Mario Kart Wii bundle loses GameCube support, just in time for the holidays

@nerdydesi1

Well, at least we already know wii U will play Wii games.

@nerdydesi1

Don't say that...it's kind of a scary thought.

@nerdydesi1

The Wii U supports all existing Wii controllers and games. It is backwards compatible.

The Vita plays all digital PSP games, it's backwards compatible.

@tendoboy1984

And the 3DS plays all DS games.

Just gotta wait for PS4 and Xbox720.

@Suichimo

The 360 plays original xbox games.

@This Little Man Says His Name Is

Through virtualization and not emulation per se, but most Xbox games run on the 360.

@nerdydesi1

You mean, Nintendo *rejoining* the non-BC party.

Many of their older systems came out without backward compatibility; they were real A-holes when it came to that "back in the day".

@Space Cobra They did backwards compatibility when it made sense. The NES, SNES, and N64, and GameCube were all very different machines and would have required very different hardware to play each others' games. In fact, it would have been pretty much impossible without just including a NES inside the SNES or a SNES inside the N64, complete with their own cartridge slots. This would have raised prices, too. The Wii is built up on the foundations of the GameCube, so it's not difficult to have GameCube backwards compatibility. (In fact, the Wii essentially turns into a GameCube when playing GameCube games. That's why none of the Wii features like returning to the Home menu with a button press are available.) The DS is also built upon the Game Boy Advance (2D DS games are essentially prettier Game Boy Advance games) and the 3DS is built on the DS, so backwards compatibility makes sense there too.

It's worth noting that the only perfectly backwards compatible consoles and handhelds this generation are (or I guess were) the DS and Wii. They both played their predecessors games perfectly. The PS3 doesn't play PS2 games past the first few produced (which included PS2 hardware that was removed because lol $600) and has some trouble with certain PS1 games because it uses software emulation, and Xbox games don't work at all in the 360 without a custom patch.

@Roto13

Yeah, great points, but I do remember the hooping and hollering. Some systems did come out with add-on emulators later on, but mostly for things like playing GameBoy carts on your Super Nintendo.

Really, I have the old systems, so it never affected me, but it's just a nice "tip of the hat" to old customers with a big stockpile of old games. And, you would think, it could provide incentive because a system could advertise they had lots of games at launch.

But, the younger gen is a bit jaded, at least in the eyes of gaming companies and seems only to want the shiny-new games.

@nerdydesi1 get $25, go to buybacks, and get over it

@Roto13

Wait, you can still play many original Xbox games on the 360, it's just that live compatibility has been disabled now so it'll log you out of XBL.

@tendoboy1984 - It doesn't support all control methods, however, as it lacks GameCube controller support, which *is* an option in many Wii games.

The Red NSMBWii bundle is the best to date.

The most rare color (can't purchase those red Wiimotes/nunchucks separately), with Motion Plus built in and all GC functionality.

Scored one last black Friday for $50.

@tendoboy1984

Playing all digital PSP games doesnt equate to backwards compatibility. That's like saying my computer is backwards compatible with the original NES because it can play roms.

I can't stick a NES cartridge into my computer so it isnt backwards compatible.

@343 Guilty Fart There are also a lot of Xbox 1 games you CAN'T play on 360. The ones that work, work because their developers/publishers released patches for them to make them work. Xbox 360 backwards compatibility is decent, but it's not perfect.

@Ericalvusa91 It's not dead to me! -plays Phantasy Star Online and then Mario Sunshine followed by Sonic Adventure 2 Battle & Smash Bros. Melee-

@Ericalvusa91
I'll just go ahead and say it,

Game-wise:
PS2>Gamecube by several miles.

I enjoyed the gamecube. Especially Resident Evil remake when it was fresh but I enjoyed my PS2 far more consistently and thoroughly.

But I enjoyed Gamecube far more by it being an add-on, so to speak, for the wii than by itself in its heyday.

Mario be damned, it was just hard to argue with the library. Especially for JRPGs, when they still mattered. *tear*

@Mmmmz

Ps2 > Gamecube as far as games go? Only if you prefer quantity over quality.

@Calatia
yeah, a pretty terrible idea by Nintendo. Even calling it the WiiU then doing this doesn't help. If they called it something else then it'd make a bit more sense. I mean they're still having problems convincing people the 3DS is not a DS with 3D.
Like I was at Frys and this guy was about to buy his son SSFIV for his DS. He then asked the game clerk if the 3D would work on the DS or not that was when the clerk explained it was a new console not a DS upgrade.

@Calatia

This new Wii model looks exactly like the "old" one. The only difference is the lack of flaps for the controller ports. They are the same size and shape.

The Wii U does look like the current Wii, only rounded. Nintendo could change the design a bit more before it's released next year.

@tendoboy1984 The new model of the Wii is made to lay flat, and has no base to make it stand up-right, the same as the prototype images of the Wii U.

So if the image of the console is on the front of the box, it will be very easy to confuse to the two. The current Wii console has always been displayed on boxes as standing up-right, so if they just left well enough alone their would be less likelihood for confusion.

@tendoboy1984
Wii U looks like the current Wii only LONG. Long in a 'longwii is long' sense. Really long.

Well maybe it was just the one picture made it look that way, but still. Long.

Also the rounded design looks kind of ugly. It looks a bit like a Chinese ripoff Wii. :) Albeit surprisingly high-quality for a ripoff. I definitely hope they do get a chance to tweak the design before release.

Of course I will still be buying it even if it's uglier than DS Phat's mother-in-law.

Response to other posts...

Regarding backward compatibility, I don't give a flying f*** - seriously? you're so hardcore a Nintendo gamer that you're still concerned about being able to play GameCube games, but you didn't buy a Wii yet, AND you're still intending to? There is nobody in that position, or if by some miracle there is, they can just buy a BC Wii now. (Don't wait on it. I'm sure Nintendo have redesigned to reduce costs, so the old models are likely in 'while stocks last' territory.)

@Squawk

Yeah people like the Wii. Big whoop, wanna fight about it?

@tendoboy1984 Give him the clamps!

@Squawk
Wii's what? Games?
Absolutely.

@Squawk

I'd wanna hope people are still buying Wiis. Its has the most exclusive A+ games this generation. It's my 2nd favourite console of all time behind the Nintendo 64 and i've owned nearly everything since the Atari 2600.

@Foetoid Most Exclusive A+ Games? What are you smoking? Crack? ...or Reggie Fils-Aime's asshole? Buy your statement you have watered down the meaning of A+ game...

@Shadowbender probably for the last hurrah this holiday season.
dropping gamecube support and the added parts to the wii saved them some money making them.

so theyll make some money this year,drop the price when the wii u comes out and make some money off the ppl who didnt want to pay over $100.

same reason sony made the ps2 well after the ps3/xbox360/wii were out.
it still makes money and ppl are still buying games at walmart.

@Shadowbender
What's not to get? It's clearly a great value for the consumer. You get to pay the same price that you've been paying for the last year and a half (more actually if picked up the Mario Kart bundle for $130 over the summer) but now you get less functionality and choice in entertainment.

See? clearly a great value (for Nintendo).

@Drakkenfyre

Nintendo has been dropping the price of the Wii over the past two years, and they need to get more margin. How? Cut out some hardware that caters to a legacy system that chances are anyone who will want doesn't need anymore as they already own a Wii containing it. This will make Wii's cheaper to produce and make big N more money. Makes plenty of sense.

@Drakkenfyre

Welcome to marketing 101.

It's not just the games. You also lose the ability to use GameCube controllers. And ALOT of games have GameCube controller options.

@tendoboy1984 I think its worse since they are tons of good PS2 games out, theres like... 10 good gamecube games?

@Midnitte Sounds like someone never owned a GameCube...

@Drakkenfyre
True, but still I doubt anyone who has waited this long is going to be buying a gamecube controller.

@Drakkenfyre Any game that supports GameCube controllers supports Classic Controllers as well. I'd rather just use the Classic Controller.

That said, I have one Classic Controller and three leftover GameCube controllers from last generation, so Brawl would be a lot less convenient for me on a new Wii.

@Silent Intent
I OWN a GameCube, and if you think it has over 10 good games, then you're freaking delusional. Disagreed? Then name at least 11 good GC games. Go ahead, I dare you.

@Ericss
Melee, Double Dash, Wind Waker, Sunshine, Metroid Prime, Metroid Prime 2, Animal Crossing, Pikmin, Paper Mario 2, Phantasy Star Online, Resident Evil 4, Eternal Darkness.

The list goes on.

@KaBob799

Yo.

Never owned a GC and when this gen started I pretty much had to get an Xbox 360 because of friends, but wanted a PS3 for myself as well. The only thing that interested me on the Wii was GC support and games that allowed for traditional controls. For that alone I couldn't justify spending $200+ when money started getting tight.