Hey guys, got a couple of questions regarding Wii to Wii u transfer. So I don't have an sd card for my Wii as I never downloaded many VC games to it. Maybe 7 or 8 games. I'm going to buy one tomorrow to do a Wii to Wii u transfer and my questions are ...
1) do I need to download my Wii VC games to the sd card before i start the transfer process? I cant find anything saying you have to or not.
2) once they're transferred to my Wii u. Do I have to rebuy them( at a discounted price)? I've seen conflicting information online.
3) when transferred can I play those on the game pad( off tv) and on tv mode?
Thanks guys and gals . Fyi to the mods I've seen some other forums for wii to Wii u transfer but I didn't think people are still looking at those so I didn't respond to those old ones.
To clarify on 2 - if you own the Wii VC version of the game you can buy the Wii U VC version (assuming there is one) at a discounted price. But you can also still play the Wii VC version on your Wii U without paying. It just won't have the improved VC features.
Ah, if the game isn't compatible with the Wiimote and you want to play it on Wii U without buying the upgrade, then you'd need a Wii Classic Controller, I think. GC controller won't work even with an adapter and although you can still use the Wii U gamepad as a display, if I recall correctly it won't work as a controller. So that could be an issue, I'm afraid.
When you do the transfer your Wii games are available on your Wii U and to access them you have to go to the Wii Menu on your Wii U. If you have to download them again I don't remember because I did this in 2012 (either they are downloaded or the system ask you to insert the Wii SD card into your Wii U) but the downloads are free anyway after the transfer.
Another different thing is buying the Wii U version of your Wii games. If your games are available to download on Wii U you can buy them at a discounted price, and the discount is huge (80% off). Yes I wish this existed between Wii U and Switch but Nintendo got much greedier with Switch. These "upgraded" versions on Wii U include GamePad and Wii U pro controller support (Mario Kart 64, Super Mario 64, etc.) and are launched from the Wii U Menu. Some of them require the Wii Remote and nunchuk, specifically Wii games: Metroid Prime Trilogy (Wii retail games were not available for download on Wii).
In short, do the transfer first and after that you get your Wii games on Wii U and afterwards decide if you want to upgrade games to Wii U downloads (not all are available) and play them with the GamePad and Wii U pro controller.
@Zyrac how do do you play Wii VC games without Wii u improvements? I used to use my gamecube controller..
Read my last comment (I forgot to @you). Answering this question, to play your Wii games on Wii U just go to the Wii Menu on Wii U after the transfer. Because Wii U doesn't have GameCube ports you can't use the GameCube controllers but the Wii classic controllers unless you soft-mod your Wii U to make it recognise the Nintendo Controller Adapter for Wii U/Switch. Wii U has native support for this adapter (Super Smash Bros. 4) and for GameCube games (Wii Menu is backwards compatible with GameCube) but the support needs to be activated via soft modification (and GameCube games can only be read digitally).
@nintendobynature Yes if you buy the upgraded version you can use the Wii U GamePad and the Wii U pro controller and the resolution is higher too (not sure if native or upscaled but you get a 1080p output if the Wii U is set to 1080p). The only exceptions that you should consider are Wii downloads. Some include GamePad/Wii U pro controller support, at the end of the day, they are selling those to Wii U owners (Wii retail downloads were not available on Wii). However, some Wii downloads can only be played with the Wii Remote and nunchuk (Metroid Prime Trilogy comes to mind), but interestingly you can play on the GamePad (as a screen) and Wii Remote and nunchuk as controllers.
Oh, and Wii retail downloads don't have any upgrade discount because this is the first time that they are available digitally, but some are discounted regularly. Metroid Prime Trilogy and most Wii downloads were 50% off when they launched!
@nintendobynature For the transfer the consoles have to be online (for checking your account and for migrating your digital rights to the Wii U) but if I remember correctly you only need an SD card, the same that you have in your Wii is going to be inserted into your Wii U during the process and you don't need to download the games again if you don't want to. Also, after upgrading a game you still keep the original Wii version on your Wii U, it's not a replacement.
@BlueOcean thanks for some reason your comments didn't pop up earlier. Appreciate the help greatly. When I upgrade them to Wii u, do I do the upgrade on the Wii menu Wii shop or Wii u eshop? Sorry that should be my last question.
@nintendobynature No problem, actually I replied later, I only said "read my last reply" in case you missed it because I didn't quote you but it sounds not as intended. You are welcome, please don't hesitate to ask me anything.
This is how upgrades work. After the transfer, your digital rights are migrated to Wii U. This means that you own the Wii games on the newer hardware, like any other Nintendo transfer (DS, 3DS...). Let's say that you have bought Super Mario 64 on Wii. Because you already bought it on Wii and have done the transfer, if you go to the Wii Menu on Wii U you will find it there and you can play it with Wii classic controllers there. Now you want to play Super Mario 64 with the GamePad and/or the Wii U pro controller. Then what you do is go to Wii U's eShop and you will see that all the prices for games that you have already bought on Wii are 80% off, including NES, SNES and N64 (because Mega Drive, Turbografx and the others are not available on Wii U). So you will see something like SUPER MARIO 64 (Wii U): €1.99 (instead of €9.99). The discount is automatic and you see it before trying to purchase. The normal price is just crossed out. If you buy it you will pay €1.99 (or $ in your case). On top of that you also keep the Wii version on the Wii Menu.
@BlueOcean that's makes alot of sense and is exactly what i was looking for. I Appreciate it and I'll let you know how it goes and if I have any troubles doing the transfer
The digital rights are transferred over the internet, that's why you need to be online to do it. The SD is required just to move your games and save files.
When Wii U enters Wii Menu it becomes a Wii literally. It is called Virtual Wii or vWii and has most options removed because it uses the Wii U settings and because the newer console doesn't have GameCube memory card ports. The specifications are down-clocked and Wii U becomes a Wii with an HDMI port, which is cool.
The only external storage that Wii U's Wii Menu detects is the SD card so it keeps the menus for browsing games and save data stored on the SD card and vWii internal memory. You can download your games again for free after the transfer and store them on the internal Virtual Wii memory if you want, but it's exactly the same size as the Wii's internal memory (512 MB minus the space needed by the OS). On the other hand, Wii U Menu completely ignores the SD card, the SD card only exists as external storage for vWii with rare exceptions like Super Smash Bros. 4 that uses it for screenshots so you can copy them.
All done and complete. It was actually alot easier than I thought. And since I don't have much VC on my Wii. It was fairly quick too. They all automatically generate into the Wii channel without having to redownload. And all the games I had are now %80 off on Wii u VC. Thanks a million guys
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