Topic: How much do you actually use backwards compatability?

Not as much as current-gen games, but I DO use it. Every month I like to do what I call a "retro weekend" which usually entails playing games from past generations only. Sometimes I play older VC titles, but usually I pop in a few Wii games, Gamecube games, or DS games. All of which I play using the BC feature of the Wii U, Wii, or 3DS.

It's an undervalued but vital feature of Nintendo consoles. I can't tell you how much of a bummer it is that I can't play PS3 games on my PS4, and won't be able to play 360 games on my Xbox One... there were a TON of great games last gen. It's nice to have access to all of them on one console.

Earlier on in the 3DS's lifespan I used it daily for well north of year plus. However now...I seldom use it. I last picked up a 3 DS games back last August. I also use it sporadically to play Brawl on the U, but thats it. I think it is a key feature early in a console's life, there aren't gonna be 10+ AAA games on launch day, but over time that is what happened on the 3DS more and more AAA games a lot of which were sequels to most of the DS I played in the early days of the 3DS like Pokémon Black to Pokémon X: The Legend of Zelda Phantom Hourglass to Ocarina of Time 3D (or A Link Between Worlds): Mario Kart DS to Mario Kart 7! Hope the next Nintendo handheld will have backwards compatibility! Same with the next console!

Wii U backwards capability I didn't use much because the Wii was still setup at the same time when I got the Wii U. Now it might be more useful.

3DS though was essentially a DS and VC machine until 3D Land and Kid Icarus Uprising though.

I only use it for WiiWare, VC, and Smash Bros, anymore.

Pretty much agree with you here..... Granted, I'm not sure how much of a drain this is on hardware. But I guess it's cool to have the option to play older titles.

I use it because my DS broke, and I do enjoy it. I'd use it on my Wii too, but I'd have to transfer and bring over my Wiiware games for extra money... no thanks. Plus I live in two places, one being a summer cottage of sorts, and having my Wii there with its games will work out great for me.

I used it once. Then traded in all my Wii stuff for Wii U stuff.

The same goes for the 3DS with my DS stuff.

In terms of physical hardware cost it's really just the cost of a 512MB flash chip. The bigger impact is them choosing to use the same architecture as the Wii. That being a "drain"? Well it depends on how you look at it and who you are.

If you're a Nintendo only developer it having the same architecture as the Wii is the opposite of a drain. You're used to optimising for that sort of architecture so the similarities means that it's easier to make the jump to HD. They'll just take the engines that they already worked on for Wii and push them harder. Just look at how good Mario Kart 8 looks, if they had changed architectures they would have taken longer to get that far.

If however you're developing for PC/XBOne/PS4 then the Wii U being the same architecture as the Wii (and by extension fairly close to the 360) is a drain. That's why the third party support on Wii U only seems to be getting worse as the developers start to move to the PS4 and XBOne. 360 -> Wii U is much easier than PS4 -> Wii U. They could make it work if they thought it was worth it however. But it is an effort especially when PS4 and XBOne are basically the same machine.

I use it all the time on my Wii U. I use to have a huge Wii collection until I went to the dark side of Wii gaming and sold off all my discs. Now that I came back to the light side i had repurchase my collection as well as some that i never had in my collection. So i actually have more Wii games sitting in my disc case than Wii U games. Hell even in just the past month i bought Death Jr, Pitfall Big Adventure, Goldeneye, and Overlord.

Now with DS i had similar dark side situation ,and now that i bought a 2DS i'm starting to rebuild my old DS collection. The only thing is i don't play my 2DS nearly as much as my Wii U so i've been much slower buying any 3DS ,or DS games for it. I've only bought so far Henry Hatsworth on the DS side ,and Super Mario 3D Land, LoZ Link Between Worlds, Gunman Clive, and Dillion's Rolling Western. Oh i also got Nintendo to reinstate my copies of Shantae Risky's Revenge, LoZ Four Swords Anniversary, and Dark Void Zero.

I use it from time to time, but recently traded in all my Wii games towards eShop credit, so now I don't use it at all, lol...

Except for DJ Hero (I got that on the Wii) to hear those baddonkey mixes from time to time!

I don't always use it, but when I do, I beat Pikmin 1 and 2.

(That rhymed!)

I've done that once to finish Pikmin. I think that was a brilliant addition and flexibility is one thing I love about the Wii U.

As far as including backwards-compatibility not making sense I think it's important to recognise how nice it is to have the library of the previous machines games to fall back on when launching a new machine. The lack of software on PS/BONE wouldn't be as noticeable with that back catalogue available. Not that I expect successor consoles to those platforms, but I'd be very surprised if they didn't do that and just have a big download store waiting for early adopters; falling back on the last gen software to tide people over.

I do hope Nintendo is able to offer Wii retail software for download eventually as speculators seem to be snapping up some Wii software, driving up prices in the secondary market for some unlikely titles (Godzilla Unleashed for £25-30 - really??!!).

Yes (at least for this sample size of 1); I didn't fork over several hundred dollars for nice plasma so that I could squint at the gamepad's tiny screen...

Used it extensively for DS games, since I didn't have a DS.
Used it extensively on the Wii for Gamecube games, since I didn't have a gamecube.
Not using it much for Wii on Wii U since I still have the Wii, but that might change if I do the system transfer eventually.

So yes, extremely important no doubt.

Barely ever, played Mario Strikers once on the GamePad screen, and I don't think I've played anything on my 3DS that isn't a 3DS game.

Nah, if I'm using Wii Mode then I am playing on the Gamepad screen almost exclusively. First of all, Wii games look much better on the Gamepad screen and it's not even close. Secondly, playing on a big screen is nice and all, but the real value of Wii U BC to me is the option to, say, watch sports while browsing through my VC collection (which looks fantastic on the Gamepad) or play something like Tatsunoko Vs. Capcom, Geometry Wars Galaxies, Excite Truck, S&P: Star Successor, Klonoa, PunchOut!!, Dawn of Discovery, Little Kings Story, Xenoblade, Track mania, etc. while my wife is watching some chick flick or whatever she does (too busy gaming these days even though we're on the same couch...).

Also, considering my son picks out a new Wii game out of my collection nearly every day, I love being able to set him up in the corner with the Gamepad on a stand and allow him to play in the same room as me, as opposed to isolating him in a separate room while he games all day (how I grew up). No console has ever made gaming such a family affair. We almost never game separate anymore, even if I'm playing something M-rated like Deus Ex, I usually do it next to my kids while they are watching kid shows or movies.

Actually, I think the Wii U is a bit of a hard sell if you have no interest in transferring over you Wii content or in capitalizing on the cheap, massive Wii catalog. Not simply including BC, but also supporting the ability that display Wii Mode on the Gamepad is a huge source of added value for gamers of all types. You don't have to utilize it, but I question your love of games if you don't at least appreciate the option. Fact is, BC opens your Wii U up to a lot more gaming possibilities and utilities than if it exclusively ran the relatively meager Wii U and eShop libraries.

I have only used it for Xenoblade Chronicles, Metroid Prime Trilogy (1&2), Muramasa, and to finish Super Mario Galaxy so not much at all. [/sarcasm]

It does, big difference between Xenoblade on the Wii vs. Wii U.

Yes, this is most certainly the case. Analog signals degrade over distance whereas digital signals do not. That's the beauty of HDMI, you are always seeing what you're supposed to be seeing.

I'd play Wii games on my Wii U way more often if off-TV play on the GamePad didn't require turning the TV on first. I don't get why I should have to turn the TV on to start off-TV play...