Best Way to Play Mario Classics Legit, Cheap, w/ Saves

[racketboy]

So we have a Wii in the living room and it's the console (along with the Apple TV) I feel comfortable letting the kids play with unattended.

So I'm mostly debating between buying SMB, SMB3 (maybe skipping 2, but would be a nice bonus - and Lost Levels too) and Super Mario World on Virtual Console or buying the Super Mario All-Stars Wii disc (going for about $20 right now). So the NES games are $5 each right? I'd have to buy Super Mario World on Virtual Console either way, right?

As far as experience, what do you think is the best bang for the buck?
Virtual Console would be nice for not having to deal with a disc, but having a physical copy would be nice.
How is the menu and saving experience like for the disc? Progress saving good on Virtual Console? I actually have only bought Sin and Punishment for the N64 on Virtual Console to this point.

Any other ideas I'm missing?

[Tanooki]

If you use the virtual console, you have to pop back to the menu if memory serves and it will hot save the game where it stands. The games have no saving otherwise and just one slot so people can't share.

If you use the SMAS set that one, just leave the disc in the drive and it otherwise works identical to the SNES original. You can save by the world, not by the second and it is all easily done though a basic menu screen with digital photos of each game box front and has 4 save slots per game. Each person can have their own progress not overwriting the other.

I'd go with the disc, less fights or lost saves. Also I wouldn't cut the kids off from SMB2, Miyamoto's favorite and formed the basis of games going forward with multiple enemies , verticality of stages, and the pick up and carry/throw mechanics too.

[CRTGAMER]

Concur on the disc physical copy, only twenty bucks (avoid Selects to get the manual and History book); the bonus soundtrack can be found cheap online. You just lose out on the rarest item of the Wii Super Mario All Stars which would be the cardboard box. Though the game disc has to be inserted, it can be used on any Wii console you own, important should your console ever fail and when the online store goes away.

Wii Super Mario All Stars
1. Super Mario Bros
2. Super Mario Bros: The Lost Levels
3. Super Mario Bros. 2
4. Super Mario Bros. 3

In case you have not done it yet, download all the Wii free demos while still available. A good sampling of games that all fit on a 2gb SD Card (still locked to each console) even if only just playable demos. My frustration of the full download games I redeemed thru Club Nintendo are that the games are locked to just one console.

[SamuraiMegas]

May I ask why you are against soft modding the Wii? It's quite easy to do and I have like 500+ games on my Wii because of that, just on a flash drive.

[racketboy]

May I ask why you are against soft modding the Wii? It's quite easy to do and I have like 500+ games on my Wii because of that, just on a flash drive.

Ya know, I keep forgetting about that.
I did specify "legit", but I might do the disc but play original NES ROMs as well as an experiment if nothing else.
That way I can play the non-All-Stars versions too. (I do own the original cartridges, for the record)

[dunpeal2064]

There are some nice bonuses to going the softmod route. The output options are great (240p via component/S-Vid to a CRT, or 480p via component to an HDTV), plus you get actual savestates, and like you said, access to every version of the games. Plus, the Wii can even run stuff like Turbo CD and Sega CD really, really well (You can even use the wii mote as a lightgun for Snatcher!)


That said, there are cases where the VC releases are really nice (N64 games in particular), so doing a bit of both makes sense.

Its insanely easy too, takes maybe 10 minutes if you are just looking to add older emulators and such.

[SamuraiMegas]

There are some nice bonuses to going the softmod route. The output options are great (240p via component/S-Vid to a CRT, or 480p via component to an HDTV), plus you get actual savestates, and like you said, access to every version of the games. Plus, the Wii can even run stuff like Turbo CD and Sega CD really, really well (You can even use the wii mote as a lightgun for Snatcher!)


That said, there are cases where the VC releases are really nice (N64 games in particular), so doing a bit of both makes sense.

Its insanely easy too, takes maybe 10 minutes if you are just looking to add older emulators and such.

You can easily down the .wads too for those nicer VC releases

[samsonlonghair]

(I do own the original cartridges, for the record)

Don't worry. None of us doubted that you collect original cartridges, Racket.

Back on topic, the virtual console games have NES graphics, and a single hot save for each game. Basically, you can hit the "home" button at any moment to quit back to the main menu. Next time you load that game, you will pick up exactly where you left off.

For better or worse, the All-Stars disc is the EXACT same as the All-Stars cartridge. Games use SNES graphics. Save system works the same way. Even the control menu uses a graphic of the SNES controller. It's literally the Mario All-Stars ROM wrapped in an emulator and burned to a disc. For this reason, Mario All-Stars is the smallest disc image on the whole wii library.

I don't recall how old your sons are, but I would suggest that you consider virtual console for one plain and simple reason: little kids can't scratch up a virtual game, but they can darn sure scratch up a disc.

[racketboy]

(I do own the original cartridges, for the record)

Don't worry. None of us doubted that you collect original cartridges, Racket.

Back on topic, the virtual console games have NES graphics, and a single hot save for each game. Basically, you can hit the "home" button at any moment to quit back to the main menu. Next time you load that game, you will pick up exactly where you left off.

For better or worse, the All-Stars disc is the EXACT same as the All-Stars cartridge. Games use SNES graphics. Save system works the same way. Even the control menu uses a graphic of the SNES controller. It's literally the Mario All-Stars ROM wrapped in an emulator and burned to a disc. For this reason, Mario All-Stars is the smallest disc image on the whole wii library.

I don't recall how old your sons are, but I would suggest that you consider virtual console for one plain and simple reason: little kids can't scratch up a virtual game, but they can darn sure scratch up a disc.

Thanks!

My son is 4 and my daughter is 2. My daughter is actually quite respectful of stuff, but Jon is getting better and he knows he's not supposed to play with the discs without us.

[Ziggy]

My vote would be Super Mario All-Stars or soft mod.