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Forums - Nintendo Discussion - Wii U won't play GC games

Mr Khan on 09 June 2011

It makes sense: wasn't the special drive they needed for the Wii to be able to slot-load GameCube discs one of the rarest and most expensive components in the device? If they wanted to incorporate GC bc they'd have to come up with a dual-size drive that can also read whatever BluRay knockoff they're putting in there



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darkknightkryta on 09 June 2011
NJ5 said:
thetonestarr said:
In order to make it backwards compatible with GCN as well as Wii, they would have to incorporate GCN hardware into it as well as Wii. Multiple consoles' hardware is tedious and cramped.


They're probably not incorporating Wii hardware on the Wii U, because Wii hardware can operate in GC mode which is supposed to be how the Wii does backwards compatiblity. If they did incorporate Wii hardware, GC compatibility should be very easy.

I'm guessing they'll do some sort of emulation for the GPU and possibly the CPU (not sure if the Wii's CPU is binary compatible with POWER7 CPUs).

Unless ATI did something seriously crazy with the GPU and completely changed the assembly, there's no reason why Gamecube games don't work on Wii U.  None at all.  Unless Nintendo didn't go with IBM with their CPU and then Wii games won't work properly on the Wii U.   Ultimately this makes no sense at all.



darkknightkryta on 09 June 2011
oniyide said:
this kinda sucks and LOL to anyone who says that BC goes back to only one gen. PS3 says hi (the older model anyway). Not really a deal breaker for me. But i was hoping to play new Smash Brothers with GC control cause the other options suck. Im gonna do something unorthodox, im actually going to get rid of my Wii and replace that with a GC, i like it better anyway.

Current PS3 technically still says hi as it still play PSOne games via disc.



chapset on 09 June 2011

I hope geohotz will make a hack to allow gamecube compatibility and homebrew :), he's my hero yay!!



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NJ5 on 09 June 2011
darkknightkryta said:
NJ5 said:
thetonestarr said:
In order to make it backwards compatible with GCN as well as Wii, they would have to incorporate GCN hardware into it as well as Wii. Multiple consoles' hardware is tedious and cramped.


They're probably not incorporating Wii hardware on the Wii U, because Wii hardware can operate in GC mode which is supposed to be how the Wii does backwards compatiblity. If they did incorporate Wii hardware, GC compatibility should be very easy.

I'm guessing they'll do some sort of emulation for the GPU and possibly the CPU (not sure if the Wii's CPU is binary compatible with POWER7 CPUs).

Unless ATI did something seriously crazy with the GPU and completely changed the assembly, there's no reason why Gamecube games don't work on Wii U.  None at all.  Unless Nintendo didn't go with IBM with their CPU and then Wii games won't work properly on the Wii U.   Ultimately this makes no sense at all.

The GC/Wii GPU doesn't even use shaders, so yeah, they did something "completely crazy" in the 10 years since the GC. If the Wii U is using a standard modern AMD GPU as they wrote in the press release I don't think that's directly compatible.



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oniyide on 09 June 2011
darkknightkryta said:
oniyide said:
this kinda sucks and LOL to anyone who says that BC goes back to only one gen. PS3 says hi (the older model anyway). Not really a deal breaker for me. But i was hoping to play new Smash Brothers with GC control cause the other options suck. Im gonna do something unorthodox, im actually going to get rid of my Wii and replace that with a GC, i like it better anyway.

Current PS3 technically still says hi as it still play PSOne games via disc.


oh i know, i just wanted to proactively conteract whatever hater was going to say PS3 doesnt play PS2 games, acting like the original models never existed



lightbleeder on 09 June 2011

GC games on virtual console would be great



Aiddon on 09 June 2011

well, that kinda sucks. Hopefully they make GC games available on VC



archbrix on 09 June 2011

oniyide said:

But i was hoping to play new Smash Brothers with GC control cause the other options suck

 

This was my first concern exactly.  The Wii U controller will suffice since it has all of the buttons you need, but if it's true that the idea is to only have one of these per console, the other players may be stuck using Classic Controllers plugged into their Wii-motes.

I really hope they reissue a Wavebird-type controller that works with Wii U for Smash and any other multiplayer games where the Wii-mote is not ideal, but I'm probably just dreaming...



Gamerace on 09 June 2011

It'd be stupid in include GC backwards compatibility as then you have to make ports for the gamecube controllers and ports for the memory cards. Plus it's becoming increasingly difficult to find GC games anywhere let alone controllers and memory cards! In another couple years it'll be nearly impossible.

GC games should merely be added to VC and adjusted to be playable with the Wii U controller.

Of course of those of us with GC games, we'll need to keep our Wiis around if we don't want to end up buying them again on VC. It's unrealistic to expect compatiblity with 2 gen ago. Especially when the competition isn't even truly giving 1 generation back. Not even on the most sold console of all time (PS2). So why do any of you expect it for a poor selling console like GC from 2 gens ago?