The Wii U and Backwards Compatibility February 11, 2013

With the Wii U out for a few months now, many of you guys with original model Nintendo Wiis may be planning to upgrade. For some people, space is precious and anything that can be removed from a home theater system to make room for a new device is always appreciated. Since the Wii U’s debut, Nintendo has pegged this device as a logical upgrade to the Wii and promised backwards compatibility with Wii-Compatible controllers and games. The Wii U is able to make full use of all the original Wii’s controllers including the Wiimote, Wii Balance Board, MotionPlus, and classic controller, so the odds are good that this console will be able to completely replace all the functions of a Wii, and allow you to replace it completely.

I picked up a Wii U at launch, and lets see if it merits taking the original Wii off the TV stand and fully replace it with a Wii U.

Nintendo said that the Wii U has full backwards compatibility with original Wii Games. I can confirm that is completely the case. The program that allows backwards compatibility with Wii games will automatically download to the Wii U the first time it is turned on. Some people have complained that it takes far too long to download and install such a large firmware update, but I grew up in an era of 56k modems, and I didn’t believe for a second it was unreasonably long to download the first firmware update. I just put the Wii U GamePad on the charger and prepped my Wii for data transfer while the Wii U updated.

In order to play classic Wii games, you’ll need to navigate to the Classic Wii Menu on the Wii U’s main options screen. You will need a Wiimote to access this menu, but if you’ve already got a Wii, chances are you’ll have a spare Wiimote lying around somewhere. You can navigate the classic Wii menu on the Wii U just as you did on your Wii. In fact, it’s from this menu where you can download the transfer tools to move all your data from your old console to the new one, but I’ll talk about that later.

So how do classic Wii games look and sound on the Wii U? Well, I have the Wii U currently connected to a 1080p HDTV and 5.1 surround sound HDMI-equipped receiver. My original Wii games, when played through the Wii U, will output in 1080p HD and 5.1 surround. Just the resolution upsampling alone can give several games an amazing facelift, and yet still keep a game’s aesthetic intact. The games play identically on the new system. Nintendo was right to require Wii games to have widescreen support, as Wii games will natively output in widescreen on the Wii U, which is something they could not do on the Wii.

However, this transition is not entirely painless. I did notice in several games a faint green line on one edge of my HDTV screen when playing a classic Wii game on the Wii U. This is a common issue with HD upsampling on some HDTVs. While I’ve never specifically had that problem on my TV before, I must admit the issue does appear to be upsampling related. However, this issue was not relegated to be with just classic Wii titles played on the Wii U, I also noticed an occasional green line with native Wii U titles, like Batman: Arkham City Armored Edition. This makes me think that this could just be an occasional visual issue with the Wii U itself, and Nintendo will likely fix it with a firmware update some time down the road.

Now, I’m going to move on to downloadable titles. I make it no secret that over fifty percent of the reason why I bought a Nintendo Wii was not because of its control system or first party exclusive titles, but the Wii Shop Channel, which allowed me to buy a ton of classic Nintendo games from the previous generations. Those games were released during the reign of Nintendo’s dominance of the early to mid 90s, and were well worth downloading for not just nostalgic value, but because it was worth finally getting to play what critics have been raving about for the past twenty years.

For those of you upgrading from a Wii to a Wii U, the first thing that you’re going to want to do (after setting up a Nintendo Network account, creating or transferring a Mii, and downloading the most recent firmware update) is to perform a data transfer between the Wii and Wii U. This will transfer over all your save games, move downloadable content from the Wii Shop Channel, and move your Wii Points to the new console.

So long as you have a Wiimote, you’ll be able to transfer all your content over from your original Wii and play your purchases on the new console. There are only a few minor hiccups with the procedure, the Nintendo, Internet and Check Mii Out Channels are not compatible with the Wii U, but really, I didn’t have a problem with this. The major content I wanted to transfer over, in particular all my Virtual Console games that I had purchased and downloaded on the Wii did transfer to the Wii U and played identically, and I can still continue to purchase downloadable games made specifically for the Wii and play them on the Wii U in 1080p HD.

The problem is that unlike the Playstation Network’s Store or the Xbox Live Marketplace, the Wii Shop Channel doesn’t use accounts for each of its users. Each purchase on the Wii Shop Channel gets tied directly to the Wii that it was purchased on. You can delete that link manually, but that is only a good idea if you plan to sell your console. In short, once you purchase and download content to your Wii U, you are currently unable to transfer any of your purchased games or your Nintendo Network account to any other console. If you plan to sell your Wii U, all of your purchases will go with it, and they cannot be transferred to a different console or back to your Wii unless you have a console hardware issue that is fixed specifically by Nintendo. Nintendo has said this policy will change, but has not released specifics on when it will change or what a player’s new options will be when they do change it.

The other problem is that the Wii U currently has no where near the catalog of downloadable classic titles that the Wii has, which is why many classic titles sold through the Wii Shop Channel can only be played on a separate Wii U menu and can’t be played with the Wii U GamePad. The good news is that this predicament is only temporary. Nintendo has promised that they are working on that and anyone who plans to upgrade a game they already purchased on their Wii to a Wii U version will be able to do so with a heavy price discount, so long as the user performed a Wii to Wii U System Transfer. They also said that many classic Nintendo and Super Nintendo games that are going to get released to the Wii U Virtual Console over the next six months will be launched at an initial price of thirty cents US, which is one heck of a bargain for games like Punch-Out, F-Zero and Super Metroid.

So, to cut to the chase, does the Wii U properly handle backwards compatibility and can it really completely replace my Nintendo Wii?

Well, to answer that question, yes and no. It can replace a Wii’s components completely, but not a GameCube’s. Sadly, there is no GameCube support with this system. Unlike my original model Wii, there are no slots provided for GameCube Memory Cards or GameCube Controllers. In short, if you only used your Wii to play Wii games, you won’t have any problems making the upgrade. The only hold out I could imagine having about the Wii U is actually its inability to play GameCube games, a feature I appreciated having in my original model Wii.

If you are a GameCube player and still wish to play GameCube games, I would recommend either keeping your Wii connected or disconnecting it and just playing your games on your original model GameCube if you still have it. However, there are some classic GameCube games that will be rereleased with updated visuals on the Wii U, such as Legend of Zelda: The Wind Waker, and my hope is that if that sells well, Nintendo will choose to rerelease other games from their GameCube catalog specifically for the Wii U, like Luigi’s Mansion or Super Smash Bros Melee.

If you’re a Wii owner who only used your Wii to play Wii games, you’ll find there won’t be much left to do with your Wii after upgrading to the Wii U, especially once you’ve performed a data transfer. It’s really nice to have all these classic Wii games, as well as the games on the Wii’s Virtual Console playable in native 1080p exactly as they play on the Wii, and its nice to be able to take something off an already crowded home theater cabinet without any concern and replace it with something nicer that can not only do the same job even better, but do more.