Topic: List of WiiWare-Exclusive Games

@masterLEON I honestly would be able to tell you, since I haven't checked before I posted that, since I'm not really frequenting the Wii eShop anymore, but perhaps it is. Well, that would only leave one option: to softmod the Wii/Wii U, and that is up to each of us individually, whether they would want to do that or not...

@ThanosReXXX Down the line, I probably would, as I still have it even though I merged everything to the WiiU (or seek out that version of the Wii that has the better video output). The reason not now, though, is I'm assuming I'm not the only one who splurged on Wii Shop points at the last minute. And, assuming also, these twilight eShop sales would still produce checks for those game studios whose games crossed that 10,000(?) unit threshold. I'm hoping that the studios that I'd really like to see their games rereleased on newer hardware, like Konami and the Rebirth series or (Koei)Tecmo and their classic franchises for example, get a little motivated to do so with these sales. Y'know, like get the hint that people are still willing to pay for these games. Konami more so because they have the HudsonSoft IPs. Or they could just take the money and be like business as usual, who knows? I'll wait and see after a year, maybe longer, to see what happens. I haven't gone over to the Wii Menu in about 3 years since getting my WiiU. So I can wait. I only went back in January because I had an overwhelming urge to play Space Ace from the Dragon's Lair Trilogy for some reason.

@masterLEON I softmodded my Wii a few months after the warranty had ran out. I wasn't sure initially on how to do it (get a chip installed or try it myself), but the possibility to softmod it with the option to also be able to return it to its default state ultimately became my method of choice.

I did it mostly for all my GameCube titles, since my Wii still has those controller ports, and to put all kinds of emulators on it, to more or less make it the ultimate retro box. Then, later on, when the drive started to behave a bit strange, I also installed my own Wii games, and a couple more, so as to be able to spare the disc drive from that point on.

At some point, years later, I found the courage to open it up and clean the inside, put it back together and now the drive works perfectly fine again, but because all my stuff is already on a hard drive, I don't really need it anymore.

As far as Wiiware goes: if some titles are truly gone from the eShop, then what alternative to softmodding is there, besides simply not playing these games? And if you were hinting at a softmodded Wii somehow not being able to access the eShop or being detectable in that way, then I can assure you that this is not the case. That's one of the other benefits of the softmod: it still behaves like the original machine, with the added bonus of it now being region free as well, so you can also play all kinds of Wii and GameCube games that never came out in your region, not to mention the brilliant Triforce Arcade titles.

Look em up on YouTube, they're great fun. They are games made for the arcade through a collaboration of Nintendo, Sega and Namco, and there are two Mario Kart GP games, an arcade version of F-Zero from the GameCube, and two Virtua Striker games. Some guy ripped the whole bundle from the machine boards themselves and turned them into GameCube disc images, making them compatible with the Wii's GameCube emulator.

In any case, if you ever decide to go for it, then store the info that I mentioned on the subject in my comments on the second page of this thread, or give me a heads up and I'll point you in the right direction.

@ThanosReXXX No, I'm ok with it. I have both a WiiU and a Wii, but the Wii is doing nothing right now. However, I'm just way to busy right now. And maybe I'll try to find that version of the Wii with the cleaner video output (because I like recording my gameplay and I want to reduce the blurriness). Either way, it'll happen, it's just a matter of when. I'll keep you in mind when the time comes, though.

And Japanese Tatsunoko Vs. Capcom, it's just not the same without the original Japanese soundtrack! That's probably my #2 reason behind game preservation to do it. I can't think of any other import games I want off the top of my head, though. F-Zero AX would be great, too. I'd lose my arcade progress (I still have my magnetic memory card) but it is what it is.

@masterLEON Thanks, I'll be around, provided the current wave of persistent trolls doesn't get the better of me after all...

Agreed on Tatsunoko vs Capcom. I got that very version installed on my Wii hard drive, and it plays like a dream with a GameCube controller...

But there are many more versions that were either never released in Europe or in the US, so having the option to play them now, is still a great thing to have, but to be honest, I also couldn't name any right now off the top of my head, but I know they're there. A quick Google search would probably yield more than enough titles...

For me personally, simply having all my GameCube games on the hard drive, instead of stashed away in a bedroom closet, was already a huge benefit. And besides that, those Triforce games alone are already worth it.

By the way: I'm quite impressed by your Crazy Taxi record. It was always one of my favorite games, both on the Dreamcast and on the GameCube, but I was never more than average. I do believe that a class B license was the highest I ever scored. Still enjoyed it nonetheless, much like so many arcade titles from back in the day, like Hydro Thunder, Daytona and so on.

P.S.

I am a bit puzzled by the whole "Wii with the cleaner video output" thing. I only ever knew about old version Wii's and newer ones in the sense that the newer ones lost the GameCube ports and memory card slots, and that a certain serial number of new drives didn't accept burned copies of games, whereas I still have the old model that has all the ports and can also read burned discs as if they were the real deal.

I use high end component cables on a 42" HD Plasma screen (Panasonic Viera) and the image quality is absolutely gorgeous, especially considering it isn't even an HD console.

Thanks, man. I knew I was all going to be all over Crazy Taxi when I saw the TGS '98 footage. I'm actually horrible on the console version, LOL! I can only play on the arcade sit-down cabinet.

I have a similar Panasonic plasma! It's an '06 model I bought used for $90. There were scratches on the stand and lower left part of the screen, and there is signs of burn-in on the lower right that shows the letters, "ID", but none of that shows up when it's on so it's all good. It has 3 sets of Composite + S-Video, 2 Component, and 2 HDMI. The only thing I wish it had was a white screen burn-in protection mode, but I think this model is 1 or 2 years too early for that. So I use a Switch screen capture of the blue on white SNK logo from an Arcade Archives game or run the attract mode with the screen stretched out for a while.

It was this thread that made me aware of the differences (sadly the pic comparisons are gone):
https://shmups.system11.org/viewtopic.php?f=6&t=51789

So basically it's the last versions of the upright Wiis plus the horizontal Wiis that have the best component output. For the ones with Gamecube controller inputs, it's the upright red, black (Mario 25th Ann.), and white Mario Kart Bundles (I think). Color, text, and fine texture details are the biggest differences between the early and later versions.

@masterLEON Yeah, those burnt-in logos and such are a real problem with older plasma screens. Mine is about 7 years old, and I bought it fresh from the store for $999 back then. in the upper left corner, all kinds of different channel logos are burnt-in on top of each other, creating a nasty blue-greenish smear, and I also have smears across the bottom and in the middle. They're not always visible, though. It's most annoying when there's a lot of white on screen, but other than that, it isn't all that overbearing. And in gaming it's even less, so I can still stomach it, as long as it doesn't get any worse. And besides: I'll have to, because currently, I don't have the cash to buy a new TV.

Interesting info about all those different model Wii's, but I have honestly never heard of it before. Especially about the horizontally oriented Wii's, all I ever heard was how these were inferior in multiple ways (such as no GameCube support, drive not hack-able and so on), so apparently, a better video output was the only saving grace.

But in all honesty, I do wonder how much it differs. I have the original Wii, that came with the Wii Sports disc. I was too late for the very first wave of consoles coming in, so I had to wait for the second shipping, but I assume I must then have the version with the lesser video quality, but I'm not seeing it. Games look pretty damn good, especially Nintendo's own games, and in my opinion just about as good as SD games can get, on an HD screen.

Before the component cables, I used a so-called HDMI upscaler:

It really does do a decent job upscaling, and the colors are a bit brighter than with standard or component cables, but I found out pretty soon that it stretched out the image, both on Wii and GameCube games, so in the end, I decided to use component cables, since going back from an upscaled image to standard cables certainly wasn't an option anymore...

@ThanosReXXX I was wondering about that adapter. Yeah, I wouldn't want a stretched image, either.

The Wii looked great to me on S-Video on my old Sony 24" flat CRT even sitting a good 6ft. away. And while I was playing with my WiiU and Elgato settings last weekend, I enabled 480p mode on the WiiU, which triggered a 480p60 capture on the Elgato Game Capture HD. I didn't know I could do that! The picture on my plasma was super sharp (moreso than 720 because reasons, I don't know why I'm surprised, LOL) and the TV put up the grey sidebars. It makes me want to go back to the Wii for a while and give that backlog some love.

@masterLEON Well, in all fairness to the adapter: it was only 12 euros/15 dollars, and I've also been thinking that it could be that my HD TV, which is an old model which still has an enormous black plastic bezel/frame around it, simply doesn't have enough options to adjust the screen size. Or perhaps the adapter works better on NTSC screens, I don't know.

But the picture quality was really nice, except because of the stretching, parts of the screen were missing, or only just visible, and that was already clear if you would go into the Wii settings menu, which would normally display a centered image, with black space all around all the text labels/bars at all ends of the screen, whereas with the adapter, the lower parts would touch the edges of the screen, if that makes any sense to you. If not, I'll try to find a picture that best demonstrates that.

Having said that, having grey bars on my screen would annoy me even more. They should at the very least be black, so that they are only a minor distraction. Any other color than black would distract me to no end. I'm already annoyed if the black of the bars in widescreen isn't as black as the black inside the game screen itself, which usually means I'll be tweaking the brightness and contrast to a point where the difference is all but unnoticeable.

As for backlog: I feel ya... I've got a HUGE backlog on just about every console and handheld I have, but I always try to collect all the worthwhile games, while they're still somewhat reasonably priced. So, I've got stacks and stacks of games whom I've hardly played, or never even played, ever since the Dreamcast and the GameCube.

During the N64 days, I could only afford a cartridge or two at a time per month or two months, so it was easy to finish those games before new ones were bought, but after that, things went from bad to worse. You should see my Xbox 360 collection: about 200 games for that, plus around 60 original Xbox games (never had that console) that are compatible with the 360.

Then there's a similar amount on the GameCube, and even several hundreds of games on the Wii, thanks to soft-modding and emulators, and I could go on for a while longer, but I think you'll get the picture...

But every now and then, I give each and every one of my consoles or handhelds a bit of love, if only for a couple of hours once every month. Sometimes I even just let the Dreamcast or the GameCube run a game in demo mode, on my second TV, which is a small non-HD screen. Something like SoulCalibur or so, simply because it's still a very nice game to look at, on both consoles (albeit of course the second game on the GameCube).

And as several collectors and gaming enthusiasts have told me over the years, it's also beneficial for the consoles themselves, to run every now and then, even if you're not using them on a regular basis. Neglect is one of the biggest causes of issues with consoles, especially disc-based consoles. Cartridge based ones are a bit sturdier in that regard, but nonetheless, they can also use the occasional workout...

I strongly considered Military Madness but it was delisted :/ so I got Warioware DIY instead and I'm happy with my purchase. I just gotta find a DS copy.

@McGruber Ah... that's a shame. I couldn't have known, unfortunately, since I haven't been on the Wii eShop in ages. Well, Military Madness will still always be an option whenever you decide to softmod the Wii, so it's not entirely lost...

I hope it's ok if I bump this just in case anyone still has any unspent Wii points. Just a few more hours to use them!