How good is GameCube "emulation" on Wii?

I'm asking because I plan to buy a couple of GC controllers and a bunch of games, but I don't own a GameCube anymore. However, I've got a perfectly functioning Wii and I know that the system was backwards compatible with GC games and gear. The question is, what's the quality like (i.e. as good as it would look and sound on an original GameCube) and does it support the full library of GC games or is it like the PS3's limited BC where some games work better than others and some don't work at all?

From my understanding, it's nearly perfect. I certainly never had any problems playing Gamecube games on a Wii.

@jclane: The emulation is as flawless as it's possible to be I reckon, at least in my experience. The audio glitches contained in the GC versions of OoT and MM are still there, for example. Flawless Victory.

"It succeeds the Nintendo GameCube, with early models being fully backward-compatible with all GameCube games and most accessories."

"In late 2011 Nintendo released a reconfigured model, the "Wii Family Edition", which removed Nintendo GameCube compatibility; this model was not released in Japan. The Wii Mini, Nintendo's first major console redesign since the compact SNES, succeeded the standard Wii model on December 7, 2012 in Canada. The Wii Mini can only play Wii optical discs, as it omits GameCube and online game capabilities."

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Wii

@believer258@fattony12000 OK, thanks for the fast replies, guys! Time to go blow way too much money on decade old games

I played a few GC games on my Wii before I mothballed it a couple of years ago and they played well, as well as a GC game plays, anyway. It isn't hi-tech but it works.

I randomly played Super Monkey Ball 2 on my Wii a little while ago. The story mode has in-engine cutscenes, and for some reason the audio and video would get out of sync on those (this did not happen while I played it on the GameCube). I didn't test other Wiis, so maybe mine has an optical drive issue? It's never had problems with any other game, though, and even the rest of Super Monkey Ball 2 was completely fine.

Every other GameCube game I've tried was totally fine.

Very good, especially over component.

Is it actually emulating anything? I was under the impression the original Wii models just had Gamecube hardware under the hood.

Unfortunately the Wii doesn't emulate the GC's sturdy side handle, which allows you to game at the speed of life by taking your GC on the go!

@historyinrust: Yes, I believe they just have a GameCube chipset in there somewhere. Which is why it's weird that Super Monkey Ball 2 had issues for me. I'm assuming the Wii and GameCube optical drives have their differences, and maybe the Wii one was loading things faster than the GameCube hardware expected?

I played a fair number of GC games on my Wii and didn't have any issues. The version of Majora's Mask on that collector's edition Zelda disk was just as broken as it was on a GameCube (It locks up when you go to play this one song on a wall a good percentage of the time. I lost 2 hours of progress because of it). Pikmin 2 runs great.

Man, I should dig my Wii out. I still gotta finish a few games on it.

I've never run into any problems with it. Pikmin 2 was the most played game on the Wii for a good long time several years ago when my sons were into it. We also played a fair amount of Double Dash, F-Zero, Paper Mario, and the GC Fire Emblem game.

It's always been just about perfect for me. If I didn't know any better I would have said the games were running on the Gamecube.

I've had a Wii for about 5 years now and have never tried the Gamecube functionality, but as far as I understand it's pretty good.

It's pretty good, but the picture quality of GameCube games running on the Wii over component is actually inferior to GameCube games running on a GameCube over component. The image on the Wii isn't as crisp for some reason. Image quality is still pretty good on the Wii though, and it's not worth paying ~$150 for a GameCube component cable.

GameCube: http://s40.photobucket.com/user/Konsolkongen/media/30052009042.jpg.html

Wii: http://s40.photobucket.com/user/Konsolkongen/media/30052009036.jpg.html

The Wii is a Gamecube with motion controllers