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Wii U Virtual Console - News and Releases

TheMoon

Member
Another question: Let's say I purchase Blaster Master (NES) in Wii Mode. Will doing a system transfer afterwards (Wii -> Wii U's Wii Mode) permanently remove that purchase?

Edit: Sorry for all the questions. I haven't been keeping up.

Wii -> Wii U system transfer = everything moves over (VC games, WiiWare Games, save files, even VC save states). However, the original Wii loses access to all of these following the transfer. It's not copy/paste, it's cut/paste.

Wii Mode Wii VC: Obviously GameCube controllers are not supported here so everything needs a Wii Remote or a Wiimote & Wii Classic Controller (Pro). In Wii U's Wii Mode, all VC games benefit from not being displayed stretched by default so they are always displayed in their correct 4:3 aspect ratio without you having to fiddle with your TV settings.

Wii Mode on Wii U supports Off-TV Play, meaning everything Wii-related can be displayed on the GamePad (while being mirrored to the TV, too). However, the GamePad cannot be used as a controller since Wii Mode does not recognize any non-Wii control input devices (that includes the Wii U GamePad, Wii U Pro Controller, Wii U GameCube Controller Adapter). This is because Wii Mode turns your Wii U into a Wii, just like the GameCube backwards compatibility did on the original Wii and thus it does not know what these newer things are.

Playing Wii (VC) games on the GamePad screen requires original Wii controllers (whatever was required by the game). The GamePad has a sensor bar above the screen that can be used for pointer controls but doesn't have to be. You can still set up your Wii sensor bar wherever you want. Meaning you can put it comfortably on the floor below your desk with the GamePad in its stand on top and you just point at the floor. You don't have to point at the GamePad if you don't want to. Be clever, game comfortably.

Upgrading Wii VC games in Wii Mode to Wii U VC games:
Nothing happens, you just get to enjoy a fully Wii U compatible VC game for $1(NES)/$1.50(SNES) and keep your Wii VC game in Wii Mode. You upgrade, you don't replace. Nothing is lost.

Note for PAL gamers: There's this dumb issue with 50Hz games where the Wii U does not support 50Hz and thus forces 50Hz games into 60Hz which is accomplished by repeating each sixth(?) frame causing a slight judder. This is an issue of much debate since many don't even notice it's there and others like to go on a rampage over it (;D). The good thing is that most of the Wii U VC games in PAL regions have been re-released as their North American or Japanese NTSC versions in their native 60Hz glory but a few notable outliers have been dumped out as 50Hz PAL versions again (some of them because the only alternative would be a Japanese version without English text because there never was a US release, others initially also seemed to have been given 50Hz releases to allow for the inclusion of their original European localizations but then DKC3 happened and we all threw our hands in the air).

Wii U VC vs Wii VC: if you have a lot of NES games and love how they look on your Wii VC consider sticking with that for a little longer as NES games on Wii U VC look infamously shoddy with lots of blur and washed out light grey replacing what was once clear white. SNES games however look fine.

General Wii U VC:
All native Wii U VC games support Off-TV Play, the Wii U Pro Controller, the Wii Classic Controller, NES games support the sideways Wii Remote-style and all games have a Miiverse community and support screenshots (unless you're in Japan playing a Square Enix game because fuck Square Enix and their screenshot nonsense lol).

I can't think of anything more to tell you*. If there are still questions, ask away.

*If you want to play Duck Hunt, a Wii Remote is required.
 
A new thing to bitch about, but I just noticed on buying a Wii U that Japan got Metroid Zero Mission like six months ago and we don't have it yet (EU or NA). How very irritating.
 
I'm still hoping that the Donkey Kong Country games will be released on the eShop here in North America.

I've all but given up on it... I honestly think something is preventing them from showing up in our region. What that could be, I haven't the foggiest, but there's a lot of bullshit licensing stuff out there, and I think it's particularly bad in the US.
 

TheMoon

Member
A new thing to bitch about, but I just noticed on buying a Wii U that Japan got Metroid Zero Mission like six months ago and we don't have it yet (EU or NA). How very irritating.

New? I'm sorry but I think you haven't read the Downloads thread in a few months. There's bitching about ZM not being out EVERY WEEK.
so fucking tired of it

I've all but given up on it... I honestly think something is preventing them from showing up in our region. What that could be, I haven't the foggiest, but there's a lot of bullshit licensing stuff out there, and I think it's particularly bad in the US.

You guys just have to wait for once. Sit back and enjoy the Euro-experience. Have patience and wait. It's not always about America.
 

ZSaberLink

Media Create Maven
No, it is indeed a ROM dump. VC releases are literally ROMs dumped into a standardized emulator with tweaked settings and hacks specific to individual games -- which is also the exact method used by PS1 Classics, and by most retro collections on any system. Nobody's re-engineering the entire emulator package for each game (which is good, because that would be an incredible waste of time and money) -- they build a framework once and then do tweaks as necessary to accommodate individual games. No third-party company would need three or four full-time developers to support this program, and there wouldn't have been a single third-party on Wii VC if that's what was required.

Do you have some kind of inside knowledge into the process? I agree that your method would be the preferred approach, but I assumed Nintendo had been stupid about Wii VC in the past which is causing their current troubles. Anyhow, Nintendo isn't going to sell Wii Us to people based on VC. VC is a nice to have, which Sony has a reason to put money into thanks to the funds coming from PS+ even if most of the individual titles don't sell too much. I bet if Nintendo was charging for their online service, they'd have more incentive to care about VC. Otherwise, it's obviously their lowest priority.

Aka priorities:
1. new 1st party retail/digital titles
2. new 3rd party retail/digital titles (they need to heavily work on the retail side)
3. VC

Anyways, to all of you folks complaining about VC, it's kind of frustrating seeing the same complaints over and over again. Are you the crowd that buys eShop content as well? Might be interesting to look there to give money where there is content and help out indies. Personally I think Nintendo's VC (especially some of the lesser known/crappier titles) should be cheaper to encourage impulse buys...
 

tebunker

Banned
Anyways, to all of you folks complaining about VC, it's kind of frustrating seeing the same complaints over and over again. Are you the crowd that buys eShop content as well? Might be interesting to look there to give money where there is content and help out indies. Personally I think Nintendo's VC (especially some of the lesser known/crappier titles) should be cheaper to encourage impulse buys...
I am definitely an ardent supporter of indies on WiiU I have a ton, but still want certain games again and all in one place.

That was the original promise of the VC to have a huge library of games all in one spot. It was a good idea.

I don't believ pricing is the main issue but I do think that more sales would be good. Or discounts when you buy several titles in a series or from one publisher
 

ZSaberLink

Media Create Maven
Also FYI to folks, this list hasn't been updated since 8/6/2014. Here are the titles that have released in NA since then.

notice how the NES lineup has pretty much all been third party titles since then? Plus I'm loving the GBA lineup so far.

NES
6/12 - Soccer
6/18 - Super Dodge Ball
6/26 - Castlevania 3: Dracula's Curse
7/10 - Bases Loaded
7/24 - Ufouria: the Saga
8/7 - Mega Man 5
8/14 - Double Dragon II: The Revenge
8/21 - Life Force
8/21 - Megaman 6
8/28 - Donkey Kong Jr. math
9/11 - Adventure Island
10/30 - Gargoyle's Quest II
11/27 - Mighty Final Fight
12/4 - Lode Runner
12/11 - Crash n the Boys Street Challenge
12/25 - Duck Hunt


SNES
8/7 - Cybernator
8/28 - Mega Man X3
9/4 - Nobunaga's Ambition
9/12 - Megaman 7
9/18 - Wild Guns
10/2 - Castlevania Dracula X
10/30 - Demon's Crest
12/18 - Natsume Championship Wrestling

GBA
7/31 - Mega Man Battle Network
8/14 - Megaman Battle Chip Challenge
9/25 - Mario Golf Advance Tour
10/9 - Castlevania: Circle of the Moon
10/16 - Castlevania: Harmony of Dissonance
10/23 - Castlevania: Aria of Sorrow
10/30 - Kirby: Nightmare in Dream Land
11/6 - Super Mario Advance
11/13 - Mario Kart: Super Circuit
11/20 - DK: King of Swing
11/27 - Mario Pinball Land
12/4 - Fire Emblem
12/17 - Mega Man Zero
12/25 - Mario Party Advance
12/25 - Super Mario World: Super Mario Advance 2

Europe got the DKC trilogy (which NOA didn't get), Mega Man Zero, Golden Sun: Lost Age, and Pokemon Pinball Ruby & Sapphire too (they missed some stuff America has gotten though). Europe is also getting Fire Emblem: Sacred Stones it seems.
 

TheMoon

Member
<mode="sarcasm">
^ugh, so bad. there's like less than 0 good games in there. games I own actually self deleted, that's how shitty it is.
</mode>

(thanks for compiling the list, btw!)
 

tebunker

Banned
But you do have that.
You can have a huge library of VC games all together on your Wii U!
On the Wii mode section >.>

And that's the joke.gif

Sad thing is I am this | | close to buying some Wii points and fleshing out the collection.

There are several TG, SNES and Neo Geo games I want.

Honestly what killed me was how not everything came out for the TG games. There are several super cd games I would still willing pay the $9 or more for on the VC right now. I really would prefer that to hunting down the discs.

I want to find Vic Ireland, I think that's his name, and figure out what happened to all the WD games like Exile and Vasteel. I actually would throw a good $15 or more at those.
 

Blues1990

Member
You guys just have to wait for once. Sit back and enjoy the Euro-experience. Have patience and wait. It's not always about America.

In a perfect world, I would like it that these games would get a simultaneous worldwide release, so we wouldn't have such condescending comments from the peanut gallery.
 

TheMoon

Member
In a perfect world, I would like it that these games would get a simultaneous worldwide release, so we wouldn't have such condescending comments from the peanut gallery.

The thing that bothers me is that I just keep seeing complaints about what isn't there while hardly anyone actually appreciates what is there.
 
The thing that bothers me is that I just keep seeing complaints about what isn't there while hardly anyone actually appreciates what is there.

They bothered to release Earthbound in Europe after 20 years, am I supposed to give them a blowjob or something? They provide the content, that's their job.
 

jholmes

Member
PS1 games aren't on PSNow and there is no indication that they will be.

Ahh, my apologies. I was led to believe they were there. At the very least the PS4 does not at the moment allow for what one might call classic PS games outside of Now.

Sony's worked to get their Classics working on multiple platforms, organizes and heavily promotes sales that feature these titles regularly, doesn't hold third parties to a semi-arbitrary release schedule driven by first-party concerns or burden them with system requirements for things like Miiverse, and (at least in the past) paid publishers to include some PS1 titles in PS+ -- all of which is the kind of stuff that goes to margin and therefore matters to publishers for participating in this kind of program. (And this is putting aside the huge gap in general publisher relations between Sony and Nintendo.)

If a company wants to run a platform like this successfully, they need to design it around the needs of the external publishing partners and take steps to affirmatively make it more appealing to them. Nintendo's VC strategy (like most of their strategy) has always been about their first-party needs, and that's just not going to bring a lot of third-party content to the table.

Is there something that leads you to believe Sony's approach to re-releasing PS1 and PS2 games is more third-party friendly, or do you just assume that because the PS4 is sunshine and roses and Sony loves third parties for all we know? Not to sound argumentative, but I think we can criticize Nintendo without bending the truth to make Sony sound better. They can both do poorly.
 

jwhit28

Member
I don't expect ps1 or ps2 classics to ever come to ps4 in any other way than psnow. I don't expect the number of n64 titles on Wii u vc to ever pass the number on the Wii, if any come to it at all. Platform makers don't seem to care much about retro collections going forward. Its amazing that they can't keep the few people willing to pay for roms and emulators satisfied.
 
Do you have some kind of inside knowledge into the process?

I just follow closely what people from third parties have said about the process over the years.

Anyways, to all of you folks complaining about VC, it's kind of frustrating seeing the same complaints over and over again.

It's kind of frustrating seeing Nintendo failing to fix obvious gaping problems with their system over and over again!

Is there something that leads you to believe Sony's approach to re-releasing PS1 and PS2 games is more third-party friendly

That third party publishers have said that it's more friendly and have supported it more consistently, mostly.

I don't expect ps1 or ps2 classics to ever come to ps4 in any other way than psnow.

There is zero -- not exaggerating, actually none whatsoever -- chance that PS4 is going to support PS1 games by streaming them remotely.
 

Guamu

Member
And that's the joke.gif

Sad thing is I am this | | close to buying some Wii points and fleshing out the collection.

There are several TG, SNES and Neo Geo games I want.

I don't know what is so sad about it. It would be great to have all VC run natively on the WiiU, but the Wii mode VC has a great library.

Maybe I don't think is a burden because I already had a classic controller?
 

Datapack

Banned
Got them from bayo 1 and 2 hopefully these work for you people in canadia and the US.
iAXL4bt.jpg
 

sörine

Banned
That third party publishers have said that it's more friendly and have supported it more consistently, mostly.
The only time I've ever heard anything along these lines was from John Griener and Vic Ireland when they were shilling Monkeypaw's PS1 Classics imports. Is there anything else you can source?

I'd argue against Classics support being more consistent though, it seems equally scattershot and boom/bust as VC historically. Some publishers tend to support one more versus the other but there are still publishers who supported VC more (Capcom, Konami, Namco Bandai,Natsume, Sega, Hudson, NCS, Naxat/Kaga, Sunsoft, D4, even Falcom, etc) and even some indies in there (Two Tribes, White Harvest, Wayforward). There are also more total unique 3rd party games on Virtual Console than there are PS Classics, in every region too.
 

SCReuter

Member

Thanks for the writeup.

One of my largest concerns is image quality (Wii vs. Wii U's Wii Menu), so yesterday I did an experiment and purchased Super Mario Bros.: The Lost Levels in Wii Mode and compared it directly to the original Super Mario Bros. running on Wii. Both systems were set to 480p (4:3) and connected to an HDTV (also set to 4:3) via component cables. Unfortunately, what I discovered is that the image quality of the Virtual Console in Wii Mode is actually fuzzier than on a regular Wii. Has anybody else noticed this? I later toyed around with the video settings on the two consoles and TV (changed the aspect ratios, switched to an HDMI cable, set Wii U to 1080p, etc.), yet no matter what combination I tried, I couldn't seem to get Wii Mode's picture to align with the sheer crispness of Wii's picture. It gets very close in 1080p, but there's still something off about it from what I can tell.

Now I'm reluctant to go through with the system transfer (and I have a leftover 400 shop points stuck in Wii Mode due to the Lost Levels purchase). Boo!
 

TheMoon

Member
Thanks for the writeup.

One of my largest concerns is image quality (Wii vs. Wii U's Wii Menu), so yesterday I did an experiment and purchased Super Mario Bros.: The Lost Levels in Wii Mode and compared it directly to the original Super Mario Bros. running on Wii. Both systems were set to 480p (4:3) and connected to an HDTV (also set to 4:3) via component cables. Unfortunately, what I discovered is that the image quality of the Virtual Console in Wii Mode is actually fuzzier than on a regular Wii. Has anybody else noticed this? I later toyed around with the video settings on the two consoles and TV (changed the aspect ratios, switched to an HDMI cable, set Wii U to 1080p, etc.), yet no matter what combination I tried, I couldn't seem to get Wii Mode's picture to align with the sheer crispness of Wii's picture. It gets very close in 1080p, but there's still something off about it from what I can tell.

Now I'm reluctant to go through with the system transfer (and I have a leftover 400 shop points stuck in Wii Mode due to the Lost Levels purchase). Boo!

One thing I forgot: The original Wii supports a button combination that forces 240p for best image quality which the Wii Mode on Wii U sadly does not support for some reason. Throwing 240p Virtual Console Wii into Google should bring up the button combo and details.
 

Sixfortyfive

He who pursues two rabbits gets two rabbits.
One thing I forgot: The original Wii supports a button combination that forces 240p for best image quality which the Wii Mode on Wii U sadly does not support for some reason. Throwing 240p Virtual Console Wii into Google should bring up the button combo and details.
While true, this is only really a good thing on CRTs.

If you're playing on an HDTV, it's a better idea to let the Wii U upscale all your games to your TV's native resolution.
 

Fox Mulder

Member
anyone else ever have an issue with the prepaid eshop card?

I just bought one and as i was scratching to reveal the code, the paper was flaking off ruining the code. I was just using a coin like you do with everything else.
 

TheMoon

Member
anyone else ever have an issue with the prepaid eshop card?

I just bought one and as i was scratching to reveal the code, the paper was flaking off ruining the code. I was just using a coin like you do with everything else.

Never had this issue.
 

terrisus

Member
anyone else ever have an issue with the prepaid eshop card?

I just bought one and as i was scratching to reveal the code, the paper was flaking off ruining the code. I was just using a coin like you do with everything else.

Yeah, I've had one or two cards completely tear off the number.

I always use a quarter now, since coins like nickels and pennies have smooth edges and don't scratch as well, and even then it can be tricky.

My last few eShop cards I've just bought in the GAF BST thread, since then it's on someone else to do the scratching >.>
 
anyone else ever have an issue with the prepaid eshop card?

I just bought one and as i was scratching to reveal the code, the paper was flaking off ruining the code. I was just using a coin like you do with everything else.

Yes I have. Call Nintendo. They will ask you a few questions. Essentislly there are more numbers on that card than you scratch off. They'll use that to verify and then they will add the amount to your NNID.

Yeah, I've had one or two cards completely tear off the number.

I always use a quarter now, since coins like nickels and pennies have smooth edges and don't scratch as well, and even then it can be tricky.

My last few eShop cards I've just bought in the GAF BST thread, since then it's on someone else to do the scratching >.>

You did do the above right? Surely you just didn't redeem and threw it away right? =/
 

SCReuter

Member
My Club Nintendo account is still showing 260 coins after just downloading Super Mario Kart for 250. Shouldn't I only have 10 now?

Edit: Never mind. It took a few minutes but the coins have been deducted.
 

Surfheart

Member
I noticed that if I set my wii u to 480p prior to launching Wii mode thereby using my tv's scaler rather than the wii u's that my old wii games like Galaxy look significantly better.

I guess the wii u's scaler is shit?
 
Looks like I'm sticking to Wii mode for NES games.

I got Punch Out on Wii U and the Wii mode version looks significantly better.

How did Nintendo screw up the NES titles so much on a more powerful console?
 

Zonic

Gives all the fucks
Mega Man Battle Network 2 was spotted on Club Nintendo under "Download any new games?", indicating it could possibly be coming soon, so perhaps this week or the next.
 

HF2014

Member
Wondering. Do we get any chance to get Final Fantasy II and III to be release on Wii U virtual console? I think they are out in japan, wondeing why we still dont habe them. License problem for NA?
 

Jucksalbe

Banned
Wondering. Do we get any chance to get Final Fantasy II and III to be release on Wii U virtual console? I think they are out in japan, wondeing why we still dont habe them. License problem for NA?

SquareEnix has yet to release anything on the WiiU VC (in the West). Maybe they're just not interested. The Final Fantasy games don't have any license problems.
 

radcliff

Member
There really should be an option to deactivate the Virtual Console blur filter.

Set your Wii U to 720p. I used to advocate 1080i, but another forum member noted that this could lead to increased lag and artifacting. But setting your Wii U to 720p greatly reduces the blur filter.
 

terrisus

Member
Wondering. Do we get any chance to get Final Fantasy II and III to be release on Wii U virtual console? I think they are out in japan, wondeing why we still dont habe them. License problem for NA?

SquareEnix has yet to release anything on the WiiU VC (in the West). Maybe they're just not interested. The Final Fantasy games don't have any license problems.

They just don't like me and don't want me to be happy >.>
 

kunonabi

Member
The thing that bothers me is that I just keep seeing complaints about what isn't there while hardly anyone actually appreciates what is there.

Aside from the GBA games I already own all that stuff on my Wii. The service needs more new games to the virtual console like Demon's Crest, Earthbound, MMX3, and continued support for the new platforms (GBA, NDS, N64) The 3DS VC already being crap doesn't help not to mention how poor some of the emulation is compared to the Wii VC.
 

ZSaberLink

Media Create Maven
Man, I wish the OP was updated sometime =(. Gulatica is actually decently active on the Nintendo downloads threads, so perhaps I'll ping him about this.


Btw, for a written list:
Game Boy Advance:
Advance Wars - NA, EU
Advance Wars 1&2 Pack - JP
Castlevania: Aria of Sorrow - NA, EU
Castlevania: Circle of the Moon - NA, JP, EU
Castlevania: Harmony of Dissonance - NA, JP, EU
DK: King of Swing - NA, JP, EU
F-Zero: GP Legend - NA, JP, EU
F-Zero: Maximum Velocity - NA, JP, EU
Fire Emblem (Sword of Flame) - NA, JP, EU
Fire Emblem: Sacred Stones - JP, EU
Golden Sun - NA, JP, EU
Golden Sun: Lost Age - JP, EU
Kirby & the Amazing Mirror - NA, JP, EU
Kirby: Nightmare in Dream Land - NA, JP, EU
Klonoa: Empire of Dreams - NA, JP, EU
Klonoa 2: Dream Champ Tournament - NA
Kotoba no Puzzle: Mojipittan - JP
Kuru Kuru Kururin - JP, EU
Legend of Zelda: Minish Cap - NA, JP, EU
Mario v. Donkey Kong - JP
Mario & Luigi: Superstar Saga - NA, JP, EU
Mario Golf: Advance Tour - NA, JP, EU
Mario Kart: Super Circuit - NA, EU
Mario Party Advance - NA, EU
Mario Pinball Land - NA
Mario Tennis: Power Tour - NA, JP, EU
Mega Man & Bass - NA, JP
Mega Man Battle Chip Challenge - NA, JP, EU
Mega Man Battle Network - NA., EU
Mega Man Battle Network 2 - NA
Mega Man Battle Network 3: Blue - NA, JP
Mega Man Battle Network 3: White - NA, JP
Mega Man Battle Network 4: Blue Moon - NA, JP
Mega Man Battle Network 4: Red Sun - NA, JP
Mega Man Zero - NA
Mega Man Zero 2 - JP
Mega Man Zero 3 - EU
Metroid Fusion - NA, JP, EU
Metroid Zero Mission - JP, EU
Mr. Driller 2 - NA, JP, EU
Mr. Driller (A): JP
Namco Museum - NA, JP, EU
Napoleon - JP
Pac-Man Collection - NA, JP, EU
Pokemon Pinball: Ruby & Sapphire - NA, EU
Sonic Advance - JP
Super Mario Advance - NA, JP
Super Mario Advance 2: Super Mario World - NA, JP
Super Mario Advance 3: Yoshi's Island - JP
Super Mario Ball - JP
Wario Land 4 - NA, JP, EU
WarioWare, Inc. Mega Microgames! - NA, JP, EU
Yoshi's Island: Super Mario Advance 3 - NA, EU

Nintendo 64:
Donkey Kong 64 - US, EU, JP
Paper Mario - US
Super Mario 64 - US, EU, JP


Nintendo DS:
Brain Age - EU, JP
Big Brain Academy - JP
Mario Kart DS - NA, EU
New Super Mario Bros. - NA, JP,
WarioWare: Touched! - NA, EU, JP
Yoshi Touch & Go - NA
Yoshi's Island DS - NA, EU, JP
 
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