January 10th, 2013

Confirmed: Wii games from the Virtual Console will be playable on the GamePad

51 Comments
Simultaneous Wii U GamePad

A representative for Nintendo has confirmed that they are “moving ahead with development of Virtual Console for Wii U, and [they] plan to make it so you can play it on the Wii U GamePad alone.” There’s no other details for the moment, but at least it’s in the works.

And I suppose this also confirms that the Virtual Console hasn’t disappeared from their to-do list, either.

  • MYVGW

    so, super paper mario galaxy can be played on the gamepad?

    • MYVGW

      I meant super paper mario and mario galaxy

    • Geir

      Yes you can play Paper Mario Galaxy on the gamepad soon
      (just play along)

    • MYVGW

      I alreay read something else about this, It’s not about wii games, but I was doubting it here, so I asked here……

    • Iyxxl

      That might just be epicly awesome. :P

      “Super Paper Mario Galxay” XD

  • Patrick

    Majora’s Mask on the toilet. Here we go!

    • Hybrilynx

      didnt they use that example when they first made wireless gamecube controllers?

    • Bicentennial_Pidgeon

      Someone better make this freaking real.

    • Seb

      Someone should definitely do that! :D

    • IkeFE

      Hell YES. Will make Smash 4 make sense (in my head, it just doesn’t on any other controller xD)

    • MadCrain

      I actually really enjoyed using the Wii Mote and nunchunck controller setup D:

    • http://twitter.com/bradd27f Bradd F.

      Not the only one. with the wii mote it seems faster and more reponsive.

    • MadCrain

      Good, I thought I was a lost cause xD

    • http://twitter.com/Kyloctopus Kyle Silva

      … or a usb port where we can add Gamecube Controllers?

    • Phazer

      or this

    • http://www.fanfiction.net/u/3204673/ GameManiac

      God dammit! I was eating when I read this! XD

    • Omarsonic9

      LOL

  • http://twitter.com/skywake skywake

    I think the title is a little misleading. It says nothing about the Wii it simply says there will be a VC for the Wii U and it will work on the GamePad alone. I clicked the link thinking there was some sort of confirmation of Wii VC -> Wii U VC transfer…. there isn’t…

    • indiwerwlf

      Thats what I want to hear! that there will be a transfer tool. I mean its just migrating it from one part of the system memory to another.

    • Alex_Atkin_UK

      Not exactly as the Wii U version will be a completely new version of the emulators. So I would expect it more to be that you can re-download the Wii U version on the same console the Wii one is licensed to. Then the Wii U version pulls over the save data from the Wii memory.

      Fortunately I only have a couple of VC games on my Wii, but I would still love to pull them over to Wii U mode to play on the GamePad. Hopefully they will add some screen filter options too.

      That said, its kinda annoying I can’t migrate them over to my 3DS. But then there is only Sony that is dabbling in the “buy game on home console and get portable version for free”, so its no surprise.

    • indiwerwlf

      That would be fine as well. You make a good point. So your old VC titles will work fine and you get a discount to update them if there is a Wii U VC version? With off screen play or whatever?

  • blacKnight09

    Or did you mean, “Virtual Console Games from the Wii will be playable on the GamePad Alone…” Haha! Wii games won’t be on Wii U virtual console anytime soon.. and Wii’s Virtual Console is on the Wii U, I think

  • Ruby Doobie

    The title seems way off

  • http://twitter.com/Jdub08874679 Jdub

    Yeah yeah yeah, how about full wii games on the game pad, not just virtual console. This would make my day

    • Maax

      I can’t agree more! Low ress wii game will looks amazing on wii u pad, how cool is that? Sadly i don’t think this will ever happend, but if it will – killer feature for me!

    • AncientBaby

      I don’t see why they couldn’t with classic controller-compatible games, at least. I can understand them not making motion games for the gamepad, but anything that doesn’t need pointing or a poopload of shaking, I think that’d be cool.

    • http://twitter.com/Jdub08874679 Jdub

      The wii u game pad has a sensor bar on it, that’s what that black strip around the camera is, so pointing isn’t a problem

  • Iyxxl

    Teez, yes. :P

    Too bad my room is JUST far enough from my Wii U that I can’t play it… D:

  • Hybrilynx

    i dont know why i always thought you was able to do this. i should have expected less from nintendo, like i always should have.

    • Marty

      you meant were,and there aren’t any wii u vc games yet,just the vc games from the wii.

    • Hybrilynx

      depends who im talking to. but i was thinking half i half we. and i dont get your 2nd part. what i thought we were able to do, is play stuff like donkey kong country on the gamepad. but thats when i thought the gamepad had a brain. i wasnt expecting the gamepad to be a useless piece of crap without a wii u console. the only thing it can do, is turn my tv on, or off.

    • http://www.facebook.com/profile.php?id=100002405665613 Paul Taylor

      True, but doesn’t this still mean we can’t use our Nintendo 3DSes to play N64, Gamecube, and Virtual Boy, Virtual Console games

    • Guy A. Person

      Umm… that’s the case of every controller ever made. You kind of need a console to use it. If you really expect so little from Nintendo, maybe you shouldn’t have expected them to package in both a new system and a new handheld (right after the release of the 3DS, no less) in the same box. It’s called a “GamePad”. Implying “controller”.

    • Alex_Atkin_UK

      Exactly. While they COULD have made the GamePad more powerful, it would have really confused people if it could have been used as a portable games console.

  • http://twitter.com/JohnAlBerge John Berge

    This better mean that Wii games will also be playable on the gamepad in the future too, then. It would be inexplicably retarded if it didn’t. :P

    • Alex_Atkin_UK

      Not at all, that is WAY more complicated.

      Virtual console game are emulated, as the Wii easily emulated them then the Wii U has an even easier time – but the emulators DO need re-writing to support Wii U which is why we do not have them yet.

      Wii mode however is a full simulation, it effectively switches off most of the Wii U hardware so its likely they would have to switch to emulation to use the GamePad in Wii mode. If it was that simple, I’m sure they would have allowed us to at least use the GamePad as a controller, even if the screen was disabled.

      Then there is the fact of the option. Not too bad if you only want to use the GamePad for the screen alone, but somewhat more complicated if you want to use the GamePad as the controller AND screen.

      I agree that Nintendo should do it anyway, making it clear that not all games will work properly in that configuration. However as Nintendo seem to favour simplicity over flexibility, I doubt it will. There are a lot of things they COULD do but they avoid to “keep it simple”.

  • HiI’mAGuy

    YES! I’ve always wanted to play Super Mario 64 in my bathroom!

    • Tails the Foxhound

      Dude, Super Mario 64 DS.

    • Alex_Atkin_UK

      True, but the resolution on the N64 version is higher and supports proper analog controls whereas the DS version is still digital even when using the 3DS analog slider.

    • Tails the Foxhound

      64 DS has more content than the original though, I’d still go with that.

    • Alex_Atkin_UK

      Ah, so we want Mario 64 DS HD edition? :-p

      Speaking of though, I keep wanting to go on Mario 64 DS but I have the problem that I cannot remember where the level I was supposed to be playing is located on the map.

  • wanker

    I hope there’s Gamecube VC

    • AncientBaby

      I want to say that they confirmed it a while back. Or at least mentioned it.

  • http://www.fanfiction.net/u/3204673/ GameManiac

    It’s about damn time I dive into that VC.

  • IkeFE

    Will we have to buy the games again? I really hope not…

  • anon

    The fact that it didn’t launch with this is laughable, like the Vita’s missing PS1 compatibility.

  • http://www.facebook.com/profile.php?id=100002405665613 Paul Taylor

    Shouldn’t the title read: “Virtual Console games will be playable on the Wii U GamePad”…?

  • Guy A. Person

    What they SHOULD do is have the Wii U menu appear on the GamePad screen, and have the GamePad act as a Classic Controller. All Nintendo really said (contrary to what the title would lead you to believe; you might want to change this, David) was that the Wii U will get a VC. I would like to be able to use the GamePad to control certain parts of the Wii, and even play certain Wii games that have Classic Controller compatibility. (Seriously, Smash Bros. is really difficult to play when I have to stretch my left thumb to reach the analog stick) Of course, that would limit the ability to play other games that don’t use the Classic Controller, like Super Paper Mario and DKC Returns, so maybe there can be an option to switch between Classic Controller-emulating mode and Wii Remote-emulating mode. These are all things I would never expect Nintendo to do, though.

    • Guy A. Person

      Correction… have the Wii menu appear on the GamePad. The Wii U menu already does appear on the GamePad.

      Yes, I corrected myself hours after my original post. What of it?

  • EAD98

    So will we have to rebuy our games to play them just o the gamepad…or can we use existing games?

  • NintendoR0CK3T

    Now we just need confirmed Gamecube games on-the-go!