So I Bought a Wii U. Now What?

 

Well, the title pretty much says it, right?

Let us move back just a little bit.  I bought Metroid Dread which came out on the Switch on October 8th.  This is, technically speaking, Metroid 5 in the numbered Metroid series which does not take into account the Metroid Prime series.  I have played (although not beaten on my own) the first Metroid game, but I have beaten Metroid II - Return of Samus (being Metroid 2) and Super Metroid (being Metroid 3).  I have not played Metroid Fusion (being Metroid 4) and I really wanted to play that before jumping into Metroid Dread.  Metroid Fusion originally came out on the Game Boy Advance 19 years ago in 2002 and I think the reason I did not buy it at the time was that I was heavily influenced by the negative reviews, that it differed too much from Super Metroid.  I also have heard nothing but good things about Metroid: Zero Mission, a retelling of the first Metroid game and was also released on the Game Boy Advance in 2004.  

Now, I still have my original Game Boy Advance, but earlier this year, I discovered that the unit would not power on, even with a healthy set of new AA batteries.  I know of a person online (Gametracks) who has been doing Game Boy Color and Game Boy Advance repairs and glow ups, but the prices are a little out of my price range; not to knock their work, which is pretty amazing and it looks great and I have read nothing but good reviews of their work.  I also have access to Conklederp's DS lite as my unit is a bit busted, so I do have a way to still play some of the GBA cartridges I still have.  I mention this because I could look into buying the physical cartridges for both Metroid Fusion and Metroid: Zero Mission, but with the release of Metroid Dread, prices for those games has skyrocketed from around $20 to anywhere from $40 to $212 to say nothing about them being authentic copies and not the Chinese fabrications being sold for $10; the same goes true for Metroid: Zero Mission.

There had been, and I believe continue to be, rumors about Nintendo releasing a Game Boy Advance Online app akin to their NES, Super NES, and now Nintendo 64 on the Switch, which might include either of these Metroid titles, but they are both also currently available on the Wii U's Virtual Console.  So I started looking into used Wii U consoles sort of absent-mindedly.  But then I looked up the longevity of the Wii U's eShop as the Wii U officially ended production in Japan in 2017.  From the multiple sources I read, both official and on Reddit said that Nintendo had made a statement that as of January 2022, that Nintendo would no longer be accepting payments on the 3DS and Wii U eShops effectively making purchases impossible although you can still download already purchases digital titles.  This moved up my timetable a bit if I really wanted to purchase a Wii U for the two Metroid titles.

So last Friday (October 15th) I pulled the proverbial trigger and bought a used Wii U (the deluxe 32GB version) on eBay (my first purchase in about seven years).  So now I am creating spreadsheets to crosscheck, cross-reference, and cross off all digital Virtual Console games that I already have access to on either the NES or SNES Classic consoles, or on the NES, SNES, and soon to be N64 Switch Online apps.  And because the Wii U is gloriously backward compatible with Wii games, I now have another whole new console's physical library available to me, which means I am going to pick up Dead Space: Extraction at the very least.  But at least for the time being, my focus is going to be looking at which Virtual Console games I would like to have access to.  

But other digital games as well?  Most likely.  Metroid: Other M has always intrigued me and the Metroid Prime Trilogy is a tantalizing $19.99 rather than a whopping $65-$140.  I will have to do some scouring of the Wii U eShop after I get the system and register it to my existing Nintendo account because apparently, you cannot add games to your wishlist if you do not have the system.  So, Google Sheets it is with the lists.  And for those of you who like lists and reading lists by other people, I present to you a shortened (and likely ever-lengthening list, at least until January 2022) list of Wii U Virtual Console games that I am 69.47% likely to throw my money at.

• NES
• Duck Hunt
• Gargoyle's Quest II
• GBA
• F-Zero GP Legend
• Fire Emblem: The Blazing Blade
• Golden Sun
• Golden Sun II: The Lost Age
• The Legend of Zelda: The Minish Cap
• Mario Kart: Super Circuit
• Metroid Fusion
• Metroid: Zero Mission
• NDS
• Mario Kart DS (turns out the one I bought on eBay in 2007 was a fake from China)
• Metroid Prime Hunters
• New Super Mario Bros.
• N64 (I may have to wait on some of these if they get announced for the N64 Online App)
• 1080 Snowboarding
• Ogre Battle 64: Person of Lordly Caliber (No idea this was on the VC. 100% buying)
• Wave Race 64

I know I completely skipped out on the SNES portion of the Virtual Console, but there was not anything that jumped out at me that I felt I would be sad about missing if I did not pick it up before January.  And again, this does not include any physical Wii U or Wii games that I am now going to be in the market for.

One of the things I am actually most looking forward to, is actually figuring out how to play the Wii U.  Do you just put the disk in and play off of the screen or the GamePad?  Can you choose which one to play and not the other?  If you are playing a Virtual Console game, can you just play on the GamePad without turning on the main system?  Otherwise, what is the range that the GamePad has to be within of the base unit before it disconnects?  Can the GamePad disconnect from the base unit?  Can you only play Wii games if you have the Wiimote and Nunchuk attachment?  How important is it that I get a Wii U Pro Controller and will it work with regular Wii games?  I have never seen a Wii U in action, so the next month is going to be interesting to say the least.

Leave it to us here at Stage Select Start to jump in on a console nearly a decade late and then purchasing nearly nothing but ports of games released on older systems.  Classic.

~JWfW/JDub/The Faceplantman/Jaconian
Born of No Love

P.S.  According to the email I received, the Wii U should arrive sometime between Tuesday, October 19th, and Thursday, October 21st, so it will be likely I will answer a number of my questions in November's Monthly Update article.

P.P.S.  Because obviously, the thing I need to do is add to my already growing backlog of video games with ever-increasing amount of free time.