShop still run on DS mode (even those that were released after the 3DS came out).

 

[Tuck]

Playing VC games on the game pad would have been a killer feature for me. Very, VERY disapointed.

 

[mantidor]

woah wait I can transfer my DSi games to the 3DS!?!?

why did no one tell me?

 

[Jaded Alyx]

woah wait I can transfer my DSi games to the 3DS!?!?

why did no one tell me?

Nobody thought to look underneath that massive rock under which you apparently reside.

 

[XenodudeX]

Will VC games purchased from the Wii U eshop be playable on the game pad?

 

[Eric C]

Wii, WiiWare, and Virtual Console games will be supported on Wii U much the same way that GameCube titles were supported on Wii, without any special features or GamePad support.

I don't really care about WiiWare, but I want VC titles playable on the GamePad screen, playable with the GamePad.

I hope this is sorta like the 3DS eshop situation... Nintendo just doesn't have it ready for the systems launch or something.

 

[jrDev]

Balls...and I was planning on tradin the wii for WiiU to bestbuy/GameStop depending on deal...maybe I'll just bight the bullet, I only have like 3 VC games anyways

 

[backlot]

I had never considered the possibility of playing Virtual Console games on the gamepad but now that I know you can't I want it so bad.

 

[WrenchNinja]

I dont get it, why wouldnt they just entitle you to wii u versions of the vc titles when they become available

 

[jmizzal]

Its possible once they upgrade certain games to have pad support, that if you brought it on Wii you can play it on WiiU pad.

Remember your Wii VC account can be connected to your Club Nintendo, so if your Club Nintendo is connected with your eShop, they will know which game you paid for on Wii and then let you download them for WiiU with wiiU pad stuff.