Something went wrong. Try again later
    Follow

    Wii U

    Platform »

    The Nintendo Wii U, the follow-up to the monstrously popular Nintendo Wii console, launched in North America on November 18th 2012.

    Your Wii Games Won't Be Upscaled On Wii U

    • 114 results
    • 1
    • 2
    • 3
    Avatar image for patrickklepek
    patrickklepek

    6835

    Forum Posts

    1300

    Wiki Points

    0

    Followers

    Reviews: 0

    User Lists: 0

    Edited By patrickklepek
    No Caption Provided

    Wii hardware was capable of playing GameCube discs, but that won't be possible in Wii U. Since it's compatible with Wii remotes and accesories, it'll obviously play Wii discs, but the question is whether Nintendo will alter the look of those Wii games with the more powerful Wii U.

    The answer is no, based on a conversation I had yesterday with Mark Franklin, head of Nintendo's public relations. Pop in a Wii disc, the games will play like they did on the Wii.

    No upscaling or texture filtering, unfortunately.

    Ah well. The dream of effortlessly getting Super Mario Galaxy 2 in HD has been shot down.

    Avatar image for patrickklepek
    patrickklepek

    6835

    Forum Posts

    1300

    Wiki Points

    0

    Followers

    Reviews: 0

    User Lists: 0

    #1  Edited By patrickklepek
    No Caption Provided

    Wii hardware was capable of playing GameCube discs, but that won't be possible in Wii U. Since it's compatible with Wii remotes and accesories, it'll obviously play Wii discs, but the question is whether Nintendo will alter the look of those Wii games with the more powerful Wii U.

    The answer is no, based on a conversation I had yesterday with Mark Franklin, head of Nintendo's public relations. Pop in a Wii disc, the games will play like they did on the Wii.

    No upscaling or texture filtering, unfortunately.

    Ah well. The dream of effortlessly getting Super Mario Galaxy 2 in HD has been shot down.

    Avatar image for burb
    Burb

    16

    Forum Posts

    0

    Wiki Points

    0

    Followers

    Reviews: 0

    User Lists: 4

    #2  Edited By Burb

    Quest complete?  Sucks that Wii games will still look like crap.

    Avatar image for keithfreitag
    keithfreitag

    81

    Forum Posts

    45

    Wiki Points

    0

    Followers

    Reviews: 0

    User Lists: 3

    #3  Edited By keithfreitag

    damnit!!

    EDIT: - Always the bridesmaid, never the bride.. I've been 2nd so many times.. I just want to finish this damn quest already!

    Avatar image for jeffsekai
    Jeffsekai

    7162

    Forum Posts

    1060

    Wiki Points

    0

    Followers

    Reviews: 0

    User Lists: 5

    #4  Edited By Jeffsekai

    Why.

    Avatar image for pocketfudge
    pocketfudge

    15

    Forum Posts

    0

    Wiki Points

    0

    Followers

    Reviews: 0

    User Lists: 0

    #5  Edited By pocketfudge

    How else are they going to try to resell you HD versions of the same crap you've already bought? 
     
    Typical Nintendo.

    Avatar image for onlineatron
    onlineatron

    333

    Forum Posts

    0

    Wiki Points

    0

    Followers

    Reviews: 0

    User Lists: 1

    #6  Edited By onlineatron

    This be some buuuulsheet.

    Avatar image for brendan
    Brendan

    9414

    Forum Posts

    533

    Wiki Points

    0

    Followers

    Reviews: 0

    User Lists: 7

    #7  Edited By Brendan

    @pocketfudge said:

    How else are they going to try to resell you HD versions of the same crap you've already bought? Typical Nintendo.

    It's typical everyone at this point. Nintendo is far from the only company to do this.

    Avatar image for christaran
    ChrisTaran

    2054

    Forum Posts

    -1

    Wiki Points

    0

    Followers

    Reviews: 1

    User Lists: 9

    #8  Edited By ChrisTaran

    What a missed chance.

    Avatar image for dirtydata
    dirtydata

    90

    Forum Posts

    11

    Wiki Points

    0

    Followers

    Reviews: 0

    User Lists: 1

    #9  Edited By dirtydata

    This is the same company that released the ROM for Super Mario All-Stars on a Wii disc. Can't say I'm too surprised but appreciate the confirmation on the new system.

    Thanks Patrick!

    Avatar image for galacticpunt
    GalacticPunt

    1512

    Forum Posts

    4

    Wiki Points

    0

    Followers

    Reviews: 0

    User Lists: 4

    #10  Edited By GalacticPunt

    What the crap? Hasn't the emulation scene established that first-party Wii games have better textures on the disc? Why is Nintendo never going to use them?

    Avatar image for finstern
    finstern

    812

    Forum Posts

    4459

    Wiki Points

    0

    Followers

    Reviews: 0

    User Lists: 6

    #11  Edited By finstern

    Come October I will be able to play them on my PC upscaled... so sure, keep it up Nintendo!

    Avatar image for mayorfeedback
    MayorFeedback

    685

    Forum Posts

    10001

    Wiki Points

    0

    Followers

    Reviews: 1

    User Lists: 6

    #12  Edited By MayorFeedback

    The fact that you can do this via emulation on the PC means that there are few reasons Nintendo couldn't have included it. Many of the higher-res textures are already on disc.

    Avatar image for mysteriousbob
    MysteriousBob

    6262

    Forum Posts

    2231

    Wiki Points

    0

    Followers

    Reviews: 3

    User Lists: 5

    #13  Edited By MysteriousBob
    @Brendan said:

    @pocketfudge said:

    How else are they going to try to resell you HD versions of the same crap you've already bought? Typical Nintendo.

    It's typical everyone at this point. Nintendo is far from the only company to do this.

    No, they just make lazy 'Wii' ports of GameCube games.
    Avatar image for notha
    notha

    249

    Forum Posts

    25

    Wiki Points

    0

    Followers

    Reviews: 0

    User Lists: 0

    #14  Edited By notha

    man, fuck that. another reason to not spend money on nintendo

    Avatar image for bhhawks78
    bhhawks78

    1348

    Forum Posts

    18

    Wiki Points

    0

    Followers

    Reviews: 0

    User Lists: 2

    #15  Edited By bhhawks78

    Everytime more news about the wiiu comes out the less I want it.

    No unified online.

    More powerful than 360/pc but less powerful than my 3 year old 600$ pc :(

    No wii upscaling

    No gamecube support

    Guess I'm sitting the wiiu out or buying it to play 2-3 games I thought were awesome (silent hill/boom blox) and then selling it like I did with the wii.

    Avatar image for metalsnakezero
    metalsnakezero

    2884

    Forum Posts

    113

    Wiki Points

    0

    Followers

    Reviews: 0

    User Lists: 27

    #16  Edited By metalsnakezero

    The closest that Wii games will ever be HD is 480p, which isn't too bad but yeah. Still the Wii U game will be 1080p so that good to hear. 

    Avatar image for this_dude
    This_Dude

    311

    Forum Posts

    508

    Wiki Points

    0

    Followers

    Reviews: 1

    User Lists: 3

    #17  Edited By This_Dude

    This is a really stupid thing on nintendo's part.   If some homebrew dudes can cook up an emulator to run all that stuff in nice crisp HD then certainly Nintendo should have something on the Wii U that can do the same thing.  They'd sell a lot more people some games that they might not have picked up during the Wii's run just because they didn't want a console that wasn't HD.

    Avatar image for little_socrates
    Little_Socrates

    5847

    Forum Posts

    1570

    Wiki Points

    0

    Followers

    Reviews: 16

    User Lists: 23

    #18  Edited By Little_Socrates

    @Brendan said:

    @pocketfudge said:

    How else are they going to try to resell you HD versions of the same crap you've already bought? Typical Nintendo.

    It's typical everyone at this point. Nintendo is far from the only company to do this.

    QFT, though I can definitely agree with everyone else that this particular instance is kind of dumb.

    Avatar image for claude
    Claude

    16672

    Forum Posts

    1047

    Wiki Points

    0

    Followers

    Reviews: 2

    User Lists: 18

    #19  Edited By Claude

    I'm sure the reason they did this is to keep the cost down. I'm not really sure how consoles do that anyway. But there again, Nintendo does like to repackage games. Super Mario Galaxy HD with both SMG 1&2 on the disk would sell like hotcakes.

    Avatar image for cornishrocker
    CornishRocker

    405

    Forum Posts

    8

    Wiki Points

    0

    Followers

    Reviews: 0

    User Lists: 13

    #20  Edited By CornishRocker

    @Burb said:

    first

    A winner is not you.

    Avatar image for saga
    Saga

    190

    Forum Posts

    2

    Wiki Points

    0

    Followers

    Reviews: 5

    User Lists: 1

    #21  Edited By Saga

    So the Wii U is basically a HDMI cable for your standard Wii....

    Avatar image for phish09
    phish09

    1138

    Forum Posts

    0

    Wiki Points

    0

    Followers

    Reviews: 0

    User Lists: 0

    #22  Edited By phish09
    @Saga said:

    So the Wii U is basically a HDMI cable for your standard Wii....

    I guess, as much as the PS3 is just an HDMI cable for your PS2.  
     
    Talk about an uninformed opinion.
    Avatar image for n8
    n8

    283

    Forum Posts

    1

    Wiki Points

    0

    Followers

    Reviews: 0

    User Lists: 0

    #23  Edited By n8

    @Patrick Klepek Gee, thanks for ruining my WEEK. :-/

    Avatar image for pkhilson
    pkhilson

    215

    Forum Posts

    23

    Wiki Points

    0

    Followers

    Reviews: 0

    User Lists: 0

    #24  Edited By pkhilson
    @keithfreitag:  
     
    Don't stress over it too much. I didn't and one day I got it by error by posting like 30th lol. It barely gives any points by the way...
    Avatar image for cageplay
    CagePlay

    45

    Forum Posts

    0

    Wiki Points

    0

    Followers

    Reviews: 0

    User Lists: 0

    #25  Edited By CagePlay

    Just the fact it plays Wii games is good, unlike PS3 not being backward compatible with PS2. I'm pretty positive about the potential of Wii U, especially that Nintendo have got the time to decide on the final spec of the box.

    Avatar image for authenticm
    AuthenticM

    4404

    Forum Posts

    12323

    Wiki Points

    0

    Followers

    Reviews: 1

    User Lists: 2

    #26  Edited By AuthenticM

    Well, that sucks.

    Avatar image for defaultprophet
    defaultprophet

    840

    Forum Posts

    7

    Wiki Points

    0

    Followers

    Reviews: 0

    User Lists: 1

    #27  Edited By defaultprophet

    @Little_Socrates said:

    @Brendan said:

    @pocketfudge said:

    How else are they going to try to resell you HD versions of the same crap you've already bought? Typical Nintendo.

    It's typical everyone at this point. Nintendo is far from the only company to do this.

    QFT, though I can definitely agree with everyone else that this particular instance is kind of dumb.

    PS3 upscales PS2 by default. It doesn't look as good as the HD re-released but that's to be expected. So no, not typical everyone.

    Avatar image for nellyk
    NellyK

    80

    Forum Posts

    0

    Wiki Points

    0

    Followers

    Reviews: 1

    User Lists: 0

    #28  Edited By NellyK

    Not a big surprise. Gotta sell us those Wii HD Classics. I'm sure we'll see Mario Galaxy 1 & 2, Twilight Princess, and Goldeneye in dazzling HD for the new low cost of $29.95 each.

    Avatar image for hturan
    hturan

    11

    Forum Posts

    0

    Wiki Points

    0

    Followers

    Reviews: 0

    User Lists: 0

    #29  Edited By hturan

    C'mon people, get some sense. Not even the most powerful PC out today can handle the Wii library at 100%. Even with low-level knowledge of Wii hardware it would take years to emulate and check every Wii release.

    Avatar image for ryanwho
    ryanwho

    12011

    Forum Posts

    -1

    Wiki Points

    0

    Followers

    Reviews: 0

    User Lists: 0

    #30  Edited By ryanwho
    @pocketfudge said:
    How else are they going to try to resell you HD versions of the same crap you've already bought?  Typical Nintendo.
    Really? Because that sounds like half the shit on the PS3's lineup right now.
    Avatar image for scarlet_rogue
    Scarlet_Rogue

    542

    Forum Posts

    27

    Wiki Points

    0

    Followers

    Reviews: 0

    User Lists: 5

    #31  Edited By Scarlet_Rogue

    No gamecube games and no upscaling. I'm sure someone's said this before, but apparently the U in Wii U stands for useless.

    Avatar image for danielkempster
    danielkempster

    2825

    Forum Posts

    28957

    Wiki Points

    0

    Followers

    Reviews: 6

    User Lists: 2

    #32  Edited By danielkempster

    Wow, the response to this article caught me completely off-guard. Personally I wouldn't even consider this factoid news-worthy, but people are apparently genuinely bothered by the fact that the Wii U won't upscale Wii games. I'd have thought that the majority of people playing Wii games wouldn't be worried about something as trivial as a few extra pixels. It matters even less when you consider that games like Super Mario Galaxy look great irrespective of the Wii's technical handicaps.

    I'm growing increasingly tired of the HD-obsessed, pixel-counting, 'graphics are everything' mentality that seems to pervade gaming communities these days.

    Avatar image for scarlet_rogue
    Scarlet_Rogue

    542

    Forum Posts

    27

    Wiki Points

    0

    Followers

    Reviews: 0

    User Lists: 5

    #33  Edited By Scarlet_Rogue

    @dankempster: It's a valid thing to be tired of, but then it raises the question of what would sell you on a new gaming system?

    Avatar image for osiris
    Osiris

    701

    Forum Posts

    227

    Wiki Points

    0

    Followers

    Reviews: 4

    User Lists: 2

    #34  Edited By Osiris

    Coudn't care less, I never cared about backwards compatibility, new generation means new games. If I really want to play old-gen game, I will hook up the old system and play it that way for nostalgic reasons. You guys are such whiners.

    Avatar image for phoenix87
    Phoenix87

    755

    Forum Posts

    0

    Wiki Points

    0

    Followers

    Reviews: 1

    User Lists: 0

    #35  Edited By Phoenix87

    First no Gamecube and now this. Wii U is turning into F U.

    Avatar image for claude
    Claude

    16672

    Forum Posts

    1047

    Wiki Points

    0

    Followers

    Reviews: 2

    User Lists: 18

    #36  Edited By Claude

    @dankempster: To me, people are just looking for a reason to hate on Nintendo. I bet half these people don't play Gamecube games and also say their Wii is collecting dust and has no games. It leaves me scratching my head. But if Nintendo did release Super Mario Galaxy 1&2 in HD, I would buy it along with many other HD revisions from the Wii catalog of games.

    Avatar image for jmfinamore
    jmfinamore

    1092

    Forum Posts

    16

    Wiki Points

    0

    Followers

    Reviews: 0

    User Lists: 0

    #37  Edited By jmfinamore
    @dankempster: On the one hand, I agree. But the main issue for me is that playing the Wii on an HDTV looks terrible and really detracts from the experience to be honest. You're better off finding an older tv and playing them there. So while in that sense, it's a shame the Wii U won't upscale the games (it can't be that hard, can it? free emulators have been doing it for years). In the long run, though, it doesn't matter. Not sure why people are getting in a tiffy about this.
    Avatar image for krakn3dfx
    Krakn3Dfx

    2746

    Forum Posts

    101

    Wiki Points

    0

    Followers

    Reviews: 4

    User Lists: 3

    #38  Edited By Krakn3Dfx

    Seems silly that it won't do this seeing that you can do it on the PC using Dolphin, so obviously it's capable. Got to figure it would take almost no work on their part to make this happen on the Wii U if they wanted to.

    Nintendo seems bent on making it it harder and harder for me to be interested in their new console.

    Avatar image for solarisdeschain
    solarisdeschain

    105

    Forum Posts

    0

    Wiki Points

    0

    Followers

    Reviews: 0

    User Lists: 1

    #39  Edited By solarisdeschain

    This is not an issue. Stop pretending that it is.

    Avatar image for hatking
    hatking

    7673

    Forum Posts

    82

    Wiki Points

    0

    Followers

    Reviews: 0

    User Lists: 0

    #40  Edited By hatking

    Wow, really?  This seems like a huge oversight, if it is true.  I was sort of looking forward to seeing Super Mario Galaxy in HD.  Oh well, this clearly isn't the selling point.

    Avatar image for danielkempster
    danielkempster

    2825

    Forum Posts

    28957

    Wiki Points

    0

    Followers

    Reviews: 6

    User Lists: 2

    #41  Edited By danielkempster

    @Scarlet_Rogue: I guess I'm in a very, very small minority that wouldn't mind if we didn't see big leaps forward graphically in the next generation of consoles. Ultimately, the thing that sells a system to me is the games that are (or will be) available for it. I realise a lot of people aren't like me and they want visible returns for investing in a new system. Graphics are the most obvious and instant way of providing that return to the consumer, I guess. I just don't personally see how refusing to upscale last-generation games is a big deal.

    Don't misunderstand me, I'm not saying I don't like pretty things. I like a gorgeous game as much as the next guy. It just bothers me when it gets taken to such extremes as people pixel-counting to ensure that a game is running in 'true HD', or people saying that something 'looks like a PS2 game', completely ignorant of the fact that hey, a lot of PS2 games still look pretty good, even today. Ultimately graphics are an aspect of the game. They're not the game itself, and they're not a de-facto measurement of a game's overall quality. Choosing not to upscale those Wii games isn't going to make them somehow worse, but judging by the reactions here, that's what a lot of people seem to think.

    Avatar image for black_rose
    Black_Rose

    7771

    Forum Posts

    3100

    Wiki Points

    0

    Followers

    Reviews: 18

    User Lists: 8

    #42  Edited By Black_Rose

    Jesus christ, most of you people don't even play Wii games, stop acting like it's a problem. 

    Avatar image for jazgalaxy
    JazGalaxy

    1638

    Forum Posts

    2

    Wiki Points

    0

    Followers

    Reviews: 1

    User Lists: 0

    #43  Edited By JazGalaxy
    @dankempster said:

    @Scarlet_Rogue: I guess I'm in a very, very small minority that wouldn't mind if we didn't see big leaps forward graphically in the next generation of consoles. Ultimately, the thing that sells a system to me is the games that are (or will be) available for it. I realise a lot of people aren't like me and they want visible returns for investing in a new system. Graphics are the most obvious and instant way of providing that return to the consumer, I guess. I just don't personally see how refusing to upscale last-generation games is a big deal.

    Don't misunderstand me, I'm not saying I don't like pretty things. I like a gorgeous game as much as the next guy. It just bothers me when it gets taken to such extremes as people pixel-counting to ensure that a game is running in 'true HD', or people saying that something 'looks like a PS2 game', completely ignorant of the fact that hey, a lot of PS2 games still look pretty good, even today. Ultimately graphics are an aspect of the game. They're not the game itself, and they're not a de-facto measurement of a game's overall quality. Choosing not to upscale those Wii games isn't going to make them somehow worse, but judging by the reactions here, that's what a lot of people seem to think.

    Also, one of the reasons graphics aren't as exciting as they used to be is because every game makes incremental improvements instead of making generational improvements when the hardware dictates it's beneficial.
    Avatar image for scarlet_rogue
    Scarlet_Rogue

    542

    Forum Posts

    27

    Wiki Points

    0

    Followers

    Reviews: 0

    User Lists: 5

    #44  Edited By Scarlet_Rogue

    @dankempster: I agree mostly. I think the bigger deal is that there's really nothing actually coming out for this new system, so this is how upscaling and Gamecube compatibility become more of an issue. I will say though they won't upscale it good that the wii games are at least compatible.

    Avatar image for whiskeyjack
    Whiskeyjack

    123

    Forum Posts

    9

    Wiki Points

    0

    Followers

    Reviews: 0

    User Lists: 6

    #45  Edited By Whiskeyjack

    Seriously?... lame.

    Avatar image for claude
    Claude

    16672

    Forum Posts

    1047

    Wiki Points

    0

    Followers

    Reviews: 2

    User Lists: 18

    #46  Edited By Claude

    @Scarlet_Rogue said:

    @dankempster: I agree mostly. I think the bigger deal is that there's really nothing actually coming out for this new system, so this is how upscaling and Gamecube compatibility become more of an issue. I will say though they won't upscale it good that the wii games are at least compatible.

    How can you say nothing is coming out for the new system when it's not going to be released until probably fall of next year? Do you work for Nintendo and know something we don't?

    Avatar image for scarlet_rogue
    Scarlet_Rogue

    542

    Forum Posts

    27

    Wiki Points

    0

    Followers

    Reviews: 0

    User Lists: 5

    #47  Edited By Scarlet_Rogue

    @Claude: That's my point. How can you be exicted for something which as of now, is just a box that plays wii games. I think any hate/praise is premature. Maybe next E3 when they have more solid things to show for it.

    Avatar image for ttocs
    ttocs

    867

    Forum Posts

    1792

    Wiki Points

    0

    Followers

    Reviews: 9

    User Lists: 9

    #48  Edited By ttocs

    @Burb: Quit it with the first crap.

    Avatar image for claude
    Claude

    16672

    Forum Posts

    1047

    Wiki Points

    0

    Followers

    Reviews: 2

    User Lists: 18

    #49  Edited By Claude

    @ttocs said:

    @Burb: Quit it with the first crap.

    Quit it with the calling out the first crap by calling out the first crap.

    Avatar image for thehbk
    TheHBK

    5674

    Forum Posts

    0

    Wiki Points

    0

    Followers

    Reviews: 3

    User Lists: 6

    #50  Edited By TheHBK

    At least the games will still look better, all I wanted at the very minimum was HDMI.  Component makes shit look like even more shit.

    This edit will also create new pages on Giant Bomb for:

    Beware, you are proposing to add brand new pages to the wiki along with your edits. Make sure this is what you intended. This will likely increase the time it takes for your changes to go live.

    Comment and Save

    Until you earn 1000 points all your submissions need to be vetted by other Giant Bomb users. This process takes no more than a few hours and we'll send you an email once approved.