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WiiU

The Most Asked Questions About the Wii U GBA Virtual Console

by Daan Koopman - April 2, 2014, 4:33 pm EDT
Total comments: 2

Popular GBA games are now at our fingertips and you lot had questions about them.

You people seemed to have a lot of questions about the new GBA Virtual Console on Wii U and rightfully so! There have been questions about specifics in certain games, but I want to focus here on the broader scope. Do not worry however, as these questions will be answered as soon as I get new opportunities. If you think of something important that you want to ask, feel free to leave a comment here or sent me a tweet at @NintenDaan and I will make sure that it will be added to the article.

Which control methods can I use and what do you personally use the most?

You can use the Wii U GamePad, Wii U Pro Controller, or a Wii Remote which has a Classic Controller (Pro) attached to it. From a personal point of view, I really like the Wii U GamePad the best. It is easy to hold my hands around the thing, and in a weird way it becomes this (sort of) gigantic GBA. While Game Boy Advance games are made with the D-Pad in mind, I did also quite like using the sticks at moments. There were no weird controlling mishaps and it all still had quite a solid feel to it. You can choose whatever feels right to you.

I was wondering about graphical options when I am playing the game on a television. Could you help me out?

Sure thing! You can enable or disable screen smoothing, and there are two display options for you to choose from. Players can either go full screen or go for the original resolution.

The colors felt somewhat washed out on the Nintendo 3DS Ambassador games. How is that all here?

If you ever played WarioWare vividly, you will see the differences there. On the Nintendo 3DS version, you were instantly greeted by a somewhat greyish Nintendo logo. The entire thing felt somewhat dark on a Nintendo 3DS and in turn, I did not play it much on the the system. On Wii U though, everything is more vibrant and apparent. This is great news for the people who are looking for a solid experience with those classics. It feels like a step above the Nintendo 3DS. Nintendo has added some new lighting to these titles in order to come closer to the real deal, and I cannot help but be happy with it.

Do the games chug or anything in that regard? I would like to play them without too much irritation.

No, the games chug very little. There are one or two moments where I encountered a brief (like a couple frames) graphical glitch. Beyond that, I have not encountered any problems so far, and that can be considered a positive!

The local multiplayer for multiple systems is gone, which is sad, but I want to ask about your experiences with the games that only required one GBA system to be enjoyed. Did you try these?

Yes, I tried the special games available in WarioWare and the VS. mode in Advance Wars. With the larger real estate, these can be enjoyed better as you don't have to circle around a single GBA. For the VS. mode in Advance Wars, that is almost perfect as you play that up to four people and easily swap around a GamePad or Pro Controller.

Could you give me an indication of the file sizes? I want to plan my GBA Virtual Console raid accordingly.

I have something better for you: the actual facts!

Advance Wars - 62MB

Mario & Luigi Superstar Saga - 63MB

Metroid Fusion - 57 MB

Kirby & The Amazing Mirror - 57MB

WarioWare, Inc: Minigame Mania - 55MB

F-Zero Maximum Velocity - 55MB

Golden Sun - 82MB

Yoshi's Island: Super Mario Advance 3 - 51MB

How do those scanned manuals work exactly on the Wii U?

By pressing a special question mark icon on the Wii U GamePad's touchscreen, you will be able to look through the original manual for the title in various languages. There is no need to press the HOME button and find one that way, because it will offer you everything that you need to know already. These scanned pages offer a couple of great things like the ability to fully zoom in or looking at all the pages in an overview. You can even keep the manual active on the touchscreen and keep it there while you are playing!

Talkback

SorenApril 02, 2014

Great work Daan! Quick question, do you know the aspect ratios the games are running on?


The way they're doing the scanned manuals was what they should have done with the player's guide on Earthbound. I have no use for it if I can't keep on the GamePad and play on my main screen.

azekeApril 02, 2014

Game sizes implies they're still carrying on with their no unified platform emulator thing...

Come. On.

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