Matt’s experiments with his new monitors/TVs gave me an hypothesis to test lately: maybe the Wii U GamePad might also be a good way of receiving good image quality from Wii games:
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It’s got a 480p display - potentially pixel perfect for some games
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The Wii U can be set to 480p, 4:3 output, which translates to Wii Mode
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Wii U streaming quality is very generous for a 480p feed - and the Wii U outputs the correct aspect ratio for streaming with no overscan problems.
It’s not bad! The results vary by game, but it’s pretty good with Opoona, a game that only supports 4:3 and has a cel shaded visual style with bold angular, defined outlines:
It was a very crisp image even with the Wii U GamePad right in my face (I liked playing it like a slob lying down, resting the GamePad on my chest), only in a couple of locations in the entire game - those heavy on ‘noisy’ colours - could I tell I was streaming a game from the Wii U instead of viewing it via HDMI.