Racketboy

Yes, Sony’s Playstation 3 and Nintendo’s Wii just had their official launch here in the US. But if you are anything like me, you could really care less for the most part. All I really am interested in hearing about it what the Virtual Console and the Wii’s backwards compatibility is like.

Well, thanks to both Destructoid and Joystiq, you can see some video footage that actually walks you though the Virtual Console.
Joystiq’s Video
Destructoid’s Video

Personally, after watching both of them, I was a bit disappointed with the interface and such. I guess I’m spoiled with NesterDC on my Dreamcast (and some others probably enjoy their XBMC emulators on their XBox), but it seems like Nintendo needs to work on their store and emulator interface.

A classic example that is evident in both of the above videos is that there are muliple “pages” of game listings — even though you have to scroll down through individual pages. (either do all scrolling or all pages) Both the people in the videos seemed to miss the fact that their was a second page their first time.

Another thing I thought that was interesting is that only certain contollers are compatable with certain Virtual Console games. This is evident from the Destructoid video. F-Zero is selected and the Wii says that you need either a Wii Retro controller (not the standard Wii controller) or a Gamecube controller. And when it says “Gamecube controller” it means the WIRED version — the Wavebird doesn’t do the trick — at least for F-Zero.

This is a MAJOR bummer in my book. ( racket + Wavebirds = happy) Those of you that played long games on the NES, SNES, and Genesis that didn’t have saving capabilities remember having to leave your system on for days at a time until you beat the thing. Well, at least the Wii doesn’t make you do that. It has been confirmed that the Wii will let you suspend and resume your Virtual Console games. However, once you resume the game, you can’t go back to the previous save point. Again, this still isn’t as good as most every emulator that lets you have keep one or more save point in a game and go back whenever you want.

In addition to all that, it seems like the TurboGrafix 16 lineup is still missing from the Virtual Console’s launch list. However, John Master Lee, a Hudson staffer posted on the Hudson message board,

“I just got word that the TurboGrafx games are still in queue to be launched. I should have a more clear answer on why this is case on Monday. I was playing a batch of the games in the office over the weekend on one of the dev kits, so the hold up may be an issue with the certification process. Again, sorry for the delay. We’ll take a headbutt for the confusion.

In addition, it appears that the initial two games that will be available will be Bonk’s Adventure and Bomberman 93. The other games will be rolled out over the holiday season. ”

Ok, now that I’ve complained about my disappointments in the Wii, I’ll share some good news. Kotaku has filled us in on how the Gamecube backwards compatibility is working out…

“It’s surprising just how nice GameCube games look on the Wii. I’m not sure what’s going on here. It could be that there’s just not a huge difference between Wii and GameCube games so step down isn’t as noticable or it could be that the console is polishing up the graphics. Whatever it is I like it. Starfox seemed to have a fresh coat of paint on it when I played it on the Wii. The best part, I was able to open the flap on top of the console and plug in the Wavebird adapter and use the wireless controller with no problems at all. It does sort of destroy the sleek look of the console, but who cares and I can always take it out if I’m not playing a bunch of GameCube games.” (Read More)

Also, I mentioned this in my piece about Flash game sites, but Wiicade is an interesting homebrew community for playing Flash games via the Wii’s web browser. Instead of just putting a bunch of re-hashed games on their, they actually hand pick games that utilize mouse movements for gameplay so it works well with the Wii-mote. While I don’t have a Wii, I gave the site a try on my PC, and I can see that this will be a popular place for Wii users and a good free alternative to the Virtual Console.

Anyway, there have been some pleasant surprises, but I have to admit, I’ve been disappointed with what I’ve seen so far of the Wii’s retro gaming capabilities. Perhaps I got caught up daydreaming of how perfect the system COULD be, but hopefully Nintendo will improve on the system by the time I decide to pick one up.

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