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Why Wii U ports when Wii and Gamecube games need HD Remasters?

iceblade

iceblade

Member
Oct 25, 2017
4,217
Thread posted on behalf of Metallix87

I've seen numerous people on here push the idea that the Switch will receive ports of numerous Wii U games, such as Smash 4, Mario 3D World, and Mario Maker, in the future. I'm not opposed to that idea, and I actually believe it would be a net boon for both the Switch and gamers, given that so many people passed on owning a Wii U. That being said, I think a bigger opportunity lies in Nintendo remastering their pre-HD era (Gamecube & Wii, specifically) games for the Switch. We've already seen the company show interest in this with remasters of Wind Waker and Twilight Princess on Wii U.

The obvious next candidates would be the Super Mario Galaxy games, though there's definitely numerous others that would make good candidates. The Gamecube, in particular, was a console with limited success, similar to the Wii U. The Metroid Prime Trilogy would look great in HD, and the Joy Cons would allow for great controls. How about Kirby's Epic Yarn? That game looked great on Wii, and I think it could be a visual stunner on Switch with a polished HD Remaster. Nintendo could even work with third parties again on this endeavor. How about Star Fox Assault and F-Zero GX, both in HD with online multiplayer?

This is definitely where I want to see Nintendo eventually go with remasters on Switch. Thoughts?
 
Zalman

Zalman

Member
Oct 25, 2017
5,896
I would love GameCube and Wii remasters, but Wii U games are easier to do since they're newer.
 
Rich

Rich

Member
Oct 28, 2017
259
England
At the very least I'm sure we'll get Metroid Prime 1 and 2 before 4

3 is a bit tricky though with the motion reliance.
 
NinjaScooter

NinjaScooter

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Oct 25, 2017
54,138
Bases on sales, way less people had exposure to those Wii U titles, so it sorta makes sense that people would want access to them on Nintendo hardware that's actually worth owning.

From Nintendo's perspective, I also imagine it would take a lot less resources to port over modern games than to make GameCube and Wii games look acceptable on modern hardware.
 

NinjaCoachZ

Member
Oct 26, 2017
1,777
I think GameCube games will probably just be on Virtual Console. There are a few exceptions I can see getting remastered though (e.g. Fire Emblem Radiant Pack makes way too much sense, maybe another Metroid Prime Trilogy release or the Wind Waker/TP ports). Most GameCube games still look good enough that I'd personally be happy with just VC, and a lot of the ones I'd really love rereleased are the more cult ones that are probably less likely to get remasters (e.g. Skies of Arcadia, Baten Kaitos, Chibi Robo).

For Wii games I definitely see a lot of love going out for a Galaxy collection, Skyward Sword, and Xenoblade. It would be nice to actually have them in HD officially.

Honestly though the reason why Wii U seems to get the most attention is because they'd be the relatively quick ones to do, and a lot of them got criminally overlooked. Tropical Freeze didn't do nearly as well as DKC Returns and there are plenty of people who would've loved to play Bayonetta 2 but never owned a Wii U. Plus there's the game preservation side of things. Years down the line those games deserve better than to be stuck on a platform no one bought. Look at all the amazing Saturn games that never got rereleased. Do you want that to happen to Captain Toad??
 
LewieP

LewieP

Member
Oct 26, 2017
18,097
I bet they will do that sort of stuff. I think it is a lower priority right now. Give it a while.

With Wii stuff, I think they would want to be careful to stick to games that would be playable in handheld mode and with a pro controller, not stuff that would require joycons. Mario Galaxy might be tricky with that. Prime 3, too.

There's lots of games they could do, though.

Although they might just do Virtual Console style releases for games from that era, and I'd be interested to see what emulation implementations for Switch NERD will hopefully come up with.

Edit: and Wii U stuff can more easily pass for new games without any significant touch up.
 
TubaZef

TubaZef

Member
Oct 28, 2017
3,565
Brazil
Because it's easier (apparently).

But yeah, the joycons allow for a lot of Wii remakes. Hoping to see HD remakes for Skyward Sword, Red Steel 2, No More Heroes 1 & 2 and WiiSports/WiiSports Resort which is still pretty fun to play with friends, being able to play it anywhere would be a good enough reason to get it!
 
ShyMel

ShyMel

Moderator
Oct 31, 2017
3,483
I would love to see Fire Emblem Path of Radiance and Radiant Dawn get HD remasters or even just Virtual Console-esque releases on the Switch eShop.
 
maximumzero

maximumzero

Member
Oct 25, 2017
22,922
New Orleans, LA
Couldn't agree more. Let's remaster Wii, Gamecube games and hell...even Nintendo 64 titles. (Though those would qualify as full remakes I would imagine.)

Wii U games are already in high definition, already look great, and largely run in 60fps. There's no need to be fidgeting with those so soon.
 
Lozjam

Lozjam

One Winged Slayer
Avenger
Nov 1, 2017
1,964
Nearly 100% of Nintendo's fanbase has a Wii. So they clearly have a way to play their Wii and GameCube games relatively easily. A great amount of Nintendo fans missed out on the Wii U, despite knowing there were some fantastic games for it. So it only makes sense that these fans want games for a console they never owned.

I personally would love GC ports/remasters though.
 
I Wanna Be The Guy

I Wanna Be The Guy

Member
Oct 28, 2017
16,776
TubaZef said:
Because it's easier (apparently).

But yeah, the joycons allow for a lot of Wii remakes. Hoping to see HD remakes for Skyward Sword, Red Steel 2, No More Heroes 1 & 2 and WiiSports/WiiSports Resort which is still pretty fun to play with friends, being able to play it anywhere would be a good enough reason to get it!
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Good luck getting these games to be fun in portable mode.
 
LewieP

LewieP

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Oct 26, 2017
18,097
ShyMel said:
I would love to see Fire Emblem Path of Radiance and Radiant Dawn get HD remasters or even just Virtual Console-esque releases on the Switch eShop.
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A collection of 3D World, 3D Land prettied up a bit, and maybe even Captain Toad could be quite nice.

The Zelda remakes on 3DS could be a good basis for an HD remake. I'd prefer a sequel to A Link Between Worlds, but a remaster could be cool, too.

Quite a few 3DS games would look great with a small amount of work, might have to be budget releases if it's just one game though.
 
casey_contra

casey_contra

Member
Oct 27, 2017
1,377
Seattle, WA
It's definitely partly "ease" of porting, but I also think it's because of the ROI potential for tapping into people who have never played. Galaxy, Sunshine, Metroid Prime(s), Fire Emblem are games that a lot of people have already played. I know plenty of people who still have Wiis (and gamecubes, just not to the same extent) and could just pick up these games if they really wanted to play.

Because of Wii U sales this isn't the case with some of the Wii U specific titles, so it's not people who are looking to play a "remastered" version of a game they like, but to play a cool game for the first time. That's my take! Thoughts?
 
Jota typeZERO

Jota typeZERO

Member
Nov 3, 2017
185
Spain
The only thing I could say to this is "give it time". Wii U games would be the main priority, though, given that it is actually a "corpus" console; by "corpus" I mean that it has already established its game catalog even after being deemed a failure in sales (also I don't like to say that X or Y console is "defunct"). Besides, fewer Wii U games could be given green light to be "Switched".
 

Deleted member 26526

Banned
Oct 30, 2017
1,931
There were so many great games on the Wii U that I was almost tempted to buy one just to play them.
I never did though as by the time the exclusives held my interest - it was clear the system was winding down for a new gen.

So I'd like the Wii U games just to play those I never did
 
Weebos

Weebos

Member
Oct 25, 2017
7,060
Would love both. I'd rather see Gamecube and Wii virtual console though, since it would likely make many more games available than remasters would.
 
Soul Skater

Soul Skater

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Oct 25, 2017
10,201
They had less exposure than the games on other systems, and for the most part they would be easier to port. Wind Waker and TP HD for example already got redone, where as the Galaxy games and especially something like Mario Sunshine would require more effort to make them ready to release on switch.

I still want both but it wouldnt be a bad idea for Nintendo to release some WiiU games to make sure they aren't stuck on a system that was a commercial failure.
 
TubaZef

TubaZef

Member
Oct 28, 2017
3,565
Brazil
I Wanna Be The Guy said:
Good luck getting these games to be fun in portable mode.
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Oh, I don't want them to have a portable mode. 1,2 Switch requires the joycons to be used so I don't think Nintendo requires every game to have one.
But I think Nintendo would want those games to have one so.. I hope at least they allow us to play with motion controls like on the Wii.
 
Metallix87

Metallix87

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Nov 1, 2017
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casey_contra said:
It's definitely partly "ease" of porting, but I also think it's because of the ROI potential for tapping into people who have never played. Galaxy, Sunshine, Metroid Prime(s), Fire Emblem are games that a lot of people have already played. I know plenty of people who still have Wiis (and gamecubes, just not to the same extent) and could just pick up these games if they really wanted to play.

Because of Wii U sales this isn't the case with some of the Wii U specific titles, so it's not people who are looking to play a "remastered" version of a game they like, but to play a cool game for the first time. That's my take! Thoughts?
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Didn't Mario 3D World outsell Mario Sunshine? I thought it had.
 
FrakEarth

FrakEarth

Member
Oct 25, 2017
3,277
Liverpool, UK
I still want Rogue Squadron Trilogy.

I'm not against ports but I don't want internal Nintendo teams wasting their time with them at all. Give the projects to teams who could use the experience and the revenue injection. It could help them grow new partners out of smaller studios and port-specialist studios.

If we were to get any ports, I would love:
  • Luigi's Mansion and Luigi's Mansion 2 HD
  • A Link Between Worlds HD, Ocarina of Time HD, Majora's Mask HD (just port the 3DS stuff)
  • Art Academy Switch (let me zoom and use a capacitive stylus)
  • Super Mario 3D World
  • Metroid Prime Trilogy HD, Wind Waker HD, Twilight Princess HD, Skyward Sword HD
  • Bayonetta 1 & 2, and Wonderful 101
When it comes to Wii U games I'd like to see sequels to:
  • Super Mario 3D World
  • Super Mario Maker
  • New 2.5D Metroid - to compliment MP4
For Gamecube games (and earlier) specifically, I think I'd like to see new entries or sequels
  • WaveRace
  • Pilotwings
  • F-Zero
  • Super Mario Strikers (although this might struggle in a Rocket League world)
I'm hoping we get sequels to other more recent Nintendo properties like Pullblox/Pushmo and BoxBoxBoy.
 
ninboy

ninboy

Member
Nov 1, 2017
55
I pretty much love your suggestions, but maybe Nintendo is choosing the Wii U ports (for now) for some of these reasons:
  1. The Wii U underperformed badly, and they need to recover costs of R&D of the games in that platform. The Wii U had a lot of quality first-party games and they can bring that content to a bigger audience.
  2. The staff that worked on the Wii U games is (probably) still working for Nintendo or subsidiaries. So you have a bunch of people that already know how the code works on the inside and it's easier for them to apply that knowledge to a new platform instead of a new team dealing from scratch with the port.
  3. Closeness of the idea of the platforms: the Wii U already toyed with the idea of Off-TV play, and the Switch is the mastering of that.
Regarding the games you said:
  • Metroid Prime was already released for Gamecube and Wii. Plus a new Prime is being released. I see the possibility of the first 3 to be re-released only because of the development of Prime 4.
  • Kirby's Epic Yarn would be cool but they are already working on a new Kirby's game so I guess this is a non-go from now. They would probably port Yoshi's Wooly World first but that one is already in 3DS too.
  • Star Fox performed poorly in the last iteration so I expect them to let the IP rest for a while. They need to rethink the IP from the ground up, so I don't know if they'll invest in a port right now. Maybe so the teams can relive and replay those old games and understand what made them great?
  • Mario Galaxy is a problem because those games would sell tons IF Odyssey didn't exists. But now that Odyssey is a massive success they'll probably reuse the engine to push Odyssey 2. Maybe they'll get more of the Galaxy's gravity mechanics for this one (and not only for a couple of 2D puzzles)
Right now Nintendo is in a really good place and I think they are going to start pushing all their IPs to new heights. So I don't know how many more ports we'll get in the next year. I don't expect more than 3, and most (if not all) will be from the Wii U.
 
LewieP

LewieP

Member
Oct 26, 2017
18,097
maximumzero said:
We've already got at least one game that doesn't play in docked mode, no reason we can't have the opposite.
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Not published by Nintendo, unless I missed one.

Edit: Ah yeah 1, 2 Switch, but that's explicitly a party game. I think a lot of people would expect to be able to play games like Mario and Zelda in handheld mode.
 
Metallix87

Metallix87

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ninboy said:
The thing is you can play Gamecube's games on the Wii. You can't play Wii U games on the Switch.
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This is a fair point, but we're actually pretty far removed from the Wii now, so I think that advantage is dissipating, especially as new kids become fans of Nintendo.
 
MP!

MP!

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Oct 30, 2017
5,198
Las Vegas
I think it really depends on if nintendo is going to Virtual Console these games or not.
in a perfect world they would Do virtual console GCN games and Wii games ... with special HD remasters of select titles (like mario galaxy 1&2 collection, or Skyward sword HD) ...
In all reality we'll probably get no VC and just a couple remasters.

As someone who maximized his experience with Wii U I would be more excited for gamecube and Wii Remasters than Wii U ports for sure. Realistically though I bet they'd rather just Port the old games to VC service... as sucky as the wii U was portrayed they sure got a ton of VC games from Wii, DS, GBA... games I never thought they would bring to the Wii U. Hopefully they're establishing a lasting system for VC
 
Bán

Bán

Banned
Oct 27, 2017
1,307
You don't need to retexture a Wii U game - it's basically on the same level as Switch already. Just give it a resolution bump and you're gold.

Same can't be said for Gamecube games. They'd need to be proper remasters.
 
LewieP

LewieP

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Oct 26, 2017
18,097
Jebusman said:
How many Gamecube games rely on the Analog triggers?
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F-Zero GX (it's playable without them, but you're somewhat hampered).
Super Mario Sunshine (they could do a workaround where they map "fully pressed" to one shoulder button, and "partially pressed" to another).
Metroid Prime 1+2.
Smash Bros (not massively essential).
I think Luigi's Mansion.
 
Madao

Madao

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Wii U ports are easier to make. a straight port with a resolution boost is easier than a remaster. compare the work that went into TPHD and TWWHD compared to the work that went into MK8D or Pokken DX. plus, most of the Wii U games were held back badly by the userbase, more than GC or Wii games.

it'd still be neat to see certain HD remasters, especially froms eries that are dead or don't receive games frequently (Metroid or F-Zero).
 

Deleted member 4037

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Oct 25, 2017
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The wii u ports are just games most people didnt play cause the wii u sucked. Plus they can justify the price tag cause its newer
 

Robdraggoo

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Well, i definitely want mario galaxy hd collection no question.

But I had a co worker who didn't know that mario kart 8 was a port.

It's probably cheaper for Nintendo to port Wii u games and the masses won't even realize they are not new games. Seems like a win win for nintendo.
 
Wamb0wneD

Wamb0wneD

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Oct 26, 2017
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Don't forget FF Crystal Chronicles HD, the ultimate Joycon game. No more GBA's and cables. Just Joycons. Imagine...
 
v2_0

v2_0

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What about 3DS games? Kid Icarus is the first one I would like to see ported on Switch and it could also help gameplay-wise with two sticks and gyro aiming.

Whatever I also think it's incredibly amusing to read people criticizing the WiiU but want to play basically every game that has been released on it. In my book games are what make a console great not the other way around but it's interesting to see what kind of priorities people have...
 
maximumzero

maximumzero

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Oct 25, 2017
22,922
New Orleans, LA
v2_0 said:
What about 3DS games? Kid Icarus is the first one I would like to see ported on Switch and it could also help gameplay-wise with two sticks and gyro aiming.

Whatever I also think it's incredibly amusing to read people criticizing the WiiU but want to play basically every game that has been released on it. In my book games are what make a console great not the other way around but it's interesting to see what kind of priorities people have...
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I'll take a Kid Icarus sequel over a remake/remaster/rewhatever.
 
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