Shopping for a Wii U in 2023
There have been few causes to personal a Wii U again after I purchased my unique unit in 2013 and even fewer to personal one now, however alas, it’s one of the best ways to get entry to the Wii’s catalogue in 2023, and Zelda followers know that Wind Waker HD and Twilight Princess are one of the best ways to play each these video games.
Chances are you’ll giggle at my quest to recapture the nostalgia of the Wii period, however as somebody born in 1996, the Wii was a staple of each family I knew rising up, which means I used to be by no means far-off from a match of Wii Sports activities or another bizarre movement managed sport. I additionally by no means had a PlayStation 2, so all of my elementary college gaming was achieved by way of Nintendo consoles and handhelds till I lastly received an Xbox 360 to play Halo 3 on in 2010.
My fondness for the Wii U doesn’t maintain as a lot nostalgia, however I nonetheless have some good causes for why I made a decision to purchase one in 2023.
The place all of it started
This journey began just a few weeks in the past when the golf replace lastly hit Change Sports activities. My mates and I began enjoying it extra and, by proxy, the remainder of the Change Sports activities video games. This made me begin to really feel nostalgia for Wii Sports activities Resort, a spin-off of Wii Sports activities with tons of different video games like archery, frisbee and even a plane-flying minigame.
If I needed to get the sports activities from Wii Sports activities Resort into my subsequent native multiplayer match, I’d have to get a Wii, 4 Wii remotes (with Wii Movement Plus built-in) and 4 nunchucks. Wii Movement Plus is required for the additional sports activities video games in Wii Sports activities Resort because it provides additional gyroscopes to provide the distant extra precision. This initially began as an attachment that slotted into the underside of the distant, however newer controllers referred to as the ‘Wii RemotePlus’ constructed all of it into the straightforward Wiimote kind issue.
After digging by means of my basement, I discovered a Luigi-themed Wii RemotePlus and my previous homebrewed Wii, however no cables. Because the Wii is homebrewed, you want a GameCube controller to entry the menu, too, so it’s kind of out of fee. The distant nonetheless works, however the batteries inside had corroded so it did want plenty of cleansing.
From there, I went to Fb Market, and far to my shock, Wii U consoles have been pretty low-cost. “Do I dare?” I requested myself. It could be cheaper to get a Wii, however accessing the HD remakes of Twilight Princess and Wind Waker could be very interesting. After a little bit of looking out on-line, I found I may additionally purchase the Metroid Prime Trilogy on the Wii U eShop, and I used to be bought.
As luck would have it, I began this journey proper earlier than the eShop is about to shut down for good on March twenty seventh. Whereas this appears unfortunate initially, it offers me not less than a slim likelihood to purchase a few of these video games for a good worth on-line earlier than it’s resale solely.
Bringing it house
After just a few days scouring the used market in Toronto, I stumbled throughout a 32GB unit {that a} online game store was promoting for $170. That felt like a superb deal to me, and since these small retailers typically supply small warranties, I jumped on the likelihood. After work, my girlfriend Alex and I jumped in my automobile and drove over there to catch them earlier than closing, however once we received there, they solely had a white 8GB mannequin, which they bought to me for $150.
The unit got here with a Wii RemotePlus, Nunchuck and all the opposite needed cables you’d want for a Wii U. To prime it off, I purchased one other RemotePlus/Nunchuck combo, and the shop threw in a replica of Wii Sports activities Resort without cost since they weren’t certain in the event that they’d work (it did). All this additionally got here with a two-week retailer credit score guarantee, which I used to be proud of. If I had been prepared to drive additional or wait longer, I believe I may have discovered a greater deal on the used market.
After I received house, I plugged the console in, and far to my shock, it spit out a replica of Wii Play, one other mini-game-focused Wii title from my childhood.
Then I wanted to manufacturing facility reset the system and log in with my very own Nintendo Community ID — notably, a special login system than the Change. That is the place issues received difficult. I stored attempting to enter my password, and it wouldn’t work for some cause. I then found that the 3DS makes use of the identical login data, so I dug my 2DS out of storage. I discovered my login data there, however it nonetheless wouldn’t work.
After much more analysis deep in Reddit boards, I found that the Wii U suffered a hack just a few years in the past, which kneecapped plenty of the security on the console. Subsequently, I would want to name Nintendo to get better my account. The opposite different could be to make a brand new account, so I simply did that as a substitute, sacrificing my on-line copy of Pikmin 3 linked to my previous username.
That is now two hours after I initially began organising the console. From there, I hopped into the Wii U eShop and try to purchase Wind Waker HD. Fortunately for me, the sport is just $30, which is cheaper than plenty of resellers on-line. I add it to my cart and went so as to add my bank card to the console, and I realized which you can’t add bank cards to the Wii U post-hack. Bummer, however I should buy a $35 eShop card on Amazon, which ought to cowl the sport and taxes. I attempt to load that into the Wii U, and I’m once more stopped.
Okay, again to Google to learn the way to resolve this.
It seems I can merge my Nintendo Community ID and my Change Nintendo account, add the funds to that, mix the 2 wallets after which purchase my Wii U sport. My first try at that is by means of my cellphone, and — unsurprisingly at this level — it errors out. Every time I enter the code, it despatched me to a clean Nintendo web site web page. I seize my Change, and it lastly accepts the eShop code. I’m going again to my cellphone, log into my Nintendo account once more, and merge the 2 accounts and wallets. I’ll point out that these are two particular ‘merging’ steps, not one thing that occurs routinely once you hyperlink accounts.
There’s quite a bit jammed into the again of my Wii U, however it appears to be like nice on the large display!
Three hours later, after a easy Wii U reset, I lastly had sufficient cash on the console to purchase the sport. I hit obtain solely to comprehend that the 8GB of storage is unusable for downloading video games. After a bit extra digging round in my home, I discovered a 4GB USB stick that was sufficiently big to carry Wind Waker HD.
It was a trouble, however I’ve received a smaller 32GB stick on order from Amazon that solely value me $13, and to this point I’ve been having a blast reliving my childhood Wii and Wii U video games. I even plugged within the MClassic that I reviewed a very long time in the past, and it’s actually useful for making Wind Waker look additional crisp.
If in case you have any Wii or Wii U sport suggestions, let me know within the feedback. I’ve already received my eye on Battalion Wars 2 and Fireplace Emblem Radiant Daybreak for Wii, however I’m in search of different suggestions earlier than March twenty seventh!
