New Wii bundle includes New Super Mario Bros, loses Gamecube support

by Richard Mitchell on Oct 11th 2011 4:15PM

It was inevitable. Upon hearing the revelation that Europe would soon receive a new Wii without Gamecube compatibility, it was only a matter of time before the model made the trip across the Atlantic Ocean. Nintendo has now made the supposition a reality, announcing a new bundle for North America which will include a black Wii Remote Plus, a black Nunchuck, a copy of New Super Mario Bros. Wii and, oddly, a Super Mario Galaxy soundtrack CD.

What it won't include, however, is any support for GameCube games or accessories. Also, like its European cousin, the "newly configured black Wii console sits horizontally rather than vertically." The bundle will be released on October 23 for $150.

The little red flag that just shot up in your brain was probably the realization that $150 is also the asking price for the Mario Kart Wii console bundle, which is available in black and includes nearly the same contents ... and a Wii that still supports GameCube. According to Nintendo, the Mario Kart Wii bundle "will continue to be available" alongside the new bundle. So, unless you really don't want to spend an extra $50 on a copy of New Super Mario Bros. Wii, or you really hate the added value of GameCube support, the new bundle is more than a little baffling.

Source: Nintendo

Tags: bundle, New-Super-Mario-Bros-Wii, nintendo, wii

Reader Comments (67)

Not a bad bundle that. The (parts of the) Galaxy soundtrack (that wasn't midi) was beautiful.

I actually like this approach here with the Wii. Setting it up quite nice for Wii U. Horizontal lay out. No GC support. I'm diggin' it!

@Co That was sarcasm, right?

@Co I agree. The horizontal layout is much better. Also, if anyone is complaining about the gamecube support, just buy a gamecube. They're only $25 now.

@Co Console De-Evolution: It has begun....

I hope there will be other (legal) ways to obtain that soundtrack. I already own a Wii.

@SMTDante
First time this CD has been available here so Club Nintendo might also offer it for a small amount of coins.

Even if it makes sense, losing BC makes me sad. I was sad when Sony did it, sad when the DSi did it, and I'm sad to hear this.

Somewhere in the Nintendo Universe, Super Smash Bros Brawl is doing a facepalm of epic proportions...

@goomba87 melee :)

@(Unverified) No, Brawl. Most players swear the only way it's playable is with a GameCube controller. I disagree, but then again, I'm not most Brawl players.

@Oddgirl I actually prefer using the wii mote and nunchuk it also meant that people would scramble over the gc controllers and I would get my controller of choice.

@Oddgirl wait....no controller support? I didn't think about it...

@rhododragon Same. I grew to love the Wii Remote + Nunchuck setup, with d-pad down set to jump it works perfect for me.

Gamecube support lasted longer than xbox and playstation2 support... so when can I expect gamecube remakes with wiimote support? Oh they did that already? See Sony and Ms cut support before releasing hd remakes. Stupid nintendo does it backwards.

@(Unverified) Metroid Trilogy, Pikmin
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/New_Play_Control!

@Rikimaru

Next time wait until the end of the post...

@(Unverified)
Yeah, real stupid of Nintendo to give players the choice of which they want to play.

@Rikimaru yes...is zelda twilight princess in that link? That eas a day 1 gamecube with wiimote support

@Acosta02 I know...dont they want our money? Hopefully they'll take a hint and give us Hd remakes on the Wii U....oh wait,they said you can even use your current wiimotes and games..
My money is not good enough for them.

@(Unverified) Whut? My XBox 360 still plays XBox games just fine.

@Oldtaku yeah but then they killed xbl for it.so I had to rebuy street fighter 3.

@(Unverified)
yeah but you could never play GC or PS2 game online on the Wii and PS3. Every single 360 made was designed to play all of the games on the BC list (almost all of the major titles).

A competent BC software structure has made it possible for the 360 to never have to drop original xbox support.

@VideoGameFan that's the thing,xbox dropped support for the xbox 1 system when xbox 360 launched and slowly made titles backward compatible through updates until they dropped support for that.
followed by dropping all online support for games.

I've spent a lot of money on xbox live during the 360 era.
i wouldn't know what to do if they dropped support for it.
I have a PC for old unsupported games that no longer work right cause new graphic cards,driver or Operating systems came out lol

i like what Nintendo is doing with the Wii U as far as Wii games and Wii controllers are concerned,it's nice to see all the money that ppl spent buying extra wiimotes and nunchucks,classic controllers and wii fits carries over and can still be used.

having said that,ANYTHING is better than the UMD to pspGo/Vita crap.

@VideoGameFan

Not sure what you're talking about with PS2 games not playing online with PS3. I play Champions: Return to Arms every year with friends. Not to mention they had a PS3 update that was specifically to allow PS2 hard drive games to function with the PS3.

though most of us already have a wii somewhere down the line (collecting dust for some) i do not understand repacking a system with less features. if anyone was still on the fence about getting a new wii i do not see them opting for this new package but rather going for the existing mario kart bundle as pointed out in the article.

@tanooki equipped
If you're just now getting a Wii, you also probably don't know what a GameCube is.

@(Unverified)

Actually I'm one of the few that have a Gamecube and love the hell out of it (playing PSO ep1&2 plus as we speak!) but never got myself a Wii.

Being a nintendo fan I did want one when it first came out but I got a ps3 instead. As time went by I still wanted one but Nintendo kept giving me less and less of a reason to.

The big N has always been a little...strange in the way they do things but lately it seems like they're getting more and more out of touch with what the modern gamer wants.

@ClownyDaggers

See I just don't get thinking like yours.

How can anyone that loved the Gamecube not like the Wii? It's literally GC 1.5. People need to get over the different control inputs already.

@ClownyDaggers
"less and less of a reason" Like lowering the price every year to the point of impulse-buy levels?

@(Unverified)

I think what he/she meant by "less and less reasons" is because of the crappy games (not the ones made by Nintendo of course, but the shovelware that plagued the system). I agree with him, I got my Wii overpriced at ebay in 2007 since we couldn't find one anywhere, boy, what a regret, the last game that I got was 2 years ago and I didn't even beat the game, I can't stand motion controls.

I was gonna buy Donkey Kong Country Returns, but then I found out that playing with the classic controller wasn't even an option, you must use the wiimote, then I said screw it. And I'm a huge DKC fan, I own all the games on SNES, GBA and Virtual Console, also DK64 for the N64.

Wii should be $99 by now. It did wonders for GameCube when it was on life support, and even then, it still had all of its original functionality save for the component cables which were a pain in the neck to acquire anyways. That this is still $150 with a huge feature gone is just silly.

Then again, all the consoles should be considerably cheaper by now. That there are still standard models of PS3 and 360 for over $299 is baffling.

@Oddgirl

I think they keep adding bigger hard drives to keep the price up. How many people honestly need 320GB on their console?

@ClownyDaggers Depends on how much the companies really want to push for going digital only.

@Oddgirl

I totally agree. When I first heard of this new Wii I thought it would be sold for $100.

The $100 Gamecube bundles were awesome back then. I got one including Mario Kart DD and two controllers during the holidays.

I've seen the Mario Kart Wii bundle as not in stock for some time now. I think when they say it will still be available, they may be talking about what's left in stock at stores.

I imagine Nintendo will enjoy a month of sales at $149.99 and beginning Black Friday offer this bundle for $99.99. $100 for a console bundle which includes a Wii Remote Plus controller would be compelling for new owners of The Lengend of Zelda: Skyward Sword.

Gotta say, I probably play more Gamecube games on my Wii than Wii games. But I am a PSO fanatic so...

Still, it won't affect me as I don't plan on buying a new Wii anytime soon and at least there's still the option of a bundle that has GC support.

-Still-, not really sure why they'd do this expect for...oh right yeah money.

@Sir Biccy at this point they are just trying to sell a cheaper model , and the only way they can really make it cheaper and not loose money , is taking out the parts for the gamecube in the wii. i'm sure people buying new ones anyways aren't really intrested in gamecube games . if they were wouldn't they have a gamecube?

Is GameCube support really an added value for anyone these days? I mean, obviously it is for some people, but they're probably the type of people who already own a Wii anyway.

So personally if I was in the market for it I'd pick the system based on whichever game I wanted... in other words... yep, still the Mario Kart bundle.

Really it's not that baffling. At some point they'll run out of the old-style Wii but until they do they'll keep selling it, and I don't see any particular reason they'd want to encourage people to buy the new one in the meantime, so no reason for a different price.

Zis is stoooopid. The only reason to own a Wii is playing Super Smash Bros Brawl with GC controllers.

Ok, maybe I've overboard with that, but I surely wouldn't buy such model.

@TheShaper
*gone

Epic phail.

Not to mention its $134 at target right now.

@Pineapple Juice
and they have been the same price at Walmart for about 4 months.

The GC support was more of a convenience other than that we have lost the ability to use the GC controller for Wii games.

Too any proper gamer this will be a problem but I'm sure some casuals wiil be duped into buying it, although I dunno why you can get a second hand Wii with all its features for less probably.

Oh well Nintendo logic....

I think (almost) anyone who would like to play Brawl already owns a Wii. I don't see this as something that bad... Actually, the problem I see is that keeps the same price. And that image doesn't feature any 'Family Edition' tag or something... that'll bring some problems, maybe.

Nintendo should release a USB adapter that has four Gamecube controller ports and two Gamecube memory card ports, and it should be compatible with both this and the WiiU.

eh if u really wanted to play gamecube games you'd just play a gamecube right? wii didn't add anything to gamecube games anyways. i still have mine , i thought it was an over looked system to be honest.

@abercrombieco2 I never had a gamecube of my own.

Especially considering it's almost the same hardware.

The Wii is a beefed-up GameCube. It's not like the PS3 where they had to include the actual physical PS2 CPU and GPU to run them. The only difference with the Wii is the software which controls it. Pop in a GameCube game, and the system boots into GameCube mode.

It's not even running emulation like the later PS3's. It's running on the actual hardware. The money-saving bit is the removal of the special disc drive, which at release was the first slot-loading disc drive able to take two different sized discs. That's also probably why this system can't sit upright. That is what is going to save Nintendo money. The GameCube ports probably don't cost much at all.

So it's down to saving money, nothing else. At the end of the system's life, this seems a pointless move. It's made them probably ten times what the GameCube did. And to have this package the same price as the normal system is just stupid in the marketing.

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New Super Mario Bros Wii

New Wii bundle includes New Super Mario Bros, loses Gamecube support

Reader Comments (67)

Posted: Oct 11th 2011 4:18PM Undulation said

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