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Forums - Nintendo Discussion - How much power would the NX need to perfectly emulate WiiU games?

Luke888 said:
I really don't know :c

Still if the power needed is just too much for the current hardware/prices then I could see Nintendo porting or having ported by someone else the biggest games on the console like let's say Splatoon, Zelda U and XCX

I think the same too. I'm sure that at least 10 WiiU games will be updated on the NX, at least if the system doesn't have BC. If the system is succesfull and gets a decent userbase, there's no way Nintendo won't take the oportunity to sell some of their biggest games again.



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Wii U uses a fairly standard AMD GPU, it's a safe bet that NX will do to if it's a home console.
An AMD Jaguar core is already more powerful than what's in Wii U, IMO 3 of those clocked at the same speed as Wii U's 1.24Ghz would be more than ample.

If NX uses an 8 Core 2.4Ghz Puma or Excavator CPU, along with a GPU around PS4 or higher level then the NX home console could more than likely emulate multiple Wii U's all at once.
Wii U's CPU is certainly nothing to write home about, it's a triple core, 3 thread unit, clocked at 1.24GHz, while it uses newer architecture than Xbox 360's triple core, 6 thread 3.2Ghz unit it's still not as capable as that chip.
XB1 has no problems in emulating 360's CPU, that's using a modern Jaguar 8 Core, 8 Thread unit clocked at 1.75Ghz.
A 28nm or smaller modern AMD mobile CPU architecture like Jaguar, with a few cores locked at PS4 speeds could probably handle the job.

The only issue is that RISC program language needs to be translated to CISC, which is pretty simple, AMD could probably include both RISC and CISC recognition into the chip's design if Nintendo wants.
There's really nothing complicated about emulating Wii U.



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Last edited by OttoniBastos - on 17 June 2019

NX could use cloud power to play anything

Like what Microsoft did with XBox One



JustBeingReal said:
Wii U uses a fairly standard AMD GPU, it's a safe bet
The only issue is that RISC program language needs to be translated to CISC, which is pretty simple, AMD could probably include both RISC and CISC recognition into the chip's design if Nintendo wants.
There's really nothing complicated about emulating Wii U.

True Cisc really isn't a thing anymore. Modern x86 practically has risc-like structures underneath everything. All Cisc instructions are  translated to Risc microinstructions.

 

The complications with emulating Wii U come from the GPU end of things, not CPU. Unlike the Wii/GC the Wii U actually has a modern graphics chip which requires a Loy more work to deal with. It has been the biggest obstacle for the current Wii U emulator on PC, as well as PS360 emulators. 



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I predict that the NX will be backwards compatible with the 3DS and not the Wii U. This is partly because of the significant power requirements for easy emulation of Wii U games but also partly because I believe that the NX is more likely to use cartridges as its physical medium especially if it is a unified handheld and home console platform.

The more popular Wii U games will get re-masters and will be re-released on the NX likely with some new content.



It would need to be more powerfull than the PS4 (mainly in CPU terms), imo.

I think it can be done, if nintendo wants to put in the effort to do so.



I would imagine it needs to be pretty powerful



If they want wii u compatibility it will be designed with that in mind even if using different architecture. They will optimise a few things to enable full speed wii u emulation. As previously stated the wii u gpu its pretty standard although low power radeon hardware and the cpu is absolutely dire so no problems with that. The memory bandwidth is very low in wii u except for the 32MB of high speed memory. That 32MB could be difficult to emulate but the NX may well have a similar memory arrangement.

Full wii u compatibility is no problem at all and wii emulation could be done easily fully in software I'm sure without having to worry about optimising anything.

I think people have to remember with Microsoft's approach that they use patches to bypass emulation issues. So its only partial emulation and part new code. It's a different approach and the xbox one probably isn't powerful enough to emulate the 360 fully in software. However the 360 in many ways is more powerful than wii u and the xbox one is likely less powerful than NX at least in cpu terms so its an easier job.

So looking forward to NX hoping its a return to decent Nintendo hardware that will unleash the full potential of Nintendo's game developers and not having to fight the hardware all the time.

I would truly love it if the NX had a top loading optical drive and ran wii u, wii and gamecube software but the reality is I think no optical drive so wii u compatibility is only going to be for digital downloads so I'll need to keep my wii u anyway as I have few digital games.



BasilZero said:
$599 US Dollars worth of power.

Could probably do it alot cheaper... the problem is....

Nintendo will probably spend 100$ of their budget on a gamepad controller again >_>

 

I say problem, and the reason is, if Playstation & xbox, use 20$ controllers, Nintendo cant make a 100$ controller, and sell a equally powerfull hardware wise console, for the same price point, without sustaining losses.

And PS4 will probably be 300$ by the time the NX launches, it would need to be alot more powerfull than a PS4, if its going to ask for those prices.