You Can Only Use The Wii U GameCube Controllers With Smash Bros. - Update 2

[The Great JT]

Further proof you can't improve on perfection.

 

[flying_whimsy]

The Wii U optical disc drive is a slight modified Wii drive, it is not new tech at all. The Wii U has been hacked to play GameCube games already, by exploiting the Wii Mode of the system. Nintendo does not develop new tech or Disc Drives for any of their systems, and never have, they just modify the drive to play the new discs. There is a lot more to it, but in Nintendo's case it is not impossible for them to put in the compatibility like how it is for the PS4 and the Xbox One.

I didn't mean that the wii u drive was new, rather that it wasn't setup to feed in the mini-dvds correctly (as told to me by my nintendo fanboy friend). Since it is in fact just a modified one, it does make me wonder why they didn't include backwards compatibility. Granted, backwards compatibility has never exactly been high on the nintendo priority list.

Regardless, I stand corrected. Thanks for the info.

 

[Big_Boss_Mantis]

Technically the Wii U already can play GameCube games. The Wii U's hardware is nothing more than upgraded Wii hardware, and Wii hardware was upgraded GameCube hardware. That's why the backwards compatibility on the Wii was entirely accurate. It's the OS that blocks the system from reading mini-DVDs and as such reading GameCube games. Originally since there was no way to plug in a GameCube controller, the ability to play them was blocked out. With this adapter, they have no excuse for that now.

I was under the impression it couldn't play gamecube games because they didn't put in a disc drive that could take the mini-dvd format. So that combined with the lack of controller and memory card ports makes it more than just a software issue. That's not even taking into account whether there were other hardware aspects involved (specialized memory or video controllers or the like) that they didn't include in the wii u that may have been present in the wii. It'a also worth nothing that just because something is an upgrade of hardware that came before does not mean that software from the older version will work as designed on the upgrade without extensive specialization (the xbox 360's backwards compatibility issues come to mind, along with the myriad of software from the x86 era that simply can't function on modern computers).

To put it another way, the way you put is like complaining that a windows phone can't run a cd-rom game from the late 90s because they don't let you hook up a keyboard through a ps2 port. There's a lot more to it than that.

It's all fine an dandy an' all, but you guys are forgetting the most important thing: Nintendo hates money.

The eShop's Virtual Console service is an unjustifiable joke ("please understand") on both Wii U and 3DS. Both tha home console and portable are native backwards compatible. Nintendo has the best portfolio of retro games on the market and it is sheer incompetency of them to not capitalize on this library. Years on and we don't have Nintendo 64 games on the eShop. Why there isn't Game Cube games for the Wii U?! I purchased used overpriced Wii and DS games that Nintendo didn't saw a penny off the purchase. Why these games aren't available on the eShop?!

There's no licensing involved (these are NINTENDO FIRST PARTY GAMES), and both current system are, I repeat, native backward compatible. The amount of work to release them digitally is minimal and the profit would be considerable.

The ONLY way to play Super Mario Galaxy, or New Super Mario Bros, or Metroid Prime, Wario Ware, Yoshi Island DS is to find used copies, or old unsold ones. People would buy those games (especially considering the drought in Wii U software launches).

Why not release a Super Mario Galaxy HD collection and watch it print some money?! Sony can make some bucks off Sly Cooper, Capcom off Devil May Cry... It's friggin' MARIO.

If the Virtual Console was on par with the Wii, I would bet that it would alone sell them some Wii U's (by convincing people "on the fence", among other things).

The only explanation to me is that, yes... Nintendo hates money.

 

[Big_Boss_Mantis]

Another thing... This adapter uses 2 USB ports?! How exactly am I supposed to use it with my digital purchases?!

 

[chozo_hybrid]

Another thing... This adapter uses 2 USB ports?! How exactly am I supposed to use it with my digital purchases?!

Transfer stuff on to an SD card? Nintendo have made a statement that these controllers will only work for Smash (thus far, they may develop more games that use them) so you won't need to use it apart from that game, so I can't imagine it will cause too much of an issue.

 

[Dragonbums]

That's a shame. But let's be real here. They are going to make patches in the future. You don't invest that much money into an adapter with no intention to make it work on more than one game.

 

[Roxas1359]

That's a shame. But let's be real here. They are going to make patches in the future. You don't invest that much money into an adapter with no intention to make it work on more than one game.

I'd question Iwata's sanity if that were the case. I mean Smash Bros is big, but not big enough to justify and entire adapter for. Honestly they need to patch it in so that you can use it for your Virtual Console games, since not everyone has a classic controller and according to my friend Nintendo is cutting the ones that attach to your Wiimote from stores so that they'll sell more Pro Controllers.

I didn't mean that the wii u drive was new, rather that it wasn't setup to feed in the mini-dvds correctly (as told to me by my nintendo fanboy friend). Since it is in fact just a modified one, it does make me wonder why they didn't include backwards compatibility. Granted, backwards compatibility has never exactly been high on the nintendo priority list.

Regardless, I stand corrected. Thanks for the info.

The interesting thing about Nintendo is that they reuse a lot of their old tech. It's why their tech is so easy for backwards compatibility, they are using the old tech and are just slightly modifying it for the new system. Hence why GBA wide systems could play GameBoy and GameBoy Color games, and why the launch Wii's could play GameCube. When Nintendo took out the backwards compatibility on the 2011 redesign, they removed the physical ability to put in controllers, but restricted the software so that it wouldn't recognize the GameCube's Nintendo Optical discs. You can still hack your ways around it. As for the Wii U not having memory card slots, that could be rectified by allowing you to make virtual ones like how the PS3 allows you to do so for PS1 and PS2 games. Nintendo's used the "Block" system for their memory since the GameCube, so just have a way to make small memory cards and you're golden. And if they weren't going to put in GameCube backwards compatibility, then the least they could do is put the games on the Eshop. As a poster above said, Nintendo has a massive backlog that would sell. Ironically enough the Wii U has games from every Nintendo system on it, bar the Virtual Boy and GameCube. If they were gonna do HD remasters, then that'd be fine, but they don't seem to be doing that either. So I'll chalk it up also to Nintendo hating money.

 

[Travis Fischer]

I'm not a huge fan of the GCN controller, but it's better than anything else Nintendo has on the market.

 

[Yopaz]

Another thing... This adapter uses 2 USB ports?! How exactly am I supposed to use it with my digital purchases?!

The Wii U got 4 USB ports. If the adapter uses 2 that leaves you with 2 left (4-2=2), unless you have an external hard drive that uses 3 or more ports you should be safe.

 

[Ephidel]

Can I ask a potentially stupid question because of my potential misinterpretation of the title of the news article?

Does this Adapter with original, actual Gamecube controllers? This article talks about 4 different kinds of controller, and I've been out of the loop regarding everything Nintendo since mid-2008. Will I have to buy just this adapter, or will I need a new "Wii U Gamecube Controller" as well?

 

[JayRPG]

Can I ask a potentially stupid question because of my potential misinterpretation of the title of the news article?

Does this Adapter with original, actual Gamecube controllers? This article talks about 4 different kinds of controller, and I've been out of the loop regarding everything Nintendo since mid-2008. Will I have to buy just this adapter, or will I need a new "Wii U Gamecube Controller" as well?

As far as we know it supports all gamecube controllers (new and old) including the wireless wavebird controller.

 

[Mahorfeus]

I agree that this thing will inevitably have to be able to support more games. It would be a huge waste otherwise... not that it stopped me from getting the Smash Bros. bundle for that game alone. Still, this is a really good opportunity for Nintendo.

 

[Ephidel]

Can I ask a potentially stupid question because of my potential misinterpretation of the title of the news article?

Does this Adapter with original, actual Gamecube controllers? This article talks about 4 different kinds of controller, and I've been out of the loop regarding everything Nintendo since mid-2008. Will I have to buy just this adapter, or will I need a new "Wii U Gamecube Controller" as well?

As far as we know it supports all gamecube controllers (new and old) including the wireless wavebird controller.

Thank you for the response.

Destiny's Iron Banner still hasn't given me my ship, so I feel physically ill after getting consistently RNG screwed for three weeks (got screwed in the Queen's Wrath event too).

Kinda irritated is all. I want my ugly ass ship.

You don't get shafted like this with Nintendo games. Unless you count Brawl's Final Smash BS. I usually just turned them off via the item switch.