Wii games on Wii U eshop

[cimerians]

Pro controller support......sweet:

 

http://www.joystiq.com/2015/01/14/wii-games-coming-to-wii-u-eshop/?ncid=rss_truncated

 

 

I wonder how these games will look on the Wii U.

[Xot]

I wonder if these means the price of physical copies of Prime Trilogy will drop!

[Rex Dart]

So these are Wii games that won't run on a Wii, right?

[Atariboy]

Somewhat disappointed that we won't get HD remasterings this generation of this material, but not surprised. A lot of time has passed since Wind Waker HD was so well received, with no further HD upgrades having appeared since then.

 

So these are Wii games that won't run on a Wii, right?

 

Correct, they're Wii U eShop releases. Think of them as Nintendo's version of PS1/PS2 downloads on the PS3 or the short lived Xbox Originals line on the Xbox 360.

Edited January 14, 2015 by Atariboy

[cimerians]

Yes, the nice thing is you wont have to switch to Wii mode to play these.

 

I just wish they would upscale or remaster them cause they would look fantastic on an HD display.

[Atariboy]

They will certainly be upscaled, since Wii U has done that since day 1 to Wii Mode content.

 

I suspect you meant to say rendered in HD, like the Dolphin emulator does and the Wii U doesn't. But at least the Wii U handling the upscaling chores itself guarantees a certain quality. There are still HDTV's out there that do a less than desirable job at upscaling 480p (And even more that do a poor job when tasked with deinterlacing 480i only releases like Resident Evil Archives).

Edited January 14, 2015 by Atariboy

[cimerians]

 

I suspect you meant to say rendered in HD, like the Dolphin emulator does and the Wii U doesn't.

 

Yes this....

 

I'd also would like to know what the normal price of these would be after the first week of release. I'm hoping if they release more games they would discount it the first week at the very least.

 

Kind of hoping Animal Crossing comes out and a few others. Things that other people in the house can enjoy without having to fire up the Wii.

[Rex Dart]

Hot damn, if only this would render them at 720p or higher, it would at least look as nice as 360/PS3. Xenoblade sure did at 1050p.

 

So, I doubt it'll happen.

[Atariboy]

Normal price is $20. These first three are launching at a 50% discount and thus are $10. Sort of like what they did when they launched the Wii U Virtual Console and released the first few titles temporarily at a special promotional price (50 cents?).

 

I imagine Animal Crossing is an extremely safe bet for the Wii U's eShop (Less so would perhaps be the GCN version if they ever digitally release GCN downloads, thanks to its NES extras that they now sell for $5 a pop.).

 

Something unlikely for Nintendo published releases from the Wii would be a title like the English translated remake of Fatal Frame 2 that Europe received and which Nintendo of America never released over here on the Wii.

Edited January 14, 2015 by Atariboy

[Austin]

They will certainly be upscaled, since Wii U has done that since day 1 to Wii Mode content.

The Wii U does not do this in Wii mode. I have recorded the same games in my capture software both on a Wii and a Wii U and put them side by side to verify.

 

If by upscale you mean, "makes a 480i signal function over HDMI," then yeah, you are technically right. The games do not look better though which is what people think when they think of "upscaling".

Edited January 15, 2015 by Austin

[Atariboy]

That Wii U upscales Wii Mode has been widely reported, although Nintendo initially misled us before release when they stated that it will output Wii software unchanged from what an actual Wii can do. But what they meant was that it won't render software in HD like the Dolphin emulator does, not that we're restricted to 480p.

A surprising number of game journalists still don't realize this, as I noticed today with the subject of this thread. More than a few are mistakenly stating that Wii U doesn't upscale this download, where as what they should be stating is that it's not being rendered in HD.

It definitely upscales and isn't being output at 480p.

The Wii U does not do this in Wii mode.

Wii U doesn't render Wii software in HD. But it does upscale the output to the user's selected HD resolution (And deinterlaces when necessary for 480i only software).

 

It will even automatically stretch widescreen Wii releases to 16:9 proportions while pillarboxing 4:3 only titles during the scaling process, unlike on a Wii where this required the user's intervention with their television remote to enable and disable stretch mode as necessary.

If by upscale you mean, "makes a 480i signal function over HDMI," then yeah, you are technically right.

 

Check what your HDTV is receiving in Wii Mode, if your set can tell you this data. Via HDMI or component (Although if you're using component, some HDTV's won't accept 1080p via it), it isn't going to be SD/ED if you've set your Wii U to output at a HD resolution.

 

What your tv states it's receiving will match what you've selected your Wii U to output at, at all times.

The games do not look better though which is what people think when they think of "upscaling".

 

Upscaling can't create detail that it isn't there. But good quality upscaling helps ensure that nothing is lost during the scaling process.

Edited January 15, 2015 by Atariboy

[Austin]

Wii U doesn't render Wii software in HD. But it does upscale the output to the user's selected HD resolution (And deinterlaces when necessary for 480i only software).

 

It will even automatically stretch widescreen Wii releases to 16:9 proportions while pillarboxing 4:3 only titles during the scaling process, unlike on a Wii where this required the user's intervention with their television remote to enable and disable stretch mode as necessary.

Right, and in conversation nobody cares about this. They just want to know if it actually looks better. Edited January 15, 2015 by Austin

[Atariboy]

I never said that it would, just that it upscales.

 

But I do think that it's a nice feature, as I explained in two earlier posts.

But at least the Wii U handling the upscaling chores itself guarantees a certain quality. There are still HDTV's out there that do a less than desirable job at upscaling 480p (And even more that do a poor job when tasked with deinterlacing 480i only releases like Resident Evil Archives).

 

It will even automatically stretch widescreen Wii releases to 16:9 proportions while pillarboxing 4:3 only titles during the scaling process, unlike on a Wii where this required the user's intervention with their television remote to enable and disable stretch mode as necessary.

 

I particularly appreciate these features since I actually play this stuff connected to a LCD monitor with an absolutely horrible scaling chip (Presumably, they figured that PC users didn't need a good quality scaler when they can adjust their output to match its native resolution and bypass it, so they skimped out on the scaling chip).

 

480p via component is pretty butchered by this LCD, where as the Wii U provides an attractive picture in Wii software thanks to handling the upscaling chores itself (Using the exact same component cable). People with nicer HDTV's with quality upscaling chips won't be as appreciative of the job that the Wii U does compared to their original Wii, but for others such as myself, it's nice.

 

And since it's a monitor, I don't have a remote control for an easy way to enable and disable stretch mode as appropriate. So I also appreciate that Wii U automatically handles 4:3 and 16:9 titles to always output at the correct aspect ratio without the need of my intervening by going through a couple of menus on my monitor to change the setting.

Edited January 15, 2015 by Atariboy

[Shannon]

Not to get off topic...

 

But Super Mario Galaxy II is available on the e-shop for $10. I figured what the heck. I've been wanting to play that game again anyways and it saves me the trouble of digging the original disc out of a box I have it packed in somewhere. As well as the trouble of running it through my Wii.

 

I'm not 100% sure what they are doing. But essentially you select the game and it switches the Wii U into Wii mode and starts the game. At this point it acts like a normal Wii game.

 

If you manually go to Wii mode the game is not present in the menu system.

[goldenegg]

I wonder if these means the price of physical copies of Prime Trilogy will drop!

 

I bought one recently on eBay for $38, so not everyone is asking crazy prices.

[Austin]

I'll probably pick up Metroid Prime Trilogy for $10 when it hits. Asides from that, I can't say I am a huge fan of the idea. I'd rather them be pumping out more classic VC titles.

[Atariboy]

Or at the very least, rerelease GameCube material that can't officially be played on the system today. That holds more appeal in my eyes than Wii downloads do.

 

While I'd support them if something is released that wasn't originally available here in North America, I have no intentions of downloading anything like Metroid Prime Trilogy when my original discs work just fine on my Wii U. I might double dip on a Classic Controller enabled release or two, but I can't even think of anything likely for release on the eShop where I'd be willing to spend $20 just for off-screen play.

 

Plus, I'm still hoping that when the first Classic Controller enabled release is made available, that a firmware update coincides with it that enables Wii U gamepad control with Classic Controller releases in Wii Mode.

Edited January 16, 2015 by Atariboy