Has this been discussed much yet? I feel like it's pretty important, mostly for one reason: Disappearing Gamecube controller support.

Like, for instance, N64 games on the VC. Will the new Pro controller be supported? Even so, what are the odds of scrounging together four Classic Controllers for multiplayer fun? Hopefully, you can pick and choose what to move, like on the 3DS, because I'd definitely rather leave that stuff on the Wii. Super Nintendo VC stuff doesn't seem like as much of a problem. The VC releases max out at 2 players, right? And the GCN pad was kind of a shitty substitute in a lot of cases, anyway.

As far as game saves, copying them to the Wii U shouldn't erase them from the Wii, right? Even the NON-transferable stuff like Mario Kart and Brawl? Losing Gamecube controller support in those games would definitely hurt, as well.

I can't think of too many downsides to transferring WiiWare, offhand. I'm sure there are a few games that support the GCN pad, though.

So what are you guys going to do with your Wiis, post-Wii U? I might finally mod mine and maybe ditch the Gamecube that I kept around to play import games. I mean, what the hell, right? If those saves really aren't able to be duped on two consoles, then maybe I'll mod the Wii before the U comes out to back them up, if it doesn't fuck up the transferal process.

God damn, 'transfer' is a tricky verb to conjugate, spelling-wise.

URL to share (right click and copy)

If DSiWare transfers to 3DS are any indication, the game's save data will not transfer and be deleted. So you'll want to keep the games on the Wii if you care about losing your save.

I wouldn't expect Wii game saves to transfer to Wii U, there's been no word on that. I imagine those saves are uncopyable for a reason.

@Mop it up

But they're not any indication, though. They're completely different. DSiware didn't have a separate save file, Wiiware and VC do. You can absolutely manually copy them on a card and transfer them from Wii to Wii.

@Guillaume That's a good point. Can you copy VC saves though? I thought you couldn't, but I'll have to look into that.

carlosrox said:

And people really didn't like the N64 controller? What was wrong with it? Loved it. Was perfect.

I liked it too...except for the stick. That Analogue stick was horrible. Not even close to perfect.

GC FTW.

@Anand

This is why Anand is such a cool guy.

@Mop it up

Sure you can, I've done it. You can copy save files to any Wii, they are not tied to a system unlike the games.

@Guillaume Thanks for the info, mate. I guess I just had a specific VC game that couldn't be copied.

I still think it should be tied to our club nintendo accounts....since that proves we paid for all of these games and they should just let us download everything again. It'd also allow us to have everything on a wii and wii u. Put a limit of two Wii U consoles that you can do the "transfer" to and both would have to be registered under your name so you can't just have your friends downloading your games.

@Wellsy529 I wish they could do that. It'd make things SO much easier. Maybe they were afraid of having an account system because they wanted to make things as simple as possible?

I understand them being so strict on stuff like Wii software that is simply being run as though the system is a Wii, but with VC stuff, these are just roms that are being emulated. There isn't that same kind of hardware restriction that exists when playing, say, a DS game on 3DS.

@PogueSquadron

All of the VC and Wiiware games I'm assuming are going to be available on the eshop day 1. Just have us log into our club nintendo accounts and it can scan the list of games that we registered and make them free on our Wii U. They sort of have it tied into the 3ds but not to the point for any transfers which I thought was bogus when I owned one. Hell I could take it a step further and let us have digital downloads of the games we owned as well. we already paid our $30-$50 we shouldn't have to again. My Wii is gone, but i kept the sd card. Which I know now is useless. But since My club Nintendo account proves I owned all of these games I don't really understand why that would be hard for them to implement. I really should send an email their way.

@Wellsy529 What if you don't have a Club Nintendo account?

Honestly, I think Nintendo was pretty silly to offer a digital download service without requiring you to create an account that would keep track of everything.

I just double-checked, and sure enough, the save data for Super Mario Bros. (NES) cannot be moved or copied to an SD card. Curious, I re-downloaded Blaster Master (NES) to create a save for it, and it could also not be moved or copied to an SD card.

However, the saves for both Mario Tennis and Super Smash Bros. on N64 were able to be copied. So, it would appear that some saves are movable and others are not. The only difference I can see between the games is that the NES ones didn't originally have a save feature.

I wouldn't expect a way for the unmovable saves to transfer to Wii U, though it may not matter that much. NES games are pretty short, and so starting over isn't a big deal. Though there are a few WiiWare games with unmovable saves, such as ExciteBike World Rally, so those could be a pain.

@Mop it up
I think the unmovable saves will transfer. We shall see, though.

@NinSage
Nah, options are always better. Especially in Gradius!

@Shadowlink
Oh, I'm sure there are some things we disagree on...

@Mop it up

Oh, right: save files can be copied, not the soft saves. So, save in-game.

Anand said:

@Mop it up
I think the unmovable saves will transfer.

How do you expect this to work? This isn't rhetorical, I'm simply wondering how you envision it. As is my understanding, the transfer process works by moving your games from the Wii to the SD card, and then putting the SD card into the Wii U and moving them onto that. Since there isn't a way to move some files to the SD card, there is no way to move them to the Wii U.

@Mop it up
That's an interesting point. I guess you could stick the Wii U's SD card into the Wii to start the whole process. Is it removable?

@Anand I'm not entirely sure I know what you're asking. The Wii U doesn't come with an SD card, if that's what you mean. The 8 or 32GB that comes in each model is an internal flash chip, like the Wii.

@Mop it up
Okay. Does it have an SD slot?

As far as the moving thing, I think Nintendo will be able to somehow 'unlock' the unmovable files. Nobody wants an angry mob with flaming pitchforks at their door.

The Wii U has an SD card slot, yes.

It's certainly possible that Nintendo could make some way to allow the unmovable saves to be copied, I'm just saying that people shouldn't be expecting it to happen. Those saves are unmovable for a reason, and though I don't know what the reason is, I don't think it's something that can be changed. Some saves transferred using homebrew won't work properly on the new system.

Soft saves aren't really saves, though. I don't really mind losing that data in games that weren't meant to have saves in the first place. Most of the time they're short and, obviously, meant to be played through in one sitting.

@Guillaume Yeah, I don't think soft saves will be an issue for people. It'll just be the select few online WiiWare games that will be a problem. And that's another reason I don't think there will be a way to move them, as I don't think the number of games is high enough for Nintendo to care.

Retail Wii game saves is another matter, but I don't think Nintendo want to put much effort into backwards compatibility. They want people buying new games.