I have an accurate grasp on it, why would people be buying stuff now if it wasn’t available when it shut down? That would just be silly.
I understand what’s happening. Do you never download something a second or third time? Reinstall? Digital purchases tied to a single piece of hardware is crazy - why can’t I transfer to another system if my first one fails? For all the crap Steam gets, at least they get this right. Nintendo’s actions are horribly anti-customer, why would I want to continue to be one for their digital products?
This is just pushing me away from anything digital from Nintendo. I made eshop purchases because they were cheap and convenient. There’s nothing convenient about this situation now. And what is to happen with my 3ds and Wii U games when they decide to pull the plug on that? Those games that I’m juggling in and out of install for storage space will just be gone forever? No thanks, not spending any more with them if that’s how they are going to proceed.
More and more, GOG is the only digital platform I can trust because I control my games, backup what I need, and never have DRM or online pieces to worry about.
It is very simple to workaround the DRM on Wii and make your own backups even for use on real hardware. Its very fair to pay $5-$10 for these games, and running VC games at 240p is really neat. The service going down for redownload is not that big a deal beyond not being able to buy stuff anymore.
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What happens if your Wii dies and you need to pick up a new one? Can you re-download them with your account, or are you stuck with pirating the games to get them back?
Its not piracy if you paid for them especially if theyre your own backups.
Yeah, I agree with you from a legal standpoint.
From a collector’s standpoint though, you might as well just emulate them to begin with if there’s no guarantee that you get to keep them. This is my issue with the shutdown of the VC. ESPECIALLY since it’s only emulation to begin with!
Edit: I guess I just don’t understand the hype.
From an emulation standpoint, Nintendo’s own are pretty accurate, and they’re relatively low lag (no OS overhead) + output at 240p. This is the last chance to get at this stuff legally.
If you’re not doing real deal its a close approximation especially output to a CRT or scaler.
Probably, which is my main issue. I don’t like paying to collect something that is most definitely temporary.
Discs rot, traces in carts corrode and rust, fires + floods wipe out everything, it’s all temporary depending on how determined you are to protect it.
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While that’s true, it’s the lack of control that bothers me. I can take care of my equipment and my collection to ensure it lasts as long as possible. If a cart fails, I can go find another one.
If I had a Wii full of VC games that I paid for; if that Wii dies, that entire collection is lost forever and you can’t replace it.
Yep so the solution here is backups. For Wii once it’s hacked it is very easy to make nand backups, and you can even modify those to run on other Wiis. Store that backup on your PC and on Google Drive and you’re even fire proof. Take it a step further and extract out VC roms, back those up as well, and you have legal roms to run on everdrives for cheap that will outlive any cart.
Other systems have their own solutions to do something similar. Especially considering digital only games I’d rather just live in the current world and enjoy and take precautions for the very long run than stick my head in the sand and complain that otherwise non-viable games don’t get physical releases.
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I think it’s great that otherwise non-viable games are getting re-released. They should do more of that! That is the real beauty of digital distribution, the low cost in comparison to physical releases. What Nintendo did with the VC was unprecedented in the console market, and they should be commended for taking the risk on the retro games that we love.
I just wish they would support it longer.
There are a tiny fraction of people still using their Wii consoles, and an even smaller percentage of those are into retro gaming on it. I have a hard time believing that the decreased traffic to the Wii store isn’t maintainable with the funds rolling in from the current iterations of VC on Switch and Wii U. If they disabled new purchases, but simply made it so you could grab your titles at any time you wish, then this conversation would be all roses and butterflies.
I could be wrong, but it feels like a force-fed upgrade is in the works here. Buyer beware I guess… given the track record for online services across all generations and brands of consoles, I am not surprised about this shut down.
I feel like there’s an irresponsibility of sorts here. If you are going to undertake the process of putting games into a digital format only, then you should be thinking about the future. Figure out a way to make it sustainable!
The question should be: “How can we make it so when you buy our digital games, you can have access to them for life?”.
Not “At what point do we shut this down in favour of a new generation to make the most money?”.
Edit: You and I, along with most people in this thread are perfectly capable of making backups and hacking our systems… the general population probably does not have interest in that.
Yeah but to be fair the average Joe shouldn’t have to resort to hacking their console to make sure they can keep their games in the event of, say, a console failure. If that’s the case then something is wrong.
Alright everyone, it’s rare, but I’m going to invoke my moderation status to say the following:
All discussion about WHY you’d want to buy Wii Ware, VC games, support Nintendo, or go digital should be discussed in a separate thread.
The present thread, in contrast, is devoted to those who want Wii Shop recommendations and to discuss last minute purchases. Let’s not derail this thread any further.
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Thank you!!!
Thanks!
Thread is about last neglected finds. Appreciate that. I know I had fun spending another $30 for fun and giggles. Always always loved VC even though so many other ways to get titles. Something about playing Phantasy Star II on VC feels better then my awesome M2 collection in PS2 (or the official ISO on PS3). Worth celebrating the service.
Between 240p/480p component output, great emulation and the myriad of first and third party controllers and adapters make it a real winner.
Not to derail the thread again but I’d also like to thank the Wii for showing us why game preservation and home brew are so important.
Just a quick reminder that everybody should buy:
- MaBoShi
- Orbient
- Bonsai Barber
I have been winnowing my list and I have it down to a nice, even dollar amount - with room for one more $6 game. So I have three titles I’m looking at. Does anyone have an opinion between the following?
Splatterhouse (TG16)
Ordyne (TG16)
Rotohex (WiiWare)
I’m not the biggest shmup person, but I do kinda like the cute-em-ups and games where you can shop for upgrades, so Ordyne looks interesting. But I’m already planning to get Lords of Thunder, Ironclad and StarFox 64 so I’ll have several shooters. I’ve always thought Splaterhouse looked kind of one-dimensional but I know many regard it as a classic. Rotohex looks neat but I’m not sure it’s essential, and I’m already planning to buy Cubello, which looks cooler to me and more tied to the Wiimote hardware. Rotohex looks like it could be done with a cursor, kinda like Hexic on the 360.
If we’re sharing purchase lists, here’s mine:
Monster World IV
Pulseman
Sonic 2 (SMS)
Sin & Punishment
StarFox 64
Super Mario 64
Ironclad
Uforia
Bonk’s Revenge
Lords of Thunder
Contra Rebirth
Castlevania Rebirth
Gradius Rebirth
Maboshi Arcade
Bonzai Barber
Excitebike
Easy Draw
Cubello
I dumped $50 into my fridge last night. I haven’t pulled the trigger on the purchases yet, but right now I expect them to be…
Contra ReBirth - 1000
Castlevania ReBirth - 1000
Y’s I and II - 800
Gate of Thunder - 800
Gradius II Gofer No Yabou - 900
…and then I’m not sure. I know I will get things I can’t get on Wii U because I’ll probably do the same thing when the Wii U VC shuts down if Switch VC isn’t the bee’s knees (I don’t know what to think with regard to VC on Switch…) because that will be my last chance to legally acquire many of the VC games digitally that I don’t already have. I had 200 points when I put in the 5000 so I think that leaves me with 700 left over. Hmmm… I could skip Gradius II and go with an 800 point game so I can do two more 800s…