Which old Ninendo to buy?

[Fenris]

Thanks Al and all the others. You changed my mind and opinion. (I Know it actually does happen over the internet! )

I had no idea about the virtual console, that was the deal breaker.

Now I was going to post and say, 'Now how the heck do I get one' since I was having trouble. But I am happy to report I am now the proud owner of a Wii after only 3 days of searching. Now I just have to figure out how to not open it and play it myself until we give it to the kids.

Now that I am wii-ified, any suggestions on must-have accessories?

 

[Bront]

For the Wii, if you want the Virtual consol, you need points cards, and probably classic controlers (you need a Wiimote for each one too). You should get at least a second wii-mote and nunchuck, but see below:

Wii-Play is a good game to get, as it's $10 more than a controler, and comes with one, and has a few fun games on it (and several bad ones, but $10 is about right).

I recomend either rechargable batteries, or there is a nice charging station you can get. I get buy with 2 sets of Energizer 2500 mAmp batteries for 4 wii-motes, and can usually get over 12 hours of gameplay out of a set of batteries.

I recomend a set of composite cables if you can use them. Even if you don't do 480P, it's a nicer picture. 480P is pretty spiffy looking though.

Wireless network lets you connect to other Wii owners, trade Miis, and is needed to download games on the Virtual Consol.

Feel free to drop me an e-mail/PM or visit my site if you need any other assistance as well. I've had one since they came out (got lucky).

There is also a strong following of Wiis on Circvs Maximvs, and you can get and share a lot of Wii numbers with the folks there.

 

[Alzrius]

Thanks Al and all the others. You changed my mind and opinion. (I Know it actually does happen over the internet! )

Wow, so it's not just a myth!

I'm glad I could help you out, Fenris!

I had no idea about the virtual console, that was the deal breaker.

It is just that great, isn't it?

Now I was going to post and say, 'Now how the heck do I get one' since I was having trouble. But I am happy to report I am now the proud owner of a Wii after only 3 days of searching. Now I just have to figure out how to not open it and play it myself until we give it to the kids.

Hopefully that won't be too long. When are you going to give it to them?

Now that I am wii-ified, any suggestions on must-have accessories?

Bront made several good suggestions, some of which I'll echo here.

The Wii Remote takes two AA batteries (included with the Wii), and as it's played you'll notice that it drains power from them at a rather rapid rate. I strongly recommend either getting a set of rechargeable batteries, or a Wii Remote charger. While there are no first-party chargers, several are available from third-party companies (for more information, here's Wikipedia's page on Wii Remote Chargers).

The Wii system you bought comes with a single Wii Remote and Nunchuck accessory. If you're going to have a lot of two-player games, you might want to pick up a second Wii Remote and Nunchuck. As Bront noted, the game Wii Play (which is a series of sports-themed mini-games; it's basically a sequel to Wii Sports, which is included with the Wii system) is $50 and comes with a Wii Remote (though not a Nunchuck) - a Wii Remote purchased by itself is $40, so Wii Play is a good deal (and while not all of its mini-games are stellar, several are quite fun). Remember, the Nunchuck doesn't come with Wii Play.

You mentioned that the Virtual Console is the main reason you got a Wii, so I cannot stress getting a Classic Controller enough. While a GameCube controller will work for some VC games, a Classic Controller is guaranteed to work with all games that don't just use the Wii Remote held horizontally. Further, the Classic Controller closely approximates the Super NES controller in its design; if you get a lot of SNES Virtual Console games, you'll absolutely want a Classic Controller for them. While it may be a bit overkill, you might want to think about getting a second Classic Controller if you'll have a lot of two player games on the Virtual Console (or at least, two player simultaneous games - otherwise you can just hand the Controller back and forth between you). Note that, like the Nunchuck, the Classic Controller plugs into the Wii Remote, so there's no point in having a second one is you don't also have a second Wii Remote.

If you have a 480p (or higher) television you'll probably want to buy the component cables so that the Wii can be displayed in that resolution (those are sold separately from the Wii itself). My understanding is that these cables can only be purchased online from Nintendo or a small handful of other authorized retailers (e.g. Best Buy, GameStop, etc.), though there are also third-party cables available. While the latter can almost certainly be found in retail outlets, I don't know if there are first-party cables available in stores now that the Wii has been out for a while. Also, as a note, GameCube 480p component cables will not work with the Wii.

You don't really need to buy the cards to get Wii Points for the Virtual Console, I think, since you can go to the Shop Channel on the Wii and just purchase Points directly with a credit card and then immediately spend them.

As a note, if your TV has widescreen, when you first set up the Wii you'll likely set it to 16:9 display. Most Virtual Console games weren't meant to be played on a widescreen television, however, and so will have their picture stretched out when displayed in that format. Just set the Wii's display back to 4:3, and they'll look just fine.

I hope you and your family really enjoy your new Wii!

 

[Fenris]

OK, So I bought it Wednesday. I opened it Sunday, it was quite fun. My wife has been going crazy buying for it. She bought Wii Play, a second nunchuk, and a classic controller. In addition we now have two game cube games used off ebay.

Now I know we need a GC controller to play the games, but we say there is a wireless GC controller, would that work OK on the Wii?

 

[Bront]

Yes, the Wavebird works just fine (I have 2 hooked up). The only note, is any Wii game that uses them or a classic controler will default to them first if they are plugged in.

You also need a GC memory Card.

I highly recomend Tales of Symphonia if the GC if you like Final Fantasy style RPGs. It's a fun and enjoyable game, good (if unorigional) plot and character development, and a fun actionish combat system that supports multi-players.

You have your Wii Code? Let people know and you can make Wii Friends.

 

[Fenris]

Yes, the Wavebird works just fine (I have 2 hooked up). The only note, is any Wii game that uses them or a classic controler will default to them first if they are plugged in.

You also need a GC memory Card.

I highly recomend Tales of Symphonia if the GC if you like Final Fantasy style RPGs. It's a fun and enjoyable game, good (if unorigional) plot and character development, and a fun actionish combat system that supports multi-players.

You have your Wii Code? Let people know and you can make Wii Friends.

Do I need the GC card to save the game? Can I play with out it (but not able to save)


Haven't gotten to Wii codes yet. I set it up late to ensure to it worked. I played boxing once, and tennis once so far.

 

[Alzrius]

Do I need the GC card to save the game? Can I play with out it (but not able to save)

Yes and yes, respectively. You can't save a GameCube game without a GameCube memory card, whether you play it on a GameCube or a Wii. Most first-party GameCube memory cards only hold 251 "blocks" of memory, which is fine for a few games, but if you get several games, or have multiple save files for games, you might want to buy a third-party GameCube memory card with several times the space.

Irregardless, you should be able to play the GameCube games just fine; they just won't save without the memory card.

Haven't gotten to Wii codes yet. I set it up late to ensure to it worked. I played boxing once, and tennis once so far.

The Friend Codes (Wii Codes) are used so specific Wii's can send data to each other. Both Wiis need each other's codes before they can share any data, such as sending text messages back and forth from them (though, IIRC, they can send to email addresses without them). Even after the codes are entered on both Wiis, it can take a few hours to verify.

I'm glad to hear you're enjoying it so far!

EDIT: Just some other general information. As Bront said, the WaveBird (the first-party wireless GameCube controller) works just fine with a Wii. It's also probably - the Wii Remote notwithstanding - the greatest wireless game controller ever made. It has virtually no loss of signal, even if line of sight is interrupted, and you can get something like eighty feet from the console while still maintaining the signal. It has no rumble feature (unlike a normal GameCube controller) and requires two AA batteries to use, though they last for quite a while, in my experience. Make sure the controller and its receiver are both set to the same channel; if you're using multiple WaveBirds, its best that they each be at least two channels apart, to reduce the (already minimal) risk of signals being crossed.

As an aside, I made an error in my previous post about Wii Points to dollars. Each Wii Point is worth $0.01, so a NES game, which costs $5, is 500 Wii Points. Sorry for the confusion!

That said, have you checked out the Shop Channel yet? If so, you'll notice that there are several other channels and freebies available for download. Most of these are fun non-games (I personally love the News Channel, especially when I can go to the globe, spin it around, and check out the news in various parts of the world).

One in particular that you should take note of is the Internet Channel. It will cost you 500 Wii Points ($5) to get, but it's quite a fun little web browser, right on your Wii! Best of all, some people have started making web pages specifically tailored to the Wii's web browser, such as www.wiicade.com, where you can use the Wii Remote to play (for free) Flash games people have made (my personal favorite there is Bubble Shooter)!

 

[Fenris]

Yes and yes, respectively. You can't save a GameCube game without a GameCube memory card, whether you play it on a GameCube or a Wii. Most first-party GameCube memory cards only hold 251 "blocks" of memory, which is fine for a few games, but if you get several games, or have multiple save files for games, you might want to buy a third-party GameCube memory card with several times the space.

Irregardless, you should be able to play the GameCube games just fine; they just won't save without the memory card.

So how big a card would you recommend then for saving a few games 256MB? Or should i go for a 1GB?

 

[Alzrius]

So how big a card would you recommend then for saving a few games 256MB? Or should i go for a 1GB?

It's hard to answer this question, because GameCube memory cards weren't compatible with anything else (whereas the Wii uses SD cards) and weren't measures in megabytes - they were measured in "blocks."

If you only have several games (ten, maybe twelve), and you're not making a whole bunch of save files on each, a 251-block card should be fine. I personally recommend at least a 512 (though you'll likely need to go third-party for that) as that will almost certainly take care of all of your needs; unless you have a lot of games, you'll be fine with it. I have a (third-party) 1024-block card, and never even came close to filling it up, even after transferring all of my data from my other cards over to it.

Bear in mind that, for some reason, data from a few games can't be copied from one GameCube memory card to another (usually it's easy to do so). I can't seem to find any rhyme or reason to why, or which games, but it's something to take note of if you buy a smaller card as a stopgap measure.

 

[ssampier]

Thanks Al and all the others. You changed my mind and opinion. (I Know it actually does happen over the internet! )

I had no idea about the virtual console, that was the deal breaker.

...

sings
Never say never
Never say never
Again!