Thread 11965735

By the end of the console's life cycle, the Wii Virtual Console had 427 games available in North America. The final lineup of available consoles was NES, SNES, N64, Mega Drive, Master System, PC Engine/CD, Neo Geo, Commodore 64, and over 20 arcade games. It could output real 240p for select consoles too, which makes the Wii a pretty decent CRT-friendly emulation box.

What do you think of it in retrospect? Was it better than the NSO subscription service that we have now? What games did you first discover through the Virtual Console? For me, it was my first exposure to a lot of Mega Drive games like Alien Soldier, Monster World IV and Pulseman. Having import games like Sin & Punishment or Rondo of Blood was awesome too.

>>11965735 (OP)
Considering you can already load emus onto the Wii, I think its safe to say 427 games is child's play compared to the thousands of games you can get via Homebrew Channel. However, I do agree that Nintendo has fallen from grace with their current drip feed model NSO has.

>>11965735 (OP)
>What games did you first discover through the Virtual Console?
Chrono Trigger, FF VI, Ogre Battle 64, Rondo of Blood.

IIRC these ones didn't have a PAL release

>>11965765
>Nintendo has fallen from grace with their current drip feed model NSO has
This. People are right to point out the flaws VC had, and I do think it was showing age + a lack of care on Nintendo's part by the WiiU. However, NSO is one of the most soulless, corporate approaches to porting retro games imaginable.

Chibi-Robo just dropped. I've loved that game since 2006, but I can't be bothered to care about a port that's at least a decade late and unavailable for direct purchase. NSO puts the company's bottom line above customer interests, despite said interests being (relatively) easy to satisfy.

>>11965839
It's especially insulting when the Gigaleak proved Nintendo's sitting on a pile of games across all their systems, even the third-party licensed software!

>>11965839
VC was nice and good to keep old stuff alive and maybe business-viable to an extent but expensive
>>11965868
It costs money just to store and maintain that stuff, not to mention what it costs to put it up. Even if the crew wants to put everything up, it's the financial departments call for the most part. If they end up reporting losses then the whole thing might go away or be downsized.

>>11965868
True, but it was always obvious that they were doing that with NSO. The previously ported games didn't go anywhere; at most, they might have needed to tweak their emulator to boost performance for some titles. The *have* to drip feed NSO. It gives them a routine excuse to market their service, and it keeps subscriptions going (in theory...I assume the basic package is purchase for online play more than anything).

One of the more frustrating aspects of NSO is that Nintendo clearly ran the numbers and determined that this approach to retro ports is more profitable than VC...meaning there are a lot of people paying for retro games right now who otherwise would not be. That has serious implications for the real market value of these titles, but it'll never drive lower prices or increased availability due to the way things are structured now.

>>11965889
>expensive
It's a trade off for greater ownership and consumer choice. NSO's "cheap" prices are subsidized by people who have no interest in retro games. In a fair world, games from the N64 would be sold digitally for $5 (at most), but I know modern Nintendo would never.

>>11965735 (OP)
PAL countries were getting PAL roms, what a joke

>>11965735 (OP)
I played Yoshi for the first time on Wii because I thought it would be like Super Mario World, what I got is my favorite puzzle game.

>>11965896
Yeah. If it was cheaper I would have no issue picking up stuff, but I can just buy most of the Japanese originals for way less.

>>11965735 (OP)
just buy the fucking lego game and hack it already

its depressing to think that being able to buy 427 games digitally non-transferable and tied to that machine is not only seen as a "win", but actually IS superior to any paid options nintendo offers today

Services like the VC were a HUGE contribution to "retro gaming" becoming a viable market.

Before the VC, sure you still had people playing old games and some collections and re-releases on consoles here and there but it was super niche.
With the VC, you got NES games selling millions of copies again. Everybody would have laughed at the thought of that just a couple years before. This lead to new games in a style of old being made like MM9, which would have never been made had MM2 not been a best seller on VC, and so on. Services like the VC kickstarted retro gaming as we know it today.

any technical advantage to using virtual console over 3rd party emulator for games that have a VC release? im guessing MMV based on the particular game but curious about other anons' experiences

>>11965890
Idgaf about downloading their games, but this is annoying because it also means they likely wont ever release any type of game compilation packs now either.

>>11965986
I don't think there are many notable examples of VC ports performing better than other emulation options. It was mostly a matter of convenience and purchasing "official" ports. When it comes to NSO, I actually do appreciate how convenient it makes setting up (limited) emulation on a hacked Switch.
>>11965923
That's fair. Personally, I find that being forced to purchase NSO for basic online has made me a lot more selective when it comes to purchasing additional games / peripherals. I know the company is making a killing from this scheme, but I think I would have spent more, overall, if online had been free and retro games were available for purchase (even if they were a little overpriced).
>>11966069
Games that receive modern remakes/remasters are also at risk of being lost. Why port TTYD or Metroid Prime when they're still selling the remakes for Switch?

Virtual Console was great, and a good way of introducing people to classic Nintendo games at a time where emulation wasn't really practical or well known, myself included. I mainly used it to just buy N64 and SNES shit I never had, I'd used to boot up the wii shop channel literally every day to see if they finally added DK64. The pricing could be pretty bad though especially on NES generation stuff.

NSO in comparison is pretty shit. Paying for ROMs these days is already stupid, renting them is just retarded, and anyone knows you can just emulate Mario Sunshine on your phone. It's also pretty bad emulation overall compared to VC. What really pisses me off though is how Nintendo acts like the rented ROMs is basically the only selling point for NSO, you have to pay what $30 a year for Nintendo's garbage online and the only thing you get out of it is an emulator you don't even want to use. I just want to have free online.

First time I played Super Mario Bros was on Wii VC circa 2009. I held the Wiimote sideways.

I might have discovered Smash 64 via VC, I don’t remember.

>>11965735 (OP)
And the Virtual Console library was VERY LIMITED and Nintendo will take it's sweet as time to release games for it and it was only low hanging fruit and ONE SINGLE DAMN LICENSE TITLE and it was Fucking TMNT on the NES and all because Ubisot push it.

Good Idea buttraped by the nihongo Boomersaurs at Nintendo who hate emulation.

>>11965986
The N64 VC titles are excellent, you probably won't match their performance with a standalone emulator (on the Wii). For other stuff it's less of a big deal, though the VC arcade ports are great as well.

>>11965735 (OP)
>which makes the Wii a pretty decent CRT-friendly emulation box.
It's a shame the Wii cornered this niche because the Xbox 360 had much more potential.
>every model has AV support, even the E model released in 2013 which is very well built and reliable unlike the early RROD-ridden phat units
>vastly more powerful
>emulation aside, it already has a massive amount of Genesis, Saturn, Dreamcast, Xbox, arcade and other older titles in the form of XBLA ports and compilations
>can be used for DVDs and CDs, play mp3 off USB (and has four USB ports to begin with, giving it much more flexibility), stream content using Windows Media Center, etc.
>even has native support for USB keyboards and mice
If only modders had put all the effort into releasing quality emulators for 360 instead of the Wii, which is bottlenecked by absurdly shitty graphics hardware. I don't know how anybody even stomachs emulating on there, it can't even run GBA games well.

>>11967286
I've been considering a 360E lately. Are these retro ports any good? I'm missing a console to play og xbox, saturn and dreamcast games.

>>11967297
>Are these retro ports any good?
From the ones I've played, yes. In fact, I'd say it has the best version of Sonic Adventure right after the original DC release. Nice ports of stuff like JSRF, Ikaruga and Soul Calibur too. I haven't played much in the way of the Saturn games but I remember playing a few demos years back and they seemed to be of a similar quality. Mind you that the XBLA store is shut down so you can't buy digital titles anymore, but if you mod your system then this won't be a concern anyway. As for OG Xbox games, I will say the emulation sucks ass for most of the ~400 titles, but if you just want it to play the big stuff like Halo 1/2 then it's good.

I wholeheartedly recommend the E model. Looks really nice, a lot quieter than older models, a bit smaller, nice shape, built in wifi, AV and HDMI, etc. etc. Plus it was the last model released so it will logically last the longest. You can get them complete in good condition for around $100 on eBay. Definitely worth the money IMO.

>>11967286
>it can't even run GBA games well.
It can if you stop using shitty Visual Boy Advance GX and switch to mGBA.

>>11967314
Sounds great. And I have a guy selling it for $85 (no games but don't mind that). I'll mod it as soon as I get it.

>>11967323
>mGBA
That is literally what I used last time (~4 years ago) I played on mine, and it had graphical and audio glitches in fucking Advance Wars 2. So, unless they've made some major strides since then, I maintain that the emulation on Wii is trash.

>>11967286
>>it can't even run GBA games well.
>It can if you stop using shitty Visual Boy Advance GX and switch to mGBA.

Also,

>Wii, which is bottlenecked by absurdly shitty graphics hardware
Funny, most emulators on the console don't even take advantage of its GPU and rely on software framebuffer. At least that way they would avoid wasting 10-30% performance on a basic display.

>>11967328
Go for it, you won't regret it. The 360 remains the best bang for your buck of any console ever made.

>>11967286
>no 240p
into the garbage

>>11967328
only some E models are mod-able. you'd be better off getting a slim.

>>11967329
>~4 years ago
Every single time. What makes you think nothing has advanced since then, nigga. You can even use gbSP if needed.

>>11967286
Wii got all the attention because hacking it is retard-proof easy. Its security was cracked wide open a long time ago.
>I don't know how anybody even stomachs emulating on there, it can't even run GBA games well.
Works on my machine.

>>11967353
>nigga
Dropped, please pretend to be white before replying to me next time.

>>11967361
retard

>>11967352
There are barely any Winchester motherboards, they were the last revision before the console went out of production shortly after. If he's uncertain then he just needs to look for a Corona unit which is like 80% of the ones available. No reason to get a slim when it's mostly the same thing but uglier and older. Also it's a personal preference but I hate the touch sensitive buttons on the slim and much prefer the mechanical ones on the E.

>>11967286
>every model has AV support, even the E model released in 2013 which is very well built and reliable unlike the early RROD-ridden phat units
The super slim is composite only which stinks. It's also no more reliable than any of the later fats or slims, just look up a model guide you can tell which mobo a fat or slim has by the power connector.

>>11967384
>super slim
>composite only
What is the "super slim"? The E? It has composite (AV), and the only "composite only" model is the original 2005 phat model. The fuck are you talking about?

>>11967361
You will never be a woman.

>>11967390
Whew, dodged a bullet there

>>11967353
Ironically enough, putting aside emulator accuracy and compatibility, one HUGE ISSUE about emulation on the Nintendo Wii that for some fucking reason, EVERYBODY evades or downplays, is the fact that stability is mediocre on that piece of shit system, emulators can Stack dump randomly, or freeze halt during file saving, (it has happened to me during mGBA, and someone reported me the same happening during Snes9xGX usage), RA cores working and not working randomly, shits a mess.

And yes, it has happened to me quite a few time my thumb drive gets corrupted and damaged I had to nuke the damn thing.

>>11967345
Get a Pi4 or invest on an FPGA for your 240p composite fetish

>>11967474
Sounds like the emulators you used were programmed by retards, or you're that Mexen idiot.

>>11967474
My Wii has randomly deleted my saves several times, and both my SNES and GBA emulators got corrupted (Windows would even show the files as 0kb files with random characters for names, and couldn't get deleted). It happened so often, I just switched to a Rpi and left the Wii for Wii, Gamecube and Wii Store ports, like Paper Mario 64.

>>11967389
E is indeed composite only, it has the analog AV out on a minijack I believe, while all the older models used this beast of a connector that has pins for component and RGB (for both SCART and VGA) and even SPDIF audio, with the optical out socket directly in the back of the connector on the cable. Fucker is so big it obscured the HDMI port on fat models, so you couldn't normally use both HDMI and optical audio or analog AV at the same time (there were workarounds for this though).

>>11967476
i'll just keep using a wii

>>11967474
that legitimately hasn't happened to me in like 15 years of using a wii
>>11967496
that's likely an issue with your sd card, possibly your specific wii, but it's hardly a common issue

>>11967501
>E is indeed composite only, it has the analog AV out on a minijack I believe
Yeah, along with an HDMI port, so it isn't "composite only". If what you meant to say was "the E doesn't have component" then sure, but that's a very different statement.

>>11967352
All Xbox 360s, even late model Es can be softmodded now in a few minutes

https://github.com/grimdoomer/Xbox360BadUpdate
>>11967474
>>11967496
You will never have this problem if you use a WBFS formatted drive for disc-based Wii software. Using a "wbfs" folder on a fat32 drive will get corrupted over time. Put GCN ISOs and Homebrew channel shit on the SD Card, put your Wii ISOs on a WBFS formatted USB drive.

>>11967624
So basically I have to run this soft mod every single time I want to play? You can't do it permanently like on a PS3?

>>11967775
Just get a corona unit and you won't need to worry about any of this.

>>11967608
Well, we're talking about CRT TVs, so only the analog connections matter here. Unless you're connecting it to an HD CRT, but that's not the point. But by your logic yeah, no 360 is composite only as the console was meant for HD from the beginning so component was a must before they added HDMI out.

>>11967891
You're rambling about nothing.

>>11965765
>Nintendo has fallen from grace
Nintendo was struggling hard right before the Wii released. The Gamecube sold terribly and they even had to practically beg people to buy it by placing the console price all the way down to $50-99 few years prior. The Wii had to offer a lot and one of the biggest offers was from Reggie himself when he pressured Nintendo of Japan to bundle in Wii Sports, which was a brilliant move that likely saved the console in the West by giving it an instant launch spark to appeal to everyone in the normiesphere.
But when Nintendo doesn't struggle, they tend to act like greedy assholes. Always has been that way. Never forget when they launched the 3DS at $250 in 2010 because of the success of the DS and Wii up to that point.

>>11967942
>Never forget when they launched the 3DS at $250 in 2010 because of the success of the DS and Wii up to that point.
Oh god, I forgot about how limited the 3DS was at its launch. IIRC, there was only two colors to choose from. (Aqua Blue and Cosmo Black.)

>>11967286
>>11967297
i really love how the E looks like an inspiron office shitbox

>>11967286
>360 has an embarrassing failure rate / expected life
>Wiis are abundant and are generally cheap
>used to be really cheap
The Wii's availability, built-in utility, and ease of use helped to establish the console's lasting popularity.

>>11967775
yeah it takes a couple minutes, HEN isn't instant on super slim PS3s either
>>11967846
Hardmodding a 360 isn't exactly trivial

>>11965735 (OP)
I'll never get over how the Wii interface has more grace and futuristic style than the Switch 1 and 2.

>>11970885
The same can be said of basically everything made prior to 2007.

>>11968816
>360 has an embarrassing failure rate / expected life
This was only a problem with launch consoles. 360s became pretty reliably by the second board revision, and the S and E are both very well built.

Weird, mods delete 360 modding discussion yet this thread about Wii modding is still up despite the 360 being from the same generation? Curious...

>>11971481
meds now.

>>11972749
4ChanX agrees with me.